An Investigation into the perceptions of employee performance management in the UK retail industry

Performance management has undergone a great deal of change over the last twenty years as it has become a key strategic business tool. Therefore, the area of performance management has been subject to considerable academic and business interest. Performance management plays an important role in motivating employees to improve individual and organisational performance; this motivation is key within the retail industry due to the fact that there is a high emphasis on customer service interaction, highly motivated and trained employees facilitate high levels of customer service (Clodfelter, 2013). Despite this, there has yet to be a research study specifically looking into the perceptions of performance management within the UK retail industry, this research study aims to achieve that.The research philosophy adopted for this research was a quantitative, positivist epistemological position,involving a closed question questionnaire which established the profile of respondents, the characteristics and attributes of the performance management systems present in their organisation, and finally, their perceptions on the performance management system.This research study found that 69% of UK retail businesses have a performance management system, that there is a greater emphasis on development than rewards, that line managers are the prominent providers of performance management, and that appraisal meetings are the most common performance management tool utilised. In regards to the perceptions of these systems it’s evident that performance management is perceived as being a continuous process which links individual and organisational objectives. Furthermore, it is evident that performance management is motivating employees which is having a positive impact on individual and organisational performance.