The Performance Appraisal Questions and Answers Book

A Survival Guide for Managers by DICK GROTE AMACOM

Performance Appraisal and Management

Books Recommended . 1.The Performance Question and Answer Book- A
Survival Guide for Managers . By Dick Grote, AMACOM, American Management Association.

2. The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal

Dick Grote, American Management Association. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-PerformanceAppraisal/dp/0814403131#_

3. A Handbook of Human Resource Management

Practice- Michael Armstrong, 10th edition.

The Performance Question and Answer BookA Survival Guide for Managers . By Dick Grote,
Importance of Performance Appraisal. 1.What is Performance Appraisal 2.Where did Performance Appraisal Come From ? 3.What is the Purpose Performance Planning Performance Execution Performance Assessment Performance Review The Performance Appraisal Form The Performance Appraisal Process Building Performance Excellence Final Question ? Is Performance Appraisal really all that
IMPORTANT ????

The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal Dick Grote, American Management Association.

Part 1. This Business of Performance. 1. Performance Appraisal , The State of Art 2.The Performance Management System 3.Approaches to Appraisal 4.Objectives, Accountabilities and Standards 5.Skills , Behaviors and Competencies Part 2 . Making the Performance Appraisal System Work
6. How to write a fair Performance Appraisal 7. How to conduct an Appraisal Discussion 8. Optimizing Your Existing Performance Appraisal System .

The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal Dick Grote, American Management Association.

Part 3.. This Business of Performance.

9. Building Management Support 10. Designing the Performance Appraisal System 11. Implementing a Performance Appraisal System 12. Creating a Performance Appraisal Training Program Part 4 . Critical Issues in Performance Appraisal System Work 13. Employee Development 14. Pay and Performance Appraisal 15. Performance Appraisal and Law 16. Emerging Trends in Performance Appraisal .

The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal Dick Grote, American Management Association.

APPENDICES .
1. Appendix 1. A Grote Consulting Master Performance Appraisal Form 2. Appendix 2. A Grote Individual Management Development System

The Performance Appraisal Questions and Answers Book

CH-1 : Introduces Performance Appraisal CH-2 to 5 :Deals with 4 phases of an effective PMS, Performance planning, execution , assessment and review. CH-6 :Deals with PA form . An ideal form and how to create one ?? CH-7 : Tells about how the most effective PA Process works ? CH-8 : Deals with Building Performance Excellence , how to develop human talent and how to solve peoples problems ?? CH-9 : The shortest and discusses if the PA is really all that important ????

Basic Concepts in Performance Management and Appraisal

Comparing Performance Appraisal and Performance Management

Performance Appraisal:
Setting work standards, assessing performance, and providing feedback to employees to motivate, correct, and continue their performance.

Performance Management:
An integrated approach to ensuring that an employees performance supports and contributes to the organizations strategic aims.

Comparing Performance Appraisal and Performance Management

Performance appraisal
Evaluating an employees current and/or past performance relative to his or her performance standards.

Performance management
The process employers use to make sure employees are working toward organizational goals.
Employees individual goals point towards overall strategic direction

Creating the Total Performance Management Process

What is our strategy and what are our goals? What does this mean for the goals we set for our employees, and for how we train, appraise, promote, and reward them? What will be the technological support requirements?

The Appraisal Process

1. Establish performance standards with employees. 2. Mutually set measurable goals. 3. Measure actual performance 4. Compare actual performance with standards. 5. Discuss the appraisal with employee. 6. If necessary, initiate corrective action

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT CYCLE

Strategic Objectives (Through Business Planning Process)

Departmental/ Functional Objectives

Individual Objectives

Performance Planning

Rewarding

Managing Performance

Reviewing

Training, career development

HOW DOES PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT FIT INTO THE OVERALL COMPANY MANAGEMENT PROCESS?
Company Strategic Plans

Sales Projections
Line Expansions New Products Facility Plans Human Resources

Performance Planning

Periodic Reviews - Coaching & Feedback

Performance Evaluation

Organization Planning
Succession Planning Organizational and People Development Rewards & Recognition Employee Dev /Career Plan

CASCADING
OBJECTIVE S

Vision Mission
Strategic Plans Business Plans Dept. Goals

Individual Performance Plans

Key Results Areas Objectives Performance Measurements Competencies

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT An iterative process of observation and communication to support, retain and develop exceptional employees for organizational success.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Is a means to create and maintain a climate of success in the organization. Martin Fisher, Performance Appraisals This means a Win-Win relationship with employees & Sharing the business success all the way

WHY SHOULD WE MANAGE PERFORMANCE?

Encourage and reward behaviors that are aligned with organizational mission and goals People want to feel what they do adds value and understand their contribution to the team Curb or redirect non-productive activities

WHAT IS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT?

Armstrong and Baron defined Performance Management as a Strategic and Integrated Approach to delivering sustained success to organizations by improving performance of people who work in them and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contribution. It is integrated, because it effects four types of integration: Vertical Functional Human Resource Goals

Importance of Performance Appraisal

The Importance of Performance Appraisal

What is Performance Appraisal ? Where did Performance Appraisal come from ? What is the purpose of Performance Appraisal ? The Performance Appraisal Process . How many meetings with an employee for PA ? Why spend time on PA , Could do better things ? Importance of PA and jokes / cartoons ? Edwards Deming PA on Organizational Evils ? Discrimination and Biases in PA by Managers ? The legal requirements for a PA System ? How to ensure PA is legally defensible ? Is PA really necessary ? Any other way to obtain benefits attributed with it ???

The Importance of Performance Appraisal An Introduction

PA - the most power full instrument to mobilize energy of every employee in the enterprise towards Goals achievement, if used well ?? . PA can focus on every persons attention on the companys vision, mission and values . Used poorly , becomes butt of joke/cartoons . PA difficult ,like Olympics, few persons get chance and even fewer are masters. GROTES questions come from Consulting practice experience , management seminars and response to emails sent to clients on PA . PA, an incredibly powerful but unappreciated management technique . The goal is to help create performance management systems that rewards excellence

Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisal is a formal management system that provides for the evaluation of the quality of an individuals performance in an organization. The appraisal is usually prepared by the employees immediate supervisor. The procedure typically requires the supervisor to fill out a standardized assessment form that evaluates the individual on several different dimensions and then discusses the results of the evaluation with the employee.

Performance appraisal fourphase model

Performance appraisal is seen merely as a once-a-year drill mandated by the personnel department. But in organizations that take performance appraisal seriously and use the system well, it is used as an ongoing process and not merely as an annual event. In these companies, performance appraisal follows a four-phase model.

Performance appraisal fourphase model

Performanc e Planning

Performanc e Review.

Performanc e Execution

Performanc e Assessment

Strategy-Based Performance management

Performance Appraisal Model

Performance appraisal follows a four-phase model:
Phase 1: Performance Planning.
Beginning of the year Performance-planning meeting between the employee & manager Discuss what is to be achieved Employee Responsibilities, Goals & Projects to work on. How to get the job done: the Behavior & Competencies expected out of the individual.

Phase 2: Performance Execution.

Coaching & Feedback provided by the manager for creating the probability of success for the employee. Creating conditions that motivate and resolves any performance problems that arise. Midway through the year, the manager & employee meet to check on the progress made on part of the employee against the Performance-planning Standards & expectations.

Performance Appraisal Model

Phase 3: Performance Assessment.
As the time for the formal performance appraisal nears, the manager reflects on how well the subordinate has performed over the year, through various forms & paperwork formally done. Manager may also recommend a change in the individuals compensation based on the quality of the individuals work. Finally, the assessment form is reviewed & approved by the appraisers boss &/or the department head.

Phase 4: Performance Review.

Manager & sub-ordinate meet, review the appraisal form filled in by the manager. Discuss performance over the course of 12 months. At the end of the meeting, next years Performance-planning meeting date is fixed & the performance management process starts anew.

Purpose of Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal serves over a dozen different organizational purposes: The Importance of Performance Appraisal 5 Providing feedback to employees about their performance Determining who gets promoted Facilitating layoff or downsizing decisions Encouraging performance improvement Motivating superior performance Setting and measuring goals

Purpose of Performance Appraisal

Counseling poor performers Determining compensation changes Encouraging coaching and mentoring Supporting manpower planning or succession planning Determining individual training and development needs Determining organizational training and development needs Confirming that good hiring decisions are being made Providing legal defensibility for personnel decisions Improving overall organizational performance

PURPOSE OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Employment Decisions

Diagnosis of Organizational Problems

PURPOSES OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM

Employee Feedback

Objective for Training Programs

Criteria in Test Validation

Purpose of Performance Appraisal

Providing Feedback. Through its performance appraisal process the individual learns exactly how well he/she did during the previous twelve months and can then use that information to improve his/her performance in the future. P.A makes sure that the bosss expectations are clearly communicated. Facilitating Promotion Decisions. Performance appraisal makes it easier for the organization to make good decisions about making sure that the most important positions are filled by the most capable individuals. Facilitating Layoff or Downsizing Decisions. Performance appraisal helps make sure that the most talented individuals are retained and that only the organizations marginal performers are cut loose.

Defined Further

Purpose of Performance Appraisal

Defined Further
Encouraging Performance Improvement. A good performance appraisal points out areas where individuals need to improve their performance. Motivating Superior Performance Helps individuals learn what the organization considers to be superior. Most people want to be seen as superior performers, a performance appraisal process provides them with a means to demonstrate that they actually are. Performance appraisal encourages employees to avoid being stigmatized as inferior performers (or, often worse, as merely average). Setting and Measuring Goals. performance appraisal process is commonly used to make sure that every member of the organization sets and achieves effective goals.

Purpose of Performance Appraisal

Defined Further
Determining Compensation Changes. Performance appraisal provides the mechanism to make sure that those who do better work receive more pay.
Encouraging Coaching and Mentoring. Identifies the areas where coaching is necessary and encourages managers to take an active coaching role. Supporting Manpower Planning. Companies need to determine who and where their most talented members are. They need to identify the departments that are rich with talent and the ones that are suffering a talent drought. Performance appraisal gives companies the tool they need to make sure they have the intellectual horsepower required for the future.

Purpose of Performance Appraisal

Defined Further
Counseling Poor Performers. Performance appraisal forces managers to confront those whose performance is not meeting the companys standards & expectations. Determining Individual Training and Development Needs. If the performance appraisal procedure includes a requirement that individual development plans be determined and discussed, individuals can then make good decisions about the skills and competencies they need to acquire to make a greater contribution to the company. Determining Organizational Training and Development Needs. By reviewing the data from performance appraisals, training and development professionals can make good decisions about where the organization should concentrate company-wide training efforts.

Purpose of Performance Appraisal

Defined Further
Validating Hiring Decisions Only when the performance of newly hired individuals is assessed can the company learn whether it is hiring the right people or it is filling itself up with trolls. Providing Legal Defensibility for Personnel Decisions. any personnel decisiontermination, denial of a promotion, transfer to another departmentcan be subjected to legal scrutiny. The Company can in such situation demonstrate that the decision is made on solid performance appraisals, not any discrimination. Improving Overall Organizational Performance. Through performance appraisals, when everyone is clear on the expectations and knows exactly how he is performing against them, this will result in an overall improvement in organizational success.

The performance management process in organizations have conflicting purposes

A workable Solution to reduce these conflicts is to:
1. Communicate the importance of performance appraisal to everyone in the organization. 2. Review the appraisal instrument to make sure that it can provide the data the organization and appraisers need to serve all of the different purposes. 3. Consider using different processes and holding separate meetings to deal with each of the areas that a performance management system addresses.

An Ideal Appraisal Form

The ideal performance appraisal form asks the appraiser to evaluate the individual in five areas: 1.Organizational Core Competencies.
These are the skills, attributes, traits, or behaviors that are expected of everyone in the organization, regardless of job or organizational level. Ethics and integrity and customer focus might be core competencies that everyone in the company will be expected to demonstrate.

2. Job Family Competencies.

These are the competencies that apply to major job families. Job family is a convenient way to think about groupings of individual jobs that share characteristics. Some typical job families are managerial/supervisor, sales, professional/technical, and operations. Planning and organizing and conceptual thinking might be competencies assessed of everyone whose job is in the professional/ technical job family, whereas safety may only show up on the form used for employees whose job falls into the operations job family.

An Ideal Appraisal Form

3. Key Job Responsibilities.
These are the major responsibilities or duties of the individuals position. An ideal job description would specify exactly what the key job responsibilities are.

4. Projects and Goals.

These are the individuals activities that go beyond the specific tasks and duties outlined in a job description.

5. Major Achievements.
Every performance appraisal form should require the manager to identify a small number of major accomplishments of the individual over the course of the year.

Things to Do
First, communicate the importance of performance appraisal to everyone in the organization. In particular, let everyone know that the process is used as a fundamental determinant of many decisions that affect people in a very personal way. Second, review your appraisal instrument to make sure that it can provide the data the organization and appraisers need to serve all of the different purposes (realize that this may make the appraisal form more complex and comprehensive). Finally, consider using different processes and holding separate meetings to deal with each of the areas that a performance management system addresses.

How many meetings?

You should have a minimum of two meetings. One at the beginning of the yearthe performance planning meetingwhere you will talk about the important results to be achieved over the next twelve months.
In this meeting you and your subordinate will review the job description, the organizations mission and vision and values statements, your departments goals, and the most important items on the performance appraisal form.

The second mandatory meeting will be at the end of the year, after you have written the appraisal and had it approved by your boss.
This is the performance review meeting. You and the individual will discuss the performance appraisal, talk about the individuals achievements over the past twelve months, review his development needs, and then plan for the next twelve months.

Besides these two mandatory meetings, however, good managers meet with their people to talk about performance on a routine and regular basis. They also conduct a formal midterm review halfway through the year.

Why Performance Appraisal Systems Dont Work?

No Ownership.
The manager nor the individual are not involved in the design or administration of the system. They are not trained to use it effectively. Human Resources rarely asks about their reactions to and opinions of the system (and ignores any suggestions they make to improve it).

Bad News.
Managers dont like to deliver negative messages to people with whom they must work, and whom they often like on a personal basis. Employees dont like to be told that they are not quite as good as they think they are. Negative messages generate defensive reactions and promote hostility, rather than serve as useful performance feedback.

Adverse Impact.
Both managers and employees know that bad reviews adversely impact a persons career. Managers are conscious of the permanence of the paper trail that follows formal appraisal and are often hesitant to commit negative feedback to writing.

Why Performance Appraisal Systems Dont Work?

Scarce Rewards.
The organization usually offers few formal rewards for taking the process seriously and probably no informal rewards. On the other hand, there may be many informal rewards for not delivering unpopular messages.

Personal Reflection.
Managers hesitate to give unfavorable appraisals for fear that the appearance of unsatisfactory work by a subordinate will reflect badly on the managers ability to select and develop subordinates.

EEO Terror.
Managers fear that if they give an honest but unsatisfactory appraisal to a black or handicapped employee, theyll be hauled off to court for discrimination.

Research
GE conducted a truly scientific study in the early 1960s to test the effectiveness of its annual, comprehensive appraisal approach. It found that: Criticism has a negative effect on achievement of goals. Praise has little effect one way of the other. Performance improves most when specific goals are established. Defensiveness resulting from critical appraisal produces inferior performance. Coaching should be a day-to-day, not a once-a-year activity. Mutual goal setting, not criticism, improves performance. Interviews designed primarily to improve a mans performance should not at the same time weigh his salary or promotion in the balance. Participation by the employee in the goal-setting procedure helps produce favorable results.

Isnt performance appraisal actually a very biased process?

While many people believe that managers discriminate, either deliberately or unconsciously, in their appraisal ratings, research on performance appraisal indicates that performance ratings are remarkably bias-free. In a major research project published in Psychological Bulletin, Frank Landy and James Farr reviewed all of the research that had been conducted over a thirty-year period on performance ratings. They studied every aspect of performance ratings: the effect of different rating formats and the influence of varying rater and ratee characteristics.

What part did age and sex and race and education play? Heres what they found:
Sex. In the majority of studies, there has been no consistent effect of rater sex on ratings obtained in various contexts. In other words, men are neither tougher nor more lenient than women. Nor do men rate women more gently or strictly than they do other men, or vice versa. Sex appears to be irrelevant. Race. They were able to find one study in which supervisory raters gave higher ratings to subordinates of their own race than to subordinates of a different race. But that study also indicated that the difference in ratings was only on the order of 2 percentmore important to the statistician or academician than to the line manager or human resources professional. As far as peer ratings, the research shows that race has no effect.

What part did age and sex and race and education play? Heres what they found:
Age. Two different studies explored whether age made any difference. One study found that younger supervisors were less lenient than older ones; the other found no difference at all. Education. Only one study indicated that the supervisors education level has any effect on how supervisors rated subordinates. The raters concluded that rater education was of no practical importance.

What are the legal requirements for a performance appraisal system?

 There is no legal requirement that a company must have a performance appraisal system.  No law compels an organization to review the performance of its members, just as no law requires a company to produce annual budgets or provide good customer service.  Conducting performance reviews, creating budgets, and giving good service are simply accepted management practices and very good ideas.

What are the legal requirements for a performance appraisal system?

 If a company does choose to have a performance appraisal system, it must be sure that the system complies with the laws.  In the eyes of the law a performance appraisal is an employment test. It is thus scrutinized in a manner similar to that of other aspects of the employment process: initial recruitment, selection and hiring, promotion, compensation, and termination.  As a result, the legal requirements for performance appraisal systems are similar to those for other selection tests.

How to minimize Legal Challenges faced due to Performance Appraisals?

1.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

the performance appraisal on an analysis of the job designs. Define your performance dimensions in behavioral terms and support assessments with observable, objective evidence. Keep things simple. Monitor and audit for discrimination. Train raters to assess performance accurately and to conduct effective appraisal discussions Provide for upper-management review before the appraisal is reviewed with the individual. Provide some appeal mechanism.

. Base

How to make sure that our performance appraisal system is legally defensible?
No appraisal system is immune to legal challenge. Nonetheless, the risk of legal difficulties can be minimized if seven basic good management practices are followed:  Base the performance appraisal on an analysis of the job.  Define your performance dimensions in behavioral terms and support assessments with observable, objective evidence.  Keep things simple.  Monitor and audit for discrimination.  Train raters to assess performance accurately and to conduct effective appraisal discussions.  Provide for upper-management review before the appraisal is reviewed with the individual.  Provide some appeal mechanism.

THE END and THANXSSSS