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Ratings
Author(s): Brian S. Klaas and Angelo S. DeNisi
Source: The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 705-717
Published by: Academy of Management
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cognition stage (Alexander & Wilkens, 1982; Cardy & Dobbins, 1986; Moreland & Zajonic, 1977; Wilson & Zajonic, 1980). If the filing and processing of
a grievance influences a supervisor's affect toward an employee, that change
in affect might result in unconscious bias, and thus, lower ratings for the
grievant.
Managers may also intentionally distort the ratings they assign to a
grievant. Longenecker, Gioia, and Sims (1987) found that under certain conditions managers were willing to intentionally deflate the ratings assigned to
particular employees. According to those authors, if a manager sees an employee's behavior as personally threatening or offensive, the manager might
attempt to modify the employee's behavior by intentionally deflating the
rating given to the employee. Managers use the performance evaluation process as a means by which to enhance their personal control over employees.
We expected, then, that if employees file grievances against their supervisors, those supervisors might intentionally deflate the employees' ratings in
order to maintain control over the latter and discourage any such future
behavior. And if the employees win their grievance proceedings at a level
higher than the supervisory level, the supervisors might have additional
incentives to deflate the employees' ratings intentionally. Doing so might
show the employees that although they have won a battle, they certainly will
not win the war.
Although different theoretical perspectives have suggested a possible
link between grievance activity and performance appraisals, research examining this link has been somewhat limited. Lewin and Peterson (1987) found
that grievants received lower performance evaluations in the year following
the filing of a grievance than did nongrievants. They also found that those
who won their grievance received lower evaluations than those who lost. In
the only other study in this area, Klaas, Heneman, and Olson (1988) found
that grievants received lower evaluations in the year that a grievance was
filed than they did in other years that they were employed, although no
relationship between appraisals and grievance outcomes emerged.
Existing studies suggest, then, that there may be a relationship between
grievance activity and performance evaluations. But because of the exploratory nature of those studies, it is difficult to rule out alternative explanations for the findings obtained. Actual behavioral differences related to
grievance activity may account for the relationships observed. As Ichniowski (1986) pointed out, employees may engage in grievance activity in response to feelings of inequity and may also search for other ways to respond
to the perceived inequity that resulted in the filing of a grievance. Since
much research has found a relationship between grievance activity and productivity or absenteeism (Ichniowski and Lewin [1987] reviews that
research), this possibility seems particularly likely. As lowering performance is one way of responding to perceived inequity, the relationship
between grievance activity and performance evaluation may simply be the
result of actual changes in employee behavior that occur in association with
grievance activity.
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Academy of ManagementJournal
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TABLE 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelationsa
3
Means
s.d.
1. Performance evaluation
2. Grievances against
supervisor
3. Grievances about
organizational policy
4. Positive outcomes,
grievances against
supervisors
5. Positive outcomes,
policy grievances
6. Hours absent
7. Production hours
33.33
7.59
0.12
0.41
-.10
0.12
0.41
- .07
.52
0.07
0.32
-.07
.10
.04
0.07
0.27
.06
.54
57.88
0.25
5.96
-.03
- .08
.10
.07
.20
73.27
0.62
11.50
.10
-.04
.04
.09
-.03
.12
.14
-.03
.01
8. Tenure
Variables
.07
- .02
.05
.04
.12
.04
r = .064 is significant at p < .01. All variables are values averaged across 1,001 personperiods.
a
one or more grievances against a supervisor were filed in 92 of the personperiods; one or more organizational policy grievances were filed in 95 of the
person-periods; one or more grievances against a supervisor were granted in
54 of the person-periods; and one or more grievances against organizational
policy were granted in 63 of the person-periods.
Table 2 presents the results of the two fixed-effect models estimated,
one synchronous and one lagged. In the synchronous model, the coefficient
for grievances filed against supervisors and the coefficient for the positive
outcomes from such grievances are statistically significant and negative,
indicating that, as hypothesized, (1) as the number of grievances an employee filed against a supervisor increased within a period, the evaluation
assigned to that employee declined and (2) as the number of positive outcomes from such grievances increased within a period, the evaluation assigned to that employee declined. Conversely, no relationship emerged between grievances over organizational policy and performance evaluations.
Neither the coefficient for grievances filed against organizational policy nor
the coefficient for positive outcomes from such grievances is significant.2
The coefficients for the control variables, absenteeism, production hours,
and tenure, are all significant and in the direction expected.
The results for the lagged model are virtually identical to those for the
synchronous model: coefficients that are significant in the synchronous
model are also significant in the lagged model. The coefficient for the num2
Given the possibility that employees may respond to low performance evaluations by
filing grievances against their supervisors, we examined the impact of appraisal scores, lagged
by one year, on subsequent grievance activity. No relationship emerged. Thus, it is doubtful the
results obtained are due to reverse causation.
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TABLE 2
Fixed-Effect Coefficient Estimatesa
Variables
Constant
Grievances against supervisors
Grievances about organizational policy
Positive outcomes, grievances against supervisors
Positive outcomes, policy grievances
Hours absent
Production hours
Tenure
Grievances against supervisors, T
Synchronous
Model
Lagged
Model
-0.501
(0.165)
- 1.090*
(0.531)
0.565
(0.656)
- 0.848*
(0.510)
- 0.732
(0.823)
-0.012**
(0.005)
9.060**
(3.033)
0.223**
(0.085)
- 0.496
(0.165)
- 1.166*
(0.532)
0.508
(0.663)
0.953*
(0.522)
0.934
(0.842)
-0.012**
(0.005)
8.823**
(3.038)
0.241**
(0.086)
- 1.036*
(0.561)
0.577
(0.724)
-0.780t
F
R2
N
a
(0.566)
0.683
(0.915)
3.705**
.04
1,001
** p < .01
ber of grievances filed against supervisors, lagged by one year, is both negative and significant. The coefficient for the number of positive outcomes
from supervisory grievances is negative but significant only at .10. Neither
the coefficient for grievances against organizational policy lagged by one
year nor the lagged coefficient for the number of positive outcomes from
policy grievances is significant. This pattern of results suggests that the
effects of grievance activity against supervisors may extend beyond the year
in which a grievance is filed.
The results of these analyses clearly support our hypotheses. In order,
however, to reduce the plausibility of any alternative explanation for these
findings more effectively, we performed additional analyses. These analyses
used data on employees who filed grievances and then, within the same
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period, were evaluated by different supervisors.3 (Recall that these individuals were deleted from the original group studied.) Presumably, a supervisor
who was not the one present at the time of grievance activity would be less
likely to be biased by that activity when evaluating employee performance.
We again estimated both the synchronous and the lagged model, using this
smaller group (N = 252). In these models, production hours and tenure were
significant and in the direction expected, but none of the grievance activity
variables were significant.
Finally, as Table 2 indicates, although the value of F for both models is
significant, the amount of explained variance in each case is relatively small.
However, as Abelson (1985) pointed out, under certain conditions the percent variance explained may not be an appropriate index by which to judge
the explanatory value of a model. With the fixed-effect models estimated
here, we attempted to explain deviations from individuals' mean ratings,
thus controlling for stable differences across ratees. Although much of the
variation in performance level across individuals is likely to be due to stable
differences between individuals, much of the variation in an individual's
rating over time is likely to be random. Moreover, by looking at changes over
time, we are likely to see less variance in the dependent variable than we
would if we looked at differences between individuals. Both of these factors
restrict the magnitude of the R2.
DISCUSSION
The results of this study suggest that supervisors' reactions to employees involved in grievance activity may influence performance ratings. Specifically, supervisors seem to react negatively to employees who file grievances when those grievances are filed against the supervisors, and they do so
especially when those grievances are decided in favor of the employee. On
the other hand, filing grievances concerning organizational policies appeared to have little impact on employees' evaluations, regardless of the
outcome of the grievances. Further, among employees who were rated by a
supervisor who was not the one present at the time of the grievance activity
in question, there was no relationship between the grievance activity and
ratings. Our use of the fixed-effect approach combined with the inclusion of
relevant control variables reduced the potential for omitted variable bias and
thus further supports the suggestion that managerial reactions to grievance
activity, not actual changes in behavior, account for the results reported.
Although earlier studies (e.g., Lewin & Peterson, 1987; Klaas et al., 1988)
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have also found negative relationships between grievance activity and performance ratings, those studies could not rule out behavioral change as an
explanation for the relationships. Several aspects of the present results, however, speak against this alternative explanation.
First, filing a grievance against a supervisor was the only type of grievance activity that significantly affected appraisals. It would be difficult to
argue that those grievants felt a strong sense of inequity but that those who
filed grievances against organizational policies did not. Second, as noted
above, employees who were rated by a supervisor other than the one who
was involved in the grievance did not receive lower evaluations following
grievance activity, even though the productivity proxies clearly influenced
their ratings. If the relationship between grievance activity and performance
evaluation were simply due to behavioral change, subsequent performance
appraisals would presumably reflect that change, regardless of who completed an evaluation. The fact that we observed a relationship only when the
raters were the supervisors against whom grievances had been filed suggests
that grievance activity may cause supervisors to distort their evaluation of
grievants. Finally, if reduced effort represents an expression of inequity, we
would expect that if an employee won a grievance, the person's sense of
equity would be restored and he or she would again increase efforts. However, as noted earlier, our results suggested that winning a grievance against
a supervisor was also related to lower ratings. Moreover, the results also
suggest that employees who win their grievances will still receive lower
evaluations in the year following the year in which the grievance occurred;
even if employees lower performance in response to inequity felt at the time
of filing a grievance, it seems unlikely that they would continue to do so
more than a year after receiving a positive outcome from that grievance.
On a practical level, the overall pattern of results suggests that the value
of the voice provided by grievance systems may be limited, given that filing
and winning grievances may impose costs upon employees. These costs may
discourage employees from using the voice mechanism that their grievance
system provides. Thus, they might turn to other channels to express their
that include quitting, absenteeism, and sabotage. A
discontent-channels
potential implication is that a grievance system might cease to serve as a
mechanism through which workers and managers can freely communicate.
Moreover, negative managerial reactions to grievance activity might even
exacerbate a conflict that originally led to the filing of a grievance.
In order to understand more fully the practical significance of our findings, it is necessary to explore the potential magnitude of the costs associated
with grievance activity. To this end, we examined employees who had filed
a grievance against a supervisor but who had not engaged in any other
grievance activity for four years prior to filing that grievance. We plotted the
ratings these employees received during the four years prior to the grievance
activity (T - 1 to T - 4) and during the year (T) in which the grievance
activity occurred (Figure 1). Figure 1 also shows the ratings received by a
comparison group of employees who filed no grievances during this period.
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FIGURE 1
Performance Ratings Across Time: Nongrievants Versus Employees Filing
Grievances Against Supervisors
Performance
Ratings
444240383634
-.
32
-*
30
2826-
T-4
Nongrievants (N
- - -- -? .
T-3
T-2
T-1
707)
30)
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717
DeNisi, A. S., Cafferty, T. P., & Meglino, B. M. 1984. A cognitive view of the performance
appraisal process: A model and research propositions. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 33: 360-396.
Feldman, J. M. 1981. Beyond attribution theory: Cognitive processes in performance appraisal.
(Ed.), Human resources and the performance of the firm: 159-193. Madison, Wisc.:
IRRA.
Klaas, B. S., Heneman, H. G. III, & Olson, C. A. 1988. Grievance activity and its consequences:
A study of the grievance system and its impact on employee behavior. Workingpaper,
University of South Carolina, Columbia.
Landy, F. S., & Farr, J. L. 1980. Performance rating. Psychological
Lewin, D., & Peterson, R. B. 1987. Behavioral outcomes of grievance activity. Working paper,
Columbia University, New York.
Longenecker, C. O., Gioia, D. A., & Sims, H. P., Jr. 1987. Behind the mask: The politics of
employee appraisal. Academy of Management Executive, 1: 183-194.
Moreland, R. L., & Zajonic, R. B. 1977. Is stimulus recognition a necessary condition for the
occurrence of exposure effects? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35: 191199.
Ravlin, E. C., & Meglino, B. M. 1987. Effect of values on perception and decision making: A
study of alternative work values measures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72: 666-673.
Wilson, W. R., & Zajonic, R. B. 1980. Affective discrimination of stimuli that cannot be recognized. Science, 207: 557-558.
Brian S. Klaas earned his Ph.D. degree from the Industrial Relations Research Institute
at the University of Wisconsin. He is an assistant professor of management at the
University of South Carolina. His current research interests include the role of grievance systems, employee discipline, and the interaction between performance appraisals
and merit pay.
Angelo S. DeNisi earned his Ph.D. degree in industrial-organizational psychology from
Purdue University; he is a professor of human resources management at the Institute for
Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University. His current research interests
include cognitive processes in performance appraisal, job analysis, and the role of
values in determining workplace behavior.