__Abstract__



All kinds of remedies have been suggested to minimise ethical

problems in organisations, but recent research suggests that

managers can significantly improve their employees' ethics

simply by being fair and respectful for 30 minutes a year –

provided they choose the right 30 minutes

Belschak-Jacobs, G. (Gabriele)

Erasmus University Digital Repository

Management Knowledge4th Quarter  2013ROTTERDAM SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, ERASMUS UNIVERSITYThe business school that thinks and lives in the future Sustainability as a  team sport Lesa Sawahata interviews Gail Whiteman Boosting revenues in  the self-storage  warehouse industry by René de Koster How to manage  consumers’ packaging  perceptions by Nailya Ordabayeva Do bank bailouts have a  silver lining? by Lars Norden, Peter Roosenboom and Teng Wang How performance  appraisals can encourage  ethical behaviour  by Gabriele Jacobs  Change for change’s  sake? Internal  responses to  external challenges by Henk W. Volberda Why mortgage   lenders need  better-educated  borrowers by  Ruben Cox16   |  4th Quarter 2013Management Knowledgewhich employees perceived their per formance appraisal as fair correlated with the degree of support they felt they received from their supervisor, and to a lesser extent, from their organisation. If employees felt supported by their supervisor and their organisation, they tended to behave more ethically at work. If the officers felt they had been treated shabbily, they tended to cut more corners afterwards – showing up late, taking over-long breaks – and continued to hold that grudge for the entire year.  More surprisingly, we discovered that the performance of the messenger tended to matter more than the message. Many officers who received negative reviews said what bothered them most was not the review but how the news was delivered. The police officers told us, ‘I don’t mind, I understand… but just be honest and open about it. Don’t try to treat me like a little child.’ But even positive reviews delivered badly could also have a negative effect: officers who had received positive reviews that they felt were disrespectful were also less inclined toward ethical behaviour. The results suggest to us that employees see their own performance appraisal as a key test of the trustworthiness of their superior and of the organisation toward themselves. Fair or unfair behaviour by managers A study of 332 German policemen by Frank D. Belschak, Deanne N. Den Hartog, both professors at the University of Amsterdam, and I, found a significant link between the officers’ perception of fair and respectful treatment during their performance review and the degree of personal ethics they exhibited over the next 12 months. We found that when officers felt that in their performance review they had been treated respectfully by their superiors, they tended to behave more ethically.  In co-operation with the German Police University (the single training centre within the German police where senior police officers from all states as well as from the federal police forces receive training to qualify them for promotion to higher ranks), we drew the respondents for our study from a representative sample of two German police forces.  Our survey found that police officers evaluated their performance appraisals in terms of how fair it seemed to them, and that their perceptions had strong implications for their subsequent behaviour, as observed by a colleague of the respondent’s choosing. Although a performance appraisal is at most 30 to 60 minutes of a full working year, it has a very strong symbolic effect on the employee. In line with the existing literature, we discovered that the extent to How performance appraisals can encourage ethical behaviour by Gabriele JacobsAll kinds of remedies have been suggested to minimise ethical problems in organisations, but recent research suggests that managers can significantly improve their employees' ethics simply by being fair and respectful for 30 minutes a year – provided they choose the right 30 minutes.“If employees felt supported by their supervisor and their organisation, they tended to behave more ethically at work.”4th Quarter 2013    |   17in a performance appraisal is likely to affect their perception of the degree of supportiveness they receive from their supervisor and translate ultimately into ethical or unethical behaviour by the employee.  To me, this study shows that you don’t always have to do something big to make a difference to a culture. Sometimes even a seemingly minor act, such as just being respectful to a co-worker and demonstrating that you realise how important a particular moment is to that person, can have quite an impact.Lessons LearnedManagers can draw a number of lessons from this study into the ethical impact of performance reviews:*  Leaders lead. Supervisors play an  important role as mentors for ethics.  If they show good ethical behaviour,  employees often follow their lead,*  Performance reviews matter a lot  to employees. We care a lot about  what other people think about us  and especially our bosses,*  Don’t avoid the situation. If you have  to deliver bad news, avoiding the  news is worse than saying it. *  Deliver bad news calmly. When you  need to say something negative, do  it but do it in a transparent way, and  a respectful way. Because emotion  can be vented in this conversation  then you can make sure that there  is less negative emotion that can  travel with the person throughout  the year..*  Be respectful. If you use respectful  behaviour towards employees,  not only can you prevent unethical  behaviour, but you can also trigger  ethical behaviour. At the same time,  the interaction needs to be genuine.  You need to be transparent and  authentic and you need to allow for  voice and the venting of emotions  of employees. This article draws its inspiration from the paper (Un)Ethical behaviour and performance appraisal: the role of affect, support, and organizational justice, written by Gabriele Jacobs, Frank D. Belschak and Deanne N. Den Hartog, and published in the Journal of Business Ethics, 1–14. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1687-1Gabriele Jacobs is Associate Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology, Depar tment of Organisat ion and Personnel Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.  EMAIL  gjacobs@rsm.nl RSM ExpertiseEvery part of business depends upon one thing: people, and their relationship to each other and the organisation in which they work. Understanding this, the educa-tion and research of RSM’s De-partment of Organisation and Personnel Management focuses on this relationship using a strong interdisciplinary approach. Research within the depart-ment has always been ahead of the curve, and pioneering faculty members work at the forefront of such ‘human’ issues as diversity and leadership studies. Find out more about the department and its work at  WEB   www.rsm.nl/opm

How performance appraisals can

encourage ethical behaviour

http://repub.eur.nl/pub/50729/RSMInsight_HowPerformanceAppr_2013.pdf

How performance appraisals can encourage ethical behaviour

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