TRADITIONAL APPRASIAL SYSTEM

Traditional Appraisal System



Traditional Appraisal System

The contemporary organizations are undergoing a transformation for coping against the changing needs of the environment and excelling in the business by building up their adaptive capabilities for managing change proactively. The traditional performance appraisal system did not suffice the needs of the changing scenario as it was mainly used as a tool for employee evaluation in which the managers were impelled to make subjective judgments about the performance and behavior of the employees against the predetermined job standards.

The main objective of the performance appraisal system was to exercise control over the activities of the employees through disciplinary actions and management of rewards and promotions. The supervisors were expected to rate their employees on certain traits ranging between a scale of unsatisfactory to outstanding performance and these ratings were susceptible to various errors like central tendency, bias, halo effect, etc (Chiang, 2010).

Performance appraisals were mostly carried out annually for measuring the degree of accomplishment of an individual and were implemented on a top down basis in which the supervisors had a major role to play in judging the performance of an employee without soliciting active involvement of the employee. Performance appraisals were mostly discredited because it was backward looking concentrating largely on the employee's inabilities and flaws over a period of a year instead of looking forward by identifying the development needs of the employees and improving them. Traditionally, the performance appraisals were organized in a bureaucratic manner and suffered from unnecessary delays in decisions and corruption. Performance appraisals were mostly narrowly focused and functioned in isolation without bearing any linkage with the overall organizational vision or goals. The side effects of the performance appraisal system was it generated skepticism amongst the managers and the employees on any new initiative of the HR.

In the present scenario, the organizations have shifted their focus from performance appraisals to performance management as a result of internationalization of human resources and globalization of business. The functions of HRM have become far more complicated as today the major focus of strategic HRM practices is on the management of talent by implementing such development programmes which enhance the competencies of the employees. The performance management approach focuses more on observed behaviors and concrete results based on the previously established smart objectives (Smart, 2005).

Performance Appraisal

Performance Management

Focus is on top down assessment

Stresses on mutual objective setting through a process of joint dialogue

Performed annually

Continuous reviews are performed

Usage of ratings is very common

Usage of ratings is less common

Focus is on traits

Focus is on quantifiable objectives, values and behaviors

Monolithic system

Flexible system

Are very much linked with pay

Is not directly linked with pay

By adopting techniques like Management by Objectives (MBO), smart objectives are established in terms of either facts and figures and in the entire process the superior plays the role of a coach or a facilitator. The objectives are mutually decided at the beginning of the performance season and serve as a standard of performance for ...