Objectives of Performance Appraisal

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.

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.

(Grote, 2011) states that most appraisals are used for employees who are going to be receiving promotions, rewards or terminations. These appraisals as previously mentioned identify training and development needs (Robbins, 1994).

Effective performance appraisals for developing and sustaining a high- performance appraisal system are based upon two key tenets. The first tenet suggests that if appraisal processes operate as a system. The second tenet is that individual manager’s play a pivotal role in achieving effective appraisals and that they need the right tools and support to be effective.

shown marked improvement or progress. Lack of personal performance growth would result in consequences for the employee including a probationary period or dismissal. Personal conflicts between manager and employee should not be reflected in the appraisal process. Manager accountability would be reflected by the performance of the employee; hence, an ineffective manager could as easily be discovered through the process as an ineffective employee could be. The process would actually be a system of checks and balances. Ideally, this would promote team players and identify any weak links. The goal of performance appraisals is utilizing the employee’s performance and their behavior or attitude. With correct implementation, the attitude and behavior will not be the issue or focus of the manager. “For any performance improvement to take place, both parties must agree that improvement is necessary, that a plan for improving performance has been jointly formulated, and that periodic progress improvement sessions will take place, as needed. Thus, improvements in employee performance and attitudes can truly be enhanced.” (Peggy Anderson, 1998)

“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

An effective method of performance evaluation is the 360-degree performance appraisal. This method utilizes supervisor(s), subordinates, peers, and occasionally customer feedback to provide the employee a clear picture how their actions affect others in the workplace (Dalton, 1996). Areas on a performance evaluation that utilize the 360-degree performance appraisal elements are; cooperation and teamwork, initiative and judgment, dependability, and customer service. These elements of the evaluation work together and meet the goal of a performance appraisal to motivate and improve the skills of the employee.

Performance appraisals are needed in the healthcare facility to ensure that the staff members can perform according to the organization’s standards. Performance appraisals help managers prepare their staff to walk in excellence. The performance appraisal process is one that few look forward to. However, understanding the process can help managers and employees conduct a more fruitful appraisal. At the University of Texas at Dallas, managers are taught that "A chief purpose of any performance appraisal program is employee development. This goal is accomplished by helping the employee to do a better job and by developing in the employee the knowledge and skill to meet the future needs of the work unit and the institution." (Mayhew, 2014)

Annual performance reviews are not an effective form of performance management system to measure the employee’s performance because they can be biased, waste of managerial time, too sporadic to make a lasting impact, and can affect the employee’s behavior. All companies strive to be successful at meeting their company goals in a time efficient manner. As time goes on, companies are realizing the key to a successful business is happy employees. Companies must experiment with new methods to find the right process of evaluating employee performance and ensuring that success continues. Many companies use performance appraisals to relay information to the employees about their performance level within the company. Annual performance appraisals are so prevalent that 72% of companies use them to measure employee performance (Fawcett). Though the success of the review to motivate and improve employee performance, greatly depends on how well the manager executes the appraisal. Performance appraisals are important to companies but, the question of at what cost to the employee should it continue still continues to linger.

The most important purpose or goal of the appraisal is to improve performance and hence productivity in the future. Performance appraisals allow employees to see where they are at and managers can get valuable information from employees to help them make employee's jobs more productive. Performance appraisals sound great in theory but the odd thing is that they often don't get done, and many managers, supervisors and employees hate them. Legal implications, concerns about fairness and accuracy, costs and time are some of the issues which perhaps incline some managers to avoid performance appraisals but the reality is companies which have adopted this system find the benefits to be more than rewarding.

Trying to fix all the issues regarding performance appraisals is a difficult task. All of the proposed systems profess to be able to fix some of the problems, but none seems to cover them all. Therefore, the best solution is not the one that fixes all of the issues, but rather the one that addresses as many as possible, while also enhancing the workplace and performance. By these standards the most efficacious solution would be constant feedback and coaching, which improves morale and employee retention, while at the same time reducing recency bias.

Murphy and Cleveland (1995) believe that performance appraisal needs to be a communication process that occurs in a well-defined organizational context rather than a measurement process. Moreover, Deepa et al (2014), in their study, concluded that the use of performance appraisal can lead to increased employees and organizational productivity.

Performance appraisal is defined as a systematic and structured system for measuring and evaluating job related behaviours to discover reasons for performance and identify potential for the improvement of an individual, and eventually the performance of the organisation. (Singh, 2015) In this day and age of globalisation, managers tend to extensively use performance appraisals, as a measure of the productivity and effectiveness of the employees. In the case of a positive performance, the manager rewards the employee and on the contrary, the managers can seek to correct the lack of performance. Such exercises, allows the organisation to form a perception about the measures that need to be taken to bolster productivity in the future. Performance appraisals act as a control process for the managers, through which they can monitor the activities of the employees, to ensure they are accomplishing goals, and to correct any significant deviations (Hunsaker and Alessandra, 2008).