An investigation into employee perceptions and experience of performance appraisal in the public sector

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:While the current trend among a number of organisations is to integrate performanceappraisal with performance management systems or even 'replace' it with performancemanagement systems, it is still an extremely highly utilised process. The probablereason for this, is that the major use of performance appraisal is as a management toolwhereby the quality of personnel decisions can be enhanced when an effective system isin place. Ideally the use of a formal process, focused on objective, job orientated criteria,will empower management to make meaningful decisions which will not only be to thebenefit of individual workers but will contribute to the overall effectiveness and efficiencyof the organisation.Apart from the fact that it is used as a management tool, other major objectives ofperformance appraisal are to determine the administrative and developmental needs ofindividuals in the interests of their own progress and development as well as that of theorganisation. There are therefore, two fundamental parties involved in appraisal, beingthe appraisee and the appraiser and it is inevitable that the approach to, or theperception of the subject should be different in some, or many ways. Aspects such asutility, fairness, ethics, motivation, accuracy, validity, rating errors, effectiveness andfeedback, should therefore be examined in more detail in order to determine wherespecific problem areas may lie. Serious perceptual differences concerning the processwill surely create obstacles and eventually lead to an inefficient system.The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which differing perceptions playarole in the acceptance or rejection of the appraisal system in general terms andspecifically in terms of the aspects mentioned above, from the point of view ofsubordinates and supervisors.The diagnostic instrument used in this study was adapted from those of Mount (1983)(named the Leadership Analysis Questionnaire) and Ie Roux (1989) to include aspectswhich are more in line with features of the performance appraisal system unique to theparticipating organisation. Two different forms of questionnaires were used in this study.One was designed for completion by subordinates and the other by supervisors. Thesetwo groups were further subdivided into two groups referred to as achievers and nonachievers.The overall response to the questionnaires was very satisfactory in that 431of the 600 questionnaires were returned (almost 72%) of which 44 were not usable. Ofthe 186 supervisors' responses which could be used for statistical analysis, 80 werecategorised as achievers and of the 201 subordinates' responses which could be usedfor statistical analysis, 38 were categorised as achievers.The research revealed statistically significant differences in perception between differentcomputations of all groups in respect of fairness, ethics, accuracy, rater error andadministrative aspects.It is recommended that future research should be directed at the underlying reasons forperceptual differences between supervisors and subordinates, regarding the factorsmentioned above, with the aim of improving communication and relationships. Anotherarea would be to investigate the feasibility of organisations incorporating performanceappraisal into a more integrated performance management system.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University