From Performance Appraisal to Performance Targeting

Abstract

This paper argues that performance appraisal as a method of studying what an employee (or a team) has accomplished in the past is expensive, has limited value, and may even be dysfunctional for improving future performance. The paper suggests replacing performance appraisal with performance targeting—a concept that embraces a strategic perspective and an orientation toward the future. Performance targeting shifts the focus from documenting and evaluating an employee's work to assesssing the partnership between a subordinate and a supervisor. In this relationship the supervisor and the subordinate share the responsibility for attaining desired results.