Performance Apraisal

Mission Critical : A Closer Look into the Performance Appraisal Process

The performance management cycle begins with objective setting where the appraisee ought to be oriented about performance expectations for the given performance period . Throughout the period , performance is measured officially through the performance appraisal exercise , where the appraiser is given the chance to give performance feedback through an interview . The performance management system is meaningfully linked to rewards based on outcomes or results . Following all these , modifications are implemented to objectives and activities , including the drafting of an individual development plan

for closing competency gaps (Clarke Rogers Miklos , 1996

Types of Performance Appraisal Systems

Traditionally , employee performance has been evaluated solely by supervisors . Recently , however , organizations have realized that supervisors see only certain aspects of an employee 's behavior . For instance , a manager might see only 30 of his staff 's behavior the rest is observed by customers , peers , and support staff in other parts of the organization . Furthermore , the staff might behave differently around her supervisor than around other people . Consequently , to obtain an accurate view of the staff 's performance , these other sources should provide feedback . The buzzword for using multiple sources to appraise performance is 360-degree feedback (Gruner , 1997 . Sources of relevant information include supervisors , peers , subordinates , customers , and self-appraisal . According to Conway and Huffcutt (1997 , there is often very little agreement in the way that two supervisors evaluate an employee or that a supervisor and a peer might rate an employee Interestingly , supervisors whose self-ratings agree with others ' ratings tend to be better performers than supervisors whose ratings are not consistent with others (Witt , 1996

Supervisor Appraisals

By far , the most common type of performance appraisal is the supervisor rating . In fact , Bernardin Beatty (1984 ) estimated that over 90 of all performance appraisals are conducted using supervisors ' ratings of performance . Supervisors are best able to evaluate the extent to which an employee contributes to the overall success of the organization Through supervisors may not see every minute of an employee 's behavior they do see the end result . A superior may not actually see a staff sign up customers but will review the overall output for the day

Peer Appraisals

Whereas supervisors see the results of an employee 's efforts , peers often see the actual behavior . Peer ratings usually come from employees who work directly with an employee . An employee may be rated by those in the same level or position . However , other employees in the organization , those who often come in contact with the employee , can also provide useful information

Research has shown that peer ratings are fairly reliable only when the peers who make the ratings are similar to and sell acquainted with the employees being rated (Mumford , 1983 . Most important , peer ratings have been successful in predicting the future success of promoted employees as they correlate highly with supervisor ratings (Cederbloom , 1989 . But even through peer ratings appear promising , few organizations use them One reason could be that peer ratings are lenient when...