Performance Appraisal Systems – Where We Go Wrong
The performance appraisal is a process typically performed annually by a supervisor for a subordinate. It’s designed to help employees understand their roles, objectives, expectations and performance success. For most managers, however; it’s nothing more than a mundane task where most employees are rated excellent, and a few are rated above average. Unfortunately, most managers fail to use the tools at their disposal to obtain the best employee performance.
It seems like performance appraisals are simply used to evaluate who is doing a “good” job. But when used effectively, performance appraisals are a great tool that can benefit both the organization and the employee. The most common uses of appraisals are either administrative or developmental.
Most managers use appraisals as a simple administrative device to document personnel decisions, determine promotion candidates, identify poor performance, weigh retention or termination options, decide whom to layoff, validate selection criteria, meet legal requirements and so on.
The more exciting use of the appraisal process is the developmental side in which managers can provide performance feedback, identify individual strengths and weaknesses, recognize individual performance, assist in goal identification and evaluation, identify training needs, reinforce authority structure, allow employees to discuss concerns, improve communication and provide a forum for leaders to foster employee development.
Even in great companies with well-meaning managers, appraisal systems often fail to yield the results that are expected. Here are some of the most common reasons for failure:
- Inadequate preparation on the part of the manager
- Employee is not given clear objectives at the beginning of performance period
- Manager may not be able to observe performance or have all the information
- Inconsistency in ratings among supervisors or other raters
- Rating personality rather than performance
- The hole effect, contrast effect or some other perceptual bias
- Inappropriate time span (either too short or too long)
- Overemphasis on uncharacteristic performance
- Inflated ratings because managers do not want to deal with “bad news”
- Subjective or vague language in written appraisals
- Organizational politics or personal relationships cloud judgments
- No thorough discussion of causes of performance problems
- Manager may not be trained at evaluation or giving feedback
- No follow-up and coaching after evaluation
Appraisals are only as good as the objectives employees have been given beforehand. Job descriptions and other tools are necessary to keep employees focused on the activities that derive the most value for the organization. Development of comprehensive job descriptions is a good place to start if you find that your group has a weak appraisal system. Stay tuned: next month, we’ll explore the process of developing an effective performance appraisal system.
Sincerely,
Jeff Rackler, CEO
KRESS Employment Screening
jrackler@kressinc.com
Sources: Patricia Evres, “Problems to Avoid during Performance Evaluations,” Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News 216, no. 16 (August 19, 2002), Clinton Longnecker and Dennis Gioia, “The Politics of Executive Appraisals,” Journal of Compensation and Benefits 10, no. 2 (1994), “Seven Deadly Sins of Performance Appraisals,” Supervisory Management 39, no. 1 (1994), George Bohlander and Scott Snell, “Managing Human Resources,” 2007
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