chapter 18
....................................................................................................................................................PERFORMANCE
MANAGEMENT
....................................................................................................................................gary latham
lorne m. sulsky
heather macdonald
18.1 Introduction
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JackWelch, the former CEO of General Electric (GE), repeatedly emphasized the
necessity of a boundaryless organization. This is because GE could not aVord its
divisions hoarding rather than sharing information if it was to remain competitive
in a global market place. Similarly, Latham and Heslin ( 2003 ) argued the necessity
of a boundaryless psychology. I/O psychology cannot aVord to have signiWcant
advances in knowledge in one subWeld go unnoticed in other subWelds if it wishes
to remain relevant in the public domain. In both GE and I/O psychology, infor-
mation languishing within a division or subdiscipline can lead to fractionization,
which is the peeling away of one or more parts that in turn can lead to the
formation of a separate entity. The danger for this to occur in I/O psychology is
inherent in its very name.
That a dichotomy between industrial vs. organizational psychology is false is
evident in the science and practice of performance appraisal/management. The
appraisal and management of an employee’s and a team’s performance are core
requirements of leadership. A cornerstone of the appraisal and management of
both an employee’s and a team’s performance is the inculcation of a desire for