An Opinion Survey of Performance Appraisal Practices in Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China

Abstract

This paper examines performance appraisal practices as viewed by a sample of 164 Chinese from Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China (PRC). There was a higher tendency for the PRC Chinese to prefer a group orientation to performance appraisal. The PRC sample also expressed a much greater willingness to consider non-performance-related factors and a strongerpreference for open, honest, and direct relations between supervisors and subordinates. In terms of performance attributions, there was no difference in the degree to which the two groups noted internal attributions of behaviour, but the PRC group espoused external attributions of performance. The Hong Kong group expressed less trust and confidence in subordinates' ability to accomplish task and more likely to indicate that supervisors should know the precise answer to work-related questions. The Hong Kong group also preferred less frequent performance appraisals.Performance appraisal is the systematic evaluation of employees with respect to their performance on the job and their potential for development. According to Western theory, performance appraisal may.be one of the most valuable tools in managing human resources and productivity. When used effectively, appraisal systems can provide useful information for identifying individuals with high potential for development and/or promotion as well as providing ground for rewarding performance. crucial elements of an effective appraisal system include valid measuring criteria and instruments, good relationship between supervisor and subordinate, with mutual trust and respect, frequent and open communications, clearly set performance standards, and feedback. Such an appraisal system may be explicitly biased toward the Western culture which is characterized as aggressive and individualistic. Wether these Western appraisal systems can be validly and reliably used to assess human performance in non-Western cultural environment remains to be investigated. It would seem that appraisal systems cannot be simply borrowed from other organizations or other cultures and installed in any organization-appraisal systems introduced in an organization must reflect its culture and its way of doing things.Employees' attitudes towards these aspects of performance appraisal system have significant impact on the appraisal process and outcomes. Research studies revealed that open, two-way communication, mutual trust, opportunities for ratees to parti-

Supervisor-Subordinate Directional Age Differences and Employee Reactions to Formal Performance Feedback: Examining Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms in a Chinese Sample

“…Relevant regional differences exist as well; one study found that employees in the People's Republic of China (PRC) tended to desire open, honest, and direct communications from their supervisors, while this was less important to employees in the Hong Kong region (Chow, 1995). Although these findings were published prior to major political changes in the Hong Kong region, cultural researchers have suggested that value and norm differences between this region and the PRC persist (e.g., Dessler & Tan, 2006).…”

“…While Shenzhen, where the current study was conducted, is technically part of the PRC, its close proximity to Hong Kong allows the two regions to have close business, trade, and social links and thus it is likely that Hong Kong values and norms transfer over to Shenzhen organizational functioning. Hong Kong has also been described as a region with extremely low uncertainty avoidance values, further suggesting that employees within this society do not have a strong need to know exact reasons and justifications for organizational procedures and outcomes (Chow, 1995;Hofstede, 2001). …”

“…Interactional justice elements have also been specifically studied relative to performance appraisal reactions among Chinese workers. Such studies have found that, apparently because of the Chinese cultural value emphasizing relationship building and mutual respect (Child & Markoczky, 1993;Dessler & Tan, 2006;Fisher & Yuan, 1998;Hofstede, 1980;, Chinese employees respond more positively to performance feedback when the supervisor is open, honest, and direct (Chow, 1995). Further, research has indicated that the principle of -social sensitivity‖ may be particularly important in forming Chinese employee reactions to performance appraisal events (Tata et al, 2003).…”

“…For instance, Chow (1995) found that open, direct communication from one's supervisor during feedback administration was preferred in organizations in the People's Republic of China, but that interpersonal and informational justice had differing effects on employees' overall reactions to performance feedback. While both of these justice elements had some bearing on how employees perceived a feedback event (Chow, 1995), interpersonal justice appeared to better match Chinese norms of having a good relationship with one's supervisor and being treated with respect (Brockner et al, 2001;Tata et al, 2003).…”

“…While both of these justice elements had some bearing on how employees perceived a feedback event (Chow, 1995), interpersonal justice appeared to better match Chinese norms of having a good relationship with one's supervisor and being treated with respect (Brockner et al, 2001;Tata et al, 2003). Regardless, particularly in Chinese regions that are becoming increasingly less traditional and more modernized (e.g., Ayree & Chen, 2006), both interactional justice elements have been found to carry weight in predicting employee feedback reactions and work-related attitudes in general (e.g., Brockner et al, 2001;Chow, 1995;Fisher & Yuan, 1998).…”