ULMS 157
Recruitment, Selection and Performance Management at
Epcot Theme Park
Introduction
This case study examines the concept and management of performance in organizations. In organization and management studies the word performance has two meanings (Fineman, Sims and Gabriel, 2005). On the one hand it simply refers to how well individuals are doing the tasks, duties and job responsibilities assigned to them, whether or not they are achieving output targets and productivity goals, product and service quality standards and meeting customer expectations. It is also refers to personal performance, how well a person is doing in achieving the goals they set for themselves. On the other hand the word performance also relates to how people at work conduct or, more specifically, present themselves to others; how they interact with fellow employees, management, clients, customers, the general public, and so on. In this context the concept of performance takes on a rather different meaning. It refers to how everyday behaviour in organizations is about ‘putting on a performance’. In recent years this latter use of the term ‘performance’ has become increasingly popular in organizational and management studies, and is widely used to illustrate how the nature of everyday behaviour and social interaction at work - verbal and non-verbal communication, such as greetings gestures, posture, etc. - are essentially performances. ’The presentation of self in everyday life’ (Goffman, 1959: 240) as Ervin Goffman puts it, in organizations or in society at large, is very similar to a theatrical performance played by professional ‘actors’ in a stage production. They differ only in the sense that theatre performances played by actors are written by a playwright, whereas the (taken-for-granted) performances played by people in everyday life are symbolic interactions informed by cultural