ent and its core of professionals, who convey "ownership" of PM to managers.
PM has been variously defined over time. Plachy (1988, p. 1) offers the following definition: PM is an "umbrella term that includes performance planning, performance review, and performance appraisal." Unlike the old term or strategy known as performance appraisal - PM in the context of HRM moves beyond simply evaluating or assessing worker performance, attitudes, behaviors and/or productivity to establishing and maintaining a dialogue between managers and workers in order to obtain desired results that reflect or represent the worker's contribution to the achievement of organizational missions, goals and objectives (Plachy, 1988). The specific goals of a performance management program instituted by HR and then carried out, in large measure, by functional managers, are:
1. Understand what work is to be accomplished.
2. Plan together how the work is to be accomplished.
3. Determine together whether performance achieved the
agreed-upon plan (Plachy, 1988, p. 7).
Grote (1996), in an extensive analysis of one HR PM function (i.e., performance appraisal), has noted that the "new" HR department plays a more dynamic and influential role in assisting the business organization in such tasks as responding to change, pursuing continuous quality improvements (CQI), satisfying customers or clients, and facilitating the development, growth and satisfaction of staff. The PM "system" positions HR as a key actor in an overall strategy of meeting organizational needs. It is this role that will be discussed herein.
The Roots of PM: Total Quality Management (TQM)
Total or Continuous Quality Improvement (TQM/CQI) is defined as continuous improvement in satisfying customers and reducing variation in the products or services produced (Grote, 1996). The concept of TQM/CQI emerges from the work Dr. W. Edwards Deming, whose insights on the importan...