A Cognitive Approach to Performance Appraisal

by DeNisi,Angelo

• ISBN13: 9780415112512
• ISBN10: 0415112516
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-05-13
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The benefits of performance appraisal in the business world have caused an upsurge of books and programs for use in management, but few of the methods described bother to verify that the underlying psychology on which they are based holds true.A Cognitive Approachto Performance Appraisalis a careful and thorough investigation of appraisal decisions. The evidence described will be invaluable to all those involved in assessing the validity of particular performance 'packages' for use by themselves or their clients and to other researchers in appraisal techniques.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix	(2)
Preface	xi
1 Why a cognitive approach?	1	(22)
Research on performance appraisal: an historical perspective	4	(4)
The cognitive shift in appraisal research	8	(8)
Cognitive models of performance appraisal	16	(4)
Summary	20	(3)
2 A cognitive model of the appraisal process	23	(23)
Early versions of the model	24	(3)
Our model of the appraisal process	27	(17)
Conclusions	44	(2)
3 Research on information acquisition processes	46	(21)
Some background	46	(3)
Early information search experiments	49	(3)
New technology and new directions	52	(3)
The next step and new problems	55	(3)
Linking acquisition with ratings	58	(6)
Further consideration of the results and a new direction	64	(3)
4 Reprocessing objectives and interventions designed to impose organization in memory	67	(30)
Videotaped performance incidents	69	(1)
The role of reprocessing objectives	70	(3)
On-line vs. memory-based processing	73	(3)
Appraisal salience and reprocessing	76	(6)
Interventions to aid in the organization of information	82	(12)
Conclusions	94	(3)
5 Other factors and other cognitive processes	97	(24)
Information integration and processing	98	(9)
A cognitive view of gender bias in appraisals	107	(3)
The role of interpersonal affect	110	(6)
Conclusions	116	(5)
6 Cognitive research moves to the field	121	(30)
Special problems associated with cognitive research in the field	123	(2)
The criterion problem in field research	125	(6)
Structured diary keeping in the field	131	(9)
Structured recall in the field	140	(6)
The role of interpersonal affect in the field	146	(3)
Conclusions	149	(2)
7 Implications for theory and practice	151	(22)
Implications for theory and research	152	(11)
Implications for practice	163	(8)
Conclusions	171	(2)
8 Where do we go from here?	173	(17)
Information acquisition	173	(2)
Information organization in memory	175	(1)
Information processing	176	(1)
Rating scale research	176	(2)
Rater training	179	(1)
The role of interpersonal affect	180	(1)
Rater motives	181	(1)
Criteria for evaluating effectiveness	182	(3)
The future of cognitive research in performance appraisal	185	(3)
Some final thoughts	188	(2)
Bibliography	190	(22)
Name index	212	(6)
Subject index	218