The Performance Appraisal Interview – An Arena for the Reinforcement of Norms for Employeeship

Abstract

In the present paper, we report findings from a study of performance appraisal interviews between middle managers and employees. The study is based on analysis of video uptake of authentic performance appraisal interviews, and through detailed examination of participant conduct and orientation, we point to structural mechanisms and institutional norms which limit the possibilities for employees to raise topics connected to negative experiences of stress in performance appraisal talk. It is argued that norms concerning ideal employeeship are shaped by a partly hidden curriculum in the organization which in turn is talked into being in the performance appraisal interviews. The study concludes that empirical attention to the social interplay in performance appraisal interactions reveal how participant conduct aligns or disaligns with institutional and social underpinnings of workplace ideals. KEy wOrdSPerformance appraisal interview / ideal worker / staff development / conversation analysis / hidden curriculum.

Making objectives common in performance appraisal interviews

“…Her study suggests that by demonstrating their understanding of the expectancy to ask and answer questions, the manager as well as the employee accomplish their institutional roles and thus reconstruct the institutional norms of the face-to-face encounter. In a more recent study, Sandlund et al (2011) show that the institutional norms that concern being an ideal employee affect the behavior in PAIs as institutional encounters. Their study also indicates that the institutional structure of the interview situation has an effect on the possibilities of employees to raise critical topics related to their wellbeing at work.…”

“…Put more generally, there has been an overall emphasis on reported experiences of PAs (e.g. interviews or questionnaires) in past research (Gordon and Steward, 2009), but only a few (for exceptions, see Adams, 1981;Asmub, 2008;Sandlund et al, 2011;Clifton, 2012) have dealt with PAs as situated action, as a lived experience and in real time. In simple terms, e.g.…”

Narratives of ideal and second-option jobs among young adults with high functioning autism

“…Concepts such as competence and competitiveness in relation to experiences and education (Lindberg 2009;Fejes 2009), individual responsibility, the desire for self-development, and flexibility in relation to taking diverse jobs (Nilsson 2010;Dahlstedt 2013) are some examples of such credentials. However, the employable citizen is also conditioned by normative frames of organizational and social conventions, such as being able to meet high psychological demands in the work setting and to manage stress in different forms (Gabel-Shemueli, Dolan, and Ceretti 2014; Sandlund et al 2011). …”

Co-worker dialogue – a tool for health, personal development, and an empowering development culture in the workplace

“…In Western research, there seems to be more focus on the effectiveness of PA (DeNisi & Murphy, 2017) and less focus on complementary models like co-worker dialogue [CWD]. CWD is also an annual individual dialogue but more about how the manager and the co-worker together can create prerequisites for the co-worker to do a good job, achieve personal development, and feel well at work (Sandlund, Olin-Scheller, Nyroos, Jakobsen, & Nahnfeldt, 2011). To empower co-workers' health promoting self-management and encourage health promoting work processes (Dietscher, Winter, & Pelikan, 2017;Pelikan, Dietscher, Krajic, & Nowak, 2005), work-related resources and solutions should be focused on a participatory and continuous process at the workplace, and annual CWDs could be used as a practical tool as it contributes to shed light on coworker health and personal development, as well as workplace improvements.…”

“…Thus, there is a need to primarily explore and get a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of CWD and its relationship to work-related health and personal development, but also to explore if CWD contributes to collective commitment to the workplace. However, there is a lack of studies that investigate how CWD actually works and how it is experienced by co-workers and managers (Sandlund et al, 2011). Starting with the mangers' perspective, the aim of this study was to explore how co-worker dialogue [CWD] may foster co-workers' health and personal development, and contribute to an empowering development culture in the workplace.…”