{"id":8372,"date":"2025-05-06T03:24:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T01:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rvdb.nl\/new-performance-management-falls-into-a-classic-trap\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T12:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:48:13","slug":"new-performance-management-falls-into-a-classic-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rvdb.nl\/en\/new-performance-management-falls-into-a-classic-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"“New” Performance Management Falls Into a Classic Pitfall"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\"New\" Performance Management Falls Into a Classic Pitfall<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Written by: <\/span>Leon Heesen, <\/em>People & Culture Consultant at Rvdb, August 2020<\/span><\/p>

Organizations are switching en masse to a new approach to Performance Management (PM): the key business process for evaluating employees and aligning organizational goals with individual goals. Kilian Wawoe, Assistant Professor of Human Resources Management at VU Amsterdam, has shown us how it can be done differently\u2014with less bureaucratic red tape and more focus on employee development. Modern approaches to PM are a response to the problems of traditional PM. But do problems also arise in practice with the modern approach? This approach is so new that it has never been critically evaluated. In collaboration with VU Amsterdam, Leon Heesen from Rvdb conducted research on new PM at scale-ups, which yielded a striking finding. <\/p>

Classic and New Performance Management<\/b><\/h3>

First, a brief refresher. The classic PM system uses elaborate appraisal systems to get information about the employee. This is done to encourage good performance, justify a promotion or dismissal. The aim is objective equality. In this system, some fundamental problems are observed by Kilian Wawoe. For example, evaluators today do not appear to be able to judge objectively because contemporary jobs often do not have an objectively observable end product and evaluators include in their judgments aspects other than an employee’s actual performance. It is also indicated that managers cannot assume the number of different roles expected of them from the appraisal system. The three roles to be assumed of coordinator, coach and judge are contradictory in certain areas and therefore cannot be performed simultaneously. In addition, dissatisfaction often arises among employees about the assessment score they receive and it is stated that the assessment moments do not occur at the right time during the year. To (partially) eliminate these problems, a number of solutions are offered (new PM). A five-point appraisal scale can be abandoned and more frequent informal conversations about an employee’s performance can take place. Powers can also be shifted from the supervisor to the employees. Think of jointly making (result) agreements or introducing 360-degree feedback. In this way, part of the responsibility to reward and assess can be placed on employees. <\/p>

“It is difficult for a manager to take on the three different roles of coordinator, coach, and judge.” \u2014 Kilian <\/em>Wawoe<\/strong><\/h4><\/blockquote>

The paradox of \u201ceverything under one roof\u201d<\/b><\/h3>

We all know them, the classic annual appraisals: the part of PM in which your supervisor tries to steer you in the right direction, guide you to get the best out of yourself and assess whether last year’s performance is sufficient. In practice, this often gives employees a contradictory feeling: \u201cI should continue like this, but you set more difficult goals and give me a score of three out of five?\u201d The manager tries to assume a coordinating, coaching and judging role here. A division of labor that, according to Maud Schaapveld, co-author of “performance management in an agile work environment,” cannot last long: “The problem lies in the fact that during such a conversation, as it were, everything is under one roof, as it once was at V&D. In classical PM, the manager cannot perform three roles simultaneously. Kilian Wawoe and his colleagues argue that there is a solution to this paradox: separate the different roles and place them as low as possible in the organization. According to them, these tasks are best distributed at the team level and brought to fruition. A way of working that seems easy in theory, but is problematic in practice, I discovered during my research. And which the scale-ups I studied still seem far from. <\/p>

The new facade<\/b><\/h3>

The study examined the policy on Performance Management at five scale-ups. While the organizations initially indicated that they had abandoned classical PM, four scale-ups still used a construction in which formal power still rested with the manager. Executive tasks such as performance data collection are performed at the team level. It is then up to the manager to judge whether someone is performing satisfactorily, deserves promotion or should be fired. But here the data collected is not decisive. Thus, a manager can still subjectively determine what rating an employee receives. For these four scale-ups, new PM turned out to be just a facade behind which a classic system is hidden. <\/p>

The pioneer<\/b><\/h3>

One of the scale-ups took a different approach. They have designed a system where responsibilities and decision-making power (i.e., including regarding PM) are shared equally among employees. This is also known as “holacracy. In this system, the employee is at the helm of his or her own development process. Is he\/she up for promotion? Then, in consultation with the PM coordinator, a group of immediate colleagues is asked to evaluate the candidate. An independent group of internal experts ultimately determines whether the promotion is awarded. A seemingly foolproof and fair system, which I began to delve further into. <\/p>

Unfortunately, problems appear to arise here as well. Whereas in classical PM, performing different roles leads to problems, this form of new PM has similar problems. The moment an employee is asked to evaluate a colleague, it’s that time again: \u201cthen you know it’s for the promotion process.\u201d The power over granting the promotion is then in your hands. \u201cIf I start being very critical during the review, I will drill him\/her through that promotion,\u201d a respondent from the scale-up in question told me. As a result, \u201cI did indeed answer somewhat socially desirable because I didn’t want to sell that person a very hard no.\u201d New PM fell into a classic trap here. Placing PM responsibilities as low as possible in the organization raises a new problem: employees must perform two conflicting roles; the justice role and collegial role. Taking on the judicial role is then made more difficult because there are colleagues who are less able to receive feedback: \u201cThese colleagues are very quick to reply. That is still sometimes a barrier to giving critical feedback.\u201d If they ultimately choose the collegial role, then promotions are awarded unfairly. <\/p>

Opinion<\/b><\/h3>

So is new PM as ideal as we think? Possibly in addition to these findings, there are many more teething problems to be found in this new form of PM. So it is advisable to do proper research on the way of PM that best suits your organization. Not every organization experiences the problems in classical PM as Kilian Wawoe describes them. Aspects such as the degree of hierarchy have a major impact on how employees experience PM. <\/p>

My advice: don’t blindly go along with the hype. See what your organization needs in order to develop its employees as well as possible and deploy them as efficiently as possible. A classic system still works well in an environment with a clear vertical division of labor. Also, some aspects of new PM can be applied on their own, without going straight to the whole package. In short, a good PM system is customized; every organization is different! <\/p>

Would you like to get started with performance management, and are you wondering which approach is best suited to your organization? Our People & Culture Consultants specialize in this strategic HR topic and would be happy to assist you. Feel free to contact us with no obligation. <\/i><\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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