| Performance appraisal provides a pulse of how both the employees as well as the organization are achieving specified set goals. The setting of goals and providing of feedback are essential processes which require a level of managers' motivation to effectively assess their subordinate's performance. Companies across the United States spend billions of dollars annually on training. However, in spite of the training that some managers receive yearly, their skills and knowledge gained are not being transferred, and not applied effectively in the workplace. This is observed in the form of rating errors, lack of accuracy of the individuals' performance appraisals outcomes, and meaningful feedback that aims towards correcting employee poor performances. This qualitative phenomenological study was aimed to explore the barriers that prevent some managers from learning, transferring, and applying the knowledge and skills gained in their performance management training in the workplace. To gain an understanding of what manager's experienced, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 business managers' within the public sector government agency in the United States Virgin Islands. There were unsettling questions about the transfer of training skills in the effective conduct of performance appraisals. This study attempted to answer the following question: what barriers hinder managers' ability to apply the skills and knowledge gained in the conduct of effective performance appraisals? The findings from this study resulted with five themes relating to manager's experiences with performance appraisal training in the different settings within organizations. The resulted themes were the lack of formal and informal training offerings, effectiveness of performance appraisal process, actuality of training, the challenges and obstacles, and confidence in applying new skills. |
