Developing a Performance Appraisal System A performance appraisal is one of the most important factors in any organization and can be one of the greatest tools used to record employee production. Every organization has to have goals and objectives established and the employee has to be involved in this process. By conducting performance appraisal will improve productivity and also the morale of the employees. Appraisals are a positive way for an employer to let the employee know how well they are performing the duties that are assigned to them, and an appraisal is a good indictor of how an employee needs to improve in a certain job task.
Even though performance appraisals can be good for the organization, it can also be a controversial management tool. Critics of performance appraisals have many compelling arguments against its use. They can have a false degree of accuracy, engenders dysfunctional employee conflict and competition, assigns an inordinate amount of responsibility to individual with poor work performance. Many will argue that these negative effects of appraisal can be fixed through genuine employee participation. Every organization can have a successful employee performance appraisal system, it is important as managing your financial resources.
Employee performance can have a profound effect on both financial and program components to any organization. Managers have to identify what the organizations goal are and how they can be accomplished, communicate these goals with all individuals make the goals clear and precise. Use these performances as a basis for appropriate personnel actions including rewarding performances and if need what action to improve less then successful performances. The Office of Personnel Management defines this process as: • Planning work and setting expectations • Monitoring performance continually. Developing the capacity to perform. • Rating performance in a summary fashion. • Rewarding good performance. (Performance Appraisal Handbook) Planning in any organization is the first step that needs to be done, this include performance expectations and goals for each individual. Including the employee in the planning process will help them fully understand the goals and what is expected of them for accomplishing them. Monitoring the employee work performance and giving effective and timely feedback will help keep the employees performance successful.
The employee needs to know what they are doing right and what areas need improving. There are different ways to monitor an employee; managers observing their work, feedback from other employees, and talking with clients. Identify developmental needs of each employee will help provide opportunities for training and encourage good performance it also strengthens job-rated skills, and will help employees to keep up with changes in the workplace. When managers start focusing on developing their employees performance employees are able to adapt to different kinds of situations.
This will help ensure the survival, well-being, and goal achievement of both the employee and the organization. There are many different forms for employee development; traditional training such as in a classroom, self-study courses using computer technology can be either the Internet, are using CD-ROM courses. Also establishing an Individual Development Plan which is having the employee do a self-assessment having them assess personal career goal both short and long term and taking steps to achieve them.
Then together both employee and managers review and discuss the self-assessment and draft an IDP that would include both strengths and weakness of the employee and how to obtain a timely learning opportunities. Rating the performance of the employee means to evaluate their performance against elements and standards; this rating is based on a work performance during a current period of time. The rating should reflect the level of the employee’s performance compared to the standards established.
There needs to be a rating level and points assigned to each level, an example would be Exceptional would receive 5 points and an Unsatisfactory would receive 0 points. Rewarding performance is basically providing incentives and recognition to the employee’s for their performance and contribution to the organization. Awards can be different things, such as cash, time off, honor awards. An employee must be rated high to receive such an award, give recognition like “What a great job you did” does not require specific authority and is easy to give.
This will give an employee something to reach for and can improve work conditions. All of these are good steps to a successful organization, there will always be an employee with poor performances and it is just as important that appropriate action is taken. There is a difference in poor performance and misconduct, poor performance is when an employee just can not do the job at an appropriate level and will not be successful, misconduct is when an employee completely refuses to do the work that is expected of them.
Reference: 1) Roberts, Gary E. (Mar. 2003) Public Personal Management Vol. 32, Issue 1, p89 http://ehis. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail? vid=3&hid=16&sid=636ceff6-5965-4b15-8dfa-9c74a6d7dee3%40sessionmgr14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=fd9da7dd&AN=#db=fd9da7dd&AN= 2) Performance Appraisal Handbook A Guide for Managers, Supervisors, and Employees (n. a) (n. d. ) http://www. doi. gov/hrm/guidance/370dm430hndbk. pdf
