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Summary articlesStrategic Human Resource
Management
Performance appraisal and performance management: 100 years of progress?
Performance appraisal refers to formal process, which occurs infrequently, by which employees
are evaluated by typically a supervisor who assesses the performance along a set of dimensions,
assigns score and then informs employee of formal rating (variety of decisions on this rating)
Performance management is usually based on this performance appraisal.
What is the best way to rate while avoiding problems of subjectivity and inaccuracy?
Format does not matter so much, a perfect rating scale was never found but it pushed the
focus of appraisals to behavioral aspects, which made appraisals more acceptable and clear.
Holy trinity of error measures; halo (based on one good characteristic), leniency/severity and
central tendency/range restriction (different raters should have small differences)
Definitions of accuracy are not interchangeable and therefore results of studies also aren't
Training raters to avoid rating errors did not necessarily lead to more accurate ratings.
Frame of Reference (FOR) training asks to rate tapes; afterwards hear correct score and why.
Identifying goals to improve weaknesses, frequent evaluations, knowledge consistency
among feedback are important predictors of perceptions of fairness and rating accuracy.
People see different ways to evaluate performance appraisals (as from employee
perspective).
Performance appraisals are often used for multiple reasons, and these reasons can lead to
conflicting goals for appraisal; but this is extremely rare to find in practice
Obtaining information from sources can be useful, but differ systematically in conclusions
about performance and evaluations from others are less favorable than self-evaluation
Performance ratings might be affected by demographic variables such as race, gender, or age.
In the field, these variables do not have a large effect (sexism, racism, and ageism)
Cognitive processes helps understand how raters obtain, process and retrieve information
ProMES is system that combines feedback, goals and incentives to improve productivity.
Rather than focusing on accuracy looking at what drives employees to improve performance
Journal of Applied Physics tested models and addressed critical technical issues
No empirical articles that have demonstrated how improving individual level performance can
be leveraged to improve firm-level performance (but this has always been assumed).
Thus, we are left with conceptual/theoretical work explaining how such
systems could be developed, but this work has been confined primarily to books.
Performance appraisal is used for variety of purposes and these purposes influence way
performance is defined (task and contextual performance) and approach task of appraisal
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, Exploring cross-cultural skills for expatriate managers from Chinese
multinationals: congruence and contextualization
Rise in MNE's leads to more need for cross-cultural skills. Going global was firmly established as a national
strategy in 2004, since then Chinese expatriate outflow has increased significantly .
There are substantia l cultural and managerial diffe rencesbetween China and many foreign markets. It is still
unclear whether international managers alwaysneed the same set of skills in different host countries, and
previous literature on expatriate skills predominately focused on Western expatriates.
Literature review
A learning perspective of cross-cultural skills
Expatriate adjustment refers to the degree to which expatriates are psychologically familiar with a new
environment and behaviourally competent to effectively function in a fore ign culture.
Social learning theory is used to explain how acquisition and adaptation of personal skills comes about . Social
learn ing theory states that (1) learning is a central process of behavioural change and personal development;
and (2) learningis a continuous interacting process of an individual with his or her environment.
Expatriatesneed to acquire and develop new skills to fulfil social expectations of the host society, different than
those that are effective at home.
International management (IM ) literature identifies 4 universal cross-cultural skills:
Self-m aintenance : stress reduction Nd self-confidence, needed for the extra stress of relocating and being far
from home.
Perceptual: cognitive processing of unfamiliar situa t ions and human behaviours. Needed to learn and then
adapt.
Int erpersonal: ability to interact with nationals. Needed for establishing relationships.
Commun ication: good language skills. Which
are most important, and why?
A contextual perspective of cross-cultural skills
Contextualization simply means linking observations to a set of relevant facts, actions, events, or ideas.
Coll ectivism-individualism and power -distance (the extent to which lower ranking individualsof a society
accept unequal dist ribution of power) are the main cultural factors that influenceexpatriate work behaviour.
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, Polit ical stability and institutional maturity (transparent and not corrupt) could affect Chinese expatriates.
Methodology
Qualitative research design with semi-structured (online) interviews. (1) the background information of the
expatriate; (2) the opportunities and challenges in developing and using cross-cultural skills; and (3) the
situations in which cross-cultural skills function effectivelyor ineffectively.
Selection of informants
Three groups of informants were interviewed to get diverse perspectives, including the Chinese expatriates, t
heir local colleagues, and the expatriate supervisors at headquarters . The expat riates had to be managers
and on international assignment for more than 6 months. Companies representing a variety of industries
were chosen.
Findings
All four sets of skills were found to be important, but the order of importance was different for different
countries. This is attr ibuted to differing contextual factors.
Self-maintenance skills
Expatriation as a life-changing event may trigger high level of stress for expatriates due to relocation, isolation
(due to language and cultural barr iers),local pressure, and family pressures. The Middle East and Africa,
harsh environment, demanded more of these skills. Managers stated that the intense competition in the
Chinese labour market made them more prepared.In non-English speaking countries not knowing the
language led to difficulties in socializing, and English -speaking countries it was stil l difficult because of a lack
of understanding of the culture.
Interpersonal skills
In Western developed countries such as the UK and Australia, Chinese managers were not well viewed with
regard to their relationship building capabilities. These countries expect low-drempelige communication for
example during lunch, about topics other than work.
Reasons for the limited social interactions were attributed to the work-centred approach the high power-
distance in China.
Most of them stated that they respected local colleaguesbut complained about the lack of knowledge
about social expectations, appropriate behaviours in interactions, and suitable approaches to building
relationships.
Workers in Africa did not mention this problem. They spent time with locals sharing food and teaching
them skills.
Perceptual skills
Both Chinese expatriates and the local employees indicated that the authoritarian leadership style used by
Chinese managers were the main causes of cross-cultural work conflicts. Especially in Western countries
more democratic leadership was demanded. Expatriates working in South/Southeast Asia, Middle Eastern
countries and Africa expressed very few problems in this regard.
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