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Potential appraisal is the foremost indicator of employee's readiness to take higher responsibilities and used for multiple purposes in promotion, human resource development including training and development needs of employees. This study examines how construal level as psychological difference among employees (holistic–analytic differential in preference of thinking for various action domains among individuals) and meaningfulness of work is related to their readiness for development and responsibility. Combining meaning of work literature and cognitive psychology, the moderated mediation model is formed to examine the psychological process and social boundary conditions in the relationship between construal level and potential appraisal of employees.

Data were collected from 1,494 working executives and their 297 reporting managers across companies operating in an industrial cluster situated in India. The proposed model considered “experienced meaningfulness” as mediator and contextual factors of psychological empowerment and supervisor feedback as moderators.

Using multi-variate analysis and after controlling for industry type and experience, supervisor potential appraisal ratings of employees are found to be statistically related to construal level, and this relationship is found to be partially mediated by “experienced meaningfulness” of work. Further, contextual factors are found to be significant as moderators.

By bringing the subjective interpretation of different aspects of meaning of work from work design literature to examine its role in relationship between aspects of cognitive psychology and potential appraisal of employees, this study bridges the gap between cognitive psychology of development, meaning of work literature and HRD literature. Further implications for academic literature and managers are discussed.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying structure of employees' justice perceptions in the context of their organizations' performance appraisal practices.

Ten multi‐item scales were designed to measure the perceived fairness of performance appraisal practices. A nested confirmatory factor analysis of employee responses (n=188) compared the four justice dimensions (i.e. procedural, distributive, interpersonal, informational) to five plausible alternatives. Construct validity was demonstrated through a structural equation model of matched employee and supervisor responses (n=117).

The confirmatory factor analysis showed evidence of four distinct but highly correlated justice constructs. Results supported hypothesized relationships between procedural justice and helpful behaviors toward the organization via appraisal system satisfaction; distributive justice with appraisal satisfaction; and interpersonal and informational justice and helpful behaviors toward the supervisor via supervisor satisfaction.

This study underscores the importance of fostering perceptions of justice in the context of performance appraisal. The scales developed in this study could be used to isolate potential problems with an organization's performance appraisal practices. Originality/value – The paper integrates prior research concerning the positive effects of procedural, distributive, interpersonal, and informational justice on affective and behavioral responses towards performance appraisals.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of gender on the performance assessments of managers arising from the 360‐degree scheme operated within the UK headquarters of a large multi‐international financial services organisation.

A questionnaire approach was used to collect data on 66 managers (33 males and 33 females) against four broad capabilities on the 360‐degree appraisal system. Data were gathered on each of the 66 managers from eight different sources including the individual being appraised, three of their peers, three of their direct reports (subordinates) and their manager (supervisor).

Performance ratings were either gender neutral or higher for female than for male managers. Within the case company there was no evidence of unfavourable discrimination against female managers, if anything the reverse with female managers showing superior performance compared to their male counterparts.

As with all cross‐sectional research causality cannot be confirmed and difficulties in accessing 360‐degree appraisal information for a large number of managers led to constraints on research methodology.

The implication for human resource management is that the 360‐degree appraisal system did not necessarily fulfil the degree of objectivity claimed by its adherents and that possible adverse influence may be inherent within the 360‐degree rating system of managers particularly.

The paper offers insights into gender differences within 360‐degree managerial performance appraisals.

Despite the recognition that the subordinate's influence is a particularly noteworthy feature of the social context with considerable potential to affect the performance evaluation process, there are almost no studies that consider this influence in a selling context. Attempting to contribute to address these needs, the model presented here depicts a number of social and situational factors influencing supervisor's rating of salesperson's performance, primarily operating through affective processes.

Data were collected from 122 salespeople and their immediate managers from 35 firms pertaining to nine different industries.

SEM results indicated that supervisor‐focused impression management was positively related to the supervisor's liking of the salesperson. Consistent as well with prior research is the positive influence of supervisor's affect towards salesperson on the supervisor's ratings of sales performance, both directly and indirectly, through the effect on salesperson's perceived interpersonal skills. Finally, a salesperson's physical attractiveness demonstrated significant positive effects on performance ratings, through the influence on supervisor's liking and salesperson's interpersonal skills.

These results have important managerial implications: sales managers should be aware that salespeople might be using impression management tactics and that the use of these behaviours might influence the way that they evaluate their employee's performance. Managers should also remain vigilant to the potential bias based on physical appearance in hiring and supervising salespeople.

This study contributes to the knowledge of the social and affective variables that influence the sales performance appraisal process, an area of research that is almost unexplored.

It meant also informing the men each day just what they had done the day before and just what they were to do that day. In order to do that, as each man came in the morning, he had to reach his hand up to a pigeonhole (most of them could not read or write, but they could all find their pigeonholes) and take out two slips of paper. One was a yellow slip and one was a white slip. If they found the yellow slip, those men who could read and write knew perfectly well what it meant; it was just the general information: “Yesterday you did not earn the money that a first‐class man ought to earn. We want you to earn at least 60 per cent beyond what other laborers are paid around Bethlehem. You failed to earn that much yesterday; there is something wrong” — Frederick W. Taylor.

The purpose of this paper is to compare employee reactions to the use of an online performance appraisal (PA) system to the traditional paper‐and‐pencil (P&P) approach.

A quasi‐experimental study is conducted comparing the reactions of a group of 83 employees evaluate with a traditional P&P PA instrument to the reactions of a group of 152 employees evaluated with an online version of the same assessment tool.

Employees rate with the online version reported significantly higher levels of rater accountability and employee participation than employees rate with the traditional instrument. They report no difference in perceived security of the ratings, utility of the ratings, or satisfaction with the PA. Online employees report significantly lower levels of quality for the PA ratings than traditional employees.

The paper is limited to employees in one organization and the variables examined. In the future, researchers should examine supervisor and human resource (HR) manager reactions to the system, additional individual difference variables, variables related to technology acceptance and use, and additional PA reactions.

The findings inform HR managers about how one sample of employees' reacted to an online appraisal. It is important for organizations to ensure all system users are well‐trained in how to provide quality ratings and feedback through the system.

This is the first quasi‐experiment comparing employees' attitudes toward an online administration of PA to a traditional P&P administration.

Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.

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

This paper aims at exploring the relationship between self‐rated performance and immediate‐supervisor rated performance in the United Arab Emirates. A sample of 1,285 participants‐ employees and managers‐ were surveyed using self‐administered questionnaire. The results revealed a clear gap between employees’ perceptions of their performance and their managers’ perceptions. The implications of the results for both managers and researchers are also discussed in the paper.