Below is an example of an Annotated Bibliography on performance measurement/performance-based management. The annotated bibliography includes at least 8 influential scholarly articles. It also includes a 1-page (no less; no more) double-spaced summary for each article. The citation for each article will be listed at the top of the summary page using the standard citation format of the American Psychological Association (APA). Here is a great article on how annotated bibliographies are prepared.
Woerrlein, L., & Scheck, B. (2016). Performance management in the third sector: a literature-based analysis terms and definitions. Public Administration Quarterly, 220-256.
Affiliated to University of Hamburg’s Department of Economics and Social Sciences, the authors of this article seek to provide an overview of the terms and definitions used in performance management literature. They emphasise the importance of a standardised definition of performance management. Such a definition according to the authors is important for topic credibility and conceptual clarity. From an academic perspective, a clear understanding of the concept of performance management is crucial for ensuring better inquiry, communication, and discussion of the field. Practice-wise, clarity is essential for strategic management processes, particularly in terms of internal and external communication as well as understanding the data necessary for supporting performance management processes. Following a review of 45 publications published from 1995 to 2014 (including peer-reviewed journal articles, books, compilations, working papers, practitioner guides, internet documents, and one diploma thesis), the authors conclude that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) offers a more unified definition of performance management. OECD’s definition portrays performance management as a broad term encompassing measuring, documenting, and responding to outcomes with the aim of improving performance. The authors settle on this definition for two reasons: first, OECD has since its foundation in the 1960s undertaken to provide unified definitions of terminologies and concepts covering a wide array of topics and disciplines; second, these definitions are broadly referenced owing to the organisation’s expansive membership base. Though the literature review is specifically focused on the non-profit sector, it has important implications for other sectors, especially the profit sector. Indeed, if organisations are to effectively benefit from PBM, they must have a solid understanding of the concept. They must understand what it means and the processes involved. Furthermore, the review is based on a wide variety of recent publications, adding strength and rigour to its findings.
Selviaridis, K., & Wynstram F. (2015). Performance-based contracting: a literature review and future research directions. International Journal of Production Research, 53(12), 3505-3540.
This article is a systematic review of 241 peer-reviewed articles (published from 1985 to 2014) in the area of performance-based contracting (PBC). The authors of the article are affiliated to Lancaster University, UK, and Erasmus University, The Netherlands, adding credibility to the article. Essentially, the article examines the usefulness of PBM within the context of operations and supply management. Indeed, PBC has increasingly become commonplace in the manufacturing and service as well as public and private sectors. It entails tying supplier payment to performance. Emphasis is placed on specifying and evaluating outputs as opposed to inputs and processes. For instance, a service provider is compensated based on the performance of the customer’s supply chain. Performance-based supplier management is vital for a number of reasons. It enhances coordination across the supply chain, thereby resulting in the realisation of customer outcomes. This means that PBM within the context of supplier management focuses on creating value for the customer across the supply chain. Further, it provides a basis for integrating social and environmental objectives in supply chain processes. Indeed, the pursuit of social and environmental objectives has increasingly become important today. For instance, farmers can now be compensated for achieving conservation objectives. Selviaridis & Wynstram’s (2015) article exhibits good quality in three ways. First, it includes a large of number of rigorous articles based on diverse methodologies including case study, survey, action research, qualitative interviews, literature review, simulation, experimental research, grounded theory, and mathematical modelling, and mixed methods. Second, the review documents how the applicability of PBM has advanced in the last three decades. Finally, the included articles focus on a broad array of disciplines, industries, and sectors, including manufacturing, health care, logistics, energy, agriculture, higher education, professional services, defence, and public administration. This means that PBM is indeed applicable in any organisation irrespective of size and industry/sector of operation.
Turk, K. (2016). Performance management of academic staff and its effectiveness to teaching and research — based on the example of Estonian universities. TRAMES: A Journal of the Humanities & Social Sciences, 20(70/65), 17-36.
This article, whose author is affiliated to University of Tartu, Estonia, reports a mixed method study conducted to examine the impact of performance management on teaching and research in three Estonian universities. The study, which involved surveys, interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis, and participatory observations, shows that performance management is crucial for enabling academic staff members to achieve greater performance, particularly during times of change and restructuring at universities. When remuneration is tied to performance, employees are motivated to put their best fruit forward, consequently increasing labour productivity to the advantage of the organisation. This occurs particularly because performance-based management is usually characterised by transparent and frequent performance feedback as well as performance-based rewards. The study, however, found that performance-based management may negatively affect quality and staff motivation during periods of crisis. An important strength of the study is that it entails a mixed methods approach, which overcomes the limitations posed by relying solely on either qualitative or quantitative methods. Essentially, the mixed methods approach eliminates the difficulty of generalisation inherent in the qualitative approach and the challenge of obtaining in-depth understanding inherent in the quantitative approach. Nonetheless, a major limitation of the study is that it restricts the definition of PBM to personnel management processes, especially performance appraisal and compensation. This contradicts the broad definition offered by Woerrlein & Scheck (2016), which views PBM as a process that transcends personnel management. Another limitation is that the article offers little information about the implementation of PBM. Furthermore, the study focuses on the public sector, somewhat diminishing its relevance to the private or profit-oriented sector given the significant differences between the two contexts. All in all, the article provides valuable insights about the topic of PBM.
Pihl-Thingvad, S. (2017). The inner workings of performance management in Danish job centres: rational decisions or cowboy solutions? Public Performance & Management Review, 40(1), 48-70.
The author of this article is affiliated to the University of Southern Denmark. The article reports the findings of four case studies undertaken to examine the impact of performance management on employee outcomes. The study, which involved in-depth interviews with managers and employees of Danish job centres where PBM had been mandatorily initiated as part of a reform effort by the local government, found that PBM did not affect employees’ perceptions of autonomy, shared goals, accountability, and dialogue as expected. The author attributes this to poor implementation, where attention gradually shifts from results to process goals in the course of implementation, consequently frustrating employees rather than generating the anticipated commitment. This means that PBM must always focus on results or outcomes, not processes. Nonetheless, this does not necessarily mean process efficiency and effectiveness are not important. The qualitative nature of this study can be seen as strength in the sense that in-depth interviews enabled the researcher to gain a deeper understanding of the research phenomenon. This, however, presents the problem of generalisability. The study may not be representative of other employment sectors or organisations in other countries. More research is needed for a broader generalisation. Furthermore, the selection of the job centres was done using purposive sampling, which might have introduced bias. More importantly, similar to Turk’s (2016) study, this study embodies a narrow view of PBM — it focuses on just employee performance. All the same, the article has important implications for PBM in practice, especially in terms of implementation. It is important for organisations to understand that PBM may not always result in the intended outcomes, particularly when there is no consistency in attention to results.
Panda, S., & Pradhan, P. (2016). Sense, essence and essentiality of performance management system — an analysis. Journal of Contemporary Research in Management, 11(2), 71-81.
This study highlights the significance of performance management on employee outcomes, especially in terms of improving job satisfaction. Following a survey of randomly-recruited workers, supervisors, and managers (n = 100) in a paper manufacturing firm in India, the study found a positive and significant relationship between performance management and job satisfaction. The study particularly found that PBM contributed to job satisfaction by ensuring clarity in job roles and responsibilities, orientating employees towards the desired behaviour, and enabling outcome-based rewards and promotions. Also, PBM often results in or is associated with effective direction of employee activities at the workplace, assignment of employees to challenging tasks, competency mapping, training and development initiatives, as well as frequent, objective performance appraisal. These in turn contribute to employee development and happier employees. The implications of this study are far-reaching given the importance of job satisfaction at the workplace. Indeed, the employee is arguably the most important asset an organisation has. When an organisation takes care of its employees, they take care of their customers or clients. This in large part explains why organisations in diverse sectors and industries consistently strive to fulfil or better the needs of their employees. They acknowledge how employee happiness can drive organisational performance. Accordingly, PBM systems ought to be designed with not just the customer in mind, but also employees. Panda & Pradhan’s (2016) argue that organisations ought to involve and engage employees in PBM processes if the intended outcomes are to be achieved. A major strength of the study is the random sampling approach used. Typically, random sampling eliminates bias in subject selection, thereby reinforcing the validity and reliability of findings. Though the authors of this article are affiliated to an academic institution, it somewhat lacks the typical rigour of an academic article, especially in terms of scholarly language and organisation of ideas.
Rivenbank, W., Fasiello, R., & Adamo, S. (2016). Moving beyond innovation in smaller local governments: does performance management exist. Public Administration Quarterly, 763-788.
This study sought to examine the existence of performance management systems in small local governments. The study involved a comparative case study of two municipalities, one in the U.S. and another one in Italy. It is often thought that PBM is evident in large organisations mainly since large organisations have the capacity and resources to undertake performance improvement initiatives. This perhaps explains the scarcity of research relating to PBM implementation in smaller organisations. As shown in this article, smaller organisations also have performance management systems. They employ PBM in processes such as budgeting and program monitoring. The article, however, cites leadership as an important determinant of PBM implementation. This ideally means that embracing PBM is not really about the size of the organisation and its resources (financial or non-financial) — it is about leadership. When the leadership of the organisation is committed to improving organisational outcomes, it will not be reluctant to do so merely on account of resources. Nonetheless, this does not necessarily understate the importance of resource adequacy in pursuing performance improvement initiatives. Some initiatives without a doubt may require a great deal of resources, which may be beyond the reach of majority of smaller organisations. Further, as demonstrated by the article, smaller organisations can benefit from PBM by establishing and monitoring the right performance measures (effectiveness and efficiency). Similar to Pihl-Thingvad’s (2017) study, this study is evidently limited by its case study nature — generalising its findings beyond the two municipalities is quite difficult. Furthermore, the study focuses on public sector organisations, further limiting its generalisability to private-sector organisations given the inherent differences between the two. The authors of the article are affiliated to the University of North Carolina and the University of Salento, respectively, eliminating doubts about its credibility.
Wierzbinski, M. (2016). Performance management in a water and sewerage company. Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics, 434, 190-202.
The author of this article is affiliated to Wroclaw University of Economics, meaning the author has sufficient understanding of the topic of PBM. Focusing on a large water and sewerage firm in Poland, the article outlines the steps involved in designing and implementing a PBM system. The first step involves strategic analysis, which entails evaluating the organisation’s internal and external environment. This includes the present strategic direction (vision, mission, and objectives), state of the organisation, strengths (resources and capabilities), weaknesses (processes, controls, systems, procedures, etc.), as well as threats and opportunities in the micro and the macro environment. A strategic analysis ensures informed determination of performance measures and outcomes. The final step involves actual implementation. An important aspect of the PBM implementation cycle relates to stakeholder engagement. The relevant stakeholders — from employees to suppliers — must be effectively engaged to ensure a shared understanding of the PBM process, what it seeks to achieve, and their role in achieving those objectives. For instance, employees must be engaged through frequent communication as well as training so as to understand the value of PBM and how it affects their responsibilities, work expectations, and remuneration. The value of this article stems from its focus on PBM implementation. This is indeed an aspect ignored by most studies in this area, including the aforementioned ones. Majority of the studies dwell on defining PBM and its impact on employee and organisational outcomes. This study, therefore, fills an important gap in literature. It is important for organisations to understand how to go about the PBM process to avoid wastage of resources, time, and effort. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the PBM implementation process may not in practice be as procedural as depicted by the article. Furthermore, processes may vary from one organisation to another. Another limitation of the study is its case study nature, which limits its generalisability to other organisations and/or contexts.
Brudan, A. (2010). Rediscovering performance management: systems, learning and integration. Measuring Business Excellence, 14(1), 109-123.
This article is a conceptual paper exploring PBM as a discipline and proposing a unified PBM model. Organised as a literature review, the article particularly tracks the emergence and development of PBM along individual, operational, and strategic dimensions. The article demonstrates that PBM is a relatively new discipline, though its root can be traced to as early as the beginning of organisations several centuries ago. The discipline emerged from systems thinking. This means that PBM is supported by a wide range of disciplines, including strategic management, accounting, human resource management, project management, and psychology. Essentially, PBM requires that an organisation be viewed as a system made up of several interrelated components. Interaction between these components has important implications for organisational inputs and outputs. Another important theme in the article is that PBM is applicable in three levels: individual, operational, and strategic levels. In other words, PBM processes target individual (employee) performance, operational (departmental or functional) performance, and strategic performance (achievement of corporate and business-level objectives). This is a much broader conceptualisation of the notion of PBM, a major strength of the article. The article provides important implications for practice, especially in terms of enhancing the governance of performance management. It particularly emphasises the importance of systems thinking and learning in performance management. The usefulness of this article further emanates from its comprehensive description of the notion of PBM. Agreeing with Woerrlein & Scheck (2016), Brudan (2010) notes that lack of a solid understanding of PBM is problematic, both in practice and research. At the time of authoring this article, the author was a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Though this could be interpreted as fairly limited understanding of the topic, the article portrays reasonable academic rigour and quality.
Lutwama, G., Roos, J., & Dolamo, B. (2013). Assessing the implementation of performance management of health care workers in Uganda. BMC Health Services Research, 13: 355.
This article assesses the implementation of PBM in the health care sector in Uganda. While most countries in the developed world have embraced PBM, their counterparts in the developing world have lagged behind. In Uganda, reforms in the health care sector have been ongoing in the last two decades, particularly focusing on the introduction of PBM and decentralisation of personnel management to the local government. Using a mixed methods approach (self-administered questionnaire plus semi-structured interviews, as well as stratified random sampling and purposive sampling), the authors of this article sought to examine the extent to which PBM is implemented in the Ugandan health care sector. The study found that though PBM is implemented to some extent, there were considerable loopholes in implementation. More specifically, there were shortfalls in defining performance targets, undertaking performance management planning, as well as defining and familiarising staff members with performance indicators and standards. Additionally, performance assessment schedules were not complied with and there were insufficient performance feedback, ineffective rewarding mechanisms, and limited opportunities for career advancement, further hindering the achievement of the desired outcomes. This article emphasises some of the key success factors as far as PBM implementation is concerned. For organisations to get the most out of PBM, attention has to be paid to regular performance feedback, proper rewarding systems, ongoing performance tracking, and, most importantly, effective setting and communication of performance targets and indicators. Further, the article demonstrates that any organisation can indeed implement PBM irrespective of sector of operation or even country of origin. Similar to Turk (2016), this article employed the mixed methods approach, which is a major strength of the study. Nonetheless, purposive sampling was utilised, which might have introduced some bias. The authors of this article are affiliated to the University of South Africa, meaning that the article presents authoritative and credible information.
Ploom, K., & Haldma, T., (2013). Balanced performance management in the public education system. Baltic Journal of Management, 8(2), 183-207.
The author of this article teaches economics and business administration at Estonia’s University of Tartu. This eliminates doubts about the credibility of the article. The article presents the findings of a survey aimed at examining the impact of PBM on public schools in Estonia. With a sample of 164 secondary schools, the study found that PBM positively influenced school performance at the individual, operational, and strategic levels. More specifically, the study confirmed that PBM positively affected students’ academic performance by increasing their satisfaction with the school’s quality of teaching and learning. Also, through operational and strategic measures, PBM resulted in greater teacher and parent satisfaction, further contributing to improved school performance. The value of this article stems from its contribution to PBM implementation in practice, particularly in public schools. While the findings may be limited to the context of study, the study provides further evidence that PBM can have a positive impact on organisational performance. Organisations, whether in the public or private sector, must be more committed to performance measurement, effectiveness, efficiency, and continuous quality improvement if they are to constantly fulfil the interests of their diverse stakeholders. Indeed, organisations serve multiple stakeholders — from customers and employees to suppliers, regulatory authorities, and the public at large. As it revolves around ongoing performance improvement, PBM presents a valuable way through which the needs of stakeholders may be fulfilled against the background of an ever evolving world. Furthermore, the article provides useful insights about the process of adopting PBM, specifically highlighting the importance of focusing on individual, operational, and strategic dimensions. In spite of the strengths of the study, the static nature of its methodology is a considerable limitation. Using a longitudinal design may have overcome this challenge.
As you can see from the above annotated bibliography example, you would first list the source in APA format, then include roughly 300 words discussing the source and how it was utilized. The sources would be listed in alphabetical order.
Comments