ABSTRACT:
This research aims to explore the extent to which the Performance Management (PM) system that is adopted by a selection of different companies that work in Egypt has the characteristics of the ideal PM system. The characteristics of an ideal PM system that have been developed by Aguinis (2007) were adopted in this research. In addition, it aims to explore the most important practical constraints that hinder the implementation of an ideal PM system in the selected companies. The study uses a convenient sample of 60 human resource managers in 60 different companies that work in Egypt. The findings indicate that the surveyed companies do not adopt an ideal performance management system (reality) although they believe that what they actually use is an ideal performance management system (rhetoric). Based on the results of this research there is no correlation between the nature of the companies surveyed (service or product) and the idealism of the performance management systems adopted. The findings also indicate that the most important obstacles that may hinder the adoption of an ideal performance management system are the managers' perception of and attitudes toward the performance management and the cost associated with its adoption and implementation. The main recommendations that have been given at the end of this research are that the surveyed companies should review and revise their performance management systems in order to make it ideal by adding those characteristics that are currently missing and enhancing a high-trust organizational atmosphere to encourage both managers and employees raise and share ideas that of value to the organization as one entity.