CRITICAL APPRAISAL

Critical appraisal



Critical appraisal

Introduction

Performance appraisal has been one of the most-debated management practices for several decades. It has generated a wide variety of viewpoints. There are those who see performance appraisal as making an important contribution to human resource management, in that organizations require systematic information on how well employees are performing in their jobs as a key element in ensuring that human resources are used as effectively as possible. Employees at all levels experience a need to know clearly what they should be doing and what is expected of them in terms of quantity and quality of output. In addition most people want to be in a position where they can perform better next time around. Gordon Anderson 1996)

Discussion

In this case study, it present the issues that caused Xerox Company emerged as a result of their research. In a word, it is all about change. It is talking about the linked issues of visibility and growth, and the compelling need for a process or model to deal with the problems of increasing effectiveness in the midst of all the change. I discuss changing attitudes and HRD political relevance, and present evidence of concern for HRD effectiveness.

In Xerox appraisal new system they use "Mulit-appraisal" which is 360-degree Appraisal. The limitations of conventional performance appraisal in placing considerable, and sometimes total, emphasis on the judgment of the employee's manager have been identified and discussed by a number of writers. A pioneering study carried out a number of years ago in Gulf Oil, and described by Stinson and Stokes (1980), highlights an alternative, multi-rater method, which overcomes a number of the deficiencies of conventional, manager-orientated appraisal. Probably the most significant development likely to influence the nature of performance appraisal in the future is the shift away from conventional appraisals undertaken typically by line managers towards the concept of 360-degree appraisal. The concept builds on multi-appraisal and refers to a situation where appraisal data is collected " all around" an employee, from his or her manager, subordinates, peers and customers, internal and external.

A number of factors are encouraging organizations to introduce, or to seriously consider the introduction of, 360-degree appraisal. These include:

ØFlatter, less hierarchical, more flexible, team-based organization structures;

ØAwareness of the limited perspective of managers;

ØRecognition of the value of contributions from other sources;

ØThe advantage of a range of perspectives, given the increasingly complex roles many people play in organization.

In research identified the need for building and maintaining close relationships with line and staff management as essential for a successful HRD organization. It is really depend on the organization and communication processes. A wide range of methods and criteria for appraising performance is used by organizations.

The various ways of measuring performance stem directly form the different components of performance. We can see in the new system of Xerox, they are: Simple ranking, using this system the appraiser is called upon to make a judgment about the general level of the performance of each ...