Performance Management 217
validate selection instruments or techniques. There should be a positive
relationship between the methods and criteria used to screen employees
and successful performance. If there is not, the recruitment and selection
system should be reevaluated and changed.
When used in the context of SHRM, performance evaluation should
provide feedback to employees, facilitate personnel decisions, and provide
information essential for planning and research. Feedback about the
effectiveness of other HRM functions can also be obtained through
the evaluation process.
Refl ecting widespread disappointment in the effi cacy of performance
evaluation systems, performance appraisal is one of the most researched
and written - about topics in the academic and professional HRM literature.
Employee (ratee) dissatisfaction with performance evaluation systems
has been based on a number of factors. For example, objective perfor-
mance measures have been lacking; employees have believed that super visors
are often biased in their ratings, and because of this perceived bias, unions
have tended to distrust management and prefer that promotions and
pay increases be based on seniority; and employees have recognized that
many of their performance outcomes are dependent on the efforts of
other individuals or groups, which typically are ignored in traditional
performance evaluation systems.
Rater dissatisfaction with evaluation systems is also common. Supervi-
sors complain that agencies often promote the use of evaluation systems
without devoting the necessary time, supervision, and fi scal resources to
make the system work. Raters are expected to evaluate employees and
provide feedback without fi rst receiving training, which leaves them ill
prepared to coach and counsel their subordinates. Raters also are not held
accountable for the accuracy and quality of their ratings, which signals to
them that their efforts are better spent elsewhere because upper management
is not committed to the process.
Another reason that performance
evaluation systems have been heavily
researched is that they play an important
role in court cases involving promo-
tions, discharges, layoffs, and merit-pay
increases. Employees who fi nd them-
selves the victims of adverse personnel
decisions, such as terminations or layoffs,
seek redress through human rights
agencies and the courts. EmployersEmployers are likely to
defuse potential lawsuits or
investigations if they can
show that performance
appraisals are job related
and refl ect fair and accurate
evaluations of performance.