The Formality and Informality of Performance Management

Abstract

While the implementation of performance management is the responsibility of all levels of management, frontline managers play the greatest role as they deal with frontline employees directly on a day-to-day basis. This paper examines how the culture in the organization (based on how formal and informal performance management are enacted) will affect the frontline manager’s implementation of his or her performance management responsibilities. We found that the culture of the organisation signals to FLMs what they should be doing, which heavily impacts the opportunity that FLMs have in formal performance management. However, it is also their own individual ability and that affects the informal performance management of their employees.