Line managers’ AMO to manage employees’ performance: the route to effective and satisfying performance management

Abstract

Performance management systems are used to increase employees’ performance with the ultimate aim of increasing organizational performance. Organizations rely on line managers to implement performance management systems and to engage in a continuous process of goal-setting, feedback, coaching and performance appraisal with their employees. Drawing on the AMO theory, we predict that the effectiveness of performance management implementation will be a function of three factors. First, line managers should have the Ability to enact the activities that are involved in performance management. Secondly, they should be Motivated to perform these activities. Thirdly, line managers should have sufficient Opportunity to fulfill these activities on top of the demands from other organizational. If not, they could experience role conflict. We developed several cross-level hypotheses. The data came from 71 line managers and 318 employees working in Flemish education. Hierarchical linear modelling found that line managers’ AMO to implement performance management systems was positively related to employees’ satisfaction with the system. These relationships were mediated by employees’ perceptions that the performance management system is strong. A strong system signals that its features are salient across employees and that the system is clear and understood. This study has several theoretical and practical implications.     

Are high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) enabling or disabling? Exploring the relationship between selected HPWPs and work‐related disability disadvantage

We develop the organizational characteristics element of Stone and Colella's (1996) framework by drawing on the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) model to assess the relationship between high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) and work‐related disability disadvantage. We develop competing “enabling” and “disabling” hypotheses concerning the influence of selected HPWPs (competency testing, performance appraisal, individual performance‐related pay, teamworking, and functional flexibility) on disabled relative to nondisabled employees. An empirical assessment of these competing hypotheses using matched employer–employee data from the nationally representative British Workplace Employment Relations Study 2011 reveals a negative relationship between these HPWPs when used in combination and the proportion of disabled employees at the workplace, although this relationship disappears in workplaces with a wide range of disability equality practices. While disabled employees report lower work‐related well‐being than their nondisabled counterparts, we find limited evidence that this is associated with the presence of HPWPs.     

Goals,Strategic Planning,and Performance in Government Agencies

Abstract

The setting of clear goals and strategic planning are characterized as critical roles of public managers that are closely related to the measurement and enhancement of organizational performance. This study investigates the effects of goal properties and strategic planning capacity and their interacting effects on government agency performance, an aspect which has rarely been explored in the public administration field. For this analysis, we use the hierarchical linear modelling method with data from the 2005 Merit Principle Survey and the 2005 Program Assessment Rating Tool. The dependent variable is perceived organizational performance at the individual level. The main independent variables are three types of goal properties – job-goal commitment, job-goal specificity, and mission specificity, measured at the individual level – and strategic planning capacity, measured at the agency level. The results suggest that in the data these goal-related attitudes and activities can make crucial contributions to the enhancement of organizational performance with no interacting effect.     

Feedback and Motivation in Dynamic Tournaments

We investigate the choice to conduct interim performance evaluations in a dynamic tournament. When a worker's ability does not influence the marginal benefit of effort, the choice depends on the shape of the cost of effort function. When effort and ability are complementary, feedback has several competing effects: it informs workers about their relative position in the tournament (evaluation effect) as well as their relative productivity (motivation effect) and it creates signal‐jamming incentives to exert effort prior to the performance evaluation. These effects suggest a tradeoff of performance feedback between evaluation and motivation which is in accordance with organizational behavior research and performance appraisal practices.     

Respect,bullying, and public sector work outcomes in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

This article examines empirical links between a subordinate’s felt recognition respect from his/her supervisor, the subordinate’s appraisal respect for that supervisor, and bullying, work engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviour in Vietnam’s public sector. Data from 274 employees in six branches of a public sector agency were used to test the hypothesized model. Within Vietnam’s public sector, the followers who receive recognition respect from the leaders have greater appraisal respect for their leaders, experience less bullying, and reveal higher work engagement and organizational citizenship behaviour. This article theoretically and empirically contributes to the respect literature developed in the Western context.     

Are there major differences in the attitudes and service quality of standard and seasonal employees? An empirical examination and implications for practice

Despite the increased use of seasonal employees by organizations, few studies have been completed on the attitudes and service quality of seasonal office workers. Using Lautsch's classification model, we analyzed the organizational context in which the standard and seasonal workers in this study were employed. Hypotheses were developed based upon the organizational analysis and social exchange theory. Results from archival data obtained from a web‐based organizational survey of 205 clerical and professional workers indicated contrary to expectations, standard and seasonal employees did not significantly differ in terms of perceptions of overall job conditions, perceived organizational support (POS), or job engagement. However, seasonal employees did report significantly fewer opportunities to work on challenging tasks, less comfortable physical working conditions, and less job security than the standard workers. As predicted, standard employees reported significantly higher levels of service quality performance than seasonal employees. Additionally, job engagement mediated the relationship between POS and service quality for both the standard and seasonal employees. Implications for managing seasonal employees are discussed.     

Teamworking and performance: the extent and intensity of teamworking in the 1998 UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS98)

This article uses the 1998 UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey to address two main issues: whether a relationship between teamworking and performance can be said to exist; and, if it can, how that relationship might be explained. For the first of these we construct a variable that measures the extent of teamworking within an establishment. This is found to be positively and significantly related to productivity and financial performance. To address our second main issue we examine the idea that the key factor in performance is the degree of teams' decision-making autonomy. We look at this by constructing a measure of teamworking intensity. This is found to be positively and significantly associated with productivity and quality levels. Taken alongside other studies, these results are used to suggest that, in looking at the teamworking-performance relationship, the focus of attention should be on the structural properties of teams rather than the individual team members' experiences of work.     

Determinants of employee willingness to use feedback for performance improvement: cultural and organizational interpretations

This study was designed to identify determinants of employee willingness to use feedback for performance improvement. The proposed determinants included objectives of appraisal, supervisor's knowledge of subordinate's job, agreed plan for performance improvement, trust in supervisor and perceived fairness and accuracy of performance evaluation. Data were collected in two phases. The first phase consisted of a questionnaire survey among 100 Hong Kong Chinese employees working in public and private sector organizations. Regression analysis of questionnaire data indicated that agreed plan for performance improvement and perceived fairness and accuracy of performance evaluation had significant positive effects on employee willingness to use performance feedback. In the second phase, focus group interviews were held to triangulate survey findings. Interview data suggested that Chinese cultural characteristics of paternalism and personalism influenced the underlying dynamics of the evaluation process. Findings are interpreted in the context of employees cultural and organizational background.     

绩效考核政治行为多层影响因素研究

绩效考核政治在组织中广泛存在,识别不同类型绩效考核政治的成因对于采取趋利避害的管控策略具有重要意义,需构建绩效考核政治成因框架。实证分析表明:利己主义、互惠规范和情境控制是理解评价者绩效考核政治行为的重要视角,参与者方面的被考核者特征和评价者特征以及情境方面的评价体系特征和组织特征对不同类型的绩效考核政治行为会产生差异性影响。组织可以从科学选拔主管、做好主管的绩效考核工作、优化考核体系、合理分配考核权力以及塑造组织伦理氛围等方面,采取有效措施管控评价者负面的绩效考核政治行为。     

Stimulating teachers’ team performance through team-oriented HR practices: the roles of affective team commitment and information processing

Abstract

Teams of teachers are increasingly held accountable for the quality of education and educational reforms in vocational education and training institutions. However, historically teachers have not been required to engage in deep-level collaboration, thus team-oriented HR practices are being used to promote teamworking in the sector. This paper examines the relationship between team-oriented HR practices and team performance in terms of innovation and efficiency via teachers’ affective team commitment and engagement in information processing. To examine these associations, a team-oriented HRM research instrument was developed and validated based on the ability-motivation-opportunity model (N = 970, 130 teams) and hypothesised associations were examined using multilevel structural equation modelling (N = 704, 70 teams). The results show positive relationships between the team-oriented HR practices of recruitment, team development, team evaluation and teamwork facilitation, and team innovation. Additionally, all practices except team development were positively related to team efficiency. The relationships between team-oriented HR practices and these team performance indicators were often partially or fully mediated by affective team commitment and information processing. Because affective team commitment and information processing sometimes only partially mediated the links between team-oriented HR practices and team performance, other underlying mechanisms await identification.     

Public Management and Network Specificity: Effects of colleges’ ties with professional organizations on graduates’ labour market success and satisfaction

Abstract

Research on managerial networking in the public sector reports positive effects of network activity on performance. However, little is known about which network relations influence different aspects of performance. We argue that for specific organizational goals, organizations should direct their networking activities towards specific types of organizations. We explore how different types of network relations of Dutch colleges for nursing studies affect the performance of these colleges. We analyse the effect of ties with professional organizations on: (1) graduates’ program satisfaction, (2) graduates’ wages and (3) graduates’ employment (n = 1,484 graduates). Multilevel analyses show that colleges’ ties with professional organizations positively affect graduates’ wages and employment.     

Outsourcing HR: The Impact of Organizational Characteristics

This study investigates the relationship between a number of organizational characteristics and the decision to outsource HR. Determinants of the outsourcing of four categories of HR are examined: HR generalists activities (e.g., performance appraisal), transactional activities (e.g., payroll), human capital activities (e.g., training), and recruiting and selection. HR executives in 432 organizations provided data on outsourcing levels and organizational characteristics. Reliance on HR outsourcing was associated with idiosyncratic HR practices, strategic HR involvement, positive HR outcomes, promotional opportunities, demand uncertainty, and pay level. As predicted, however, the impact of organizational characteristics varied among the different types of HR activities outsourced. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Loyalty to supervisor and trust in supervisor of workers in Chinese joint ventures: a test of two competing models

This study examines the factors affecting joint venture employees' loyalty to supervisor in the People's Republic of China. The trust framework and justice framework are employed to develop two competing models for studying the antecedents and consequences of loyalty to supervisor in the context of Chinese joint ventures. The direct effect model proposes that there is a direct effect of employees' perception of interactional justice and of trust in supervisor on their loyalty to supervisor, while the mediation model considers trust in supervisor as a mediating variable between interactional justice and loyalty to supervisor. Additionally, the two models suggest that loyalty to supervisor affects the in-role job performance and organizational citizenship behaviour of workers. The results showed that the mediation model was better supported than the direct effect model. It has been found that trust in supervisor mediates the relationships between interactional justice and loyalty to supervisor. In addition, loyalty to supervisor has significant effects on both employees' performance and organizational citizenship behaviour. Practically, the findings of the present study provide considerable implications for managing Chinese workers in joint ventures.     

The moderating effects of organizational context on the relationship between voluntary turnover and organizational performance: Evidence from Korea

Scholars have suggested that the relationship between voluntary turnover and organizational performance can be moderated by the organizational context in which turnover occurs. However, there are few empirical studies that examine such moderating effects. Using a sample of 161 firms in South Korea, this study investigates how the relationship between voluntary turnover and organizational performance is moderated by three context variables: (1) the degree of organizational usage of employee involvement practices, (2) the degree of organizational investment in employee training and development, and (3) the availability of potential workers. The results demonstrate that employee involvement practices significantly amplify the negative relationship between voluntary turnover and organizational performance, give marginal support for moderation from the availability of potential workers, and provide no support for moderation from the degree of organizational investment in employee training and development. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of this study for enriching our understanding of the relationship between voluntary turnover and organizational performance. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Human Resource Management Practices and Trust in Public Organizations

Abstract

Trust has been acknowledged as a valuable managerial resource within organizations. Working as a lubricant of organizational functioning, trust reduces opportunistic behaviours while it increases voluntary compliance to organizational norms and rules as well as enhancing individual and organizational performance. Considering the importance of trust, it is worthwhile to explore what factors may help build trust within organizations. This research investigates whether perceptions of several human resource management (HRM) practices are associated with trust in government organizations. According to social exchange theory, HRM practices signal management's commitment to employees which in turn leads to greater trust in the organization. Using data from an employee survey conducted for the Georgia Department of Transportation in 2007, this research tests how employee perceptions of HRM practices are related to trust in three distinct levels of management in a large department of state government: trust in department leadership, trust in one's leadership team, and trust in one's supervisor. Binary logit analyses suggest that perceptions of HRM practices focusing on autonomy, compensation, communication, performance appraisal, and career development are associated with trust in public organizations. According to the result, those practices present variation in their leverage on trust in leadership at different levels.     

Accuracy and effectiveness in appraisal outcomes: the influence of self‐efficacy,personal factors and organisational variables

Two studies tested relationships of personal factors and organisational context variables with rating accuracy and perceived effectiveness of appraisals, and the role of self‐efficacy as a mediator of the relationships between the two sets of variables. Study 1 was a controlled experiment in which nurse supervisors appraised a video stimulus of a nurse's performance. Study 2 was a field study in which nurses and their supervisors each independently completed an assessment of their annual appraisal review, following the meeting. A ten‐item scale for performance appraiser self‐efficacy (PASE) was developed and tested for measurement properties on a large sample of nurses that included those who participated in either Study 1 or Study 2. The PASE scale was found to have high reliability and reasonable predictive validity. PASE predicted rating accuracy, appraiser and appraisee perceptions of effectiveness, and appraiser‐appraisee agreement on the effectiveness of an actual appraisal, after controlling for the effects of personal factors and organisational context. The main contextual influences were accountability, importance and management concern but the effects varied for self‐efficacy and different appraisal outcomes. The main predictor of self‐efficacy was the amount of training received by appraisers across the multiple sub‐tasks of appraisal.     

The Effects of Personnel Reform Systems on Georgia State Employees' Attitudes

Abstract

In order to maximize the value of human resources, today's reformers have abandoned traditional merit systems, calling instead for public personnel management systems based on a set of new principles known as managerialism. The study at hand, conceived within a principal–agent theoretical framework and using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), a hierarchical regression model and a structural equation model (SEM), probed four personnel reform effects in the state of Georgia: (1) a monetary incentive system (i.e. a merit pay system); (2) a performance monitoring system (i.e. a performance appraisal system); (3) a knowledge incentive system (i.e. a training and development system); and (3) a discretionary controlling system (i.e. an at-will system). The research findings indicate that all four personnel reform systems are directly and indirectly associated with organizational consequences. Among these effects, discretionary controlling and performance monitoring systems are most salient and are most effective at enhancing the level of an agent's work motivation and job satisfaction as well as decreasing their turnover intentions. Implications and limitations of this research are also discussed.     

Nothing ventured,nothing gained! How and under which conditions employers provide employability-enhancing practices to their older workers

Employability-enhancing practices usually refer to training or courses, but also practices directed towards older workers to sustain their work capability can be embraced by this term. In the context of an ageing population and workforce, older workers' labour market participation gains an increasingly important role. Therefore, the importance of employability-enhancing practices is noted as a solution to sustain their employment. In this study, we focus on employer-provided employability practices for older workers. We answer the following research question: which practices do employers use to enhance their older workers' employability and under which conditions are these practices adopted. Analyses on Dutch corporate data (N = 860) show that employers mainly provide employability-enhancing practices that are easily implemented and not expensive. This finding replicates prior research and clarifies that job redesign should be considered as a possibility to keep older workers in the labour market. Furthermore, our study shows that both organizational and labour market characteristics affect employers' decisions whether to provide employability-enhancing practices for their older workers. This suggests that policy measures might be necessary to assimilate investments in employability-enhancing practices across organizations.     

The interaction of human resource policies and practices with the implementation of teamworking: evidence from the UK public sector

Our study examines the interaction of human resource policies and practices with the implementation of teamworking. Put simply, do certain human resource policies and practices support the implementation of teamworking? Do certain human resource policies and practices work against the implementation of teamworking? It utilizes an illustrative case from the UK public sector – the Inland Revenue, the UK tax assessment and collection agency – to address the research question. The case of the Inland Revenue gives support to the argument that it is necessary to identify and understand the differences between a variety of forms of teamworking. With the variation in forms of teamworking that are implemented, there may be variations in the human resource management context. In short, a contingency approach to the interaction of the implementation of teamworking with human resource policies and practices may be appropriate. In the case, teamworking was implemented to facilitate the introduction of a new tax regime in the face of reduced numbers of middle managers and clerical employees, and certain human resource policies and practices had an effect upon its implementation. These were front line manager selection and development in particular, while team member selection and development and employee relations appeared less important.