The purpose of the present paper is to explore and describe the type of performance management system that is best
suited for organizations pursuing confrontation strategies. No literature to-date exists on this topic. The paper draws upon
nine qualitative case studies, all describing organizations familiar to the researcher and known to be pursuing a confrontation
strategy. A main finding of the paper is that firms with confrontation strategies are likely to feature collaborative organizational
cultures, lean organizational structures, and training and development programs that focus on developing
empowered, multi-skilled teams of self-governing and coordinating employees. The paper’s findings are likely to assist
practitioners, who can benefit from a clearer understanding of the specific characteristics of the performance management
system needed to support their organizations’ confrontation strategies, as well as performance management scholars, who
will have opportunities to undertake explanatory and predictive studies into the confrontation strategy and performance
management system linkages proposed.