En kvalitativ studie om medarbetares upplevelser av prestationsmätningar och tilltron mellan chefer och medarbetare

Abstract

Our goal with this study has been to explore what experiences employees have had with performance-based measurements and monitoring and what impact they have had between leaders and employees. We have used a qualitative interview study for this purpose. The results show that employees have both positive and negative experiences with performance-based measurements. The interviews showed that the participants viewed performance-based measurements as a form of supervision that could help to ensure that the organization functions properly. At the same time, the results also showed that the same persons that had positive views about performance-based measurements as a form of supervision also had negative views about the subject. Many of the employees expressed that an increased amount of performance-based measurements could lead to a decreased sense of motivation and engagement in the work. There is also evidence that shows that performance-based measurements that made the employees feel monitored increased their stress levels. The fact that performance-based measurements could be a challenge for organizations was also shown in previous research by Dumond (1992) who explained that organizations with large amounts of performance-based measurements could make the employees less motivated. We could also see that our study has similarities with Bowell et al. (2023) and Foucault (2003) that explored the relationship between monitoring and behavior. The conclusions we could make was that employees that felt monitored by performance-based measurements also changed their behaviour. This increased monitoring also had similarities with the study by Siegel, König & Lazar (2022) who showed a correlation between stress and monitoring.