Performance Appraisal and Performance-Based Pay in Universities

Neoliberal reforms in higher education have shaped the nature of academic work since the 1980s in Australia and other countries. These reforms have resulted in the use of private sector performance practices designed to improve productivity, efficiency, and customer service in research and teaching within public universities. The use of these practices within public sector institutions has been termed “managerialism.” A key component of these reforms has been the establishment of performance management schemes and the process of performance appraisal for individual staff members (Morris et al., 2007). The central argument in this chapter is that, given the current pervasiveness of managerialism in higher education, collegiality, autonomy, and the traditional role of academic work are being compromised. The focus in this chapter lies with two aspects of performance management - performance appraisal and performance-based pay. The role and purpose of performance appraisal is reviewed alongside the argument that an approach recognizing the traditional values of academics and is developmental in focus holds merit and is preferable to an approach based on control and surveillance. Caveats are raised regarding the adoption of performance pay within universities. In the final part of the chapter, some discussion is afforded to the actions that managers within universities can take that may help mediate the tensions between traditional and corporate roles of the university.