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The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for the effectiveness of performance appraisal (PA) systems by using a competing values approach.

The review employs a three-step approach: first, the paper discusses the existing criteria to determine the effectiveness of PA systems, and presents criticisms of these criteria. Second, the paper reviews the literature on the competing values model of organizational effectiveness. Third, the paper integrates the PA system in the competing values model to develop a comprehensive framework for the effectiveness of PA systems.

A practical model is developed, taking into account the processes and procedures involved in PA systems.

The paper is designed to provide a guideline for managers to consider the effectiveness of a PA system. The paper suggests that assessing the effectiveness of a PA system on any single criterion ignores various important aspects of the system. Moreover, the effectiveness of a PA system should be based on the values and preferences of all major stakeholders of the system, i.e., appraisers, appraisees and the organization.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

All employment is evaluated, appraising processes and performance and setting goals for the future. Performance appraisal systems (PAS) are usually performance-based, looking at clearly defined quantitative and short-term goals, criteria and procedures. Such a system is not as appropriate for knowledge-based work as in academia, where the work is typically non-routine, complex, intrinsically motivated, qualitative and collaborative. An effective PAS relies on perceived procedural justice and if the employee views procedural (processes) and distributive (rewards) justice to be fair. Increased perception of fairness leads to increased performance and organizational effectiveness.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This paper aims to explore the performance appraisal (PA) aspects that are connected with organizational justice, and more specifically three kinds of justice, namely distributive, procedural and interactional justice.

The research is based on a sample of 170 respondents who answered a questionnaire giving their perceptions on the purpose and criteria of PA, their satisfaction from PA and organizational justice.

The results show that procedural, distributive and interactional justice are related with different elements of performance appraisal. Elements of satisfaction are strongly related to all aspects of organizational justice. The PA criteria are related to procedural justice.

The main limitation is that the research provides information based only on one source, that of the appraisee. However, it highlights the role of employee satisfaction to organizational justice, linking different sources of satisfaction to different elements of justice.

This paper has practical implications for HRD, as it provides HR practitioners with suggestions on how to increase the perceived justice of the PA system.

The value of this paper is to HR practitioners who design PA systems, and also managers acting as appraisers of their subordinates.

This study examines the relationship between goal properties, both at the employee and organizational-level, and the perceived fairness of the performance appraisal system by federal employees.

We describe the theoretical framework regarding goals and employee perceptions of performance appraisal fairness. We then develop and test four hypotheses, exploring the relationships among variables using five years of the FEVS data. To strengthen the research design, we created an agency-level dataset, by calculating agency-level averages for all the covariates. Instead of examining 500,000 federal employees each year, we are examining 80 federal agencies. Creating a panel dataset at the agency level allows us to make stronger statements about causality than using cross-sectional data.

This study finds a significant positive relationship between goal setting factors and employees' perceived fairness of performance appraisals: perceived employee-level goal difficulty and perceived organizational-level goal specificity at the agency level. The study results show that certain control variables, such as intrinsic motivation, play important roles in predicting public employees' perceived fairness of performance appraisals. Federal employees who have a higher level of intrinsic motivation show a more positive perception toward performance appraisal fairness. The appropriate use of extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation, combined with effective goal setting strategies in public organizations, may enhance public employees' perceived fairness of performance appraisal systems.

This study used the FEVS, necessitating the reduction of the sample size to agency level averages to create a panel dataset. Also, this study was limited to federal agencies in the United States, so research results may lack generalizability.

This paper fulfills an identified need to avoid cross-sectional research design and leverage longitudinal panel data.

The paper validates a framework using the media synchronicity theory (MST) to study the effect of Social Media Use at Work (SMUW) on the performance “Work Performance” (WP) of the employee. For this, the study initially observed the effect of SMUW on shared vision (SV), network ties (NT), and trust (TRUST) on the knowledge transfer (KT) and the effect of all (SV, NT, TRUST and KT) on the WP of the employees.

A survey method was used to collect responses from 157 employees working at middle and lower-level managerial positions in the chemical companies of India. The data analysis uses variance-based, partial least square SEM, which has established a relationship between the constructs.

The results found a significant effect of SMUW on the WP of the employees. It was observed that the SV and TRUST can be significantly improved with the help of SMUW, contributing to the KT and simultaneously affecting the WP of the employees.

The study has examined the positive and significant effect of SMUW on the employees' SV, NT and TRUST. Improving SV, NT and trust (dimension of social capital) through social media allows employees to transfer more knowledge. An increase in KT among the employees further positively affected the individual and group performance within the organization. SV positively affected the employee's WP, but NT and trust negatively affected the WP. The research thus provides useful insight to the managers for effective use of social media in the workplace.

The study used MST to understand the effect of the use of social media in the workplace. The study is kind of first in the Indian context which has examined the effect of employees at managerial level in chemical companies, and thus contributes to the existing literature on social networks/social media from the organizational context.

This study examines the mediating role of the fairness of performance appraisal on the association between the extent of use of strategic performance measurement systems (SPMSs) with SPMS effectiveness.

Data were collected using an online survey distributed to 656 Australian middle and lower level managers.

The findings reveal that informational fairness mediates the association between SPMSs (link to value drivers and the use of multidimensional performance measures) with performance-related outcomes; procedural fairness mediates the association between SPMSs (link to strategy and the use of multidimensional performance measures) with staff-related outcomes and distributive fairness mediates the association between the use of SPMSs (all three types) with both performance and staff-related outcomes.

The study provides a unique insight into the importance of fairness (the distributive, informational and procedural fairness of the performance appraisal system) in mediating the associations between the extent of use of SPMSs and SPMS effectiveness. The findings contribute to the human resource management (HRM) “black box” literature by providing an insight into the behavioural mechanism through which a specific human resource management practice (i.e. the SPMS) influences organisational performance.

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.

This paper aims to look into employee perceptions of politics and fairness in a work setting where a new merit pay system had recently been implemented.

The results are based on employee survey responses from three governmental organizations (n=367) that had implemented analogous merit pay systems.

Hierarchical moderated regression results indicated that perceptions of politics and fairness distinctively and interactively predicted whether the pay system was perceived effective in achieving its objectives. The results suggest that some forms of politics in performance appraisals (e.g. compression) might be perceived less detrimental than others (e.g. favoritism). In a high politics environment, the pay system effectiveness varied as a function of the level of distributive justice. Voice in the pay system development only mattered in a situation where there was a low level of organizational politics.

One of the main limitations of this study is its reliance on cross‐sectional data. Future research should complement employee perceptions about pay system effectiveness with objective data from the organizations studied. Research on the effect of contextual factors, such as national culture on the motives, in and reactions to, organizational politics, is desired.

The result suggests that the adopted merit pay systems were not ineffective or detrimental per se, but that the effectiveness varied as a function of the established political and fairness climates at different levels of the organization.

This study contributes to the discussion on what are the conditions under which politics and fairness are antithetical, and when they are interactively associated with outcomes.

The aim of this article is to investigate how managers see, interpret and make sense of their performance management system experiences and recommend the way forward for both policy and practice, in what makes effective appraisal systems.

The study applied the repertory grid to elicit the personal constructs of how managers make sense of their appraisal experiences. The cognitive mapping methodology allows the researcher to go deep into the respondents' “theories in use” to provide new insights on how they “think”. This, in turn, allows a better understanding of the language managers use to make sense of the experiences.

Core conceptual dimensions, cognitive maps and cluster diagrams were generated, providing implications for research, practice and new directions for future research.

Although the application of the grid technique was time‐consuming, the finer grain level of analysis provided a deeper appreciation of managers' “theories in use”. The study provides a cross‐sectional view of the current state of managerial cognitions. Findings open up new ways of thinking and new way of doing in appraisal research and practice.

The findings provided very meaningful insights on what managers look for in appraisal system effectiveness, along with the documentation of how they make connections between their own elicited personal constructs on system effectiveness.

The paper makes a modest contribution to both theory and practice from the perspective of managerial cognitions about the entire appraisal systems using a method originating from clinical psychology.

Performance management systems (PMS) are integral to an organization's human resource management but research is ambivalent on their positive impact and the mechanism through which they influence employee behavior. This study fills this gap by positing work engagement as a mediator in the relationship between perceptions of PMS effectiveness, employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

The study uses a survey-based design. Data were collected from 322 employees in India attending a management development program at a premier business school. Partial least squares–based structure equation modeling package ADANCO was used for data analysis.

Positive perception of PMS effectiveness was found to enhance employee work engagement. This increased job satisfaction and reduced turnover intentions among employees. Thus, work engagement mediated the relationship between PMS perceptions and job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

The results suggest that organizations need to focus on three characteristics of PMS, namely its distinctiveness, consistency and consensus. These characteristics determine the effectiveness of PMS in engaging employees and influencing their job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

Prior studies on performance management have largely been limited to aspects of justice and focused disproportionately on the appraisal aspect of performance management. This study takes a systems view of performance management and addresses prior shortcomings by examining the role of clarity and horizontal fit between PMS practices in determining employee engagement. The study also provides much needed empirical support to theoretical studies which have argued that PMS is a driver of engagement in organizations (Gruman and Saks, 2011; Mone and London, 2014).