PERFOMANCE APPRAISAL SESSION

NINE
Evaluating employees behaviour
in the workplace
A function of the HRD
It may also be called performance review or
employee evaluation

A critical process in maintaining a motivated
workforce by giving feed back to employees on
their performance.

PA is the ultimate measure of HRM/Ds success
A ROLE OF THE HRD
The HRD/M designs the process but- PA is usually carried out by the
immediate supervisor- who knows the workers performance.

To be useful, PA should-be job-related (The late Kibirige was rated a
productive minister despite his alcoholism), practical, have standards, and
use dependable measures!

Direct and indirect methods of observation could be used!

Standards are usually developed as part of the Job analysis process and
these are then used in PA.

Appraisal methods are the commonest source of employee recognition

The goal of PA is to develop an accurate picture of employees behaviour
on the job

PA (formal or informal gives employees an opportunity to discuss mistakes
and successes and learn lessons from them
BENEFITS OF PA
Merit salary raises
Performance results/feedback/job Conselling
Promotion
Termination or layoffs
Performance potential
Succession planning
Career planning
Transfer
Manpower planning
Bonuses
Development and evaluation of training programmes
Criteria for selection procedure validation
Expense control


Characteristics of effective performance appraisal system
Validity (relevancy) e.g is it relevant to use employee
intelligence? People come with a certain level of
intelligence to the job so measure what is important!
Reliability (consistency)
Did employees have input into its development?
Are its standards acceptable to employees?
Are its goals acceptable to employees?
Are its standards under the control of employees?
How frequent is the feed back?
Have raters been trained?
Have ratees been trained?
Do employees have input into the appraisal interviews?
Do the appraisals have consequences?
Are different sources (raters) utilized?
NOTE: Use of criteria irrelevant to the job is illegal!!
PA rater biases
These are caused by subjective measures and
they include:
i) Halo effect (using one characteristic to make
an overall impression)
ii) Error of central tendency
iii) Lenience or strictness
iv) Personal prejudice
v) Recency effect
Any the above can distort the actual picture
PA rater biases
PA should allow for two-way communication and
it should be designed such that the employee is
not threatened! Otherwise it will not be
beneficial!
The feedback should be constructive and credit
should be given where it is due!
Methods of PA
360
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Degree performance appraisal Where a combination of self, peers,
supervisor and subordinates participates in PA. It is also called all round
appraisal.
Rating Scales:-Rates employees according to defined factors. The factors
chosen for evaluation are typically of two types: job related and personal
characteristics.

Critical Incidents:-Requires written records be kept of highly favorable and
highly unfavorable work actions.

Essay:-The rater simply writes a brief narrative describing the employees
performance. This method tends to focus on extreme behavior in the
employees work rather than routine day-to-day performance.
Work Standards:-Compares each employees performance to a
predetermined standard, or expected level of output.

Ranking:-The rater simply places all employees in a given group in rank
order on the basis of their overall performance. Paired comparison is a
variation of the ranking method that involves comparing the performance of
each employee with every other employee in the group.


Methods of PA
Forced Distribution:-An appraisal approach where the
rater is required to assign individuals in the work group
to a limited number of categories similar to a normal
frequency distribution.

Forced-Choice And Weighted Checklist Performance
Reports:-The forced choice performance report is a
technique in which the appraiser is given a series of
statements about an individual and the rater indicates
which items are most or least descriptive of the
employee. The weighted checklist performance report is
a technique whereby the rater completes a form similar
to the forced-choice performance report, but the various
responses have been assigned different weights.
PA Methods
. Results-Based Systems:-In a result-based system the
superior and thesubordinate jointly agree on objectives
for the next appraisal period.
Assessment Centers:-Recognizing the differences in
purposes, and the difficulty that a PA system will have in
achieving both aims, some firms opt to use an
assessment center as an adjunct to their appraisal
system
Management by objectives (MBO) :-It is a goal-
oriented performance appraisal method, requires that
supervisors and employees determine objectives for
employees to meet during the rating period, and the
employees appraise how well they have achieved their
objectives
The Appraisal Interview
The appraisal interview is the Achilles heel of the entire evaluation process.

Scheduling the InterviewSupervisors usually conduct a formal
appraisal interview at the end of an employees appraisal period.
Interview StructureA successful appraisal interview should be
structured in a way that allows both the supervisor and the subordinate to
view it as a problem solving rather than a faultfinding session.
Use of Praise and CriticismPraise should be provided when
warranted, but it can have only limited value if not clearly deserved.
Criticism, even if warranted, is especially difficult to give.
Employees RoleTwo weeks or so before the review, they should go
through their diary or files and make a note of every project worked on,
regardless of whether they were successful or not.
Use of SoftwareComputer software is available for recording the
appraisal data.
Concluding the InterviewIdeally, employees will leave the interview
with positive feelings about management, the company, the job, and
themselves.
Assignment
You have so far attended ten lectures in HRM
beginning with introduction to HRM.
In a group of four, give a brief background (not more
than half a page) of an organisation with which all of you
are familiar. Describe the human resource
practices in that organisation. State what is being
done according to the lectures received so far and
what is done differently. State four practical
improvements you could suggest to your HRM.
Do not exceed three pages.