Evaluating a person's competencies, performance or potential evolution is nowadays a usual Human Resource Management practice. As a tool for improving decision-making, it is supposed to be linked to various organizational decisions. However, performance appraisal programs often have disappointing results: they seem to have little direct effects on human resources management (Schraeder et al., 2007). This research takes the literature on management tools and appropriation (Gilbert, 1998; Grimand, 2006, 2007) as a starting point. Based on a quantitative and qualitative approach, our study was carried out in a small transportation firm. It brought into light two dimensions:"managerial preoccupation" and "mastery of the system".
