What happens during annual appraisal interviews? How leader-follower interactions unfold and impact interview outcomes.

Despite a wealth of research on antecedents and outcomes of annual appraisal interviews, the ingredients that make for a successful communication process within the interview itself remain unclear. This study takes a communication approach to highlight leader-follower dynamics in annual appraisal in...

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Published in:Journal of Applied Psychology Vol. 102; no. 7; pp. 1054 - 1075
Main Authors: Meinecke, Annika L., Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale, Kauffeld, Simone
Format: journal article
Published: American Psychological Association Jul2017
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      pub: American Psychological Association
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        10.1037/apl0000219
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        atl: What happens during annual appraisal interviews? How leader-follower interactions unfold and impact interview outcomes.
      aug:
        au:
          Meinecke, Annika L.
          Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale
          Kauffeld, Simone
        affil:
          Technische Universität Braunschweig
          University of Amsterdam
      su:
        Leadership
        Quantitative research
        Sensory perception
        Employment
        Interpersonal relations
        Psychology
        Valuation
        Employment interviewing
        Employee reviews
      sug:
        subj:
          Leadership
          Quantitative research
          Sensory perception
          Employment
          Interpersonal relations
          Psychology
          All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
          Valuation
          Employment interviewing
          Employee reviews
      keyword:
        appraisal interviews
        employee disagreement
        lag sequential analysis
        leader-follower interactions
        task- and relation-oriented leader behavior
        appraisal interviews
        employee disagreement
        lag sequential analysis
        leader-follower interactions
        task- and relation-oriented leader behavior
      ab: Despite a wealth of research on antecedents and outcomes of annual appraisal interviews, the ingredients that make for a successful communication process within the interview itself remain unclear. This study takes a communication approach to highlight leader-follower dynamics in annual appraisal interviews. We integrate relational leadership theory and recent findings on leader-follower interactions to argue (a) how supervisors' task- and relation-oriented statements can elicit employee involvement during the interview process and (b) how these communication patterns affect both supervisors' and employees' perceptions of the interview. Moreover, we explore (c) how supervisor behavior is contingent upon employee contributions to the appraisal interview. We audiotaped 48 actual annual appraisal interviews between supervisors and their employees. Adopting a multimethod approach, we used quantitative interaction coding (N = 32,791 behavioral events) as well as qualitative open-axial coding to explore communication patterns among supervisors and their employees. Lag sequential analysis revealed that supervisors' relation-oriented statements triggered active employee contributions and vice versa. These relation-activation patterns were linked to higher interview success ratings by both supervisors and employees. Moreover, our qualitative findings highlight employee disagreement as a crucial form of active employee contributions during appraisal interviews. We distinguish what employees disagreed about, how the disagreement was enacted, and how supervisors responded to it. Overall employee disagreement was negatively related to ratings of supervisor support. We discuss theoretical implications for performance appraisal and leadership theory and derive practical recommendations for promoting employee involvement during appraisal interviews. (PsycINFO Database Record
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: journal article
      src: R
    language: English
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