Gary E. Roberts

Employee Performance Appraisal System Participation: A Technique That Works:

Performance appraisal is one of the most complex and controversial human resource techniques. Participatory performance appraisal is an essential and proven attribute of an effective performance appraisal system. This article summarizes the conceptual foundation for participation including its intrinsic motivational value, the expansion of available information, and the opportunity to interject employee voice. The moderating role of goal setting and feedback in enhancing participation effectiveness is outlined. The article concludes with factors that attenuate the effectiveness of participation including lack of training, absence of rater accountability strategies, and organizational and supervisory resistance to honest subordinate feedback.

Perspectives on Enduring and Emerging Issues in Performance Appraisal

The purpose of this essay is to explore critical issues and emerging trends in performance appraisal, issues that are enduring and several “cutting edge” developments. A convenience sample of 18 personnel managers and supervisors served as a de-facto focus group to test whether issues in the literature are salient and relevant to practitioners and to provide specific examples that illustrate the range of opinions regarding the controversial areas. Areas discussed include the challenges posed by Total Quality Management, implementation problems relative to organizational commitment, rater training, performance documentation, multiple sources of appraisal information and the importance of systematic appraisal quality control and assessment, among others. The paper concludes with a number of suggestions for practice and research.

Maximizing Performance Appraisal System Acceptance: Perspectives from Municipal Government Personnel Administrators

The variables that are associated with perceptions of performance appraisal system acceptance were investigated. Employee acceptance is a critical factor in the development of an effective system. The data were derived from a national survey of municipal government personnel administrators. Factor analysis was used to produce reliable and valid measures of employee voice (participation, goal setting and feedback), information validity and the dependent variables of employee acceptance. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the relationships. The results indicated that the systems that were perceived to haveeffectively deployed processes to implement voice and performance appraisal information validity were associated with a higher level of perceived employee performance appraisal system acceptance.

Linkages Between Performance Appraisal System Effectiveness and Rater and Ratee Acceptance

This article examines the correlates of perceived effective performance ap praisal systems with special emphasis on the role of perceived rater and ratee acceptance. The sample consists of 240 municipal government performance appraisal systems and is the first attempt to test the relationships using a large sample. This study is congruent with recent research that emphasizes the importance of process variables over technique and instrumentation. The results indicate that perceived rater and ratee performance appraisal system acceptance explains the greatest amount of the variance in perceived appraisal system effectiveness.

Municipal Government Personnel Professionals and Performance Appraisal: Is There a Consensus on the Characteristics of an Effective Appraisal System?:

Personnel manager knowledge of the characteristics of an effective performance appraisal system is potentially an important factor in appraisal system development. The results of a national sample of municipal personnel professionals indicate that personnelists tend to agree with the performance appraisal literature regarding the essential attributes of an effective appraisal system. A discriminant analysis was performed to identify the characteristics differentiating respondents on their degree of agreement with the appraisal literature. The results demonstrate that personnelists who are less experienced are more likely to support the literature, but the model explained only a small portion of the variance. The most interesting substantive finding is that rater participation in the development of the system is deemed more important than employee participation.

Personnel Implications of Public Sector Virtual Organizations

This investigation explores the operational nature of virtual teams in the federal sector. As more federal agencies allow employees to work from home, there is an increasing problem with office staffing and organizational effectiveness. Utilizing the Department of Energy (DOE) employees as virtual participants, the investigation uses the triangulation method approach for data collection. The primary goal is to explore human resource issues as they relate to virtual organizations. The significant findings include the following: (a) organizational selection practices should incorporate methods to identify the behavioral attributes and (b) characteristics associated with effective virtual team performance should be identified, and (c) organizations should celebrate accomplishments to help promote group cohesiveness. The paper concludes with a discussion, highlighting strategic implications for researchers and practitioners. This effort contributes to further exploration into the application of virtual teams in the government sector.

Traditional and family-friendly benefits practices in local governments: Results from a national survey

Traditional and family-friendly benefits are an essential and costly component of the compensation and human resources management system. This research effort surveyed 427 local governments regarding their benefits practices. The results indicate that local governments provide a competitive traditional benefits package (health, pension, etc.) but provide few family-friendly benefits (child care, elder care, etc.). Municipal governments provide greater breadth and depth of benefits coverage than county governments. The provision of family-friendly benefits is positively associated with the number of needs assessment strategies, the dummy variable for municipal government, the number of structural solutions implemented, state management of selected benefits and the provision of part-time benefits.

Municipal Government Benefits Practices and Personnel Outcomes: Results from a National Survey

Employee benefits are an essential and costly component of the compensation and human resources management system. This research effort surveyed 358 municipal governments on their employee benefits practices. The survey results clearly indicate that municipal governments are very competitive in terms of traditional benefits (health, pensions, dental coverage, etc.) as all 10 types, except for short-term disability, are provided by a majority of the responding municipalities and exceed private sector rates. Municipal governments lag behind the private sector in the deployment of key family-friendly benefits such as child-care, elder care, flexi-place, flex-time and job sharing.

Municipal Government Performance Appraisal System Practices: Is the Whole Less Than the Sum of Its Parts?

This article presents the results of a national survey of municipal government performance appraisal system practices based upon the responses of 240 personnel professionals. The survey focuses on appraisal system structure, the link between performance and personnel decision making, perceived user acceptance, and observations on the effectiveness of the appraisal system. The results indicate that most performance appraisal systems are designed in accordance with the literature. However, the administration of these systems is more problematic. Most systems are perceived to be somewhat effective in terms of the process of appraisal and the affects on motivation and productivity.

Barriers to Municipal Government Performance Appraisal Systems: Evidence from a Survey of Municipal Personnel Administrators

Performance appraisal systems are an important tool of personnel management, but not all municipalities utilize this technique. The study analyzed the major reasons why municipal governments do not implement a formal performance appraisal system. The data was derived from a national sample of municipal government personnel officers. The results indicate that the most important barriers were a lack of expertise in performance appraisal and insufficient resources to adequately support a system. Discriminate analysis showed that western and southern cities were more likely to utilize an appraisal system, while eastern cities were least likely. Other significant variables associated with existence of a performance appraisal system were a favorable labor relations climate and lower turnover rates. Implications for development of a performance appraisal system are discussed.