Barriers to Municipal Government Performance Appraisal Systems: Evidence from a Survey of Municipal Personnel Administrators

• DOI: 10.1177/009102609402300205
• Date: 01 June 1994
• Author: Gary E. Roberts
• Published date: 01 June 1994
• Subject Matter: Article

Barriers

to

Municipal

Government Performance

Appraisal

Systems:

Evidence

from

a

Survey

of

Municipal

Personnel Administrators

Performance

appraisal

systems

are

an

important

tool of

personnel

management,

but not all

municipalities

utilize this

technique.

The study analyzed the

major

reasons

why

municipal

governments

do

not

implement

a

formal

performance

appraisal

system.

The

data

was

derived

from

a

national

sample

of

municipal

government

personnel

officers.

The

results

indicate

that

the

most

important

barriers

were

a

lack

of

expertise

in

performance

appraisal

and insufficient

resources

to

adequately

support

a system.

Discriminate

analysis showed

that

western and

southern

cities

were

more

likely to utilize an

appraisal

system,

while

eastern

cities

were

least

likely.

Other

significant

variables

associated

with

existence

of

a

performance

appraisal

system

were

a

favorable

labor

relations

climate

and lower

turnover

rates.

Implications

for develop-

ment

of a

performance

appraisal

system

are

discussed.

By

Gary

E.

Roberts

Gaiy

E.

Roberts

is

an

assistant

pro-

fessor of public

administration

at

Florida

International University.

His

research

focus is on human

resources

management with spe-

cial

emphasis on

performance

ap-

praisal.

Mr. Roberts was

previously employed by

the

Pitts-

burgh

Department of Public

Safety

as

a

senior

research

analyst

specializing in

human

resource

is-

sues for law

enforcement

and

fire.

He

is

currently

conducting re-

search

in performance measure-

ment,

age discrimination and

public

management.

Mr.

Roberts

received

his

Ph.D.

degree

from

the

University

of

Pittsburgh.

Performance appraisal is an important tool of personnel manage-

ment. The evaluation of employee performance is an ubiquitous process

that occurs both formally and informally, irrespective of the existence of a

formal performance appraisal system. Performance appraisal has had a

controversial history with both strong proponents and detractors. Oppo-

nents argue that traditional individual performance appraisal assumes a

false

degree of measurement accuracy, ignores and devalues group per-

formance,

has a built-in conflict between employee evaluation and coun-

seling,

and engenders dysfunctional conflict and competition (See Meyer,

1975;

Thayer, 1978; Nalbandian,

1981;

Thayer, 1987; Thayer, 1987; Fox,

1991).

Supporters argue that employees believe that personnel decision

making should be based

upon

performance, that employees actively seek

diagnostic and evaluative performance feedback, assert that performance

can

be

measured accurately on some

jobs,

observe that

jobs

vary on whether

performance is a product of an individual or a group and that greater

employee participation can mitigate the conflict and defensiveness of tra-

ditional performance appraisal (Lovrich et al., 1980; Latham & Wexley,

1981;

Greenberg, 1987; Folger, 1987; Roberts, 1990; Norman & Zawacki,

1991).

It is beyond the scope of this article to analyze these arguments in

detail, except to state that there is considerable merit on both sides. It is clear

that an organization can operate with or without a formal performance

appraisal system. A survey by Roberts

(1990)

found that approximately one

in four municipal governments do not operate a formal performance

Public

Personnel

Management

Vol.

23

No.2

(Summer

1994)

225