Publications

This paper reviews the literature on performance management and appraisals to see where there may be useful learning for organisations. It also provides important criteria on which to judge the effectiveness of the implementation of a performance management system.

This note summarises the interim findings of literature and case-based research into the implementation of performance management systems conducted by IES in 2011.

Performance management, it appears, isn’t working.

Although it is a concept that has commanded considerable attention from academics, researchers and practitioners alike over the past ten to twenty years, performance management retains much of its 'grail' type quality for many organisations. In spite of its many iterations, designing, implementing and applying a performance management process that both adds value to business performance and creates a developmental, satisfying and rewarding place to work continues to challenge each layer of management and its HR partners.

This report makes explicit the issues faced by organisations who are implementing 360-degree feedback for the first time, reviewing what they have gained since implementation, or considering its use within a different context (such as appraisal). The report examines evidence in favour of 360-degree feedback from employees' behavioural change and improved performance, to organisational effectiveness and added value. Recommendations are provided for future practice, based on the findings, to increase the impact of 360-degree feedback in different contexts.

Organisations are now placing heavy emphasis on the role of the manager as coach, and on the workplace as a learning environment. This report contains a literature review of ideas about managers as developers of others, presents the IES research findings, including a framework for managers, and relates some of the narrative accounts collected.