The Pathology of Performance Appraisals – Insights from Supreme Court Rulings

Based on a study of twenty six Supreme Court judgments during the previous decade the author argues that performance management represents a pathological feature of contemporary organizations. It can serve the purpose of subjugation as the dissent of employees is held against them and they are expected to concur to prevailing hierarchies even if they strongly feel that the organisation could perform better if these hierarchies were democratized. It is extremely difficult to separate appraisals from prevailing political realities which could easily vitiate social relationships between employees. By reinforcing hierarchy, the performance management discourse ensures that alternative conceptions of organising are not allowed to emerge. At a broader philosophical level, the performance management discourse is embedded more in repressive than democratic constructions and often ends up strangulating the potential and performance of employees in organizations.