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Scholars have pointed out the need for improvement and refinement in public management research, also depending on the role of public administration for sustainable development. Because government organizations employ a substantial portion of the workforce, management practices in the public sector are critical areas for designing, implementing and delivering policies that can achieve the goals set forth in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For these purposes, and in implementation of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) programme, Italy recently launched an ambitious National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) which includes, among other things, upskilling goals for staff employed, following the modernization process that has involved the Italian public sector in the last decades, with the Decree n. 150/2009. Aiming both to understand the extent of the application of the reform and to answer some basic questions (why, what and how) concerning Individual Performance Appraisal Systems (IPAS), we conducted a content analysis on the 220 documents already produced by the Italian Ministries. The study has been conducted in two different steps of the reform process and provides solid evidence of the reforms' effects on designing and implementing individual performance systems. The analyzed documents reveal no longer-term vision in implementing the IPAS that involves some critical performance management utilities such as training, development, fair pay and deployment of employees, raising new questions about a sustainable approach to the individual performance management process even in public organizations.

In recent years, practitioners have identified a number of problems with traditional performance management (PM) systems, arguing that PM is broken and needs to be fixed. In this chapter, we review criticisms of traditional PM practices that have been mentioned by journalists and practitioners and we consider the solutions that they have presented for addressing these concerns. We then consider these problems and solutions within the context of extant scholarly research and identify (a) what organizations should do going forward to improve PM practices (i.e., focus on feedback processes, ensure accountability throughout the PM system, and align the PM system with organizational strategy) and (b) what scholars should focus research attention on (i.e., technology, strategic alignment, and peer-to-peer accountability) in order to reduce the science-practice gap in this domain.

The Nature of Business Policy Business policy — or general management — is concerned with the following six major functions:

The purpose of this paper is to surface and discuss issues associated with employee performance appraisal as a multi-staged social interaction reportedly the butt of managerial dissatisfaction, especially when used to inform decisions around pay and other rewards.

To substantiate the territory, existing management-based evidence from the published literature is curated and discussed to frame issues for investigation under the rubric of performance appraisal as an activity that may be understood as combining interaction between forms of administrative, social and psychologically oriented control. Primary evidence, drawn from recent research sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which combines data sets informed by a survey of HR specialists and a follow-on focus group, is then used to illustrate views on relevant themes across a sample of UK-based private, public and third sector organizations (n=715).

A significant number of organizations apply performance appraisal approaches, somewhat mediated by sector and size, and in turn use the results to inform various forms of HRM decision making – in particular reward management. While claims have been circulating in popular media suggesting the widespread abandonment of traditional performance appraisal, and while the study finds dissatisfaction regarding the utility of existing bureaucratic elements of appraisal mechanisms, the position is more nuanced.

Corporate management attention is drawn to choices of the extent to which they are investing in building line management capabilities to address the consequences of policy decisions to amplify the importance of informal alongside formal performance management processes, and potential reward decision making, mindful of the indeterminate character of the employment relationship and its dynamic, socially constructed character.

Performance appraisal may benefit from re-interpreting the balance between emphasis on administrative, social and self-control, given changing expectations among workforce members and those who evaluate organizational effectiveness in contemporary society, and the ongoing contested nature of organizational control.

Employee performance appraisal as an institutional process central to organizational control systems is a topic of interest to both organizational effectiveness academics and the managerial practitioners they study. Using data that broadly represent recent developments in managerial practice across “UK plc”, the paper informs reflection on theory and practice.

360° feedback processes have gained popularity as a performance management and career development tool in contemporary organisations. This monograph explores the nature of 360° feedback, investigates the factors which have influenced its emergence and contrasts it with more traditional performance management processes used by organisations. It specifically identifies the benefits and problems associated with 360° feedback in the context of management of performance and employee career development. The monograph considers the issues surrounding different sources of feedback, i.e. peer, subordinate and self. The monograph concludes with a discussion of the issues pertaining to the use of multi‐rater feedback as a tool for performance improvement and career development.

This article explores raters' understanding on the decision‐making process in the public service performance appraisal system (PAS) by looking at the cognitive processing models (CPM) steps involved. Presents the results of semi‐structured cognitive mapping interviews undertaken with novice raters in the Malaysia public service (MPS) context. Interviews were conducted using cognitive mapping protocol. The resultant causal cognitive maps explored findings from CPM applied in appraisal decision making. Explains the performance appraisal process and theoretical framework for the CPM. From the research findings, it is clear that raters recognised the CPM steps in their performance appraisal practice. The study also identifies individual differences in novice raters' CPM in terms of concepts and complexity. The findings are used to validate the CPM concepts suggested in related literature. Finally, the study discusses the implications of CPM in a broader context of performance appraisal decision‐making process.

Introduces the primary concepts behind the practice of action inquiry. Then, examines what current literature suggests about components of the performance appraisal process and identifies areas where applying action inquiry concepts can add a new dimension to our current understanding.

Applies action inquiry, a concept from the organizational learning and change literatures, to suggest ways to infuse meaning and mutuality into appraisal discussions to help organizational leaders and members learn and develop. Ways to do so are demonstrated through a review and discussion of seven principal research streams in the current appraisal literature.

An action inquiry approach can address many of the limitations inherent in the appraisal process and refocus appraisals as developmental tools. Potentially, appraisals can act as forums to open dialogue, invite participation and build relationships around re‐visioning one's work and career. The process can become instrumental to continual quality improvement and organizational growth suggests that a rich opportunity exists to make the performance appraisal process developmentally meaningful for individuals and potentially transformative for organizations.

Discusses seven themes addressed in performance appraisal research and poses new possibilities that emerge when these themes are examined through an action inquiry lens.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the specific steps organizations can take to create value-added appraisal systems.

The authors synthesize 30 years of their research, including countless focus groups and surveys with managers at all levels, to identify the specific steps organizations can take to create value-added appraisal systems.

The paper explains ten key lessons for improving any organization’s performance appraisal system.

The authors believe that the lessons described in this paper can be applied in all organizations, and not to apply these lessons invites ineffective and potentially destructive appraisal practices.

The paper provides a unique set of lessons that organizations can use to design or re-design their performance appraisal systems and practices.

The purpose of this study is to examine how performance appraisal process is associated with organizational citizenship behavior, under the light of social exchange theory and impression management theory, using affective commitment as a mediator and rating‐reward linkage as a moderator.

Using a multi‐source sample (n=777), the authors examined the mediating role of affective commitment with structural equation modeling and Sobel tests, and the moderating role of rating‐reward linkage with ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models.

The relationship between performance appraisal process and organizational citizenship behavior was partially mediated by affective commitment, and perceived rating‐reward linkage strengthened the direct association between appraisal process and organizational citizenship behavior whereas it weakened the relationship between appraisal process and affective commitment.

The study adds to knowledge of how performance appraisal process relates to organizational citizenship behavior – through affective commitment. Further, the moderating role of rating‐reward linkage deepens understanding of the underlying motives of organizational citizenship behavior. The findings strengthen the valence of using social exchange theory to explain how performance appraisal process is associated with organizational citizenship behavior and suggest the value of incorporating impression management to supplement social exchange theory.

Appraisal is recognised as a crucial step towards the development of human resources and their performance. This article proposes an integrated, innovative model for managing the performance appraisal process of full‐time faculty members at the Palestinian public universities in the West Bank. The integrated model SOFIA is a result of an empirical study of the impact of performance appraisal process on faculty members in five major universities. In constructing this model, several issues including setting a clear institution’s strategy, participation in goal setting, coaching, two‐way communication between faculty members and their superiors, feedback, developing and rewarding faculty members have been emphasised. Also, it is recommended that external factors that may influence faculty members’ performance, appraisers’ training and top management support and ownership of the process must be seriously considered. The obstacles to the application of the proposed performance model and possible solutions have been explored. In light of the above, relevant conclusions have been reached.