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.     

High Commitment Management and Payment Systems

This paper extends the analysis of high commitment management (HGM) reported in a previous Journal of Management Studies article (Wood and Albanese, volume 32, number 2) by examining its linkage to payment systems. It opens with an overview of what the literature on HCM portrays as the pay systems that are most compatible with it. Then it reports research, based on data from a representative sample of manufacturing plants in the UK, which examines what pay systems in practice are used in conjunction with HCM. It also assesses whether, as we might expect, plants using piecework and individual bonuses are less likely to adopt such an approach. Finally, the paper examines whether changes in payment systems are made as managements attempt to heighten their use of HCM. Contrary to the claims of many writers, there is no systematic association between the use of HCM and the use of performance or contingent pay systems, such as merit pay and profit-sharing schemes. the study does, however, show that those plants in which merit pay is paid as a permanent increase in the basic wage are likely to have higher levels of HCM (and rates of change in it) than are those in which merit pay is simply paid as a bonus. Individual bonus systems appear to be associated with plants which are not pursuing high commitment management to any great extent. Finally, the research shows that for the period 1986 to 1990 payment system changes in British manufacturing, though highly varied, tended to be introduced in association with a greater use of HCM and not introduced as a substitute for this. Moreover, the research suggests that these were lagging other changes, rather than leading them.     

The role of pay secrecy policies and employee secrecy preferences in shaping job attitudes

Although pay secrecy continues to garner attention in human resource management, little research examines how these policies impact employees. Research inconsistently links secretive pay policies to unfavourable outcomes but has yet to consider that employees may have varying attitudes toward these policies. We examine how employee preferences modify the effect that organisational pay secrecy policies have on employee attitudes in a sample of 431 employed adults. To accomplish this goal, we create measures of pay secrecy policies and pay secrecy preferences that each differentiate two facets of pay secrecy: distributive pay non‐disclosure and communication restriction. Polynomial and moderated regression analyses indicated that disparities between employee preferences and organisational pay secrecy policies can reduce job satisfaction and perceptions of informational, interpersonal, and procedural justice under certain circumstances. These results simultaneously highlight the importance of employee attitudes toward pay secrecy policies and the challenges human resource practitioners face in managing employees with diverse preferences.     

Performance appraisal and the need for an organizational grievance procedure: A review of the literature and recommendations for future research

The majority of performance appraisal systems do not result in valid and reliable evaluations of employee performance. As a consequence, conflict in the workplace may result, and a grievance procedure for employees may be necessary. This article outlines some of the problems associated with performance appraisal systems, presents the need for a grievance procedure and possible formats, and poses questions for further research.     

Can performance appraisals motivate employees to improve performance? A Mexican study

In this study of Mexican employees, we examined the relationship between performance appraisal characteristics (appraisal source, appraisal purpose and feedback richness) and perceived reactions of employees to the appraisal characteristics (perceived fairness and perceived accuracy of appraisals) and appraisal outcomes (appraisal satisfaction and motivation to improve). We hypothesized that multisource appraisals, appraisals used for administrative and developmental appraisals (multipurpose appraisals) and appraisals that have a high degree of feedback richness would lead to more perceived accuracy and perceived fairness of appraisals. We further hypothesized that higher levels of perceived fairness and accuracy would lead to higher levels of employee appraisal satisfaction and motivation to improve performance in the future. Results based on a survey of Mexican employees provide support for most of the hypothesized relationships. We discuss implications of the findings for research and practice of performance appraisals in the Mexican context.     

Rated to exhaustion? Reactions to performance appraisal processes

Performance appraisal systems are a popular tool within organisations to enhance employee commitment and productivity. This paper examines the consequences of three aspects of a performance appraisal system (distributive justice, procedural justice and the performance rating) on the level of emotional exhaustion reported by employees in a large public sector research organisation.     

Computerized performance monitoring: A review of human resource issues

The increasing use of computerized performance monitoring (CPM) systems across a variety of organizational settings has stirred controversy and induced change into the performance appraisal process. This article reviews research concerning CPM in four general areas which include the impact of CPM on (a) employee attitudes and perceptions; (b) employee stress perceptions; (c) job performance; and, (d) the performance monitoring process. Research based guidelines and issues for the design and implementation of an effective CPM system are suggested. The potential for enhancing employee development is also discussed.     

Doing it for themselves? Performance appraisal in project‐based organisations,the role of employees,and challenges to theory

We explore performance appraisal in project‐based organisations and provide novel insights into appraisal processes in this context. These include the central role of employees in orchestrating the appraisal process, the multiple actors that have input to appraisal including project managers, the distance between employees and their official line managers, and the weak coordinating role of human resource specialists in these systems. We draw attention to the drawbacks of current theorising on appraisal to predict and explain outcomes from appraisal systems that are not premised on stable line manager/employee dyads. Theorising based primarily on social exchange theories needs to be reconsidered in this context and new theories developed. We also question how human resource specialists can better support employees, and managers of all kinds, in their implementation roles in polyadic human resource management systems to ensure transparency, equity, and fairness of appraisal processes in a project‐based organisational context.     

The adoption of international best practices in a Western culture: East meets West

Contemporary organizations facing changing economic and strategic realities have considered many models of organizational performance, in particular those based on ‘actices’odels of best practice have emanated from the USA, some European countries and Japan; however, the question remains –ternational best practices be transferred to Australia or elsewhere? Since companies in Japan, in particular, have been seen as harbingers of these best practices, we compare the level of adoption in Japanese and non-Japanese companies in three Australian industries. Differences between Japanese and non-Japanese companies were more apparent in the automotive industry with only a few differences found for the information and tourism industries. The main differences between the two ownership categories were in areas of unionization and management–elations, that is, areas that may be influenced more by institutional arrangements than by cultural differences. Perhaps the most interesting finding from the comparative research was that there were relatively few differences between the Japanese and non-Japanese companies. These characteristics include: organizational structure, labour turnover, teams as part of the organizational structure, levels of training, use of ringi-style decision making, security of employment, employee welfare schemes, the use of and success with performance appraisal and performance-related pay, and a wide range of quality systems. The key pillars of Japanese management are not being transferred, and we cannot expect to see identical arrangements regarding other management practices. But the differences between Japan and western countries such as Australia are very gradually declining.     

员工绩效考核方法对组织绩效的影响程度研究

在调查了478家企业的基础上,利用SPSS15.0软件和阶层回归分析方法,探讨了员工绩效考核方法对组织绩效的影响程度,其中员工绩效考核方法分成了三类,分别是特质类方法、行为类方法和结果类方法。研究结果表明,特质类、行为类和结果类绩效考核方法对组织绩效的影响都达到了显著性水平,但其影响程度不同。特质类绩效考核方法对组织绩效的影响程度最大,行为类绩效考核方法的影响程度次之,结果类绩效考核方法的影响程度最小。     

我国民营快递企业人才流失现状及防范对策

随着知识经济的日益发展,人才竞争已经成为民营快递企业竞争的根本,而人才流失正成为民营快递企业面临的严重问题。职工收入、培训、晋升的机会、管理机制、企业文化,均对企业人才流失产生影响,企业应该从人才的甄选做起,重视人才的培训和职业生涯规划、科学考评绩效并建立合理薪酬体系、建立人才流失的危机预警预测机制,加强对员工流动的管理等方面采取相应的对策,以降低人才流动率。     

Performance appraisal and culture: practice and attitudes in Hong Kong and Great Britain

This article compares the practice of and attitudes towards performance appraisal for managerial and professional staff in Hong Kong and Britain, and considers the extent to which actual practice and employee preferences are in alignment. Findings suggest that appraisal may be more widespread in Hong Kong than in Britain. However, British appraisal tends to be more participative and to place greater emphasis on discussing objectives, development and career plans. Hong Kong appraisals appear to be more directive and Hong Kong respondents perceive a higher level of 'negative' appraiser behaviour. In spite of this, Hong Kong respondents show if anything slightly more confidence in the utility of appraisal than do British respondents. They show stronger support for appraisal's use for reward and punishment and less support for the objectives-setting and training and development uses than do the British sample. Hong Kong respondents are more likely than their British counterparts to favour involving a more senior manager in appraisal, and they are less likely to prefer more frequent appraisals. There was little evidence that Hong Kong respondents had a stronger preference for group-based appraisal criteria, although they did show more support than the British sample for the use of personality as a basis for appraisal. Overall, the suggestion is that appraisal has been adopted in Hong Kong organizations but that the practice of appraisal has been adapted to suit the cultural characteristics of the society.     

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.     

Linking Belgian employee performance management system characteristics with performance management system effectiveness: exploring the mediating role of fairness

Based on expectancy theory, goal-setting theory and control theory, we propose a model in which perceived fairness mediates the relationship between characteristics of employee performance management (PM) systems and their perceived effectiveness by employees. PM system characteristics we propose are the frequency and length of formal reviews, the frequency of informal reviews and feedback, whether the formal conversation focused on evaluation or development and finally the degree of participation. The model was tested on a cross-industry sample of 3192 employees in Belgium. The measurement and structural models were simultaneously tested using structural equation modeling, and we used a bootstrapping approach to test the mediation hypothesis. Our findings indicate that performance review focus and employee participation strongly relate to perceptions of appraisal fairness and PM system effectiveness and that the frequency of informal performance reviews is stronger related to PM system effectiveness than the frequency of formal performance reviews. This suggests that the manifest expressions of PM have more impact on PM system effectiveness rather than the more latent characteristics of PM systems. The findings advance research to the role and functionality of PM systems by showing that (a) the manner in which PM systems are shaped and executed is of fundamental importance for their effectiveness, (b) fairness partially mediates the relationship between PM system characteristics and their effectiveness and (c) the three motivational theories appear useful for understanding the consequences of PM practices on individual employees.     

The Changing Nature of Pay Systems and the Need for New Midrange Theories of Pay

Previous research suggests that new pay systems (e.g., variable pay and skill based pay) are related to improved employee and organizational performance. Less certain, however, is why these new forms of pay systems work and under what conditions they are likely to work. Current compensation theory does not provide sufficient explanation because it relies upon grand theories, main effects, and commonalities across pay plans. It is argued that the articles in this special issue will advance our understanding of why the new pay systems are effective because they provide research propositions helpful for the study of midrange theories, interaction effects, and differences across types of pay systems.     

Institutions and preferences in settings of causal complexity: foreign institutional investors and corporate restructuring practices in France

In this article, we illustrate how the interaction between institutional arrangements and the presence of different categories of firm stakeholders with specific preferences provides important insights to understand the conditions under which corporate restructuring practices are introduced. Institutions shape the range of actors' strategic options and mediate the translation of the preferences of firm stakeholders into corporate policies. Nonetheless, strategic choice remains possible since firm stakeholders constitute subgroups with different interests and incentives that influence how they operate in an institutional framework. In particular, we examine under what conditions UK/US-based institutional investors and equity-based compensation incentives are associated with the implementation of asset divestitures and employee layoffs in France. We uncover three key findings. First, the presence of hedge funds and equity-based pay influence the likelihood of French companies undertaking asset divestitures. Second, the impact of hedge funds on employee layoffs is contingent on the ownership structure of firms. Third, layoffs in France are driven by inferior performance – a result that contrasts with the American experience whereby employee layoffs are also used as a strategic mechanism to deal with institutional investors in good times. Our findings demonstrate the importance of the institutional constraints of (national level) employment protection and the moderating effects of ownership structure (firm level) on the strategic and employment policies of French companies.     

Transitions In the Psychological Contract: Some Evidence From the Banking Sector

This study examines the psychological contract in a sample of 107 employees in a retail bank. Deregulation, market-entry by non-traditional suppliers, and the introduction of advanced technology have changed the security of and rules implicit in the employment contract in the UK banking sector, which is one of the leading contenders for downsizing and delayering. Many banks are experiencing increased employee cynicism. New structures and technology, demanding levels of customer service, and new competitors have produced heightened attention towards performance and are associated with the need for employees to develop new competencies, such as relationship-handling and sales skills. Regardless of whether banks pursue high performance management systems or control-based HR strategies, the requirement for committed and engaged employees able to develop new competencies is an assumed constant. Demographic factors such as age, service and sex are found to be partial predictors of some attitudinal items. However, these proxy measures of attachment to the old employment deal are not related to items that consider commitment or satisfaction. the psychological contracts in the bank are highly fragmented. Seven underlying constructs are revealed: ‘frustratedly disengaged’, ‘still ambitious’, ‘passively flexible’, ‘guidance seekers’, ‘buy me outers’, ‘don't push me too fast’ and ‘just pay me more’. Implications of the research for HRM, the management of new internal labour markets in the banks and future directions of research on the psychological contract are discussed. It is concluded that a new set of internal labour markets are being created within the banks, the dynamics of which clearly revolve around a wide range of individual factors. Accepted wisdom about participative management practices will be challenged in the HR strategies of the late 1990s.     

Does contingent pay encourage positive employee attitudes and intensify work?

This article explores the relationships between three dimensions of contingent pay – performance‐related pay, profit‐related pay and employee share‐ownership – and positive employee attitudes (job satisfaction, employee commitment and trust in management). The article also examines a conflicting argument that contingent pay may intensify work, and this can detract from its positive impact on employee attitudes. Of the three contingent pay dimensions, only performance‐related pay had direct positive relationships with all three employee attitudes. Profit‐related pay and employee share‐ownership had a mix of negative and no significant direct relationships with employee attitudes, but profit‐related pay showed U‐shaped curvilinear relationships with all three employee attitudes. The results also indicated that performance‐related pay is associated with work intensification, and this offsets some of its positive impact on employee attitudes.     

Intra‐firm differentiation of compensation systems: evidence from US high‐technology firms

While scholars have long recognised the influence of firm decisions on aspects of compensation (e.g. pay level and pay mix), prior compensation studies offer an ambiguous understanding regarding their scope. Some studies argue that firms customise compensation decisions according to employee groups, whereas others assume that firm compensation decisions apply uniformly throughout a firm. To address this research gap, the current study analyses pay levels and pay mixes for R&D employees and administrative employees in US high‐technology firms. Our empirical analyses show that firms make distinct compensation decisions for these two job families, but these decisions are ultimately consistent. These findings highlight firms' intention to strike a balance between customising compensation systems according to employee groups and maintaining internal consistency. Our findings add interesting insights to the strategic HRM and talent management literatures, which claim that firms should differentiate among employees when designing HRM systems.     

Performance pay in Canadian and Australian firms: a comparative study

Based on data from 315 Canadian and Australian firms, this study examines the incidence of 13 specific forms of performance pay, along with factors that may affect their incidence. Overall, Canadian and Australian firms showed similar incidences of most forms of performance pay, with employee profit sharing the notable exception. Depending on the type and form of performance pay, various factors predicted the incidence of performance pay. As expected, firm size and unionization were among the most important predictors of individual and organizational performance pay, but neither factor predicted group performance pay. The results also indicated that high involvement firms in both Canada and Australia used more organizational performance pay than other firms, but not more group or individual performance pay. This study provides qualified support for convergence in international pay practices, but also highlights the continued importance of contextual and firm-level factors.