Designing a performance management information system to bridge trust : an action research case study

Abstract

Performance Management Programmes (PMP) are often fraught with complexities which could strain trust relations between employees and managers, thus inhibiting an organisation from achieving its strategic goals. Important elements of trust such as transparency, consistency and open communication are key ingredients to forming and maintaining trust between employees and organisational leaders. Information Systems (IS) that are designed effectively can play a critical bridging role in establishing trust.

The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate how a continuous design approach of a Performance Management Information System (PMIS) is fostering improvements in trust in the performance reward programme and trust relations between employees and leaders at a South African Private Bank. This longitudinal case study used an action research approach underpinned by an interpretive research paradigm to understand the complex trust-related issues in the case organisation. These insights informed the design of a PMIS to foster greater trust in the overall PMP. The study assumes that trust is a social practice and therefore drew on recent advances in Giddens’s theory of modernity to develop a trust framework in order to conduct the action research study. The study demonstrates how the five stages of action research in conjunction with the trust framework are applied in the continuous design and development of PMIS. Through in-depth interviews, documents and thematic analysis, a contextually rich and descriptive case study is presented. The action research study presents the initial design and development phase of the new PMIS, the implementation and user adoption phase, as well as the continuous design and development of additional PMIS capabilities to support employees, line managers and executives increased understanding of the drivers of performance.

The findings show the value of using a dynamic trust framework to focus IS practitioners attention on social practices relevant to designing a PMIS. The study demonstrates how the organisation is transitioning Human Resource Management (HRM) and Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) from treating employees as passive recipients of HRM to active participants and encouraging employee engagement. Furthermore the study extends the limited research and evidence on employee compensation programme effectiveness facilitated by a PMIS by creating greater fairness and transparency in the reward distribution processes, clarity of communication and trust formation. A set of prescriptive design principles that is consistent with the concept of affordance and the design for socio-technical systems is presented to assist in improving organisational practice and fostering trust. To ensure that the performance reward programme remains trusted and relevant, it is recommended that future interventions by practitioners should focus on including trust enhancing PMIS affordances that support employees, line managers and executives. Future research should further consider the adoption of a dynamic trust framework to improve other IS designs which entail complex social practices.