Overview Corporate organizations mostly in the developed economies have since long been using different appraisal (PA) methods and techniques to rate and evaluate employee work performance based on prescribed parameters. These performance appraisal (PA) procedures essentially comprise of face-to-face interview sessions between the subordinates and their superiors and more often than not also includes filling out questionnaires centring around overall work accomplishments. Employers and managers have always been in favour of organizations carrying out routine performance evaluation checks in order to augment employees’ contribution towards organization growth and development. However, the experiences of most employees suggest that the various appraisal processes used for gauging performance have not gone down well with them. Clearly enough, a performance appraisal method adopted by a modern-day corporate establishment for the accomplishment of desired objectives can only be effective if it is transparent and fair. In other words, the typical PA system used in an organization should focus on identifying the core strengths and limitations of an individual and thereafter stipulate how to deliver by exploiting the capabilities and alleviating the weaknesses. Performance Appraisal: Relevant Issues Employees’ approval with PA approaches is oftentimes complex and hard to foretell primarily because of the behavioural nature of employee’s outlook of the same. Studies and surveys on employees’ reactions towards the performance appraisal strategies have pointed out that they’re not satisfied with their assessment scores and the resulting effects on their reimbursements. There is usually a wide divergence between the employee’s perspective of his performance and the manager’s perception of his competence. How an organization structures and implements the PA system can have a bearing on employee morale and ultimately impact organizational performance and development on the whole. Theoretically, the process should be thoroughly rational and impartial that’ll help in evaluating employees’ performances in a just manner. However, in reality, the performance evaluation technique is rarely objective as people’s capabilities to store, process and recoup information is unfortunately limited that eventually leads to biases and prejudices while appraising others. It has been observed that performance evaluation despite being a very crucial area of human resource management is often mismanaged by business organizations leading to lot of rancor and ill-will between superiors and their subordinates. Industry experts have suggested harnessing newer and innovative methods (for instance behavioural technique and 360-degree feedback plans) so that business establishments and entities can measure employee performance with greater accuracy and offer scores that are acceptable to employees. The performance appraisal systems in use in different entities were hamstrung by some apparent problems like:- Development of negative feelings in employees Discouraging teamwork Focus on separate tasks instead of the overall process Promoting short-term and pedestrian views Encouraging office-politics Does Performance Appraisal Find Favour with Employees? An employee appraisal system will lose its effectiveness and not serve its purpose if employees feel apprehensive about the process. Employers and managers should give due consideration to employees’ opinions and insights regarding the appraisal arrangement and their responses regarding the results’ acceptability, and their aspirations regarding the entire course of action. For performance appraisal to be successful in the long run, it should be able to motivate and inculcate employees to perform in a better manner rather than singling them out and castigating them. Employees will be optimistic about performance appraisal only when it is carried out in a dispassionate and balanced manner which will also go a long way in increasing the trust between subordinates and their supervisors.
[via NaukriHub Blog]
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