Research paper on performance appraisal
It is necessary not only for the individual to improve his/her performance on the job so that s/he can earn the rewards (e. There are many ways to judge an employee's performance on the job ranging from objective performance data to global rating scales to more detailed rating scales that represent each of the important aspects of the job. This will help ensure that the performance appraisal system is not only accurate, but ds: 360-degree feedback; criterion; empirical; feedback; human resources; job analysis; management by objectives (mbo); pay for performance; performance appraisal; rating; return on investment (roi). However, neither the employee nor the organization can meet these goals unless they know how they are currently performing and can determine what changes must be made in order to improve overall performance. For the individual, this information usually comes in the form of feedback from a performance appraisal or review. Performance appraisal is the process of evaluating an employee's work performance and providing feedback on how well s/he is doing, typically against some standard of performance for that job. Performance appraisal can also provide the organization with some of the information that it needs in order to make strategic decisions to help it succeed in the for performance appraisal mance appraisal is one of the key functions of an organization's human resources department. Perhaps the most well known of these is to establish standards and an evaluation system that can be used to form the basis of judgments as to whether to reward employees for good performance or punish them for poor performance. Performance appraisal data are also used to provide the criterion information that is used to select new candidates for the job. This information is used in conjunction with performance appraisal data that provide information regarding the standards to which employees must be able to perform these tasks in order to develop criteria to be used in hiring new employees for the r use for performance appraisal data is to provide objectives for organizational training programs. For example, if a department-wide performance appraisal finds that widget makers do not have the necessary skills to meet the organization's goal of 200 widgets per employee per day, the human resources department might design or contract for a training program that would teach line workers the skills necessary to be better able to meet this goal. Finally, performance appraisal data can provide management with the data needed to provide feedback to employees and to better control their behavior on the job. In most cases, both the employees and management would like to see improved performance on the job. From the employees' perspective, improved performance can be the key to raises, bonuses, perks, and promotions. Similarly, management would like to see improved performance because it helps to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization, improves the return on investment for hiring and training, and helps the organization reach its strategic goals and become a high performing an objective performance appraisal system can be developed, one must first perform a job analysis to determine what tasks are actually performed on the job, the standards to which these tasks need to be performed, and the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics necessary in order to adequately perform these tasks. Knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to adequately perform these; criteria that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable results of a job analysis are typically used in writing job descriptions and setting standards for use in performance mance appraisals need to be based on the tasks that are actually required to be performed on the job rather than on some general impression of the performance of the employee. Good job descriptions and the performance appraisals that are based on them are competency based, describing the job in terms of measurable, observable, behavioral competencies that the employee must demonstrate in order to perform the job well. For example, rather than saying that a salesperson needs to have good customer rapport, the employee would be required to do such things as greet the customer within 30 seconds of entering the store, immediately drop any tasks not directly related to helping customers in the store if a customer needs help, or any other requirement found to be important to good work performance as determined by the job analysis. The performance standards developed as a product of a thorough job analysis are then used not only to frame the performance appraisal criteria, but also to communicate to employees what kind of behavior will be rewarded (or not rewarded) by the organization.
Performance appraisal data are then used to give the employee feedback on how well s/he is meeting the standards in order to encourage high s of data are many sources of data that can be used in developing a performance appraisal system. For example, for production workers, one might use a combination of quantitative data such as the average number of widgets produced per hour, the amount of waste material produced as a byproduct of manufacturing that number of widgets, and the number of widgets produced that are within addition to objective production data, in some situations there are personnel data that are available that need to be taken into account when judging an employee's performance. For example, one might want to consider the number of days the employee was late to work, excessive days taken off, or other hard data that might be found in the employee's personnel file that address the employee's level of performance on the job. Although sometimes personnel data can be useful adjuncts when judging performance, they are typically not a substitute for more directly related data concerning course, not every job can be neatly reduced to quantifiable data. Although one can judge the performance of manufacturing workers, for example, based on the number of widgets they produce per hour, such objective data are not available for every position. To help management make better-informed decisions regarding an employee's performance, it is often necessary to collect subjective, judgmental data regarding performance. An example of this kind of data collection instrument is the "short survey" that often pops up after an online interaction with a sales or support are many approaches to designing a rating scale to be used in performance appraisal. The simplest of these is the global rating scale in which each employee is given a single score which rates his/her overall performance. However, global ratings do not give the employee sufficient data for how to improve his/her performance. However, without well-defined standards for poor, acceptable, and outstanding performance, such rating scales can also be very subjective in nature and prone to rating errors. Log in do i complete the identification of the components of an effective performance appraisal... Main strategy you should use for completing this assignment is to use subheadings to separate different aspects of performance appraisal into clearly organized subtopics. Learning or intervention -- seclusion & nations' human development relations & human resource breath becomes mance mance appraisal is the process of evaluating an employee's performance and providing feedback. Learning or intervention -- seclusion & nations' human development relations & human resource breath becomes ch and practice in performance appraisal:Evaluating employee performance in america's is a growing debate about the relevance of employee sals. On the one hand, performance ratings are considered by ics and practicing managers as essential personnel . A of fortune 100 companies shows that practicing managers mance appraisal researchers have very different concerns. Sam advanced management journal publisher: society for the advancement of management audience: trade format: magazine/journal subject: business; business, general copyright: copyright 1994 society for the advancement of management issn: : spring, 1994 source volume: v59 source issue: uctionmany academics and practicing managers regard performance one of the most valuable human resource tools. Most important,Performance appraisal can be used as a motivational tool icating performance expectations to employees and providing feedback. Finally, performance appraisal is indispensable ng and development activities to assess potential and ng the other hand, there appears to be a growing debate r the consequences of the performance appraisal are cial to many organizations.
A significant number of rs appear to be saying that performance appraisal may create ms than it solves. Edward deming, for example, has we should abolish production standards that specify numerical eliminate all individual performance appraisal in favor of evaluate performance at the unit or plant level. 1)regardless of one's perspective, performance appraisal likely to be a subject of concern for managers and employees some time to come. In fact, the trend in organizations appears to merit or other performance-based pay plans, promising even is on the appraisal process. Despite the trend, and even though of appraisal research has flowed unabated for years, sal, as commonly practiced, has remained a largely or. Performance appraisal systems often suffer from design rs receive poor training in appraisal administration and rewarded for accuracy in appraisal. In addition, for ized in table 1, both managers and employees tend to sal feedback sessions with fear and 1 why managers and employees dislike the appraisal process. Managers may of the permanence of the "paper trail" that appraisal and are often hestitant to commit negative feedback g even when they do not like the individual. There are few formal rewards for taking the appraisal sly and probably no informal rewards. Managers hestitate to give unfavorable appraisals for fear appearance of unsatisfactory work by subordinates reflects badly manager's ability to select and develop employees. A new detailed survey of fortune 100 firms conducted by sity researchers, bob bretz and george milkovich, provides ctive on the performance appraisal enigma. The results, stacked up against recent performance ch, suggest that the interests of the practicing managers of the researchers have surprisingly little in fundamentally different perspectives have served to create between research and practice. Managers, for example, tend to the processes and behaviors (fairness and usefulness) of sal, while researchers are more concerned with the s of the rating process. While research, on one hand, has to improve the usefulness of performance appraisal as ment tool, organizations, on the other hand, have been guilty ng research findings that have potential to improve the mance appraisal in practicethe bretz and milkovich survey was designed to examine the mance appraisal practices of large american companies as a toward understanding why performance appraisal research has been al benefit to the practitioner. 2) information was requested on the s design, characteristics, management results and the use of mance appraisal system designthe survey results revealed that performance appraisal systems companies are designed primarily by personnel specialists. Interest in participative management and other ement schemes, there appears to be little input into sal design by line managers and almost none by the employees the subjects of appraisal. While employees are often expected aged to participate in decisions relating to production ions as part of a total quality management system, they rarely d any meaningful input into the performance appraisal system ly affects teristics of performance appraisal systemsthe dominant format for performance appraisal systems in large rial companies, at least for executives, managers, sional employees, continues to be an objective-based approach management by objectives (mbo). As table 2 illustrates, 80% of ed organizations report using objectivebased approaches for ives and managers, and 70% use them for professional use is made of the traditional or graphic rating scale or s for these exempt 2 performance appraisal formats in fortune 100 firms. Surprisingly, when only hourly paid employees ered, more than half (52%) of responding organizations do t formal appraisals of any kind on this organizations use forced distributions or ranking,Particularly in conjunction with pay decisions, to supplement their mance appraisal method, especially for managers and ees.
As might ed, given the prevalence of mbo, quantitative or es of performance such as sales, costs, profits, or ition are frequently used to supply performance decides the final performance appraisal rating in these zations? Less than 5% of the ly used to determine the final performance rating comes from tions. Despite theoretical and practical arguments that peer appraisal can be useful, and despite claims in the press that of appraisal is "mushrooming,"(3) little evidence that it is used to any significant extent, nor that icantly influences performance ratings, in these large ment of the performance appraisal systemdecisions regarding the strategic nature of performance appraisal. Such as whether or not to actually have appraisals, or what the role pay or incentives should be) are made at the corporate level two-thirds of these large companies. The extensive use of mbo, exempt employees do tend to setting their own performance standards. While executives, managers,And professional employees in over 80% of the firms are involved g their own objectives, only 16% of firms allow hourly do e the assumption that performance appraisal is valuable,Relatively little time is expended on the activity. An average of per employee per year is spent on appraising executives rs, six on professional employees, and less than four mpts (these figures include observing and documenting performance,Completing the actual evaluation, and conducting employee ns). Considering that the averages are inflated due to a firms that spend considerably more time on appraisal, the devotes surprisingly little time examining employee performance ing employee isn't more time spent on appraisal? One reason is managers are not commonly held accountable for how well t performance appraisal on their subordinates. Basic motivational theory as well as suggests that managers will devote little effort to a sant chore for which they are not held organizations do conduct managerial training in how to use mance appraisal system. Training programs reported ting appraisal interviews and providing feedback (in 90% of zations), instruction in using the appraisal forms (in 83%),Setting performance standards (78%), recognizing good performance (66%),And avoiding rating errors (56%). Since most of the appraisal more than ten years old, most managers have not benefitted training. Employees receive no training on how to use feedback sal information to improve mance appraisal outcomesorganizations appear to be quite concerned with the ss of their appraisal systems. The three most important issues are: (1) the acceptance of sal system by those being rated; (2) whether employees believe s is fair; and (3) whether employees believe the results are ally, however, only one-third of the organizations in the t attitude surveys of either managers or employees to assess tions of the fairness of appraisal processes or next two most important issues expressed as areas of concern mance appraisal deal with uncertainty regarding the type ck given and the degree to which the appraisal system is a for managing performance. Issues of accuracy in appraisal sal error -- issues that are common topics of scholarly research. Are not considered important issues by the do america's largest companies use performance ation? Performance appraisal information is much to be used to make decisions relating to layoffs, terminations,Or transfers. Interestingly, feedback from respondents reveals that more faith in performance rankings than performance ratings type of decision, because the latter simply are not perceived to iently 4 important uses for performance appraisal (rank order)1. Justifying other managerial actionsninety-two percent of the firms use appraisal information ining merit pay increases.
One-third of the organizations,However, also rank managerial and professional employees for purposes ing pay organizations feel that their performance appraisal lishes merit pay objectives? While this could be interpreted that mance appraisal system is accomplishing its merit pay objectives. The organizations claims that the pay-for-performance system e sufficient differentials between high and low performers, three-fourths report that skewed performance distributions are m; and over two-thirds state that the skewed distributions administration and the ability to reward the best performance distributions are, indeed, evident in the butions of performance ratings. S to hold even in organizations that use forced stingly, the 23% of organizations that do not feel that mance distributions are a problem report even higher employees in the top performance levels than the 77% of recognize a skewing problem. It is evident that even cy exists, it is not perceived to be a problem by some 5 performance distributions in fortune 100 companieslevel definitions1. 4) what is clear from the research conducted last five years is that the topics that occupy the time of chers are not necessarily those that command the attention cing managers. A recent review of some 153 articles(5) n 1985 and 1989 found that most of the research is conducted laboratory using student subjects, paper people, or video tapes. Addressed most frequently relate to cognitive processing,Rater/ratee characteristics, and psychometric tly, research on the impact of different sources of ation, on rater training, and on appraisal format is are issues, however, that have been subject to research in past and for which further investigation appears to ssary. Research relating to issues of fairness, the performance appraisal on employee attitudes and behaviors, and of appraisal information is virtually nonexistent even though to be major concerns in the practitioner literature and to cing managers in the sionsit is clear from the foregoing that performance appraisal present a vexing human resource challenge. Practicing managers are quite issues of fairness in appraisal, but do not consider cy, rating errors, or an understanding of the cognitive in the appraisal process to be major organizational is unfortunate, since much of the fairness issue can sed by current research. The cognitive process research is fairness and may eventually lead to fairer ratings, because of ts to control the effect of bias. One problem for managers to understand and interpret research that does not seem e it is done in the lab or based on student subjects. The to improve fairness may be for managers to facilitate cher's access to their heless, research does begin to offer some suggestions ing the effectiveness of the appraisal process. The following stress that more satisfactory performance appraisal results attained through employee participation in system design, by onal resources to training, and by generally creating zational culture supportive of performance appraisal:1. Train managers not only toobserve and document performance but alsoto communicate information effectively anddeliver performance feedback. Create an environment in which performanceinformation is viewed as a resource thatmanagers can use to develop managers must create a climate in whichaccurate and timely performance appraisal isexpected of all managers, is taken seriously,and is rewarded. Aspart of this philosophy, employees must betrained to use the feedback from the appraisalprocess to manage their own careers. Although ch does not exist to serve only the needs of the r, these and similar questions must be addressed mance appraisal can begin to silence its critics and fulfill ial for making organizations, and the people in them, es(1. Industry as a whole as these fortune 100 firms ly more likely to have formal appraisal systems than are .
Milkovich, sal in large organizations: practice and implications, center ed human resource studies, cornell university school of labor relations, working paper #89-17 for a complete review mance appraisal research. Sumobrain solutions ch and practice in performance appraisal:Evaluating employee performance in america's is a growing debate about the relevance of employee sals.
