The performance appraisal interview: An interpretive reassessment

Abstract
This essay proposes a framework for appraisal processes that includes consideration of antecedent and consequent cultural, organizational, and individual information, and the narratives used by participants to relate their experiences. The framework features motives identified by Kenneth Burke as intrinsic to communication marked by hierarchy: “mystery,” “order,” and “the kill.” Three performance appraisals are critiqued and directions for future interpretive studies are recommended.