This thesis explores the application of personal construct psychology and the repertory grid to performance management in a technical consulting organisation. The research examines what is important for a manager in assessing work performance and how each manager's mental model for performance compares with his/her peers. Managers acting as raters are the critical link in the observation and assessment of performance and in the feedback process. Rater observations and judgements are affected by their personal mental models regarding what is important. These views may or may not accord with those of their peers, resulting in inconsistency and unfair assessments, or with what the organisation's strategy demands. Understanding rater views on what is important, and how well these align with strategy, is a key to ensure that the appraisal process supports, rather than hinders, both individual and organisational needs. Each manager's personal constructs relating to appraisal were elicited through a repertory grid interview. The elicited constructs were taken together and categorised to derive broad performance categories summarising the views of the entire management team. Each individual's personal constructs were then allocated to the relevant common category to develop a view of how each manager related to the group's overall approach to appraisal. A measure for the importance of each category in making performance judgments (importance score) was derived based on the correlation of the constructs in each category with an overall performance construct. A second measure of a manager's preparedness to discriminate between levels of performance was also derived (discriminant score) based on the variation in each manager's construct structure. In keeping with the personal construct psychology approach, the process emphasizes the importance of discussion with the individual concerned to verify the sorting and ranking pro cess. A ranking process to establish the overall management group priorities for judging performance (team mental models) was demonstrated and a charting process was developed to facilitate presentation and discussion of the results. The research has demonstrated the strength of the repertory grid process as a means of getting at a rater's framework for thinking about appraisal and provides a way to identify possible voids or blind spots in a rater's approach. Understanding the most important categories of performance used by raters provides an opportunity for management to determine whether these are likely to achieve the objectives of the company, and if necessary, to introduce and inculcate different approaches.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/210400 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Muir, Errol William, emuir@bigpond.net.au |
| Publisher | RMIT University. Graduate School of Business |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.rmit.edu.au/help/disclaimer, Copyright Errol William Muir |
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