Methodology
In order to explore both the richness of attitudes to appraisal and the extent to which
views were shared a mixed methods approach was used. Documentary analysis,
formal and informal interviews, questionnaires and observation were the primary
tools. Literature reviews were carried out to establish comparable current research
findings and theoretical frameworks. The initial research started off in all cases with an
exploratory phase using informal interviews followed by content analysis to identify
emerging trends and patterns.
The information came from three main samples.
Sample 1 was a study which comprised over 100 managers engaged on management
development programmes at two higher educational institutions over a period of ten
years. The sample was a convenience sample representing male and female managers in
both the public and private sectors. There was a 100 per cent response rate from these
participants because of their relationship with the researchers. All participants in this
sample were interviewed informally and also completed a questionnaire; most
participants also completed a reflective account of their own experiences of appraisal as
part of a professional development exercise.
Samples 2 and 3 were taken simultaneously from two large service and manufacturing
organizations in the advanced technology sector. They comprised a purposive diagonal
ethnographic survey of 40 employees followed by a postal questionnaire sent to all
employees and completed by 500. Free access to all employees had been negotiated
with the consent of senior management, trade unions and the employees themselves.
Discussions were wide-ranging and anonymity and confidentiality encouraged trust and a
frank exchange of views. Response rates to the questionnaires were 30 per cent from
organization A and 16 per cent from organization B. All participants were based in the UK
and were in full time employment. The information was based on up-to-date personnel
print outs from both organizations. Over 75 per cent of respondents had experienced some
kind of formal appraisal at their present organization and many had also experienced
appraisal at their previous organization.
All the 100 managers from sample 1 and 40 people from samples 2 and 3 completed
a semi-structured account of how appraisals and performance management took place
in their organization. They gave their own perceptions of the effectiveness and
appropriateness of any of the systems and outcomes they had experienced. Themes
and linkages identified through content analysis were used to design questionnaires
with categories that could be interrogated by a mixture of quantitative and qualitative
means. Transcripts were analysed independently by three people to help to achieve
triangulation of analysis. Consensus on the underlying themes provided a basis for the
development of questionnaires. The tools, systems, procedures and outcomes of
appraisal and the participants’ perceptions of linkages to individual performance,
motivation and organizational effectiveness were explored in the questionnaire.
Significance testing was undertaken by means of w2 (Bhattacharyya and Johnson
1977). The purpose of this was to examine whether there were any significant