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Performance appraisal is used in organizations for a variety of purposes. However, little empirical research has been conducted to determine (a) the extent to which performance appraisal is used for each of several purposes in industry, (b) the extent to which appraisal data may be used for multiple and possibly conflicting uses within the same organization, and (c) organizational correlates of these uses. A survey questionnaire designed to answer these questions was mailed to 243 members of Division 14 of the American Psychological Association who were employed in industry. A factor analysis of the 106 completed questionnaires indicated four general uses of information from performance appraisals. The use of performance appraisal to simultaneously make distinctions between and within individuals is common. Canonical correlation analyses indicated that organizational characteristics were significantly related to uses of performance appraisal.Performance appraisal provides information that is relevant for many personnel decisions, including salary increases, recommendations for promotion, transfers, and training programs, as well as for employee development and performance feedback (Huber, 1983;Jacobs, Kafry, & Zedeck, 1980;Landy & Farr, 1983). However, little empirical research has been conducted to examine the extent to which performance information is actually used for various purposes in organizations. The purpose of the present study was (a) to assess the extent to which performance appraisal is used for each of several purposes, (b) to assess the extent to which appraisal is used for multiple and possibly conflicting purposes by the same organization, and (c) to assess organizational correlates of performance appraisal uses.Although professional and trade journals in the field of personnel provide extensive anecdotal evidence concerning the uses of performance appraisals in organizations, few empirical studies have been devoted to this question. Levine (1986) found that the most common use for performance appraisal was for determining employee training needs, merit review, and salary administration. Rendero (1980) surveyed 24 human resource managers and found that the most frequently mentioned uses included merit review or salary action, employee development, and feedback to employees. Campbell, Dunnette, Lawler, and Weick's (1970) survey of 33 organizations suggested that the performance appraisals were used in placement and promotion decisions, training needs assessment, and as a motivational tool.These studies sampled few organizations. Furthermore, it is not clear whether the variety of purposes across organizations also reflected multiple uses within an organization of a single performance appraisal system. Therefore, there is a need to ob-The authors thank George C. Thornton III for comments on an earlier version of this article.

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Several independent studies of bacterial degradation of nitrate ester explosives have demonstrated the involvement of flavin-dependent oxidoreductases related to the old yellow enzyme (OYE) of yeast. Some of these enzymes also transform the nitroaromatic explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). In this work, catalytic capabilities of five members of the OYE family were compared, with a view to correlating structure and function. The activity profiles of the five enzymes differed substantially; no one compound proved to be a good substrate for all five enzymes. TNT is reduced, albeit slowly, by all five enzymes. The nature of the transformation products differed, with three of the five enzymes yielding products indicative of reduction of the aromatic ring. Our findings suggest two distinct pathways of TNT transformation, with the initial reduction of TNT being the key point of difference between the enzymes. Characterization of an active site mutant of one of the enzymes suggests a structural basis for this difference.Large expanses of land and groundwater have been polluted through the manufacture, deployment, and disposal of explosives. Energetic compounds such as glycerol trinitrate (GTN), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) are unique to nature, and their recalcitrance to biodegradation means they tend to persist in the environment. It is of significant interest to understand how certain microorganisms have evolved and adapted to utilize these toxic compounds as nitrogen sources for growth. Not surprisingly the enzymes mediating the microbial degradation of explosives have been the focus of much research for the remediation of contaminated land and groundwater.A number of bacterial strains able to degrade the nitrate ester explosives GTN and PETN have been isolated from contaminated soil (5,7,34,36). In each of these strains, a nicotinamide cofactor-dependent oxidoreductase catalyzes the reductive cleavage of the nitrate ester group to yield an alcohol and nitrite (6,15,29). The enzymes have similar amino acid sequences, and all contain flavin mononucleotide as a noncovalently bound cofactor. It has become apparent that some of these enzymes are also able to reduce TNT. Many flavoenzymes catalyze the reduction of nitro groups (8), and the products of TNT reduction by nitrate ester reductases include hydroxylamino-dinitrotoluenes (HADNTs) and amino-dinitrotoluenes (ADNTs). However, in addition, both PETN reductase from Enterobacter cloacae PB2 (14) and xenobiotic reductase B from Pseudomonas fluorescens I-C (25) catalyze reduction of the TNT aromatic ring by hydride addition, yielding hydride-and dihydride-Meisenheimer complexes (compounds 2 to 6, Fig. 1) and nitrite. Most current attempts at TNT bioremediation focus on nitro group reduction, where some of the resulting products bind tightly to soil (1, 2); unfortunately, it is difficult to demonstrate the long-term fate of such immobilized TNT derivatives. Nonaromatic transformation products, such as hydride-and dihydride-Meisen...