Human Capital Roi

Effective Performance Appraisal: A Global Perspective

SHRM White Paper

4/1/2005 by Robert J. Greene, Ph.D., SPHR, GPHR, GRP

Today's increasingly globalized organizations are employing workforces that are diverse with respect to their national/ethnic origins. Whether these employees come to the headquarters location from other countries or are employed in their home countries by an organization headquartered in another country, the result is a culturally diverse workforce.

Organizations wishing to effectively attract, retain, motivate and satisfy a high-quality diverse workforce must recognize cultural differences, respect them and reconcile them. 1 Those that argue that there is a convergence of cultures underway and that eventually everyone will be content to wile away their Saturdays or Sundays in a mall populated by Starbucks, McDonalds and Armani could be correct. But those who actually do research, rather than merely speculate based on surface indicators, are not so sure. Many studies suggest that national/ethnic cultures are very resilient, and eminent scholars such as Hutchinson reject homogenization as being likely, even in the long run. 2 There is also practical evidence of cultural resilience: many immigrants to the United States seem to be disinterested in being absorbed into a melting pot and retain much of their heritage in their values, beliefs and behaviors. European countries that are experiencing an increased influx of people from other countries/continents are faced with the same reluctance to leave ones socialization behind.

Cultural differences within the workforce raise critical issues for human resource management practitioners. Concepts such as formal appraisals and rewards based on individual performance have proven devilishly difficult to implement and to make work effectively in some parts of the world. Some of the reasons for the difficulty are relatively obvious. For example, the notion of differentiating at the...