Performance evaluation in high technology firms: a political perspective

The increased emergence and growth of high technology organizations worldwide presents both opportunities and challenges for effective management and organizational performance. The turbulent, uncertain, and ambiguous internal and external environments of high technology firms present particular challenges for the effective management of human resources. The present article addresses perhaps the most central human resource management practice, performance evaluation, and it suggests a new and different perspective through which this process can more appropriately be viewed within the contexts of high technology firms. The suggested political perspective is used to assess the behavior of managers who serve as raters of their subordinates' performance, and it also is used to interpret the behavior of the personnel/human resources department toward its internal constituencies. Testable propositions are developed to guide future research.