Literature Review: The definition of performance appraisal management has changed since it became evident in 1990s.

In 1990s Flower defined performance appraisal management as the organization of work to achieve the best possible results, from this simple view point, performance management is not a system or a technique, it is the totality of the day to day activities of all managers.
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Flower pointed performance management as day to day

activities of the manager to achieve best possible results. Then in 1998 Armstrong and Baron defined Performance Management as both a strategic and an integrated approach to delivering successful results in organizations by improving the performance and developing the capabilities of teams and individuals.[2] According to them performance management is a systematic approach to achieve maximum results as well as developing the employees and to achieve this a defined process should be used. In 2006 the Society for Human Resource Management defined the Performance Management as "performance management is the organized method of monitoring results of work activities, collecting and evaluating performance to determine achievement of goals, and using performance information to make decisions, allocate resources and communicate whether objectives are met."[3] The SHRM defined Performance Management as an organized method to evaluate the factors related to work and them use that information in future tasks. In 2011 Professor of Management, Sir Wayne Cascio defined Performance Management as "Performance appraisal is the systematic description of an employee's job relevant strengths and weaknesses."[4] According to Sir Wayne this is a systematic description of an employees strengths and weakness as compared to job relevant factors. So after going through these different definitions of Performance Management we observe that at the start the purpose of Performance Management was to achieve best possible results. But with the time it was realized that an employees strengths and
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http://www.who.int/hrh/documents/en/Assessing_quality.pdf http://www.managementstudyguide.com/performance-management.htm 3 http://www.insala.com/Articles/performance-management-software/performance-management-currenttrends.asp 4 http://kalyan-city.blogspot.com/2011/05/performance-appraisal-of-employees.html

weakness identification is also necessary and with the help of this employee development is essential. This will help in achieving better results. According to Richard A. Albright Jr [5] Performance Appraisal Management is a misused tool of management, a Performance Appraisal method is defined after a lot of effort by the HRM but managers try their best to delay the process of Performance Appraisal. The main reason is the wrong perspective of Performance Management which can result in the employees ending up on opposite sides. There remain misconception among employees about the purpose of Performance Management, they think its only purpose is pay increase and promotion. This is not right. There are a number of reasons for the Performance Appraisal which if cleared to the employees would motivate them towards the Performance Appraisals. So what is the real point of performance appraisals, generally, the aim of the practice is to: y y y y Give feedback on performance to employees. Identify employee training needs. Document criteria used to allocate organizational rewards. Form a basis for personnel decisions: salary increases, promotions, disciplinary actions, etc. y y y Provide the opportunity for organizational diagnosis and development. Facilitate communication between employee and administrator. Validate selection techniques and human resource policies to meet federal Equal Employment Opportunity requirements These all factors combine to improve the performance of an individual as well as the team. The performance of an individual depends on his own ability as well as the environment available to him so it would be unfair if we do not count both of these factors while doing Appraisals of the certain employees.

What Is The Purpose Of The Performance Appraisal Richard A. Albright Jr

Recent theoretical developments have enabled the empirical study of trust for specific Referents in organizations. It is found that the implementation of a more acceptable performance appraisal system increases trust for top management. The 3 proposed factors of trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity) mediated the relationship between perceptions of the appraisal system and trust. [6] In term of Performance Appraisal practices in organizations, it seems likely that the focus of content of appraisal will continue in the immediate future on the achievement of goals, objectives or assessment of competencies. The concept of goal orientation originated in the educational literature and is defined as an orientation towards ones ability. [7] Armstrong proves in his journal
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that though the name has changed of Performance

Appraisal Management over time but the main concept behind these theories is the same. There have been many developments in these practices but they have been evolutionary. They have not happened because of any revolutionary new approaches derived from HRM theory. The fact that the pace of change in personnel management is faster now than before the 1980s is not attributable to the advent of HRM as a philosophy. It has been forced on organizations by the rapidly changing business, political, economic and social environment. Michael Armstrong along with Angela Baron discus issues related with Performance Appraisal Management in their book. [9] which include: y The problem of gaining the commitment of the line managers to Performance Management and of getting to do it well or do it at all. y The process is problematic because of complexity and difficulties involved in one person attempting to sum up the performance of another. Performance Appraisal requires certain skills which many managers not posses. y The prevalence of poorly designed or poorly administered Performance Management schemes.
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Journal of Applied Psychology 1999, Vol. 84, No. I, 123-136 By Roger C. Mayer (Baylor University) and James H. Davis (University of Notre Dame) 7 Journal of occupational and organizational psychology (2001), 74, 473-487 printed in Great Britain. By Clive Fletcher. 8 Employee Relations, Vol. 22 No. 6, 2000, pp. 576-593. 9 Managing performance: performance management in action By Michael Armstrong, Angela Baron

The tendency of managers to adopt a unitary frame of reference, when in reality organizations are more likely to be pluralistic in the sense that there are divergent interests and that it should be acknowledged.

Management indulges in rhetoric about development but often do not put their espoused view into practice.

y y y y y

Appraisal ignores system factors. Appraisal is inconsistent and fundamentally subjective process. Performance Management is wrongly focused on financial rewards. Performance Management is a means of oppressive or coercive control. Both. line managers and employees tend to be disenchanted with Performance Management