Chapter 2

Performance Appraisal Methods

In the mid-1980s, American Cyanamid Company, a large U.S. chemicals manufacturer, changed the way in which it conducted performance appraisals of its workers. At roughly the same time, Merck, a large U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturer, changed its performance evaluation system. Both companies were quite pleased with how the changes worked out. Both reported general acceptance by their workforce. The interesting thing is that each adopted roughly the type of system that the other was in the process of abandoning.1

All of the difficulties encountered with performance appraisal today might suggest that the subject has been totally ignored by management, consultants, and scholars. Nothing could be further ...

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