US performance appraisal specialists The Zigon Performance Group regularly trawl the web for useful appraisal-related stories.

Performance Management in the News features a regularly-updated store of articles categorised by topics such as unions, 360 degree feedback, legal issues and design of appraisal systems, together with some sector-specific case studies for sales and healthcare.

Articles they've found in the last few months include some thoughts on measuring performance from the monthly Performance Improvement journal, an item from the March edition of HR Magazine on creating the right performance appraisal system. Two US publications highlighted by Zigon feature highlight how using grades (A,B,C,D..) for evaluating employee performance has sparked a trail of lawsuits in the US. Two other articles from the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management look at how both the measures used and the time of the evaluation can affect the performance of those working in sales environments.

Another nice feature from Zigon is the Performance Management Problem Solver. Select the problem area from a list which includes how to measure hard-to-measure work and aligning organisational and employee goals, and a list will be generated of relevant articles Zigon have found or published, details of relevant workshops on the topic and paperbacks or electronic PDF books on the subject.