The Research On Performance Appraisal For Knowledge Workers: Contingency Theory Between Performance Characteristics And Performance Appraisal Methods

Knowledge workers play a vital role to gain organizational core competition ability and push society sustainable development in knowledge-base economy times. It is an important mission that how to manage and motivate knowledge worker for researchers and practitioners. No evaluating, no management. Appraising knowledge worker's performance becomes a great challenge because knowledge workers'work complexity and performance diversity. Being enlightened by both one basic viewpoint that the key of appraising knowledge workers'performance is grasping their performance characteristics and its nature and contingency management theory, this dissertation carried out a theoretical and empirical study on measuring and identifying knowledge workers'performance characteristics, and the match rule between performance characteristics and appraisal methods. The main conclusion as followed:(1) Defining the'knowledge workers'should concentrate on two aspects of both work content and work nature, moreover, to judge every kind of occupation whether or not belongs to knowledge work can provide an operational boundary for knowledge workers covering employee scope. The no-programmable degree and knowledge hardness within work are the two appropriate dimensions for classifying knowledge workers. It is easier to be accepted that performance is an integrative body of work behavior and work outcome, however, when a piece of work has some of characters, it is right that performance emphasizing either work behavior or work outcome. The task performance-context performance model is quoted extensively by scholars, appraising context performance is important, however, since its nature, the relative appraisal easiness, and Chinese culture, and so on; task performance appraisal is the importance in this dissertation.(2) There were a few literatures that concentrate on studying performance characteristics of knowledge workers, based on reviewing the relative literature, we can find that there were little performance characteristics if regarding all knowledge workers as one collectivity and not classifying them, however, if classifying knowledge workers in advance, then every type of knowledge workers has unambiguous performance characteristics which embody the'explicit'or'implicit'on some performance attributes. Summarizing the existed discussion about performance characteristics, as well as analyzing the performance characteristics needed to be considered when answer 4W questions in process of designing performance appraisal methods, we can find that these performance characteristics of every kind of knowledge workers embody the significant difference on five performance attributes, further content analysis about interview cases indicates that the five performance attributes theoretically constructed has fine reliability and validity. These five performances attributes are that whether work behaviors can be evaluated or not, whether work outcome is definite or not, whether work outcome is special or not, whether work outcome is team oriented or not, whether performance acquired need long time or not. Performance characteristics represent'yes'or'no'on these performance attributes, namely'explicit'or'implicit'embodiment above mentioned.(3) Initial performance characteristics questionnaire was compiled on the basis of studying literature and processing interviewing cases text, the final edition one was formed by preliminary test, items filter, formal test, reliability and validity test. The data analysis indicates that these five performance attributes have outstanding differentiating validity, further exploring factor analysis shows that the one work behaviors to be evaluable can be divided into three dimensions that work behaviors to be observable, work behaviors to be standardized, and work behaviors to be structural, the one work outcome to be definite can be divided into three dimensions that work outcome to be quantitative, work scheme to be mature, work environment to be stable, the other three ones that work outcome is special, work outcome is team oriented , and performance acquired need long time are all single dimension. The final edition questionnaire provide a operational tools to identify performance characteristics, and the high and low grouping about surveying value of performance attributes provide an objective standard to judge performance characteristics, through descriptive statistics on distribution of knowledge workers investigated at different performance characteristics, we can find that the high and low grouping about surveying value of performance attributes has extensive covering, knowledge workers in different positions have different performance characteristics.(4) As to the criterion for classifying performance appraisal methods, besides appraisal content, it is adopted that appraiser, appraising unit, and appraisal cycle, these criterion are independent separately, multiple criterion system of classifying performance appraisal methods not only to be help for understanding all kinds of appraisal methods, but also offer a series of directing factors to managers who select and design appraisal methods. Every kind of performance appraisal methods has no absolute superiority; contingency management theory tells us that there were no performance appraisal methods which can be applied universally; there was only one which is the best for knowledge workers whit a certain performance characteristics.(5) In practice, knowledge workers hold low acceptability to current appraisal methods, and there were great acceptability difference among knowledge workers in different type of organizations. As for knowledge workers in different position, they expect different appraisal methods, which are related to their different performance characteristics.(6) The contingency theory model about appraisal methods selected and performance characteristics is a series of research hypothesizes that a certain appraisal method matchs some of performance characteristics, the test about research hypothesizes shows that there are no performance appraisal methods which can be applied universally; there is only one which is the best for knowledge workers whit a certain performance characteristics, specification as followed:As to knowledge workers whose work behaviors not to be evaluable and work outcome not to be definite, trait-behaviors-outcome comprehensive appraisal method is fit better for them than other ones. As to knowledge workers whose work behaviors not to be evaluable and work outcome to be definite, outcome oriented appraisal method is fit better for them than other ones. As to knowledge workers whose work behaviors to be evaluable and work outcome to be definite, outcome oriented appraisal method, or behaviors oriented appraisal method, or outcome- behaviors comprehensive appraisal method is the best for them. As to knowledge workers whose work behaviors to be evaluable and work outcome not to be definite, behaviors oriented appraisal method is fit better for them than other ones.As to knowledge workers whose work outcome is special, peer review is fit better for them than nopeer review, and peer-nopeer together review. As to knowledge workers whose work outcome is not special; the three appraisal methods above mentioned are the same at being accepted.As to knowledge workers whose work outcome is team oriented, team-individual combinative appraisal method is fit better for them than team oriented appraisal method, and individual oriented appraisal method. As to knowledge workers whose work outcome is individual oriented, individual oriented appraisal method is fit better for them than both team oriented appraisal method and team-individual combinative appraisal method.As to knowledge workers whose performance acquired need long time, performance appraisal once a year is better than do it once a month or once a quarter. As to knowledge workers whose performance acquired is not long time cycle, performance appraisal once a month or once a quarter is better than do it once a year.The test result about research hypothesizes indicates that the best appraisal method is still belong to the ones which fit performance characteristics even if considering the less important factors that influencing appraisal method selected, which imply that performance characteristics is the most important factor that determining appraisal method selected. Although some research hypothesizes in the comprehensive contingency model of appraisal methods selected have not been tested yet because sample shortage, the known test result shows that main effect of performance attributes on appraisal methods selected is crucial. The research results about contingency model provide a reference system to select appraisal method.Finally, this dissertation pointed out the research shortcoming and further research filed.