Pulakos and O' Leary (2011) argue that the vast majority of organizations should not be involved in the practice of goal cascading, and they also argue against the use of SMART goals in the vast majority of work situations. Arguments against the use of these two performance management-related processes, as well as other arguments presented by Pulakos and O'Leary, we feel, are based on the assumption of process perfection. We have learned after numerous performance management system implementations-and subsequently managing those implementations in several organizations as internal industrial-organizational (I-O) professionals-that process utility should take precedence.
Cucina, Walmsley, Gast, Martin, and Curtin (2017) started an important dialogue about survey key driver analysis (SKDA). We believe that promoting more useful and valid ways to understand survey data is critical not only for the organizations we serve, but also for advancing the relevancy of our field. We use the terms useful and valid quite intentionally. “Useful” is driven by our practitioner side, but “valid” is driven by our science side. It is the science that often sets industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology apart from other fields. But in some ways, it also holds us back from being timely and relevant. Overall, we believe that the focal article erred too much on the science side.
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