The performance appraisal process, in its fullest development, can assist an organization in identifying areas in which its employees need improvement and in identifying individual strengths that can be developed. Based on a 1983 survey of Iowa public employees, this article examines the training and development needs identification aspect of the Iowa MBO/Performance Standards appraisal system, taking particular note of its relationship to perceptions of organizational success. Survey respondents were inclined to indicate that the performance appraisal process neither helped them develop plans for training nor aided them in receiving needed training. These attitudes, in turn, negatively affected perceptions of how fair the performance appraisal process itself was, and how successful the organization was felt to be.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BeachD. S. (1980). Personnel: The Management of People at Work. New York: Macmillan. Brito v. Zia (1973). 478F. 2nd 1200.
2.
BurkeZ. (1977). Performance Evaluation: Participant's Training Manual. Iowa City, IA: Institute of Public Affairs.
3.
CascioW. (1982). “Scientific, Legal, and Operational Imperatives of Workable Performance Appraisal Systems”Public Personnel Management11, 4 (Winter): 367–375.
4.
Connecticut v. Teal (1982). 457 U.S. 440.
5.
DaleyD. M. (1983a). “Performance Appraisal as a Guide for Training and Development: A Research Note on the Iowa Performance Evaluation System”Public Personnel Management12, 2 (Summer): 159–166.
6.
DaleyD. M. (1983b). “Monitoring the Use of Appraisal-By-Objectives in Iowa: Research Note”Review of Public Personnel Administration3, 3 (Summer): 33–44.
7.
DaleyD. M. (1985). An Examination of the MBO/Performance Standards Approach to Employee Evaluation: Attitudes Toward Performance Appraisal in Iowa”Review of Public Personnel Administration6, 1 (Fall): 11–28.
8.
DecotiisT.PetitA. (1978). “The Performance Appraisal Process: A Model and Some Testable Propositions”Academy of Management Review (July): 635–646.
9.
GibsonJ. L.IvancevichJ. M.DonnellyJ. H. (1973). Organizations: Structure, Processes, Behavior. Dallas, TX: Business Publications.
10.
Hall-SaltzsteinG. (1985). “Conceptualizing Bureaucratic Responsiveness”Administration and Society17, 3 (November): 283–306.
11.
Iowa Employee Guidelines: Preparing for Your Performance Planning and Evaluation (1977). Des Moines, IA: State of Iowa.
12.
Iowa Handbook for Supervisors and Managers: Work Performance Planning, Responsibilities, Standards, Reviews and Evaluation (1977). Des Moines, IA: State of Iowa.
13.
KlingnerD.NalbandianJ. (1985). Public Personnel Management: Contexts and Strategies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
14.
LazerR. I.WikstromW. S. (1977). Appraising Managerial Performance: Current Practices and Future Directions. New York: The Conference Board.
15.
LevinsonH. (1976). “Appraisal of What Performance?”Harvard Business Review54, 4 (July-August): 30–36.
16.
LovrichN.ShafferP.HopkinsR.YaleD. (1980). “Public Employees and Performance Appraisal: Do Public Servants Welcome or Fear Merit Evaluation of Their Performance?”Public Administration Review40, 3 (May-June): 214–222.
17.
LovrichN.ShafferP.HopkinsR.YaleD. (1981). “Participative Performance Appraisal Effects Upon Job Satisfaction, Agency Climate, and Work Values: Results of a Quasi-Experimental Study in Six State Agencies”Review of Public Personnel Administration1, 3 (Summer): 51–73.
18.
MaslowA. (1965). Eupsychian Management: A Journal. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.
19.
MaslowA. (1970). The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. New York: Viking Press.
20.
McGregorD. (1957). “An Uneasy Look at Performance Appraisal”Harvard Business Review35: 89–94.
21.
NalbandianJ. (1981). “Performance Appraisals If Only People Were Not Involved”Public Administration Review41, 3 (May-June): 392–396.
22.
ShafritzJ. M.HydeA. C.RosenbloomD. H. (1986). Personnel Management in Government. New York: Marcel Dekker.
23.
TyerC. (1983). “Employee Performance Appraisal: Process in Search of a Technique” pp. 118–136 in HaysS. W.KearneyR. C. (eds.) Public Personnel Administration: Problems and Prospects. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
24.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management (1980). Federal Employee Attitudes Phase I: Baseline Survey 1979 Government-Wide Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (March).
25.
Wade v. Mississippi Cooperative Extension (1974). 372 F. Supp 126.
