Observation
Evaluation
Communication
Performance appraisal for evaluation using the traditional
approach has served the following purposes:
Two serious flaws in the traditional approach to performance
appraisal exist. The flaws are:
The developmental approach to performance appraisal has been
related to employees as individuals. This approach has been concerned with the
use of performance appraisal as a contributor to employee motivation,
development, and human resources planning. The development approach contained
all of the traditional overall organizational performance appraisal purposes
and the following additional purposes:
1. Provided employees the opportunity to formally indicate the
direction and level of the employee's ambition
2. Show organizational interest in employee development, which was
cited to help the enterprise retain ambitious, capable employees instead of losing
the employees to competitors
3. Provided a structure for communications between employees and
management to help clarify expectations of the employee by management and the
employee
4. Provide satisfaction and encouragement to the employee who has
been trying to perform well
Behavioral Anchored Rating Scales.
- The term used to describe a performance rating that focused on specific
behaviors or sets as indicators of effective or ineffective performance, rather
than on broadly stated adjectives such as "average, above average, or
below average". Other variations were:
Checklists. - The term used to define a set of
adjectives or descriptive statements. If the rater believed the employee
possessed a trait listed, the rater checked the item; if not, the rater left
the item blank. rating score from the checklist equaled the number of checks.
Critical Incident Technique. - The term used to
describe a method of performance appraisal that made lists of statements of
very effective and very ineffective behavior for employees. The lists have been
combined into categories, which vary with the job. Once the categories had been
developed and statements of effective and ineffective behavior had been
provided, the evaluator prepared a log for each employee. During the evaluation
period, the evaluator recorded examples of critical behaviors in each of the
categories, and the log has been use to evaluate the employee at the end of the
evaluation period.
Forced Choice Method. - This appraisal
method has been developed to prevent evaluators from rating employees to high.
Using this method, the evaluator has to select from a set of descriptive
statements, statements that apply to the employee. The statements have been
weighted and summed to at, effectiveness index.
Forced Distribution. - The term used to
describe an appraisal system similar to grading on a curve. The evaluator had
been asked to rate employees in some fixed distribution of categories. One way
to do this has been to type the name of each employee on a card and ask the
evaluators to sort the cards into piles corresponding to rating.
Graphic Rating Scale. - The term used to
define the oldest and most widely used performance appraisal method. The
evaluators are given a graph and asked to rate the employees on each of the
characteristics. The number of characteristics can vary from one to one
hundred. The rating can be a matrix of boxes for the evaluator to check off or
a bar graph where the evaluator checked off a location relative to the
evaluators rating.
Narrative or Essay Evaluation. - This
appraisal method asked the evaluator to describe strengths and weaknesses of an
employee's behavior. Some companies still use this method exclusively,
whereas in others, the method has been combined with the graphic rating scale.
Management by Objectives. - The management by
objectives performance appraisal method has the supervisor and employee get
together to set objectives in quantifiable terms. The appraisal method has
worked to eliminate communication problems by the establishment of regular
meetings, emphasizing results, and by being an ongoing process where new
objectives have been established and old objectives had been modified as
necessary in light of changed conditions.
Paired Comparison. - The term used to
describe an appraisal method for ranking employees. First, the names of the
employees to be evaluated have been placed on separate sheets in a
pre-determined order, so that each person has been compared with all other
employees to be evaluated. The evaluator then checks the person he or she felt
had been the better of the two on the criterion for each comparison. Typically
the criterion has been the employees over all ability to do the present job.
The number of times a person has been preferred is tallied, and the tally
developed is an index of the number of preferences compared to the number being
evaluated.
Performance Appraisal. - The term
performance appraisal has been called by many names, including performance
review, performance evaluation, personnel rating, merit rating, employee
appraisal or employee evaluation. A performance appraisal has been defined as
any personnel decision that affects the status of employee regarding their
retention, termination, promotion, transfer, salary increase or decrease, or
admission into a training program.
Ranking. - The term ranking has been used to
describe an alternative method of performance appraisal where the supervisor
has been asked to order his or her employees in terms of performance from
highest to lowest.
Weighted Checklist. - The term used to
describe a performance appraisal method where supervisors or personnel
specialists familiar with the jobs being evaluated prepared a large list of
descriptive statements about effective and ineffective behavior on jobs.
Who Can Conduct?
Peers
Staff
Self
Guest
The following is typically expected from company managers when
doing performance appraisals:
Performance appraisal is the end of a process
that goes on all the time - a process that is based on good communication
between manager and employee. So, more time should be spent preventing
performance problems than evaluating at the end of the year. When managers do
good things during the year, the appraisal is easy to do and comfortable,
because there won't be any surprises.
Want to create bad feelings, damage morale, get staff to compete
so badly they will not work as a team? Then rank staff or compare staff. A
guaranteed technique. And heck, not only can a manager create friction among
staff, but the manager can become a great target for that hostility too. A
bonus!
We do appraisal to improve performance, not find a donkey to pin a
tail on or blame. Managers who forget this end up developing staff who don't
trust them, or even can't stand them. That's because the blaming process if
pointless, and doesn't help anyone. If there is to be a point to performance
appraisal it should be getting manager and employee working together to have
everyone get better.
Many companies use rating forms to evaluate employees (you know,
the 1-5 ratings?). They do that because it's faster than doing it right. The
problem comes when managers believe that those ratings are in some way
"real", or anything but subjective, often vague judgements that are
bound to be subjective and inaccurate. By the way, if you have two people rate
the same employee, the chances of them agreeing are very small. THAT'S
subjective. Say it to yourself over and over. Ratings are subjective. Rating
forms are subjective. Rating forms are not behavioral.
Lots of managers do this. They conduct
appraisals so long as they have to do so to justify or withhold a pay increase.
When staff hit their salary ceiling, or pay is not connected to appraisal and
performance, managers don't bother. Dumb. Performance appraisal is FOR
improving performance. It isn't just about pay (although some think it is ONLY
about pay). If nothing else, everyone needs feedback on their jobs, whether
there is money involved or not.
Managers delude themselves into believing they can assess staff
performance, even if they hardly ever see their staff actually doing their
jobs, or the results of their jobs). Not possible. Most managers aren't in a
position to monitor staff consistently enough to be able to assess well. And,
besides what manager wants to do that or has the time. And, what employee wants
their manager perched, watching their every mood. That's why appraisal is a
partnership between employee and manager.
Happens a whole lot. I guess because nobody
likes to do them, so managers will postpone them at the drop of a hat. Why is
this bad? It says to employees that the process is unimportant or phony. If
managers aren't willing to commit to the process, then they shouldn't do it at
all. Employees are too smart not to notice the low priority placed on
appraisals.
Fact of life: The easiest things to measure or evaluate are the
least important things with respect to doing a job. Managers are quick to
define customer service as "answering the phone within three rings",
or some such thing. That's easy to measure if you want to. What's NOT easy to
measure is the overall quality of service that will get and keep customers.
Measuring overall customer service is hard, so many managers don't do it. But
they will measure the trivial.
Want to really waste your time and create bad performance? This is
a guaranteed technique. Don't talk to staff during the year. When they mess up,
don't deal with it at the time but SAVE it up. Then, at the appraisal meeting,
truck out everything saved up in the bank and dump it in the employee's lap.
That'll show 'em who is boss!
Do all employees need the same things to improve their
performance? Of course not. Some need specific feedback. Some don't. Some need
more communication than others. And of course jobs are all different Do you
think we can evaluate the CEO of Ford using the same approach as we use for the
person who cleans the factory floor? Of course not. So, why do managers insist
on evaluating the receptionist using the same tools and criteria as the civil
engineers in the office?
It's dumb. One size does not fit all. Actually why do managers do
this? Mostly because the personnel or human resource office leans on them to do
so. It's almost understandable, but that doesn't make it any less dumb.
Your Small Co., INC. Policies & Procedures
Performance Appraisals Policy:
PA-01 Last Revised: 2/ 12/ 95
Effective Date: 1/ 10/ 95
1. POLICY
1.1. All Your Small Co., Inc. employees will have a detailed
meeting with his/ her supervisor at least once a year to discuss the employees
current job position, performance, career goals, and improving performance.
2. RESPONSIBILITY
2.1. The Director/ Manager of Human Resources is responsible for this procedure
and ensuring compliance with this policy. Where
problems arise, the Director/ Manager of Human Resources is responsible for
arbitrating and/ or resolving issues that may arise
from the use of this procedure.
3. PROCEDURE
3.1. On an annual basis, each employee, whether exempt/ salaried or non-exempt/
hourly, will have a written review and discussion of
their performance conducted by the supervisor.
3.2. There are special circumstances which may prompt a review in a shorter
period of time. Under all circumstances, however, each
employee will have every opportunity to comment in writing on any part of the
evaluation covered.
3.3. All completed performance appraisals are required to have two
levels of management of review and approval. The supervisor
must ensure that his/ her supervisor/ manager has review the appraisal prior to
holding the review with the employee.
3.4. The detailed discussion should cover the following topics:
3.4.1. Employee's position description, including his/ her responsibilities and
authority levels. The position description
and goals should be discussed with the employee, initialed and dated by the
employee at the beginning of the appraisal
period. Changes to the position description and goals should be updated and
initialed and dated each time responsibilities
or goals change significantly.
3.4.2. Employee's performance over the appraisal period. Whenever possible,
this will include actual achievements 1
Your Small Co., INC. Policies & Procedures
Performance Appraisals Policy: PA-01 Last
Revised: 2/ 12/ 95
Effective Date: 1/ 10/ 95
versus plan.
3.4.3. Employee's career goals. There should be discussion on
whether his/ her current position and the projected position at
YOUR SMALL CO., INC. mesh with the employee's career goals.
3.4.4. Plan for improved performance. Wherever possible, a plan of
actions to enhance the employee's performance will be
discussed, agreed upon, initialed by the employee and supervisor, and
documented.
3.5. The performance appraisal will be placed in the employee's
personnel file.
3.6. After the Performance Appraisal, Human Resources will provide a copy to
the employee in an sealed envelope and marked
"Confidential".
3.7. Annually, a review will be made by Human Resources of personnel files to
ensure that all full-time employees have an annual
appraisal.
3.8. Frequent informal appraisals are encouraged, and requests for appraisals
from either the employee or supervisor will be honored.
3.9. This procedure is designed as a form of communication between
the supervisor and the employee. It is there for required to be done
at least 30 days prior to any salary actions. It has been found that salary
discussions during a performance appraisal will cause the
review to be ineffective.
4. The Performance Appraisal form to be used is PA-01-01. This
procedure will be modified to reflect the use of additional forms, should there
be a
need to develop addition forms.
5. Managing the Performance Appraisal Process
In order to facilitate the performance appraisal within the organization, the
following additional steps are recommended as a guideline. 2
Your Small Co., INC. Policies &
Procedures
Performance Appraisals Policy: PA-01 Last
Revised: 2/ 12/ 95
Effective Date: 1/ 10/ 95
5.1. Review the performance appraisal process with your staff at
least annually. Human Resources can assist upon request.
5.2. Use of a log to track your employee's performance is
recommended. It is easier to take note of employees performance
in a diary format, either good or bad, at intervals though out the year than to
try to remember the whole last year while filling out the
performance appraisals.
5.3. Incorporate input from other departments, where applicable, to provide an
overall picture of the employee. Also solicit input from
customers, team members, etc.
5.4. Review the employees job content and performance "standards" as
part of the performance appraisal.
5.5. Revisit the problem areas more frequently. More frequent
feedback allows the employee to correct problem areas sooner and help
recognize problem areas before they become major performance issues.
5.6. Set clear expectations for all new employees and familiarize
them with the performance appraisal process.
Your Small Co., INC. Policy:
PA-01 Employee Performance Appraisal Form No. PA-01-1
Last Revised: 1/ 10/ 95
Employee Name:_________________________________________________
Department:_____________________________________________________
Supervisor's Name:_______________________________________________
Start Date of Appraisal Period:_____________________________________
End Date of Appraisal Period:______________________________________
Job/ Position Description:__________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Description Change During Period (Initial and
date):___________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Your Small Co., INC. Policy:
PA-01 Employee Performance Appraisal Form No. PA-01-1
Last Revised: 1/ 10/ 95
Goals/ Objectives/ Tasks (Three to six typical):
1. _____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
2.______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
3.______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
4.______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
5.______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
6.______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
7.______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Other Accomplishments:
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Other Performance Factors (Teamwork, innovation, problem solving, etc.): 5
Your Small Co., INC. Policy:
PA-01 Employee Performance Appraisal Form No. PA-01-1
Last Revised: 1/ 10/ 95
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Comments: Satisfactorily Unsatisfactory
1. __________________________________
__________________________________
2. __________________________________
__________________________________
3, __________________________________
__________________________________
4, __________________________________
__________________________________
5, __________________________________
__________________________________
6, __________________________________
__________________________________
7, __________________________________
__________________________________
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Your Small Co., INC. Policy: PA-01 Employee Performance Appraisal Form
No. PA-01-1
Last Revised: 1/ 10/ 95
(Attach additional sheets, if necessary)
Employee Career Goals: ___________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Describe how the current position meshes with career goals: ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Performance Improvement Plan:
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Employee Comments( Not mandatory): ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Employee Signature: ______________________________________________
Date: ________________
Supervisor Signature: _____________________________________________
Date: ________________