Comparisons

A program of performance appraisal must consider the following essential points for it to be effective:

1. It must be easily understandable. If the system is too complex or too time-consuming, it may be anchored to the ground by its own weight of complicated forms which nobody but the experts understand.

2. The appraisers should be given training beforehand. Supervisors responsible for performance appraisal should be well trained in the art and science of performance appraisal to ensure uniformity, consistency and reliability.

3. It must have the support of all people who administer it.

If the line people think it is too theoretical, too ambitious, and too unrealistic or that the management has imposed it on them, they will dislike it. Similarly, if they feel that their role is not very important they will not take the system seriously.

4. The system should be sufficiently grounded in the requirements of the organization. It should reflect the value system of the organization. In fact, it should tell the employees what set of activities or what qualities are considered desirable by the organization. As such, it should have linkage with the job description.

5. The system should be both valid and reliable. The validity of ratings is the degree to which they are truly indicative of the merit of the employees. Both validity and reliability result from objectivity. The appraisal systems of many organizations lack this, without taking into account their merit. This produces outstanding performers but not outstanding performance and raises doubts about the validity of the system.

6. The system should have built-in incentive, that is, a reward should follow satisfactory performance. This raises the morale of the employees and in turn results in improvement in performance.

7. The system should be open and participative. It should involve employees in the goal-setting process. This helps in planning performance better.

8. The system should focus more on the development and growth of employees than on generating data for administrative decision-making relating to promotions, increments etc.

It must help in identifying employees’ strengths and weaknesses and indicate corrective actions.

9. The system should be periodically evaluated to be sure that it is continuing to meet its goals. This will check the danger of the criteria of appraisal becoming subjective rather than the objective. Furthermore, the system may become rigid in a tangle of rules and procedures, many of which are no longer useful.

10. There should be provision for appeals. The employees should have the right to appeal against appraisals to ensure confidence of the employees and their association/unions. The employees should be given an opportunity to express their feelings on the performance reports.

Ethics of Appraisal

In performance appraisal, the ethics of appraisal should get due consideration failing which many organizational problems may crop up and the very purpose of appraisal may be defeated. The essence of the appraisal is that one performance is making judgments about certain aspects of another. Although he is not making a total judgement of the other person’s worth, but it is true that he is judging his resent or future usefulness to a job or an organization. Therefore, the appraisers should approach employee appraisal as a thoughtful, serious matter for which they are accountable. In this regard, managers need to apply a few simple rules, which will contribute to their ethical handling of the appraisal situations.

The essential components of an effective performance appraisal are as follows:

1. Determination of purpose– The objective of the appraisal program may be weather to appraise the actual performance of individuals on their present jobs or to determine the potential of individuals to do higher jobs or both. Sometimes performance appraisal programs are associated with objectives like training and development, transfer and promotion, increase in pay, etc.

2. Selection and training of appraiser- In order to avoid subjectivity in appraisal, it is advisable to give sufficient training to the appraiser. It is also suggested that two persons should appraise the performance of one man independently, in order to have objective results.

3. Establishing standards of performance- The standards of performance should be laid down in clearly and communicated to the subordinates well in advance. This will help the subordinates in understanding the expectations of the management.

4. Frequency of appraisal- The frequency of appraisal should be determined by the objective and scope of performance appraisal.

5. Preparation of forms- Suitable forms should be designed to help the appraisers in their work. The form should be related to the job and the contents and design of the forms should reflect the objectives of the performance appraisal programs.

6. Conveying of results- The results of the appraisal whether positive or negative, should be conveyed to the employees in a considerate manner. Also, certain steps should be taken based on the findings of the evaluation, like conducting trainings or providing counseling, for the development of the employees etc. To sum up, performance appraisal should be an objective assessment, balanced on judgments and unbiased evaluation on the job of any performer by his superior.