An Assessment of Performance Management in Six Higher Education Institutions in Erbil - Kurdistan Region

In this research, the aim is to identify the extent to which Performance Management is used in six (three private- three-public) universities in Erbil – Kurdistan Region. Six universities used as samples of the study. Through this research, the researcher attempted to enable Higher Education Institutions to improve and develop their Performance Management by using current trends of Performance Management approaches and methods and dispensing with old ones. Qualitative research methodology adopted for conducting this research, using structured interview data collection, non-observation participation and document analysis techniques. Twelve managers were interviewed in six higher education institutions. Findings showed that the phenomenon of performance management was not fully understood amongst most of the managers interviewed in the six universities, and there was confusion between the concepts of Performance Management and Performance Appraisal. The results showed that only one of the six universities officially practices Performance Management, and the three other universities practice Performance Appraisal only, and two of the universities do not even practice any of Performance Management policy. This research recommends the six universities to implement Performance Management to improve the performance of individuals and align individual goals and objectives with the university strategic goals and to improve the overall performance of the university to achieve its strategic goals.