continuous improvement, i.e. the motivation of people in the workplace to choose
to perform, to choose to exert eVort in doing so, and to choose to persist until the
organization’s goals are attained. A cornerstone of leadership is to provide feedback
in relation to the goals that have been set in ways that increase self and collective
eYcacy so that even higher goals can and should be attained. Thus it is foolhardy to
view the subdomains of leadership and motivation on one continuum and per-
formance appraisal/management on another. Another central role of leadership
is to make administrative decisions regarding a person, as well as the team in which
the person is a member. Yet decision-making issues and team performance have
yet to receive the attention in the performance appraisal/management literature
that they deserve.
A distinguishing feature of performance management relative to performance
appraisal is that the former is an ongoing process whereas the latter is done at
discrete time intervals (e.g. annually). Ongoing coaching is an integral aspect
of performance management (Latham et al. 2005 ). Performance appraisal is the
time period in which to summarize the overall progress that an individual or
team has made as a result of being coached, and to agree on the new goals that
should be set.
Common to the performance management/appraisal process are the four
following steps. First, desired job performance must be deWned. Second, an
individual’s performance on the job must be observed. Is the person or team’s
performance excellent, superior, satisfactory, or unacceptable? Third, feedback is
provided and speciWc challenging goals are set as to what the person or team should
start doing, stop doing, or be doing diVerently. Fourth, a decision is made regard-
ing retaining, rewarding, training, transferring, promoting, demoting, or termin-
ating an individual. Although this four-step process appears simple, it is ripe
for interpersonal conXict, and hence is likely to lead to the demotivation rather
than the motivation of employees. Employees often question the dimensions of
performance on which they are being appraised (e.g. ‘you are evaluating me on the
wrong things’) as well as the objectivity of the appraiser. The purpose of this
chapter is to review the literature for answers to these issues and in doing so to
pose questions that have yet to be addressed.
18.2 Step 1 : Define Job Performance
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
ThisWrst step includes clarifying the performance domain for which employees are
accountable. Inherent in this step are decisions regarding the choice of a coaching
appraisal instrument, the technology if any that should be used to supplement the
performance management 365