Possibilities and Limits of Traditional Performance Appraisals

Abstract

Does the annual performance appraisal help us understand each individual employee’s and entire teams’ needs for learning in an agile environment? Can managers in a hierarchical world identify their employees’ potentials? Are managers in these systems even the right authorities? Do goals also serve as motivation when employee tasks involve a high degree of process and results certainty? These are the sorts of questions which will be addressed in this chapter. The collective, central issue revolves around the notion of: For which types of benefits can the annual performance appraisal act as a suitable instrument in its traditional form? We will be looking at different framework conditions here, as addressed in Chap. 3. This chapter will also suggest some alternatives which may help meet the conventional benefit requirements in agile and hierarchical worlds.