Symposium on Performance Appraisal

• Date: 01 September 1981
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X8100200106
• Published date: 01 September 1981
• Subject Matter: Articles

SYMPOSIUM ON
PERFORMANCE
APPRAISAL
Call for Papers
The 1980s will witness a great deal of activity in the area of modification
and redesign of long-established, but generally poorly utilized, performance ap-
praisal systems. The example of performance appraisal reform being pinpointed
as a major component of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 has stimulated
similar activity -
through Inter-governmental Personnel Act channels and as
a result of independent action -
in state and local governments throughout
the country.
Although much activity seems to lie ahead, much still remains unknown about
how performance appraisal can best serve the needs of public administrators.
A
wide range of views exists with respect to the relative advantages of different
types of appraisal systems (e.g., behaviorally anchored rating scales versus
cooperative goal setting versus self-appraisal) with respect to the question of
the uses of performance appraisal; that is, should performance appraisal be
used as a means of annual self-analysis, as a means of validating selection and
promotional processes, as a device to allocate merit pay, etc. Although much
debate over the relative merits of these approaches and potential uses for per-
formance appraisal exists, there is relatively little empirical evidence on the ef-
fects of one or another...