Nonmanagerial Performance Appraisal Practices in Large American Cities

Abstract

Public personnel management in the United States is a massive enterprise. Governmental employment at all levels in the U.S. federal system totals approximately 16 million workers. Roughly, 82 percent of these civil servants work at the state and local levels, and over 2.4 million are employed by city governments.' To manage human resources, personnel administrators rely on several managerial processes, including position classification, recruitment, selection, compensation, organizational development/training, and performance appraisal. In many respects the latter process, performance appraisal, is inextricably linked to all other personnel functions. For instance, after jobs have been described and classified, the degree to which employees perform requisite duties must be measured. Similarly, performance appraisal is often used to validate selection criteria used in recruitment as well as to aid in organizational development/training activities. With respect to compensation and disciplinary decisions, Tyer notes that performance appraisal is used: (1) as an aid in making annual salary adjustments; (2) to assist in identifying employees capable of being promoted; and (3) to justify adverse personnel actions such as demotions and dismissals.2 The centrality of performance appraisal to personnel administration is illustrated by the extensive literature on the topic.3 Few studies, however, have attempted to analyze the use of performance evaluation systems across city governments. Research by Lacho, Stearns, and Villere4 and by Ammons and Rodriguez' are exceptions. In 1979, the former group of scholars summarized their findings concerning the characteristics of performance evaluation systems for 50 of the 60 largest U.S. cities. More recently (1986), Ammons and Rodriguez report on their examination of the appraisal practices employed to evaluate the performance of upper management employees in 122 medium and large American cities. The purpose of the present study is twofold: (1) to update and extend the city coverage of the Lacho et al. study and (2) to replicate and extend Ammons' and Rodriguez's study by analyzing appraisal practices used to evaluate nonmanagerial city employees in large cities. This research note should be viewed as a companion piece to the study by Ammons and Rodriguez. The survey instrument used in the Ammons and Rodriguez study was secured from them and modified, where ap* This article summarizes findings of a survey of nonmanagerial performance appraisal practices in large U.S. cities. It replicates and extends earlier research by Ammons and Rodriguez (1986) reported in this journal that examined upper management performance appraisal practices. Topics discussed include prevalence of formal evaluation systems, types of appraisal techniques used, objectives of evaluation efforts, and appraisal frequency, satisfaction, and time allocation. The impact of city size (i.e., number of municipal employees) and form of government on appraisal practices are also analyzed. Findings suggest that major differences exist between nonmanagerial and managerial performance appraisal practices.