The Practice and Problems of Performance Appraisal System in Korea : the Case of Company K

국내기업의 인사고과시스템 현황 및 문제점 분석 : K기업의 사례를 중심으로

This paper identifies the current practice and problems of the performance appraisal system at a typical Korean company. We developed a general framework of performance appraisal system consisted of five subsystems. Along the components of this framework, we reviewed the internal documents and recent appraisal data in the firm, and analyzed the interview and questionnaire survey outcomes collected companywise. Main findings are as follows. The appraisal results are used solely for promotion decisions, and almost never for career development, rewarding, relocation and so on. The appraisal items are not clear in meaning, not comprehensive in scope, and do not adequately reflect characteristics of different jobs. The appraisal is made by superiors only, and needs to be complemented by peer and/or self reviews. The employees are appraised on the basis of subjective judgments of the superiors. The appraisal data are being accumulated, but due to inadequate formation and insufficient programs the database is not being used for the detection and correction of appraisal tendencies and errors. Appraisal results are not fedback to the employees for the constructive information exchange. Accordingly they perceive the effectiveness of the appraisal system as very poor. Finally, the implication of our finding for other companies is briefly discussed.