HRM at the coalface: employee responses to performance appraisal at an underground coalmine

Based on a four year empirical study investigating employee responses to the implementation of a performance appraisal (PA) process in an underground coal mine, this paper contributes to the small but growing body of literature that examines employee responses to HRM interventions. The paper is constructed around seven key research questions recentring the employee as the discursive subject of HRM. A careful interrogation of employee responses to having their performance appraised indicates that this individuating HRM process occasions considerable disruption to miners’ occupational selves and leads to unintended consequences for the miners, for their working relationships, and for their contributions to organisational goals.