Yes, Everyone Really Does Hate Performance Review

Performance management systems can be defined as the continuous process of identifying, measuring and developing the performance of individuals and teams. For employees: It may very well cause a lower self-esteem; employee burnt out and job dissatisfaction, damaged relationships and use of false or misleading information. For managers: it could lead to an increase in turn-over; decreased motivation to perform; unjustified demands on managers' resources and varying and unfair standards and ratings. For an organization: it can be seen as wasted time and money; unclear ratings system; emerging biases and increased risk of litigation. Edward E. Lawler III brings up some good points in his article, “Eliminating Performance Appraisals”. He speaks of how appraisals can cause employee dissatisfaction, opportunity for a potential law suit and can even lead
to higher turn-over. In respect to managers it takes away a large amount of time and most don’t dread completing the assessments. However, conducting reviews can contribute in building on the manager’s skills. It can be powerful tools in helping managers learn the skills needed to effectively manage their employees’ performance. In general, Edward E. Lawler III feels it’s a good idea to eliminate performance appraisals. Samuel A.
Culbert came out strong in the first paragraph of, “Yes, Everyone Really Does Hate Performance Reviews”. “This corporation sham is one of the most insidious, most damaging, and yet most ubiquitous of corporate activities. “It’s a pretentious, bogus practice that produces absolutely nothing that any thinking executive should call a corporate plus”. Samuel feels it a dominance, power controlled, objective opinion and can very well be used to show favoritism. He feels the, “one sided boss dominated performance review needs to be replaced by a straight talking relationship where the focus is on results, not personality, and where the boss is held accountable for the success of the subordinate (instead of just using the performance review to blame the subordinate for any problems they’re having)”…………..which we tend to see often. In having conversations on a daily basis; in communicating and through listening can very well be the simple replacement. In the end, Samuel states that, “everybody deserves the best show managers can give them. And they can’t get that shot without performance
appraisals”. Presently I am employed with a very large corporate type company. There are policies, which include annual performance reviews. I have to agree with both authors in their negative feelings about reviews. This was the first performance review I had with this employer. In our bi-annual review she asked me to review two of the team members since I was leading the group. At the end of the year she went online and evaluated each person. Quite frankly, there’s no way she could be accurate given we all work from home and because she’s a very hands-off manager unless something critical needs attention. With my previous company, of which I spent 6+ years, we had no policies with no performance reviews. It was a much smaller, more intimate type setting where communication took place, almost, on a daily basis. In the line of business I am in you cannot be in your role unless you’re successful. The low turn-over rate can be is a sure sign something’s being done right. In closing, performance appraisals weigh heavily on employees and managers. Should they continue to be part of employers’ processes? If you ask me and it seems the two educated authors we agree, “NO”.