Performance Appraisal



Table of Contents

Introduction1

What and How of Performance Appraisal2

Formats of Performance Appraisal3

Difference in Perception of Employees and Employer5

Accountability Forces in Performance Appraisal6

Rating Errors in Performance Management7

Halo Effect7

Recency Bias8

Contrast Effect8

Personal Bias8

Conclusion9

References10

Performance Appraisal

Introduction

Performance appraisal is one of the most crucial functions of human resource and aims at assessing the performance of the employee over a certain period of time against the organization's expectations and his defined job description. Employee performance is a broad term that includes the achievements of the employee, productivity, behavior of employee at work, strengths and weaknesses in the employee and other desired skill set. The personality characteristics of the employee are also tested but only as they relate to the job (Boswell & Boudreau, 2002). Performance appraisal has a higher objective. The assessment results are used to identify areas where an employee needs improvements and areas that could be better utilized in some other domains. The capability assessment of the employee also helps in setting targets for the next year for the employee.

Performance appraisal is not an end in itself but a means for professional growth. In this context, it is imperative to state that no supervisor should view performance evaluation as his only tool of communication. Performance appraisal takes place once or twice a year or as per the interval set by the company, however, the manager or the reporting authority should provide continual feedback (Boachie-Mensah, 2011).

The paper discusses the Difference in perception of employees and employers concerning performance evaluation, the accountability forces, Rating Errors in Performance management and the ideal format of performance appraisal.

What and How of Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal will not be effective for any organization in any industry if it does not address what is to be measured and how it will be measured at the time of deciding the designing the performance evaluation system. What to measure refers to the dimensions that will be measured such as quantity and quality of work delivered, task performed, initiatives taken as well as the personal skills and abilities built during the period and time taken to complete the assigned tasks etc.

How refers to the methodology that will be used. Among the various methodologies, the most common types are live and non live (Shore & Tashchian, 2002). Live performance evaluation means the subjective performance evaluation by the peers, supervisors and colleagues of employee. Here, each participant expresses their opinion on the performance of the employee during the given period and is then judged on the basis of holistic feedback gotten from all possible sources of information including the employee himself.

Non live performance management means that the performance management system is designed in a way that the employee gives quantifiable results. His results are compared against a benchmark set prior to the period of performance. Under this system, if the employee manages to achieve his performance he is viewed as merely justifying his job description. However, an employee who achieves over and above his benchmark and meets the benchmark of another higher grade ...