Performance Appraisal in the Contemporary World

A performance appraisal is one of the most important factors in any organization and can be one of the greatest tools used to record employee production. Every organization has to have goals and objectives established and the employee has to be involved in this process. By conducting performance appraisal will improve productivity and also the morale of the employees.

Development of a performance appraisal system that is effective in a human service organization is of benefit for the organization and the employees. For a performance appraisal system to be effective, the system has to be strategic, designed to fit the specific needs of the organization, non-discriminatory, non-bias, with correct implementation and administration. Many different components, must to be incorporated to make this type of system beneficial for all who use it, and all who are evaluated by the system.

Performance appraisal is an important issue in human resource management and has a significant effect in the performance of an organisation. It is the system of evaluating the performance of employees regarding the accomplishment of their responsibilities and determining their potential to grow and develop. Bias in the evaluation process can affect the accuracy and appropriateness of the performance appraisal. Bias is a serious issue because it affects the ability to make appropriate decisions about the promotion of employees. A performance appraisal system that works to the disadvantage of members of a group can also pose legal issues.

In today’s business world, performance appraisals are still widely used, yet at the same time very criticized. One of the reasons appraisals are criticized is some feel that they are a waste of time and are not value added. Samuel Culbert, author of the book,“Get Rid of Performance Reviews” states, “This corporate sham is one of the most insidious, most damaging, and yet most ubiquitous of corporate activities” (Culbert). He goes on to say that, “Everybody does it, and almost everyone who’s evaluated hates it” (Culbert). He feels that appraisals are worthless and should never be a method used for giving employees feedback. After doing more

An appraisal is one of the most commonly used methods of formal assessment and is used to evaluate and assess the performance of an employee against agreed targets and objectives, with the aim of improving employee performance. Where an employee has been able to achieve their targets, the appraisal can be used to recognise successes. This often helps to increase an employee’s confidence and motivation and can lead to better organisational performance. Many organisations will use the outcomes of an appraisal to identify potential candidates for promotions or even an increase in pay. At the same time, an appraisal meeting may include discussions on underperformance, identifying why this has occurred and how this can be avoided in the future.

“Performance appraisals can enhance employee performance as well as advance the mission and goals of an organization. There are many advantages of performance appraisals if they are applied fairly, consistently and objectively. Performance appraisals not applied fairly can be counterproductive and even destructive to

As today’s businesses continue to expand, workers are expected to perform well on their jobs. This is what truly happened to management who has a tendency to measure how well they are doing on their job. The job done in a certain period of time is frequently evaluated by performance appraisal. Performance appraisals lead to enhancing employee’s performance, internal communication (relationship), and quality improvements as well. Some experts argue that formal performance appraisal is somewhat useless and many of them contemplate performance appraisals can be detrimental to quality improvement and convey some negative perceptions to the management (David Law, 2007). Albeit many professionals pointed out disadvantages associated

Performance Management Within the Workplace The basis of the mainstream of performance appraisals within the modern workplace is one person (a manager or executive) rating one more, an intrinsically individual process. There are distinction such as 360 degree appraisals that include the judgment of others such as clientele and peers/colleagues in the process but it is the action of one person transitory judgment upon another that is subjective in nature and the root cause of many of the problems encountered in the research associated with performance appraisals. Performance appraisals are of importance to the organisation, as they often provide the only measure of an individual's contribution and

Performance appraisal is important to any organisation as this is the optimum way of achieving goals and set objectives by the business. The organisation will have constant supervision of employees and how they are performing, this creates a relationship which can have a positive influence rather than a negative one as the employees will see firsthand what they are doing wrong and will strive to improve. In the organisation these appraisals can be used to determine the weaker and stronger employees, successful organisations today have strong performance appraisals as this allows them to recruit, develop and maintain their employees and keep them at a high standard which allows the organisation to grow.

Performance appraisals are an aid to creating and maintaining a satisfactory level of performance by employees on their jobs. Chatterjee, B (2002: 216) has argued that “the mere knowledge that their performance is being assessed and that such an assessment will have an important bearing on their future within the organisation is a powerful incentive for them to sustain and if possible better their present level of performance”. Therefore performance appraisals help management in motivating and maximising the potential of its employees.

Performance appraisals, popularized during the Industrial Revolution, are conducted widely throughout the business world (Williams, 2014). This process evaluates the performance of an employee in their respective positions (Lussier & Hendon, n.d.)- it provides feedback on how well they have done and where they have fallen short, in addition to setting performance goals for the upcoming assessment period. There are many benefits to annual performance appraisals to include identifying training needs/opportunities, charting an employee’s progress in goal attainment, relationship building between managers and employees and motivating employees to excel in their duties and obligations (Webb, n.d.). Despite their widespread usage, some opponents believe that annual performance appraisals are antiquated and no longer effective in today’s fast-paced business world (Scullen, 2011). This paper sets out to review and discuss the opinions of one such opponent as well as discuss my theory on annual performance appraisals.

Performance appraisal is the procedure through which employee performance is evaluated, feedback is delivered, and development plans are designed (Youssef, 2012). Therefore, strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) is vital to successful organizational objectives. While the core objective of performance appraisals is the evaluation of employees work performance, organizations utilize performance appraisals for a variety of goals; these include managing salaries, wages, and pay incentives and adjustments. In addition performance appraisals can be performed by management to establish job placement decisions, and to validate employee punitive decisions (Youssef, 2012).

According to Zweig (1991), performance appraisal instruments are tools that are used to measure the performance of employees in the workplace. They are used to put employees up against one another or a predetermined standard, and the appraiser is required to give an evaluation. Practical and effective performance appraisal instruments are drafted when the company has already clarified its philosophy and performance management system. It is also imperative that the performance appraisal instruments are calculated accurately, and that the supervisors are empowered to produce

Despite not being looked upon unfavorably by employees, performance appraisal systems have become common place in businesses today as a way for the employees and managers to determine if an employee is accomplishing their assigned duties and tasks. It is designed as a vehicle to convey what is expected of the workers and supervisors as well as establish standards of achievement (Lawler, Benson, & McDermott, 2012).

Performance appraisal is a method which is increasingly used to evaluate employees to determine the degree to which they are performing effectively and encourage them to direct their energies towards organizational performance. Although the appraisal is being practiced, there are criticisms made against the system which generally arise from within the Orthodox and radical management frame work.