This proposal focuses on improving performance appraisal decisions within organizations. It emphasizes the role of decision making and memory and seeks to strengthen the linkages between performance appraisal decisions and other aspects of organizational behavior. Specific questions to be addressed include the organization of information in memory, the ability to recall that information, the ability of ratings based on recall to discriminate effectively between conditions, and the reactions of raters to the performance appraisal process. The study extends previous laboratory-based work conducted by the investigators to a field study involving a willing corporate collaborator (Southwestern Bell Telephone) that will test the effectiveness of various memory interventions. This cooperation should lead to specific improvements in the art and science of performance appraisal. The project also will help to illuminate important aspects of managerial decision making and the role of cognitive processes in organizational behavior and design.
