chandan2ykpankaj
11

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL :



Performance appraisal is the process of obtaining, analyzing and recording information about the relative worth of an employee. The focus of the performance appraisal is measuring and improving the actual performance of the employee and also the future potential of the employee. Its aim is to measure what an employee does.

According to Flippo, a prominent personality in the field of Human resources, “performance appraisal is the systematic, periodic and an impartial rating of an employee’s excellence in the matters pertaining to his present job and his potential for a better job." Performance appraisal is a systematic way of reviewing and assessing the performance of an employee during a given period of time and planning for his future.



It is a powerful tool to calibrate, refine and reward the performance of the employee. It helps to analyze his achievements and evaluate his contribution towards the achievements of the overall organizational goals.

By focusing the attention on performance, performance appraisal goes to the heart of personnel management and reflects the management’s interest in the progress of the employees.

OBJECTIVES OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL:



ü To review the performance of the employees over a given period of time.

ü To judge the gap between the actual and the desired performance.

ü To help the management in exercising organizational control.

ü Helps to strengthen the relationship and communication between superior – subordinates and management – employees.

ü To diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals so as to identify the training and development needs of the future.

ü To provide feedback to the employees regarding their past performance.

ü Provide information to assist in the other personal decisions in the organization.

ü Provide clarity of the expectations and responsibilities of the functions to be performed by the employees.

ü To judge the effectiveness of the other human resource functions of the organization such as recruitment, selection, training and development.

ü To reduce the grievances of the employees.



SELF APPRAISAL:



Self appraisal is an important part of the Performance appraisal process where the employee himself gives the feedback or his views and points regarding his performance. Usually this is done with the help of a self appraisal form where the employee rates himself on various parameters, tells about his training needs, if any, talks about his accomplishments, strengths, weaknesses, problems faced etc.

TIPS FOR SELF – APPRAISAL:

ü Be honest

Always be truthful and honest while telling your accomplishments or failures. Don’t exaggerate your strengths and don’t hide your weaknesses. Don’t make personal judgments for anybody.

ü Do the preparation

It’s always better to prepare yourself before the meeting. Get all the lists in place, prepare all the evidences and references.

ü Be objective

Objectivity is important in self – appraisal. Don’t exaggerate or downplay your achievements or failures. Be specific and concise in your statements and if possible support them with examples or references or evidences with dates. For example: "I responded to all queries within 48 hours" is better than just saying "My customer service was good."

ü Positive attitude

Have a positive attitude towards the whole appraisal process. Be co-operative. Don’t hesitate from taking the responsibility of your failures as well as the achievements. Demonstrate enthusiasm to improve in future and take all his suggestions calmly. Don’t complain or demonstrate a negative attitude.

ü Cover all the aspects

Apart from your strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments and failures, express the opportunities you would like have for your development and improvement. Suggest ways to overcome the problems faced. Assess your capabilities, behaviours and skills and competence.

ü Seek future responsibilities

According to the assessment of the KSA’s according to your job description, plan the short term and long term for the next year. Try to look for tasks beyond your current job responsibilities. This will help in personal development as well as contributing to the organizational productivity.

Self appraisal should ideally include the accomplishments, the goals achieved, the failures, and the personal growth (i.e. new skills acquired, preparation for the future etc.), the obstacles faced during the period, the efforts for removing them, the suggestions, and the areas of training and development felt by the employee.



PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL FEEDBACK:



Performance Appraisal process is incomplete without the feedback given to the employee about his appraisal and his performance. But the way of giving as well as receiving the feedback differs from person to person and their way of handling and their outlook towards the issue. According to a popular saying:

“A SUCCESSFUL MAN IS ONE WHO CAN LAY A FIRM FOUNDATION WITH THE BRICKS OTHERS HAVE THROWN AT HIM.”



Therefore, On the part of the person receiving the feedback, the following points are important to be taken care of:

ü The employee should have a positive attitude towards the feedback process

ü He should listen to the suggestions of the appraiser calmly and try to incorporate them in his plans.

ü He should not hesitate to ask for the help of his superiors.

ü Should have a co-operative attitude during the feedback meeting.

ü Don’t judge the appraiser as a person.

ü Should take the feedback objectively.

ü Should not judge the appraiser as a person on the basis of the feedback.

ü On the part of the appraiser or the manager / person giving the feedback, the following points are to be taken care of:

ü The appraiser should make the receiver feel comfortable during the feedback meeting.

ü The appraiser should make it a two – way conversation i.e. let the employee speak.

ü Listen to the employee and note his points, suggestions, problems etc.

ü The appraiser should not adopt a confrontational approach towards the meeting. The goal is not to criticize the employee.

ü Provide a constructive feedback to the employee i.e. in a way which will motivate him to perform better.

ü Have a positive attitude towards the process

ü Try to understand the reasons of his failure.

ü Be fair and objective

ü Prepare yourself for what to say and how to say.

ü Make the appraisal feedback meeting useful and productive for the organization and the employee.



PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL CONVERSATION:



Active conversation plays an important part in the performance review meeting. The appraiser should ensure that the meeting has a two way conversation and that the employee should get a fair chance to speak. The “manner” of giving the feedback of the performance of the employee is very important. The conversation should have an optimistic and motivating tone.

Some important points that should be taken care of in the appraisal conversation are:



ü Make it a two-way conversation. An effective Performance appraisal review requires an interactive discussion with an open agenda. Try to formulate questions that seek the employee’s ideas and input. This will help the employee feel you value his or her opinions. Give the employee a fair chance to put forward his ideas; let him speak.

ü Be a good listener. Remember to be an active listener and to pick up on your employee’s verbal and nonverbal cues. Listen to his ideas and problems.

ü Address what’s important to the employee. Since job satisfaction is the most important factor affecting an employee’s attitude (and therefore his or her level of performance and value to your company), an effective review should delve into areas that include issues most important to that employee.

ü Lead with the positive. It’s important to reaffirm the employee’s strengths at the beginning of the review. Since job security is the number one concern of most people, the performance review is a good time to tell an employee how much you value their contributions to your business.

ü Don’t be confrontational. It’s important not to criticize the employee in general terms. The goal is to evaluate job performance and not the person. A performance review that turns into a gripe session misses the opportunity to raise employee morale.

ü Positive reinforcement – emphasizing what has been done well so that it will be done even better in the future and making only constructive criticisms (i.e. those that point the way to improvement).

ü Exchange of views - Ensuring that the discussion involves a full, free and frank exchange of views about what has been achieved, what needs to be done to achieve more and what the appraiser think about their work the way they are managed and their aspirations.

ü Agreement - jointly coming to an understanding about what has to be done by both parties to improve performance, knowledge and skills and overcome any work problems raised during the discussion.



PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL FORM FORMALITIES:



Performance appraisal form provides the basis for the performance review, providing the feedback to the employees and the final rating of the employee. It also facilitates various other HR decisions and career development plans and decisions of the employees. Therefore, performance appraisal from should be filled with utmost care and objectivity.



The Performance appraisal form should be filled by the immediate supervisor or manager of the employee in order to ensure that the appraiser if fully acquainted with the performance, responsibilities, targets and standards of the employee. All the instructions and guidelines on the appraisal form should be read and followed carefully.





ü Be prepared with all the details of the performance, the standards, job description and the past appraisals of the employee.

ü Clear and unambiguous description of the employee performance should be given in terms of average, above average, good and excellent performance.

ü The focus should be on the employees’ behaviour throughout the year and not just his recent performance.

ü Quantify the ratings, wherever possible, to ensure easy comparability.

ü Substantiate and support your rating, and attach all the necessary documents (if required).

ü Apart from the defined performance objectives and results, discuss the related issues as well covering all the aspects of the performance.

ü When filling the appraisal form, be honest and objective.



ANALYSIS FOR IMPROVING PERFORMANCE:



Any performance review process is incomplete without the feedback to the employees. The feedback could be given in the review discussion. Review discussions are semi formal, scheduled, periodic interactions – usually bimonthly or quarterly – between a manager and his employee. The basic purpose of the review discussion is to analyze the performance of the employee in the past to improve the performance of the employee in future.

A review discussion is an opportunity to coach, mentor, learn and understand. The manager encourages his/her employees to critically reflect over progress made on the Performance appraisal plan and to develop creative, yet feasible alternatives for problem areas.



The manager uses this opportunity to:

ü Review the performance of the each employee individually.

ü Discuss the problems faced by the employees during the course of action.

ü The solutions tried, and the degree of success achieved in solving the problems faced.

ü Revisit with the employee, his/ her annual plan for the remaining time period and develop revised action plans, if necessary.



Review discussions reassure the employees that each one of them has structured opportunities for one to one interaction with the manager once every two or three months during the year. These opportunities are important as they provide an important chance for performance monitoring or development mentoring. The aim of the performance review discussions is to share perceptions, solve the problem faced during the course of the action, decide on the new goals jointly and provide a feedback to the employee for the past performance i.e. to look at his strengths and weaknesses and also help to chart out a career plan for the employee.

The focus of these performance review discussions should not bet o judge the employees’ past performance; rather it should be to motivate the employee to improve his future performance and reinforce his good behaviour.



PREPARATION FOR PERFORMANCE REVIEW:



The performance review meeting should not be strictly formal nor should it be completely informal in nature. Ideally, the review meeting should be structured, semi – formal meeting which needs prior preparation by the appraiser as well as the employee for it to be effective.

Following are some points that need to be prepared before the review meeting of Performance appraisal:

ü Inform the concerned employees the date, time and place for the review meeting well in advance.



ü Review and be prepared with each and every employee’s

ü Job description

ü Performance standards

ü Planned performance goals

ü Performance measures collected throughout the time period

ü The critical incidents details

ü Past appraisals of the employees.



ü Be ready with all the important dates

ü Give the employee a copy of the appraisal form

ü The appraiser needs to completely understand the standards for the employees at same level to maintain the consistency in the process.

ü Prepare what to say and how to say it calmly.

ü The feedback should be prepared in quantifiable measures where ever possible.

ü The appraiser should be familiar with the performance review form and the details

ü The employee and the appraiser both should be prepared to discuss and figure out the future goals and training needs

ü They should be mentally prepared for constructive feedback

ü Collect as many evidences to support your point as possible like the monthly, quarterly progress reports.





Regards



Pankaj Chandan

From India, New delhi
ashfaquetech
1

Dear Pankaj,

Very congenial content . It would be better if you also discuss how to evaluate employee performance in nuts & bolts.

Thanks ,

Ashfaque


From India, Gurgaon
Ed Llarena, Jr.
89

Please find my comments on your post:

<Performance appraisal is the process of obtaining, analyzing and recording information about the relative worth of an employee.>
Comment: This is an erroneous definition of performance appraisal. This definition belongs to Job Evaluation.


< The focus of the performance appraisal is measuring and improving the actual performance of the employee and also the future potential of the employee. Its aim is to measure what an employee does.>

Comment: Partly agree on the first part of your statement that PA focuses on the measurement of actual employee performance. I also agree that the improvement of employee should be part of PA. But I disagree with the notion that the "future potential" of the employee is included in PA. There's a wide gap between the word "performance" and the word "potential". The latter can never be understood and measured as a "performance" because it is not an "output" arising from the efforts of the employee within the prescribed timeline. Potential is a factor that is critical only during hiring and promotion decisions, but never in PA.

<According to Flippo, a prominent personality in the field of Human resources, “performance appraisal is the systematic, periodic and an impartial rating of an employee’s excellence in the matters pertaining to his present job and his potential for a better job." Performance appraisal is a systematic way of reviewing and assessing the performance of an employee during a given period of time and planning for his future.>

Comment: Again, potential is never a factor in PA.

<It is a powerful tool to calibrate, refine and reward the performance of the employee. It helps to analyze his achievements and evaluate his contribution towards the achievements of the overall organizational goals.>

Comment: YES, but excluding potential because the latter is never an output.

<By focusing the attention on performance, performance appraisal goes to the heart of personnel management and reflects the management’s interest in the progress of the employees.>

Comment: Performance Appraisal (PA) is only the second stage of a complete PMS. It has been accused of subjectivity, bias, favoritism, etc. Hence, as a stand alone and one-stage procedure, it is inferior to the PMS.

Best wishes.

Ed Llarena, Jr.
Managing Partner
Emilla Consulting

(helps improve corporate governance worlwide, esp in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific Region)

From Philippines, Parañaque
moulaliShaik
Thak U very much of your experienced topic and it is very much useful to the new achievers of the HRD, moulali shaik
From India, New Delhi
Roopashreegs
Worth reading it!! Thank you Mr.Pankaj & Mr.Ed Llarena. actually am working on PA process which we need to implement in our organisation.This helps me a lot. Rgds, Roopashree
From India, Bangalore
dianas1010
Dear Pankaj, Hai, I read your article. It was very nice and informative. Do send some articles related to e-performance management which will be helpful for my project. Its little urgent. Regds Diana
From India, Madras
gopan
32

Informative posting by Llrena. Such experienced views are always good for understanding the process of HR mechanisms. Thanks Efforts have been taken by the originator Mr.Chandan Gopan
From India, Kochi
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