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Articles and White Papers
Connecting Performance With Organizational Development
Conclusion: Novel models for assessing performance provide a closer link between actual performance and performance ratings.
Reference:Explaining the Weak Relationship between Job Performance and Ratings of Job Performance by K. R. Murphy of the Pennsylvania State University. This article can be found on the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Inc. www.siop.org.
Why This Article Is Important: A challenge to successfully predicting good performers is the actual measurement of an incumbent's performance. Scholars have debated the best practices with regards to performance appraisals; however, they have come to some agreement about the poor feasibility of objective measures (e.g. production counts). Instead, most companies rightfully utilize subjective measures of job performance (measurement that relies on personal judgment). This article highlights the best practices with regards to gathering subjective performance data while simultaneously lessening the measurement error associated with personal judgments. These practices are helpful to anyone associated with HR practices including selection and/or performance appraisals.
Major Findings: This article reviews three different models for assessing performance data. While the details of the models are somewhat complex, the implications of this research suggest the need for professionals to take other things into account when analyzing performance data. Outside circumstances, such as situational and contextual factors (e.g., the purpose of the ratings, rater's ability to recall information, and rating scales) can lead to unwanted error in judgment. These findings suggest the criticality of engaging raters that are properly trained and motivated to use performance appraisals appropriately. Further, this article proposes that organizations should reevaluate the goals of their assessment processes, provide tools and opportunities to accurately assess individuals, and ensure a climate that is conducive to honest performance appraisals.
What Does It Mean To You? a) Organizations should predominately use subjective data over and above objective data in performance evaluations; b) Your performance appraisal system should accurately reflect what your organization truly wants to measure; c) Not only should raters (supervisors) be trained on providing assessments, but efforts should be made to increase a rater's capacity to remember past performance (e.g. behavior diaries) and d) Performance scales and training programs are important, but efforts should also be placed on connecting the performance appraisal system to overall organizational development.
