Appraisals: The drive to excel

Synopsis: The drive to excel comes from within. Management needs to facilitate the involvement of employee in decisions at work.


Extrinsic motivators, like monetary rewards, are generally relied upon to ensure the workflow. But with overuse they tend to carry unintended negative consequences.

Intrinsic motivation

For example, in the context of work, people begin to assume that the tasks are actually unpleasant and hence the money offered is actually the sugarcoating being offered. The employees may learn to expect extras every time a task is to be fulfilled.

Besides, the appreciation of the workforce as responsible, thinking human beings begins to diminish. Fact is the quality of performance depends not only on targets or incentives, but also on the emotional involvement of workforce members with the work decisions. Optimal work performance requires self-reliance, self-determination and intrinsic motivation. Basically, the drive to excel comes from within each person. People should want to work.

Once people buy in on a particular issue, their emotional arousal monitors and sustains the quality of their activity, through:

• Generation of action - the tendency, readiness and decision to act on a plan, intention or preferred option.
• Execution and control of action - the mode of execution and its degree of intensity.
• Explanation of action – the context perceived from a personal point of view.
• Rationale - justifications for the action.

Emotions influence the direction and energy of action performed, and are crucial for its success. Else, people simply go through the motions of doing.

Evolvement

Assumptions underlying the appraisals must change – for instance, that the individual is responsible for organizational success, and that improving their performance alone improves organizational performance.

The onus, the experts say is rather on the organization to create a different culture, and shift its business perspective from profits to people, from theory X to theory Y. Non-controlling positive feedback, and the acceptance of others’ perspective are important, contextually. Individual freedom, autonomy and trust during interactions with the organization and system-at-large needs support.

In diversity today, Frederick Taylor’s scientific management principle of separating decisions from work may have outlived its utility. The growing need is an evolvement from past practices. Because meanwhile, the quality of the workforce has changed drastically. It is now necessary to include workgroup members in work decisions.

The key areas

Authors Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins suggest a systems approach in key areas of human resources. The changes they advocate include:

Coaching - disconnecting its need from the PA process, and use goal setting only when it’s effective.
Feedback – initiating a bottom up process, moving employees towards gaining knowledge and new learning.
Motivation - developing intrinsic motivation so people find meaning in what they do.
Career pathways – decoupling promotions, career advancement, employee development, and downsizing decisions, from appraisals and each other.
Poor performers - helping the individual reach a satisfactory performance level, secure better job fit, or a respectful release.

Work output ultimately depends on the individual’s subjective commitment to the job. Appraisals should motivate people to generate optimal activity. But as post-mortems linked to reward and punishment, performance appraisals become intimidating and adversarial for the workforce.

Comments/opinions, anyone??

References for 'appraisals' blogposts:

Rethinking Performance Appraisals: A Book Review
About winning - carrots and sticks [article no. 1416 on twmacademy.com]