The Flaws of the Performance Management System

Today's corporate performance management systems are the foundation of many promotion and merit based pay decisions. Corporate managers work very closely with their subordinates to develop "Goals" and "Action Plans" to align with the company's objectives and the career goals of employees, respectively.

However, the performance appraisal system has evolved into more of a "documentation tool" than an actual coaching tool. Corporate Managers utilize this tool to retroactively support their decisions:

• Promote a star employee
  
• Discipline a problem employee
  
• Transfer an employee to another department

Often the decisions to promote, discipline, or transfer employees have very little to do with the Performance Appraisal (PA) process. It is very rare for an employee's development and subsequent corporate contribution to be tied to an effective PA process. In fact, the PA process is often months overdue---Initial Planning completed at the end of Q1, and the final rating completed after a promotion and merit decision has been made the following year.

So Why Bother with a PA System

Employees often accept these PA documents for what they are: Documentation to support management decisions. There really is no PA process. The Human Resources departments perpetuate the PA process and ensure that the appropriate documentation is completed. Does any employee ever actually develop so much during one year that they achieve all of the predefined goals spelled out in Q1? Also, can a corporation really see the employee make a significant contribution based on this remarkable development plan throughout the year?
Finally, does the company really care about some document that a manager and their employee created if it doesn't fully align with the corporate goals? Probably not.




Corporations basically focus on the following:

• Meeting Corporate Metrics
• Staying out of trouble

Let's increase Corporate Productivity by Being Candid:

• Report Individual and Team Metrics on relevant dashboard systems
• Address disciplinary issues immediately
• Clearly define training and developmental opportunities at the beginning of a year

The corporate Performance Appraisal System is a joke. It is not timely, it is often not relevant, and it is merely a redundant version of a corporate dashboard. Please stop masking this tool for what it really is: a form of documentation to retroactively support management decisions.