DELVING INTO THE DARK SIDE - THE POLITICS OF EXECUTIVE APPRAISAL

Politics is common to organizations, particularly at the top levels, w here decisions, actions, and performance carry the most weight. The mo st politicized event of all is executive performance evaluation. Ln th is article, Dennis A. Gioia and Clinton O. Longenecker explore the dyn amics of politics in the executive appraisal process. They find that e xecutives strongly believe their performance evaluations are vulnerabl e to political activity, and that a wide variety of factors-including personal connections, reputation, a superior's personal agenda, the am biguous nature of executive work, and the overall political atmosphere of an organization-can affect performance ratings as well as subseque nt pay raises, promotions, and perks. The authors point to some of the consequences of politically influenced appraisals, then lay out their recommendations for reducing the negative effects.