An attempt was made to determine the presence of subjectivity in the appraisal system of a data processing company. Ninety-one clerks were given individual performance ratings by their supervisors, including an overall rating and ratings on seven performance dimensions. A multiple regression performed on these data resulted in a set of empirical weights. Supervisors were also asked to rank the relative importance of each of the seven dimensions to the clerk job. The mean rankings were regarded as apparent weights. A comparison of the empirical and apparent weights led to the conclusion that supervisors were not rating their employees according to what they said was important for successful performance, thus introducing an element of subjectivity into the system.

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Three common methods have been used to assess the existence of rating bias in performance ratings: the total association approach, the differential constructs approach and the direct effects approach. One purpose of this study was to examine how the direct effects approach, and more specifically differential prediction analysis, is more useful than the other two approaches in examining the existence of rating bias. However, the usefulness of differential prediction depends on modeling the full rater race X ratee race interaction. Therefore, the second purpose of this study was to examine the conditions where differential prediction has sufficient power to detect this interaction. This was accomplished using monte carlo simulations. Total sample size, magnitude of rating bias, validity of predictor scores, rater race proportion and ratee race proportion were manipulated to identify which conditions of these parameters provided acceptable power to detect the rater race X ratee race interaction; in the conditions where power levels are acceptable, differential prediction is a useful tool in examining the existence of rating bias. The simulation results suggest that total sample size, magnitude of rating bias and rater race proportion have the most impact on power levels. Furthermore, these three parameters interact to effect power. Implications of these results are discussed. / Master of Science

The problem was to determine the significance of various relationships between job-performance ratings and selected factors associated with the college curricula of junior executive trainees. Job-performance ratings were made by personnel directors and immediate supervisors of college graduates enrolled as participants in junior executive training programs in department stores in Texas.

Absenteeism, lateness, and work performance on the job were investigated. Pre-entry attitudes and self-reported behaviors in the three areas were assessed via RELY, a self-report instrument developed by Kurt Helm (1980). Subjects (N=282) were entry-level stock, bag and clerical personnel for a large grocery store chain. They were 91% Caucasian and 62% male. Results showed significant correlation between three empirically derived scales and criteria: total days absent, total occurrences of lateness, and supervisory performance ratings. However, these findings were considerably weaker under cross-validation. The findings indicate absence-proneness as a tenable concept. Further investigation may find a considerable amount of the variance in attendance to be the result of pre-entry attitudes.

Recent commentary has suggested that performance management (PM) is fundamentally “broken,” with negative feelings from managers and employees toward the process at an all-time high (Pulakos, Hanson, Arad, & Moye, ; Pulakos & O'Leary, ). In response, some high-profile organizations have decided to eliminate performance ratings altogether as a solution to the growing disenchantment. Adler et al. () offer arguments both in support of and against eliminating performance ratings in organizations. Although both sides of the debate in the focal article make some strong arguments both for and against utilizing performance ratings in organizations, we believe there continue to be misunderstandings, mischaracterizations, and misinformation with respect to some of the measurement issues in PM. We offer the following commentary not to persuade readers to adopt one particular side over another but as a call to critically reconsider and reevaluate some of the assumptions underlying measurement issues in PM and to dispel some of the pervasive beliefs throughout the performance rating literature.

Can pay-for-performance increase the motivation of public employees? By providing a basis for personnel decisions, particularly linking rewards to performance, performance appraisals aim to increase employees' work motivation and ultimately to improve their work performance and organizational productivity. With the emphasis on results-oriented management, performance appraisals have become a key managerial tool in the public sector. Critics charge, however, that pay-for-performance is ineffective in the public sector, largely because the link between performance and rewards is weak. However, no one has empirically measured the strength of the linkage. If performance ratings do have an impact on career success in the federal service, they might contribute to race and gender inequality. Although many studies have examined factors affecting gender and racial differences in career success, studies that try to connect gender and racial inequalities to managerial tools are scarce. Using a one percent sample of federal personnel records, the first essay examines the impact of performance ratings on salary increases and promotion probabilities, and the second essay explores whether women and minorities receive lower ratings than comparable white males, and women and minorities receive lower returns on the same level of performance ratings than comparable white males. The first essay finds that performance ratings have only limited impact on salary increases, but that they significantly affect promotion probability. Thus, the argument that performance-rewards link is weak could be partially correct, if it considers only pay-performance relationships. The second essay finds that women receive equal or higher performance ratings than comparable white men, but some minority male groups, particularly black men, tend to receive lower ratings than comparable white men. On the other hand, the returns on outstanding ratings do not differ between women and minority male groups and white men, though women groups seem to have disadvantages in promotion with the same higher ratings as comparable men in highly male-dominant occupations.

This study built upon the theoretical feedback process of Ilgen, Fisher and Taylor (1979), as refined by Kinicki, Prussia, Wu, & Mckee-Ryan (2004), to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanism underlying an individual's response to performance feedback. The feedback model implicates source credibility and the feedback-rich environment as critical elements in the process explaining recipient accuracy perceptions and responses. Thus the sign and perceived accuracy of performance feedback were investigated in a 3 x 3 (plus control) experimental design. One hundred fifty-six undergraduate students were randomly assigned to feedback conditions, in which they performed on a three-trial Lego model reproduction task. After trial one, participants received false feedback from a confederate supervisor. The feedback was based on fictional norm tables, which framed the participant's performance as falling into the 70th percentile (positive), 50th percenti le (average), or 30th percentile (negative) according to condition. The supervisor then supplemented the norm tables with conclusive comments designed to be perceived as positive distortion of the norm table feedback, reinforcement of norm tables (accurate feedback), or negative distortion of the norm tables. Performance time, errors, task-specific self-efficacy, self-assessment of performance, and self-report effort-expended data were collected on trials one through three. The results indicated a significant interaction between feedback sign and perceived feedback accuracy on participant performance (F(4,132) = 3.72, p < 0.01), whereby the performance in the positively distorted-positive sign feedback condition was significantly higher than performance in the positively distorted-negative sign feedback condition. When the feedback was perceived to be accurate, negative sign feedback resulted in significantly better performance compared to the positive feedback condition (contrar y to previous research). Task-specific self-efficacy was not found to mediate the relationship between type of feedback and performance, and no significant effect of feedback sign or perceived feedback accuracy on task-specific self-efficacy was found. These findings provide possible explanation as to why supervisors tend to positively distort both sign and accuracy in performance appraisals (e.g., Benedict & Levine, 1988). Implications for theoretical expansion of the feedback process model, and application to workplace performance management are discussed.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study is about the application of a negotiated model of training needs analysis in the Registry/Messengers" Division of the Cape Town City Council. The negotiated model of training needs analysis is predicated on the formation of the performance evaluation committees. These committees comprise the assessees, the line managers, the peers and the trainers. Their primary responsibility is to address issues of performance ratings, causes of performance discrepancies, training solutions and/or non-training solutions in the key performance areas of individual employees who belong to the various job families. The study argues that the current application of the traditional model of training needs analysis in the RegistryfMessengers' Division which is both "menu-driven" and "line management-driven", is not scientific and participatory in form and nature. The study has four objectives. The first was to give some background to the RegistryfMessengers' Division. This painted a picture of the organisation, management and functions of the RegistryfMessengers' Division. The second objective was to provide a conceptual framework of the study by examining the existing literature on the contending models of training needs analyses, namely, the traditional model of training needs analysis and the negotiated model of training needs analysis, in public organisations. The third objective was to adopt and apply the negotiated model of training needs analysis in the RegistryfMessengers' Division. The fourth objective was to recommend the institutionalisation of the negotiated model of training needs analysis in the RegistryfMessengers' Division in “particular and the Cape Town City Council in general- given the fact that its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. The study concludes inter alia, that th~ current application of the traditional model of training needs analysis in the Registry/ Messengers' Division should be replaced by the negotiated model of training needs analysis considering the fact that the latter allowed the collective and scientific determination of the training needs of the employees. The study then recommends the adoption of the negotiated model of training needs analysis in the Registry/ Messengers' Division in particular and the Cape Town City Council in general. However, the following factors and issues need to be taken into account to ensure the effective implementation of the negotiated model of training needs analysis in the organization, for example, educating the employees about the new approach to training needs analysis; identification of key performance areas; conducting an organization wide training needs analysis; development of performance standards for the key performance areas; formation of performance evaluation committees in the various job families; and agreement upon the performance rating scale