How Effectively Performance Appraisal Meets the Needs of the Employer and the Employee

Performance appraisal is an important issue in human resource management and has a significant effect in the performance of an organisation. It is the system of evaluating the performance of employees regarding the accomplishment of their responsibilities and determining their potential to grow and develop. Bias in the evaluation process can affect the accuracy and appropriateness of the performance appraisal. Bias is a serious issue because it affects the ability to make appropriate decisions about the promotion of employees. A performance appraisal system that works to the disadvantage of members of a group can also pose legal issues.

Performance appraisals, performance reviews and/or appraisal forms are a part of the performance management process. In general, performance appraisals are not favored. People in organizations would prefer not to be advised they did not do tell this year compared to the previous years. Managers would prefer not to put themselves in a scenario that could possibly turn into an argument from an employee about a performance appraisal that was not that great. If the ultimate goal of a performance appraisal is employee development and organizational improvement, we have to consider moving to effective performance management system to avoid any conflicts. The successes of performance management strategies sound favorable to many, however, there are managers and supervisors that make decisions that affect the moral and performance of the employees. Moral can become the heart of an employee’s motivation to succeed and be happy at work.

An appraisal is one of the most commonly used methods of formal assessment and is used to evaluate and assess the performance of an employee against agreed targets and objectives, with the aim of improving employee performance. Where an employee has been able to achieve their targets, the appraisal can be used to recognise successes. This often helps to increase an employee’s confidence and motivation and can lead to better organisational performance. Many organisations will use the outcomes of an appraisal to identify potential candidates for promotions or even an increase in pay. At the same time, an appraisal meeting may include discussions on underperformance, identifying why this has occurred and how this can be avoided in the future.

Performance appraisal is a method which is increasingly used to evaluate employees to determine the degree to which they are performing effectively and encourage them to direct their energies towards organizational performance. Although the appraisal is being practiced, there are criticisms made against the system which generally arise from within the Orthodox and radical management frame work.

Development of a performance appraisal system that is effective in a human service organization is of benefit for the organization and the employees. For a performance appraisal system to be effective, the system has to be strategic, designed to fit the specific needs of the organization, non-discriminatory, non-bias, with correct implementation and administration. Many different components, must to be incorporated to make this type of system beneficial for all who use it, and all who are evaluated by the system.

First, we need to ask what performance appraisals are. They are “The identification, measurement and management of human performances within an organization.” (GOMEZ-MEJIA, 2010) Performace appraisals are popular and used world wide to measure personal and team performace. Performance management has increased with the gripping economy and having less to do more. Managers have always thought of optimal performance, yet a poorly written performce appraisal has a devistating impact on the employee, the manager, and the company.

Performance appraisal is a process dealt with by many, if not all, human resource specialists, where by evaluations are conducted on employees and their job performance. This is fulfilled by identifying the performance-related criteria, measuring

“Performance appraisals can enhance employee performance as well as advance the mission and goals of an organization. There are many advantages of performance appraisals if they are applied fairly, consistently and objectively. Performance appraisals not applied fairly can be counterproductive and even destructive to

The three most important elements of the appraisal instrument include performance descriptors, numerical ratings, and the results section. The descriptors are vital because they are used by the evaluators to indicate the performance of the employee. The numerical ratings are used to subjectively rate performance in a way that can help in their computation and final ranking. The results section in the appraisal instrument contains the evaluator’s opinion, based on the calculation of the numerical ratings, regarding the employee’s overall performance.

As today’s businesses continue to expand, workers are expected to perform well on their jobs. This is what truly happened to management who has a tendency to measure how well they are doing on their job. The job done in a certain period of time is frequently evaluated by performance appraisal. Performance appraisals lead to enhancing employee’s performance, internal communication (relationship), and quality improvements as well. Some experts argue that formal performance appraisal is somewhat useless and many of them contemplate performance appraisals can be detrimental to quality improvement and convey some negative perceptions to the management (David Law, 2007). Albeit many professionals pointed out disadvantages associated

Employee performance appraisals can be a company’s best resource or become its worst enemy. This statement is based on the how the system was implemented, documentation of events and the steps taken on the company establishing an appraisal system that is discrete, informative, motivated towards the employee’s success and nondiscriminatory. Many factors need to be considered to perform an accurate performance appraisal that assist in avoiding a valid legal challenge.

Performance appraisals are constantly viewed as burdensome tasks that employers would like to avoid despite understanding the significance of evaluating the performance of employees. This consideration is further fueled in organizations and companies with minimal pay raises and bonuses as well as those with downsized compensations. Organizations that take similar initiatives to deal with current economic challenges also experience difficulties in task of conducting performance appraisals of employees. However, there is need to ensure that the performance appraisal process remains a priority for the employers through focusing on its advantages and effect on increasing employee performance. While the effectiveness of performance appraisals is influenced by various problem areas, effective performance appraisals enhance employee performance.

Performance Management “aims to improve organisational, functional, unit and individual performance by linking the objectives of each” Stone (2013). In order to gain this control, information and a formal review process is required in order to determine individual employee performance. This is when Performance Appraisal is then utilised. Stone (2013) defines performance appraisal as an overall measure of organisational effectiveness. He describes performance appraisal as being “concerned with determining how well employees are doing their job, communicating that information to employees, agreeing on new objectives and establishing a plan for performance improvement”. In an organisational context performance appraisal aims to improve the effectiveness of individual employees which will in turn result in improved business performance and promote the achievement of its objectives. Stone (2013) provides two main objectives of performance appraisal systems as “to provide information for making personnel decisions involving compensation, promotion, discipline or termination” and “to provide feedback to subordinates for improving performance.

When doing anything meaningful, humans have a natural desire to know how they are performing. In particular, if they are doing a job, they need to know if they are doing horrible, great, or somewhere in between. One of the best potential ways of providing this feedback is through the use of performance appraisals. By definition, “performance appraisal is the process through which employee performance is assessed, feedback is provided to the employee, and corrective action plans are designed.” (Youssef, 2012) If properly designed and administered, a performance appraisal can provide a great benefit to the

Most organizations today have an employee appraisal format that is used to rate the yearly job performance of each of their employees. This employee review process is vital to organizations to help guide and motivate their employees in order to meet the overall goals of the company. This process is used to give feedback to each employee on their performance as it relates to the expectations put forth in their position expectations. Employee evaluations are key components when deciding on promotions, demotions, pay increases, or employee terminations.