Employees' perceptions of justice in performance appraisals

Vasset, Frøydis
Marnburg, Einar
Furunes, Trude

Frøydis Vasset is a lecturer at the faculty of health, Ålesund University College, Norway
Einar Marnburg is a professor
Trude Furunes is a research fellow
Both at the faculty of social sciences, University of Stavanger, Norway

This article has been subject to open review

Nursing Management (RCN Publication) 17(2):p 30-34, May 2010.

Summary

Of all the tasks undertaken by human resource managers, performance appraisals (PAs) are one of the most unpopular among employees (^,^,^,). As PA guides and plans show (^,), PAs can be implemented in similar ways in organisations throughout Europe and developed countries elsewhere. But, if employees perceive PA processes as unfair, they may reject the usefulness and validity of the information they receive and so may not be motivated to change behaviour. This article concerns perceptions of organisational justice and explains the results of a study of perceived fairness in PAs among nurses and auxiliary nurses in Norway's municipal health service.