Making performance appraisals consistent with a quality environment

Total quality theorists, such as W. Edwards Deming, have argued that the performance appraisal process inherently undermines cooperation and teamwork and creates a climate of fear and mistrust in the workplace. Human resource practitioners say formal performance appraisals represent an important par...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quality progress 1995-06, Vol.28 (6), p.65
Main Author: Weber, Allan J
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Corporate culture
Employees
Guidelines
Management by objectives
Management styles
Organization development
Performance appraisal
Supervisors
Total quality
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Summary:Total quality theorists, such as W. Edwards Deming, have argued that the performance appraisal process inherently undermines cooperation and teamwork and creates a climate of fear and mistrust in the workplace. Human resource practitioners say formal performance appraisals represent an important part of the internal culture for many organizations. Therefore, organizations are reluctant to eliminate appraisals until there is an alternative. One interim approach is to modify existing appraisal criteria to make them more compatible with total quality principles. For the city government of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the first attempt at this was the use of trait evaluations. This process was a step ahead of having no system in place, but it had 3 major limitations: 1. Appraisals have no clear definitions. 2. Appraisals were not job specific. 3. Appraisals were not objective. These problems served as the impetus for Milwaukee to adopt evaluation approaches embodying management by objectives. Details are provided.
ISSN:0033-524X