Interesting Research on Performance Management

Last week, I read two interesting research articles on Performance Management. One research was on how to provide feedback. We were doing research on what works best when giving feedback to team members during performance appraisals.

The four ways of giving feedback- Positive and Positive, Positive and Negative, Negative and Positive, and Negative and Negative were studied. Taken together, these results suggest that if the objective is to alter work performance, then a uniform delivery of feedback types (positive only or negative only) is superior. However, if the objective is to minimize negative emotional reactions in response to criticisms, then the delivery of diverse feedback types (both positive and negative) would be warranted.

Basically, if you want to improve / give constructive feedback - stick to the tone. However, if you want to minimize emotional response - mix it up!

(Reference: Choi, E., Johnson, D. A., Moon, K., & Oah, S. (2018). Effects of positive and negative feedback sequence on work performance and emotional responses. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 38(2-3), 97-115.)

The second research was done by CEB couple of years back on effect of removal of forced ratings. Their study showed that although there was a trend towards taking away forced rankings and also ratings, after the initial positivity, the effects of the change were detrimental.

• Managers and employees spent less time on performance discussions
• Lack of fairness in pay and other decisions
• Employees perceptions on manager effectiveness reduced !

If we are blaming forced rankings and some of the performance management practices, the situation after removing them could be worse!!

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