ABSTRACT
The chief personnel executive of an organisation employing more than 50,000 people and which had introduced comprehensive performance management and appraisal policies, when asked what he would do differently if he were to start again, replied that he would lay more emphasis on the importance of maintaining them. He was putting his finger on one of the eternal problems of appraisal – how to keep it alive and well. Great effort is often expended on setting it up in the first place, with very little thought given to the follow-through action needed once it is up and running. Yet the frequency with which organisations encounter difficulties with their appraisal schemes should give ample warning of how essential it is to monitor them from the outset, and to modify and correct any deficiencies at the earliest possible stage. If problems do arise, they have to be caught quickly, or the whole appraisal scheme rapidly generates scepticism and disillusionment that is hard to dispel – and which can make any effort to modify the scheme an uphill struggle.
