Performance appraisal

An organizations goals can be achieved only when people put in their best efforts. How to ascertain whether an employee has shown his or her best performance on a given job? The answer is performance appraisal. Once the employees has been selected, trained and motivated, he is then apprised for his performance. Performance appraisal is the step where the management finds out how effective it has been hiring and placing employees. If any problem is identified, steps are taken to communicate with the employees and to remedy them. So a performance appraisal is a process of evaluating an employees performance of a job in terms of its requirement . A basic human tendency to make judgment about those one is working with, as well as about one self. Appraisal it seems to be the inevitable and universal in the absence of care full structure system of appraisal, peoples will tends to judge the work performance of other including subordinate naturally, informally & arbitrarily. The human inclination to judge and create serious motivational ethical in legal problems in the workplace, without structured appraisal system there is a little chances of ensuring that the judgment made with lawful fair, defensible and accurate yet in a broader sense that practice of appraisal is very special art. In scale of thing historical it might well lay claim to being the world second oldest profession. Several methods and techniques of appraisal are available for measurement of the performance of the employee. The methods and scales differ for obvious reason. First they differ in sources of traits and qualities to be apprised. The quality may differ because of difference in job requirements. Second they differ because of different kinds of workers who are being rated .third the variation may be caused by the

degree of precision attempted in an evaluation. Finally they differ because of the method used to obtain weighting for various traits. The performance appraisal method is divided into three categories these are Trait-based method Behavioral method Comparative method Result oriented method There are so many methods which are include in performance appraisal but the most important and most popular are Straight ranking method Grading method Graphing rating method Forced choice description method Forced distribution methods Check list method Critical incident method MBO 360o Appraisal

Straight ranking method It is the oldest and simplest method of performance appraisal, by which the man and his performance are considered as an entity by the rater. No attempted is to made to fractionalize the rate; the whole man compared with the whole man; that is the ranking of a man in a work group is done against that of another. The relative position of each man is tasted in terms of his numerical rank. Disadvantages- this is the simplest method of separating the most efficient from the least efficient and relatively easy to develop and use. But the greatest Disadvantages of his method is the

In practice it is very difficult to compare a single individual with human beings having various behavior traits The method only tell us how a man stands in relation to the others in the group but does not indicate how much better or worse he is than another It is difficult task when large number of person are rated It does not eliminate snap judgment. Grading method Under this system, the rater consider certain feature and marks them accordingly to the scale, train categories of worth are first established and carefully defined. The selected feature may be analytical ability, cooperativeness, dependability, selfexpression, job knowledge, leadership, etc they may be A-out standing B-very good C-average D-fair E-poor

These are used in the selection of candidates by the public service commission Disadvantages- in this method we cant get the actual performance of the employee. for example if consider that those employee who got 50 to 60 point is in average then the who got 50 point may be de motivated and who got 51 point may be happy with that appraisal . Graphic Rating Method This is the most commonly used method of performance appraisal. Under it a printed form one for each person to be rated. The factors which are including in this method are employee characteristics and employee contribution. In employee characteristics are included are leadership, attitude, enthusiasm, locality creative ability, analytical ability, co-ordination. In the employee contribution are include the quantity and quality of work, the responsibility assumed, specific goal achieved, regularity of attendance. These traits then evaluated on continuous scale where in the rather place a mark somewhere along a continuum . Disadvantages However this method also not free from Disadvantages The rating is generally subjective often the rating cluster on the high side when this method is used Another severe Disadvantages is that it assume that each characteristics is equally important for all jobs

Forced choice description method it attempts to correct a rater tendency to give consistently high or low rating to all the employees under this method the rating elements are several sets of pair phrases or adjective relating to job proficiency and personal qualification the following statement are illustrative of the type of statement that are used Organize the work well Lacks the ability to make people feel at ease Has a cool even temperament Is punctual and careful Is a hard worker and co-operative Disadvantages Trained technicians are required prepare sets of series for each occupational group Most of the raters become irritated with the test because they are not being trusted The result of evaluation dont prove useful for training purposes because the rater is ignorant of how he is evaluating the individual Forced distribution method This system is used to eliminate or minimize raters bias so that all the personnel may not be placed at the higher end or lower end of the scale. It requires the rater to apprise an employee according to a predetermined distribution scale under this system it is performance and promo ability. For this purpose a five point performance scale is used with out any descriptive statement. Employees are placed between the two extreme good or bad job performances. For ex 10% given to outstanding, 20% given to good and 40% given to satisfactory. Disadvantages This method use in wage administration leads to low morale and low productive Checklist method Under this method the rater does not evaluate employee performance; he supplies report about it and the final rating is done by personnel department. A series of question are presented concerning an employee to his behavior. The rater then checks to indicate if the answer to a question about an employee is positive or

negative. The value of each question may be weighed equally or certain question may be weighed more heavily then others. Example Is the employee really interested in job? Is he regular on his job? Is he equipment maintain in order? Does he ever make mistake? Does he follow instruction properly? Disadvantages This method suffers from bias on the part of the rater because he can distinguish positive or negative question Process can be expensive and time consuming Separate checklist must be developed Free essay method Under this method the supervisor makes a free form, open ended appraisal of an employee in his own words and put down its impression about the employee. He takes note of these factors Relation with fellow supervisor General organization and planning ability Job knowledge and potential Employee characteristics and attitude Production, quality, and cost control Physical condition and Development needs Disadvantages It contains a subjective evaluation of the reported behavior of an individual may effect such employment decision as promotion, lay-off. Etc. Yes/no Yes/no Yes/no Yes/no Yes/no

Some appraisal may not write a descriptive report The appraisal may be loaded with flowery language about the quality of rate then the actual evaluation Critical incident method The essence of this system is that it attempts to measure workers performance in terms of certain events and episode that occur in the performance rates job. These events are known as critical incident method. The supervisor keeps a written record of the event that can easily recalled and used at the time of performance appraisal Disadvantages Negative incident are generally more noticeable than positive ones The supervisor may be put off and easily forgotten Very close supervision may be required and it may not be like by the employee

MBO method

The MBO approach overcomes some of the problems that arise as a result of assuming that the employee traits needed for job success can be reliably identified and measured. Instead of assuming traits, the MBO method concentrates on actual outcomes. If the employee meets or exceeds the set objectives, then he or she has demonstrated an acceptable level of job performance. Employees are judged according to real outcomes, and not on their potential for success, or on someones subjective opinion of their abilities. The guiding principle of the MBO approach is that direct results can be observed, whereas the traits and attributes of employees (which may or may not contribute to performance) must be guessed at or inferred. The MBO method recognizes the fact that it is difficult to neatly dissect all the complex and varied elements that go to make up employee performance. MBO advocates claim that the performance of employees cannot be broken up into so many constituent parts - as one might take apart an engine to study it. But put all the parts together and the performance may be directly observed and measured.

Disadvantages

MBO methods of performance appraisal can give employees a satisfying sense of autonomy and achievement. But on the downside, they can lead to unrealistic expectations about what can and cannot be reasonably accomplished.

360o Appraisal method It is a technique in which performance data/feedback/rating is collected from all sections of people employee interacts in the course of his job like immediate supervisors, team members, customers, peers, subordinates and self with different weightage to each group of raters. This technique has been found to be extremely useful and effective. It is especially useful to measure inter-personal skills, customer satisfaction and team building skills. One of the biggest advantages of this system is that assesssees cannot afford to neglect any constituency and has to show all-round performance. However, on the negative side, receiving feedback from multiple sources can be intimidating, threatening, expensive and time consuming. Company examples -Carhart was using a Word-based employee performance management system that had been developed by the company's IS team. The forms included macros that would populate and do calculations, however, the entire system was proving to be cumbersome for all involved. - A changeover in the HR department allowed Oil States to initiate many webbased changes, including updates to their OSI HR-Portal. The Portal centralizes access to everything from one convenient location, providing managers and employees with access to critical information and tools. Just as they had improved their HRMS/payroll systems years earlier, they now sought to improve their employee self-serve options. The goal was to have employees access their appraisals online, via the OSI HR-Portal. - Coca cola performance appraisal is annually. They appraise the employee due to their performance about goals of the organization. They set the goals at the start of the year and tell the employees about the goal if the employees achieve this goal they appraise the employees.

AGF invested in a new, off-the-shelf, web-based employee performance and talent management system that provides their employees with a greater sense of where the organization is heading and how everyone contributes to helping the organization achieve its corporate goals. The new system has enabled AGF to:

Drive individual performance in line with overall corporate goals Encourage greater dialogue around performance to help motivate and engage employees Create a more efficient process and improve managers' productivity by guiding them through the process Help managers spend time with their team members building relationships and dialoguing about performance Elevate employee performance management to a strategic level Drive greater accountability for and visibility into the employee performance management process

- Pavestone Company, the largest producer of interlocking concrete paving stones and segmental retaining walls in the United States. Pavestone had developed a paperbased employee appraisal and compensation process that involved the creation and distribution of a booklet for each of the company's 1,400 employees. With 20 locations across the U.S. booklets had to be mailed out to managers at these locations, filled out and then mailed back to HR at headquarters in Dallas each year. - There are number of ways, in which IKEA doing the performance of its employees. They are using open and closed appraisal.If the appraisal is open, the appraisee can actively take part in the review process and discuss the results. If the appraisal is closed, the report remains confidential. -Xerox, Intel, and Du Pont are just a few examples of companies that use MBO at all levels of the organization. Overall organizational objectives are converted into specific objectives for employees. Objectives at each level of the organization are linked together through a "bottom up" approach as well as a "top down" approach. In this manner, if each individual achieves his/her goals, then the department will achieve its goals and the organization objectives will in turn be met. MBO provides a systematic method of assuring that all employees and work groups set goals that are in alignment with achieving the organization's goals
- Japan Tobacco International very often use a checklist performance appraisals,

because it is very easy to use, especially when asking the employee to perform a selfappraisal of his performance level. Most employees can complete these forms quickly. A self-appraisal is useful for the manager to know how the employee sees himself and whether it is consistent with how the manager rates the employee's performance.

For an effective management and do best evaluation among personnel, performance appraisal is very essential instrument. it generally review each individual performance against agreeing objective, standard and delegation of responsibilities and tasks.Performance Appraisals are important for staff motivation, attitude and behavioral development, communicating and aligning individual as well as organizational aims and having positive relationships between management and staff and also increase the level of competence among the employee of organization and their energetic level increase. As performance appraisal provide a formal, recorded, regular review of an individual performance so we can plan for future development. In this way the chances of organizational growth increases.so as profit will also in gain.