Dissertation
Forced distribution performance management systems in the U.S. Army: effects on human development and organizational practices
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Drexel University
Feb 2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00002018
Abstract
This study examined the U.S. Army's forced distribution performance appraisal system to assess its effects on organizational behavior, culture, and core benchmarks. A qualitative single case study design provided the framework for the conduct of this study, emphasizing Yin's (2014) rationale for implementing a case study for empirical inquiry investigating a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context. This study employed a comprehensive and instrumental approach to collect multiple sources of evidence from interviews, artifacts, and observations. Saldana's (2013) coding process provided the blueprint to ultimately deduce the multiple sources of evidence for findings, recommendations, and conclusions. Overarchingly, this study presents preliminary results and tentative support for strategic and structural changes to how the U.S. Army conducts performance management. This case study explored three research questions: 1. How do current performance appraisal system practices shape organizational behavior, morale, and culture in the U.S. Army? 2. How do U.S. Army officers believe the current performance appraisal practices provide all officers with a fair, equitable, and just assessment? 3. How do participants believe forced distribution rating impacts the accomplishments of professional development and personal growth in the U.S. Army? The results of this study indicated that performance management impacted all three levels of organizational behavior, the individual, group, and organization with intentional and unintentional impacts. Shortfalls in the U.S. Army's performance management of officers for fairness, equitability, and justness were clear, with criticism and dispiritedness ranging in scope and scale. Officers believed that implicit bias and subjectivity rendered the overall assessment unjust, with major consequences for professional and personal lives. Professional development, personal growth, and education were deemed secondary to subjective past performance as the centrality to ratings. A disassociation with policies and regulations was expressed coherently as a culture within a culture for conducting performance management. Lastly, how a significantly flawed and archaic performance management system impacted organizational-level benchmarks and metrics was not contextually understood by the participants who struggled to explain the connection between impacts on strategic human resources and talent management goals.
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Details
- Title
- Forced distribution performance management systems in the U.S. Army
- Creators
- Mark Paul Ziegenfuss
- Contributors
- Harriette Rasmussen (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xiv, 106 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Education (1997-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991021855014804721