Formal personnel performance appraisal is a fact of life in most American organizations of any size - public sector or private sector (Longenecker, Liverpool, & Wilson, 1988). As entrenched as the practice is, however, personnel performance appraisal continues to be controversial (Heneman, 1987).
One important contemporary contention with respect to personnel performance appraisal is that the process will be effective only to the extent that managers and subordinates within an organization share perceptions as to (1) the purpose and function of the process, and (2) its effectiveness with respect to meeting the goals of both management and individuals (Longenecker, Liverpool, & Wilson, 1988). With this contention in mind, this research examines the attitudes of individuals within organizations towards personnel performance appraisal.
The selection of individuals within organizations for leadership positions and for other forms of organizational reward is accomplished by a variety of methods, most of which depend upon the composite results of several factors - recommendations of organizational superiors, educational background, past performance, and so forth. One factor which is found in most selection procedures, however, is the performance evaluation or performance appraisal (Lombardo, 1985). Thus, it is apparent that effective performance evaluation is one of the critical factors which contributes to the on-going success of an organization.
Much of the evaluation of performance in the United States is a process-oriented procedure. A process orientation means that the evaluative criteria are related primarily to: (1) qualifications; (2) planning activities performed by an individual; and (3) the conduct of job-related activities by the individual. There is a trend toward results-oriented performance appraisal. A results-oriented procedure for the evaluation of performance has received a wider acceptance in private ...