Many performance appraisal systems are helping to produce dysfunctional organisations, according to a workplace ethics expert. Michele "Micki" Kacmar, a management professor at the University of Alabama, says performance appraisals that just put ticks in boxes result in bad workplaces, bullying and high turnover.
She says most workers are motivated more by respect than money. The trouble is, most performance management systems fail to pick this up.
"You don't quit your job, you quit your supervisor," Professor Kacmar says. "But they don't say that. Instead, they say there was no flexibility, the hours were bad and the commute was too long. What they're really saying, though, is, my boss doesn't respect me, I'm not getting the treatment I deserve.
"People will take a lot of hardship if they believe people respect them. The money is great, but if you go to work every day and hate what you do and hate what's going on around you, the pay cheque will go to the doctor to fix the physical symptoms that the stress in the organisation is causing you."
Professor Kacmar, whose work focuses extensively on the "dark side" of organisations, says performance appraisals need to be conducted more often, at least quarterly, if they are to pick up black spots in an organisation. Part of the problem, she says, is that all organisations are political.
The problem is not with the performance appraisal systems, but the way these are thought through and implemented. An abusive supervisor, for example, would be allowed to continue because no one would speak up and the bullying behaviour would not be deemed relevant by the supervisor's superiors.
"In organisations, you will find fiefdoms where the people you hire and fire will do your bidding. It creates an environment that allows you to be king," she says. "In order for this supervisor to be fired, whoever does their performance appraisal would have to document their behaviour. But the problem is, the person in charge of that person doesn't see the bad behaviour because it's focused outwards, and not upwards."
In her work consulting with companies and government agencies, Professor Kacmar has developed a scale for assessing organisational dysfunction. Her scale has three indicators: behaviour, policies and systems, and the level to which people in the organisation turn a blind eye (a process that she labels Going Along to Get Ahead, or GAGA).
Professor Kacmar says there are very few organisations that would score well on all three indicators. The ones that do score well have strong ethical cultures, motivated workforces and performance management systems that focus on people's success stories, not their shortcomings.
From: http://www.theage.com.au
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