Impact of trade unions on PMA systems in place 400 words (this shall primarily cover past instances when

trade unions have been able to influence PMA systems existing in an organization)

Framework: the performance cycle where interventions by TUs can take place examples of these interventions and outcome Impact of trade unions on present PMA systems A study of the impact of trade unionism on performance management systems should begin with a study of the performance management cycle, which in turn will help identify the stages where the trade union may make possible interventions. The performance cycle (Taylor, 2013) has been depicted below:

Planning Performance

Reviewing Performance

Supporting Performance

The performance cycle

The purpose of the first stage is to establish clear goals and expectations. The second stage involves the manager organising support structures for the employees ie identifying information sources and providing constructive feedback. The third stage mainly comprises the performance appraisal process. It must be noted that the purpose behind such evaluation is to drive continuous performance improvement. Armstrong (2004: 634) emphasises that the aim should be the positive one of maximising high performance although he conceded that this does involve taking steps to deal with under-performance although they should be constructive in nature. However using the bell-curve to generate appraisal scores defeated the purpose by targeting underperformers .It was a statistical categorisation rather than a true indicator of performance. Trade unions frequently make an intervention post the performance review stage of the performance cycle, often in the form of strikes. A major source of discontent is reported to be the

instance where employees are hitting their targets or believe they are doing so, but are put into the category of an underperformer at their appraisal (Taylor, 2013).An example of the aforementioned would be the protest by the NTPC Executives Federation of India (NEFI) sparked by the introduction of a similar performance-linked-reward mechanism which deprived the bottom 10% of any performance-linked pay. There were examples of new recruit engineers whose performance was more than 90% on an absolute scale but in the overall average, it figured in the bottom 10%. (The Hindu Business Line, October 8, 2013). Interventions may also be made at the planning stage. There is scope for union representatives to raise objections to what may be considered excessive or unachievable targets (Taylor, 2013).An example of the same would be the national one-day strike staged by the staff at British Telecom and organised by the CWU at their call centres. The union was highly critical of what it saw as insufficient staffing and rigid performance targets, including the imposition of unreasonable call-handing times (Hall, 1999).The strike was successful in coercing British Telecom into developing a model of best practices for the call-centre industry besides adopting a stress management programme and relaxing performance criteria, thus addressing issues in the second stage. Thus, evidence suggests that trade unions have managed to organize effective collective response in instances of performance management systems synonymous with top-down target-driven work. References P.Taylor, (2009). Performance Management and the New Workplace Tyranny :A Report for the Scottish Trades Union Congress. 1st ed. Scotland: University of Strathclyde. http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/1999/12/inbrief/uk9912143n.htm http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/ntpc-employees-protest-overperformancelinkedpay/article5213516.ece?utm_source=vuukle&utm_medium=notification_email&utm_campaign=vuu kle_referral