The purpose of this paper is to ask why poor performance management practices persist in Portugal, in the middle of claims to increase productivity.
An inductive micro-practice analysis is used to understand barriers to management practice that do not require massive institutional changes.
The practice of performance management in Portugal typically displays three weaknesses: (1) insufficient planning (2) process and integrity issues, and (3) a non-meritocratic logic.
The paper discusses the important topic of persistence of bad practices, showing how institutionalized patterns might be difficult to eradicate even they are suboptimal.
The authors identity key issues in the functioning of performance management, therefore helping managers in developing remedies to improve the quality of their practice.
The paper explains the persistence of bad management practice whose continuity hinders not only organizations’ effectiveness but also that of their members.
