ABSTRACT
Experience and research suggests that the narrative of the strong organisational leader who is able to manipulate directly the behaviour of employees is alive and well. This chapter presents case material that further explores the achievements and limitations of such organisational structures of control. The role of operational, or first-line, as opposed to executive, leadership in any system of behavioural control is still largely undervalued, and that organisations tend to neglect the importance of questions of morality, fairness and justice in ensuring that performance management systems actually have the effect they are intended to have. Performance management has been regarded for several years now as one such core HRM 'best practice'. Employees' perceptions of fairness and procedural justice play a key role in employee outcomes considered crucial to organisation success, such as decision making, satisfaction, commitment and engagement, and organisational citizenship behaviours. Effective performance can be achieved without recourse to mechanisms of control founded in performance ratings and performance-related pay.
