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PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS.
Term Paper ID:30492
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Essay Subject:
Discusses need for successful employee appraisals.... More...
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10 Pages / 2250 Words
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses need for successful employee appraisals. Improving the skills of managers to conduct performance appraisals. Three traditional performance appraisal techniques. Difficulties associated with appraisals. The four categories of evaluation techniques. Benefits of good evaluation processes. Identifying areas for employee improvement. Importance of supervisors understanding tasks.
Paper Introduction:
Introduction
Performance appraisals occur in every organization, even when the formal process may be no more than continuing to issue paychecks to employees on a regular basis. The most productive companies are those which put a significant amount of resource toward improving the skills of their managers in conducting performance appraisals, and which work with employees so that the entire organization receives the maximum benefit possible from the process.
There are three traditional performance appraisal techniques which are commonly used: rating, ranking and critical incident; recently, some companies have begun using "360-Degree" performance appraisal. This latter technique seeks to incorporate not just the supervisor's opinion on how a particular employee is performing, bu
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However, therating technique does not allow for subjective evaluation by the supervisoroutside of exceptional cases, and employees may be rated in such a way thatdoes not accurately reflect their situation during a specific period. This also helps thecompany determine what resources might be necessary in order to assistmanagers in honing their supervisory skills. Other evaluation methods, such as MBO, have the advantage ofevaluating employees based on the needs of the organization, which is asignificant factor when evaluating employees. Keeping an employee on staff whois not able to perform the requisite tasks results in a demoralization notonly for the employee, who is frustrated, but for other members of theorganization, who resent having to do the employee's work for him. (1994, January). The ranking technique has the advantage of enabling one employee to becompared to another, but results in a hierarchical ranking that does nottake into account the different tasks that employees are called upon tocomplete. Identifying Areas for Employee Improvement At this point, it can be important that supervisors understand how tospot areas which employees can improve, and areas which they cannot.Skills can be taught; ability cannot be learned. 76-8 . A deficiency inability might be the result of a learning disability, or just eachindividual's tendency to excel in different areas. This lattertechnique seeks to incorporate not just the supervisor's opinion on how aparticular employee is performing, but also seeks feedback from customers,peers and others who interact with the employee. R. In addition, performance evaluations are highlyformalized for line workers, but are often not nearly so quantitative formanagers themselves; instead, managers are often appraised on the financialperformance of their department. (1999, May). For example, each employeecould be rated with regard to quality of work, dependability, cooperationand knowledge of the job. Most organizations have thisformal process in place so that it occurs annually, and it is often tied topay increases. Get themost from 36 -degree feedback. Since performance has already been aproblem, having the employee restate the task in his own words can helpidentify where the communication breakdown is occurring. The advantages of the rating technique is that each employee is judgedusing the same criteria, and it is a more objective technique than theothers. There may be some problems whichthe employee simply will not be able to change no matter what steps thesupervisor takes. An employee who has a difficult personal relationship withhis supervisor may find that the critical incident technique leads to lessfavorable reviews since tardiness and other minor problems may be construedas significant problems by the supervisor. If objectives are carefullystructured, the organization and the individual both profit from achievingthe objectives; however, carelessly developed objectives can be difficultto attain and may result in a decrease in motivation, a consequence whichis in direct opposition to the desired outcome. Both parties mustengage in active listening, making sure that the supervisor's needs areclearly communicated and understood by the subordinate. Making reviews more efficient and fair.Workforce, pp. More serious than a single task that is performed badly is a series oftasks which are performed badly, which may encompass most of what anemployee is expected to perform during the course of his job. While the employee would receivehigh marks for quality of work, he would receive low marks for attendance,although the illness was a one-time event. Chief among these are obstacles over whichthe employee has no control. N. Many employees receive raises based on these evaluations,and entire careers are gauged by the way in which employees are evaluated.However, there have been many disadvantages with the traditional annualperformance evaluation in which a manager speaks to a subordinate abouttheir performance. Conclusion Employee appraisals are one of the most critical issues that managersface, and performing successful appraisals means that a company hasmotivated workers who understand their tasks and are able to meet thecompany's expectations. 93). Benefits of Good Evaluation Processes A good evaluation process not only identifies an employee's strengthsand weaknesses, but also has a mechanism for improving the weaknesses andplaying on the strengths. This becomes an issue of communication, inwhich it is critical that the supervisor communicate the task and its levelof significance to the employee (Dutton, 2 1, p. M., & Sundstrom, E. If the supervisor rules outthat it is a deficiency in ability or skills that is the issue, then themost likely remaining cause is that the employee does not understand thetask as the supervisor does. Determining these issues is not an easy task for most supervisors, andrequires awareness on their part as to what the critical issues are. If the task hasbeen performed poorly once, it is up to the supervisor to try a differentway of explaining what is to be done. Sometimes incorporated into a formalperformance evaluation (which typically becomes a part of an employee'spermanent record), the 3D appraisal is more often used as a developmentaltool (Douglas, Neilsen, & Sundstrom, 1999, p. It may be that the employee is, in fact,deficient in an area which is critical to the performance of the job. Adeficiency in skills relates to an employee's unfamiliarity with computersin general, or with a computer program in particular, for example. Other methods use different criteria,but often center around techniques similar to management by objectives(MBO) in which employees are judged against objectives that they, theirsupervisor, or the two acting in common have developed. Forexample, an employee whose work may be outstanding might have been absentdue to a prolonged illness or surgery. HRMagazine, pp. This assumes that the employee has the skillsand ability to perform the task, and understands the task which is to beperformed, but that there are external influences which prevent theemployee from accomplishing the task. Instead, they repeat the process periodically so that managersare able to measure their improvement over time. Thesesituations are difficult to overcome because the magnitude of the problemcan be large. 37-47. By understanding the various traditional techniques availableto them, and by using new techniques, such as 36 -degree performanceappraisal, managers are able to maximize their own performance as well asthat of their subordinates. & Koslowsky, M. The most productive companies are thosewhich put a significant amount of resource toward improving the skills oftheir managers in conducting performance appraisals, and which work withemployees so that the entire organization receives the maximum benefitpossible from the process. 42). This research examines the dilemmas facing managers seekingto develop a performance appraisal system. 38). In this way, effective evaluation of an employee canprovide the basis for strong motivation in the future, and help theemployee develop the skills necessary for his own career growth. By learning how to more effectively conduct employee appraisals,companies can help boost their morale, improve their productivity, anddecrease employee turnover, all of which can contribute to a strongerprofit margin for the organization. Performance Evaluation Techniques Generally, performance evaluation techniques can be divided into fourcategories: rating, ranking, critical incidents and other methods (Sagie &Koslowsky, 1994, p. Fundamentally, it isthe manager's responsibility to evaluate the performance of thesubordinate, and counsel the subordinate on how best to improve thatperformance. A 36 -degree turn for the better.People Management, pp. Sagie, A. However, effective managers recognize that informalevaluation performed more frequently helps keep staff members apprised ofwhat is expected of them, and how they are measuring up to thoseexpectations. Task Understanding Another performance area that is critical to supervisors is that oftask understanding. Some companies use a third party to collect, analyze and explain theresults to the managers in question. Often, these obstacles come fromother departments on which the employee depends. The rating method does nottypically allow for such exceptions. Organizational attitudesand behaviors as a function of participation in strategic and tacticalchange decisions. Critical incidents(informally known as management by exception) makes notes of actual jobbehaviors and are evaluated as to whether these behaviors constituteeffective or ineffective behavior. 14).Instead, supervisors who work with employees to identify areas that can bestrengthened and who offer ways in which to build skills will find thattheir employees are much more motivated to take the steps necessary toacquire the skills in question. There are three traditional performance appraisal techniques which arecommonly used: rating, ranking and critical incident; recently, somecompanies have begun using "36 -Degree" performance appraisal. Journal of organizational behavior, pp. If theitems come from production late, the employee will miss the deadline, evenif he performs his own tasks at or above the supervisor's expectations.While most supervisors are willing to take such obstacles into effect whenperforming evaluations, it can be demoralizing to employees who mustconstantly face missing deadlines (or otherwise not completing theirtasks). In addition, the professional maybe able to offer insight about changes the manager could make from abehavioral standpoint in order to address the issues raised by thequestionnaires (Douglas, Neilsen, & Sundstrom, 1999, p. Ward, P. These companies find that having aprofessional provide the feedback to the manager can help with themanager's acceptance of the information. Douglas, G., Nielsen, T. NewYork: McGraw-Hill. To do this, the supervisor must again practice effectivecommunication, which is also required from the employee. However, if the situation proves tobe beyond salvation because the deficiencies of the employee are tooextreme, supervisors should not refrain from dismissing the employee ortransferring him to another department. Employees can be compared against each other using the ratingtechnique, which may help the supervisor form an effective team by usingeach employee's strengths and weaknesses to full advantage. If a 3D program is put intoplace as a one-time-only event, there is the risk that the questionnaireresults will be ignored by managers who recognize that there is no follow-up. F. Thus supervisors have todetermine whether an employee's deficiency in a particular area is one thatthe employee can rectify with proper training, or whether the deficiency isone that requires more serious attention. To begin to solve this problem, the supervisor should beginby verifying that the employee's skill level and ability are what thesupervisor thinks they are. Productive workplaces. This can help provide thecompany--and the employee--with a better understanding of the strengths,weaknesses and areas for improvement on which the employee should focus. Weisbord, M. Recognizing this limitation helps supervisors determine the bestway to help employees meet their own potential as well as meet theobjectives of the organization (Weisbord, 1987, p. Importance of Employee Appraisals to Companies Evaluation and counseling is important not only to the immediate jobat hand, but also in anticipating the needs of the organization in thefuture. 129-141. Following this type of strategy placestoo much responsibility on the employee for trying to figure out how bestto develop skills that meet the employer's needs (Fournies, 1987, p. It is not enough for asupervisor to identify an area of weakness, perhaps a lack of professionalskill on computers, for example, and not offer suggestions on how theemployee might improve that skill. San Francisco:Jossey Bass. The Academy ofManagement Executive, pp. Dutton, G. Feedbackeffectiveness: Can 36 -degree appraisals be improved? Over the long term, the result can be a decrease in motivationthat can be difficult for even the most effective supervisor to overcome. Critics charge that the manager may not understand theintricacies of the subordinate's behavior, and may determine (for example)that someone who seems to have a lot of extra time may be lazy as opposedto being highly efficient. 2 ). For example, a subordinate might have day-to-day experience with a supervisor's delegating technique while a peer mightnot be aware of how the manager handles this task. Confidentiality and anonymity for the respondents is a key part of theprocess since the raters need to be able to answer honestly and withoutfear of reprisal from the person being rated (Ward, 1995, p. Motivation becomes easier, morale remains higher,and companies are able to compensate their employees fairly.Unfortunately, this remains one of the most misunderstood areas ofmanagement, and many companies do not give this area the consideration thatit deserves. S., & Kiuger, A. Evaluating subordinates is most often accomplished through the use ofa formal performance evaluation strategy. (2 , February). Fournies, F. Managers with even the bestunderstanding of motivational processes are likely to encounter situationswhere their expectations and the performance of their subordinates fail tocoincide. The critical incident technique is one of the most subjective ways toevaluate employees, and depends largely on other factors than merelyperformance. Effective supervisors will work with an employee in order to helpthem overcome the problem since it can be expensive to recruit and trainnew personnel, and since there can be a significant increase in moraleamong other employees if they recognize that the employer is willing tohelp them overcome their difficulties. Introduction Performance appraisals occur in every organization, even when theformal process may be no more than continuing to issue paychecks toemployees on a regular basis. (1995, February 9). Both tasks are important to thedepartment's function, but a ranking of employees would not take thedifferences in employee strength into account. Successful 3D programs do not stop at the first iteration of theprocess. 76). Other Issues There are other issues which may prevent an employee from performing atask in a satisfactory manner. Thiscan be improved by sending the employee to training classes or by otherwisehelping the employee learn the skill that is lacking. References DeNisi, A. This feedback, or counseling, can be a criticalpart of the evaluation process and one which can be highly effective indeveloping professional skills among workers. (1987). 36 -Degree Feedback Process The 36 -Degree Feedback Process (3D) uses questionnaires to gatherinformation about a particular employee (usually a manager) from a varietyof sources, including managers, subordinates, peers and outside vendors andcustomers (if appropriate). Coaching for improved work performance. Difficulties Associated with Performance Appraisal One of the most difficult aspects of management is determining howemployees are performing, identifying areas for improvement, andcommunicating both the employees' strengths and weaknesses to them withoutcausing an undue loss of employee morale or building up unrealisticexpectations. 92-98. Instead, once a company commits to the process, it needs toacknowledge that this has a profound and long-term effect on the way thatthe company does business now and in the future (DeNisi & Kiuger, 2 , p.131). Or,the employee may not clearly understand the tasks, which is a communicationproblem. 2 -22. The rating technique is used to evaluateemployees in a number of specific categories. (1987). For example, in an accounting department, one employee mightexcel at preparing financial statements and manipulating data, whileanother employee is outstanding at interpreting that data and formulatingstrategy based on the information. (2 1, April). 94). In thisway, respondents can make honest assessments of the subject on a variety ofsubjects and can simply not respond to questions where the respondent doesnot have personal knowledge. In a ranking environment, employees are rankedagainst each other in a hierarchical fashion. Some individuals haveweak spatial relationships, for example, which is not a skill that can betaught. By evaluating an employee's strengths and weaknesses, and byconsidering the needs of the organization in the future, a strong managerwill be able to help develop employees who are able not only to help theorganization meet its current needs, but also to fulfill the organization'sfuture needs. An employee may have the skills to complete a task,and may have the ability to complete the task, but the task may not beperformed to the supervisor's satisfaction. There is also reward for the subordinate who, with theassistance of his manager, is able to cultivate skills which will helpbuild his professional skills and which serve to enhance his self-esteemand self-worth. In these situations, it is up to the manager to determine whatthe problem is, and how best to remedy the situation. For example, an employeemay need to send certain items to customers, but depends on the itemscoming from production in a timely manner in order to be sent out.
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