8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Stimulating Take On Performance Management, December 28, 2002
This review is from: A Critical Look At Performance Management Systems - Why Don't They Work? (Plastic Comb)
Unlike the previous reviewer, I actually read the the entire book and not just the first chapter, after having heard Mr. Bacal speak at a Human Resources conference in Rochester, NY. If you are looking for a nuts and bolts step-by-step explanation about how to do performance management, then there are dozens of books on the subject, including others by the same author. If that's what you want do NOT get this book.
That's because this isn't a step-by-step book. If anything it's an "emperor isn't wearing any clothes book", which explains some odd situations in management and HR, where everyone but the executives and HR people know the company's performance appraisals are useless.
The book explains why most systems fail, and lists a number of possibilities so managers and HR pros can evaluate more accurately where they are going wrong and how to fix the problems.
One of the things I like best about the book is that it's exceedingly "tightly" written without losing meaning. It says what it has to say quickly. It is the kind of book where you sit and smack your forehead, saying "Well, of course we're doing that dumb thing in our company". And, it opens some doors about a new vision of performance management and how it can be developed to meet a very specific goal -- how to help everyone succeed, from shareholders, to executives and managers, and each employee.
It's not rocket science, but I think it should be mandatory reading for all HR professionals before they go about foisting off their newest version of performance appraisal, which is going to look exactly like the older version but in different clothes and fail as badly. If you do the things that cause performance management to fail, as outlined in this book, you WILL fail at it.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
poor analysis & rationale, June 29, 2002
This review is from: A Critical Look At Performance Management Systems - Why Don't They Work? (Plastic Comb)
I had the opportunity to read the 1st chapter of this book before buying it, and that was enough for me to realize that it was not worth the purchasing. To support his points, the author selectively cites obscure, outdated research that is inconsisent with the vast body of literature that exists on such topics as goal-setting. One of the author's central points is that by focusing on individual performance, cooperation does not take place and organizational performance suffers. While this may have been true years ago for systems that focused exclusively on core job tasks, those knowledgeable on performance evaluation recognize that expectations of cooperation and teamwork behaviors can easily be integrated into an evaluation system. The author also repeatedly criticizes evaluations that focus on results. Although it is true that these systems often reward the wrong types of behaviors, the author fails to note that behavior-based systems avoid many of the shortcomings associated with evaluations that focus on outcomes. The author is one consultant who needs to educate himself on behavior in the workplace before considering himself an expert on it.
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