Good Essay Example about Performance Appraisals

Performance appraisal is a means by which employers evaluate their employees. In order for an organization to make sure that it achieves its goals and performs well, it is necessary to keep a close check on its work force.

A good organization should take advantage of the capabilities of the workforce but compensate them well. It should monitor their performance so as not to loose its money by paying them even when they always under-perform. Besides, a good organization should tap on the future abilities of the employees which are not being shown now. The organizations should also make sure that they develop their workforce so as to reap maximum benefits when they reach their full potential.Performance appraisal present an opportunity for the employees and their employers to reach an agreement, discuss challenges and problems encountered as they were trying to achieve the set goals and best way possible to improve and readjust them. The appraisals have their advantages and disadvantages.

Components of a performance appraisalA performance appraisal needs to discuss issues of the work targets, job description, how to perform the work and the targets or achievements expected from the worker.A good performance appraisal features the following phases according to (Grote, 2002).• Phase 1: Performance planning. The manager meets the employees after some time and discusses the jobs, how they will be done, employee developmental plans and the results to be achieved.

• Phase 2: execution of the performance. Within the set period, the employee works to meet goals and objectives while the employer will coach and create conditions necessary to resolve the arising performance problems and those conditions to motivate the worker as well. Performance is reviewed quarterly against the plans and goals.• Phase 3: Performance assessment.

The manager will reflect on the performance of the worker and fill out forms. The manager may recommend change in compensation of the worker based on his/her performance.• Phase 4: performance review. The employee and the manager meet to discuss on performance challenges, the need for improvement, weaknesses and strengths and reviewing of the manager’s appraisal form and the worker’s self-appraisal of performance.The appraisal form should focus on the following sections (Grote, 2002).

· Cultural competencies. The top management can identify six competences for every worker and job position focusing on attributes like ethics, integrity, communication skills and customer focus.· Job-specific competences that involve identifying the skills required for success of specific jobs e.g. analytical and thinking skills.

· Key job responsibilities which outlines responsibilities and accountabilities for jobs.· Goals and minor projects. One can outline the organization’s goals which should be visionary, transformational and long-term. The contribution of the goals is recognized in this section.

· Summary of the most important achievements.Research has shown that performance appraisal is one of the most disliked activities of managing (Carroll & Schneir, 1982). Bernardin & Beatty (1984) has added a voice that the usage of present performance appraisals may present desperation while their abandonment may indicate corporate extinction.Performance appraisals are good because they may benefit in the following ways:• If the performance appraisal system is effective, it can help you in defending the firm’s personnel in court.

According to Goddard (1989), the firm may only be required to prove that their personnel decisions resulted from factors or issues related to job but not discrimination and/ personal bias on the individuals.• A performance appraisal which is focused on goal achieving, performance based evaluation, fairness, having feedback on time and quantity and quality, and appealing to values of employees may act as a strong motivator to allow improvement of productivity of an organization.Others include (Nickols, 2007):• May provide feedback to employees on their performance which leads to reduction of wastes and better service delivery in quality and quantity production.• They may provide an opportunity to discuss and set goals and objectives related to the work and offer a chance to align the goals of the organization with those of an individual.• Their sessions may allow identification of needs to train and develop workers and offer an opportunity to discuss opportunities for career progression.

• May result in a legal and fair way to recognizing and rewarding the performance of workers since they are made objective through uniform processes and criteria.The problems associated with performance appraisals are many and have been cited. They include:Lack of quality information to guide supervisors in making qualitative judgment of workers make them dislike criticizing the employees (Einstein, & LeMere-LaBonte, 2001). The supervisors must be aware of the duties very well in order to face their subordinates and criticize them.

The supervisors may have difficulty if there are no appropriate description of the types of duties and the organizational objectives that the duties are to promote. Conflict may result between workers and supervisors because of failure to judge performance appropriately if workers challenge supervisors out of lack of knowledge on the duty.· Inadequate methods of appraisal may present difficulty or impossibilities in defending the ratings on performance. Various appraisal tools that are used by the methods may present difficulties. Trait centered criteria focuses on observing the employees’ performance based on his dependability, ability to initiate, and personality may present a difficulty since the employer or the rater is judging the employer rather than judging his or her contribution to proper working.

Behavior methods assigns employee is assigned points based on the observed behavior and rated on the expected behavior-scale. The supervisor may be biased in that they may tend to base their judgment on the most recent arising cases and fail to include the rest of period of time. If an employee shows an undesirable behavior today, much focus on it may erase his good behavior in the past. Another problem is that writing of behavioral charts is a tasking job.

Result-based evaluation methods present a difficulty in that some or many tasks may not be quantifiable and may cause the system breakdown.· Lacking of the ‘peoples’ skills’ by supervisors to aid evaluation on performance. The supervisor for example may lack good communication skills so as to be able to interact with the employees to be able to rate them well and more fairly.Others, considering Nickols (2007), are:· According to, they result in an emotional anguish depression and stress both to the issuer and the receiver.

· Reduction of productivity overtime.· Eroding performance by setting goals that are achievable. This can be enhanced by the view that the employer has a control over his/her higher limit performance (Kenneth Barrien; as cited in) although the company may succeed in controlling the lower limit.· Damages morale and motivation of the worker. This may result if the appraisal system is viewed as unfair and bad.· When the performance appraisal focuses on the task-level performance and individual performance it may bring divisive factors and ignore team and business performance as a whole.

Confusion may also arise as a result, if there are situations people are expected by the management team to perform tasks as a team yet the appraisal in place was emphasizing or still emphasizing on individual performance, and even such confusion can arise during times of changes.· The emphasis on the short time performance of individuals or task-levels may ignore the past contributions.· They may serve to institutionalize the values and prejudices of those in power, protect the values and prejudices from being challenges and resist change.· May lead to development of fear and distrust amongst supervisors and workers.· Perceptions and influence of the managers is key focus to the appraisals.

· The indirect and direct costs (hard costs) related to the appraisals some be unjustifiable or unnecessary, for example keeping a book on the entire workforce yet in it there could be about 10% of the poor performers. The hard and soft costs (those negatively affecting human and political capital) associated with appraisals may overweigh the benefits.Overcoming of the challenges and problems that are associated with performance contracts like the weak interpersonal skills amongst supervisors, inadequate appraisal methods and information can be overcome by a good designing of the system. A system may, for example focus on goal-setting programs as tools of motivation as suggested by Pritchard, Roth, Jones, Galgay & Watson (1988). Such have also been linked with the concept of contract between the supervisors and subordinates (Einstein, & LeMere-LaBonte, 2001).The employees’ job description and the related job standards is tied to the appraisal process that is formal and goal focused by the performance appraisal contract which also links them to the instrument for rating.

An effective performance appraisal would begin to outline the roles of the organization, define the intended purpose for doing the job and classifying of the content in the job in terms of the key measurable dimensions which will contain responsibilities on a broad range-for example administration, supervision and responsibilities that provide a linkage of the employees duty, for example production and sales.The organization would then offer information to the employee on how to do what is expected of them. The organization will then provide the job standards to specify the workers performance level. The organization can prepare these standards by considering a consensus between the workers and their supervisors or the employee. Three different appraisal contracts have been designed and these can allow choice making by an organization wishing to apply them. The basis of the choice is the ability to exceed or meet the set organizational goals and standards by the worker.The three can be integrated with the study of Whiting, Podsakoff & Pierce (2008), that give the indication that task behaviors (behaviors of completing duties and tasks to contribute to technical core of an organization) contribute in highest on evaluation of employee as compared to other that influence it too which are; voice (his/her behavior expressing constructive challenge to improve rather than criticize merely), helping (his/her behavior to help others or prevention of occurrence of problems related to work) and organizational loyalty behaviors (behaviors showing his/her loyalty to) of the employees which have casual influence.