The impacts of a negative performance review

Performance Reviews

A new study by Dr. Satoris Culbertson, an assistant professor of management at Kansas State University, revealed that a critical job performance evaluation can have a negative effect on an employee and fail to inspire the intended result of growth and development. Read on to learn more about the study and other performance review news.

  • New Research on Performance Reviews and Positive Feedback Globoforce: “The study divided workers into three types: those who are motivated by the desire to learn new things, those who are motivated by proving their worth, and those who are simply trying to steer clear of failure. Then they asked the groups about their most recent review experience. Researchers expected that the latter two groups would respond poorly to negative feedback. But they also thought that the workers focused on self-improvement and learning would be more amenable to negative, constructive feedback — using it as an opportunity for growth. That hypothesis was wrong. It turns out that no one likes negative feedback. And no one finds it to be an inspiration for learning and growth.”
  • Why Negative Performance Reviews Don’t Work … Ever Business News Daily: “Focus on constructive feedback instead of negative feedback: While negative feedback focuses on what an employee is doing wrong, constructive feedback brings in elements for improvement. ‘Negative feedback is not the same as constructive feedback,’ Culbertson said. ‘We should be careful that negative feedback is provided in a way that is more constructive because it can help people try to improve.’”
  • Why performance appraisals need to be scrapped Financial Post: “Brain research shows that when a person’s status is threatened — which often happens in performance reviews that contain ‘constructive feedback’ — activity diminishes in certain regions of the brain. David Rock, author of Your Brain At Work and director of the Neuroleadership Institute, says  when that occurs, ‘people’s fields of view actually constrict, they can take in a narrow stream of data, and there’s a restriction in creativity.’”
  • The bell curve is a myth Quartz: “In the area of performance management, this curve results in what we call ‘rank and yank.’ We force the company to distribute raises and performance ratings by this curve, which essentially assumes that real performance is distributed this way. To avoid ‘grade inflation’ companies force managers to have a certain percentage at the top, certain percentage at the bottom, and a large swath in the middle.”
  • Introducing an Alternative to Performance Reviews New York Times: “This is not a pat-on-the-back program. It’s a system to help employees focus on continuous improvement. That means you should never punish employees when they talk about mistakes they have made. Instead, ask what they’ve learned. The actual meetings should take no more than 45 minutes. At first, you might find that sessions run a little longer. After a few meetings, most people settle into a groove and are able focus on just one or two items. If you try to cover more, you won’t be concentrating on what’s most important and your progress will be slower than you want.”

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