The Supervisor 's Guidebook Plus Motivating Human Service Staff

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.

Formal assessments are then followed up and reviewed allowing progress to be evaluated. When formally assessing performance, this is done through annual appraisals, monthly/quarterly goals, audits etc. The outcomes are quantitative results/data which supports conclusions and are easily read. Informal assessments are more casual and are more difficult to measure as they can be through word of mouth, observations, peer and self evaluation and are not recorded and checked. When informally assessing performance we may look more at frequent reactions to how daily tasks are handled or through informal discussions. The

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.

Seiden, S., & Sowa, J. E. (2011). Performance Management and Appraisal in Human Service Organizations: Management and Staff Perspectives. Public Personnel Management, 40(3), 251-264.

Performance appraisals, performance reviews and/or appraisal forms are a part of the performance management process. In general, performance appraisals are not favored. People in organizations would prefer not to be advised they did not do tell this year compared to the previous years. Managers would prefer not to put themselves in a scenario that could possibly turn into an argument from an employee about a performance appraisal that was not that great. If the ultimate goal of a performance appraisal is employee development and organizational improvement, we have to consider moving to effective performance management system to avoid any conflicts. The successes of performance management strategies sound favorable to many, however, there are managers and supervisors that make decisions that affect the moral and performance of the employees. Moral can become the heart of an employee’s motivation to succeed and be happy at work.

At too many organizations, the performance appraisal has degenerated into a mere formality. Employers and employees are jointly complicit, dutifully sitting across from one another but simply going through the motions, ticking off goals and targets achieved over the past 12 months, those that weren’t, and a new set of goals and targets for the next 12 months. As performance management tools, these by-the-numbers appraisals don’t hold much value for most companies, and they do little to raise employee engagement, commitment or satisfaction levels. However, rather than simply abandoning performance appraisals altogether, as some have implied, a growing number of employers are turning around this state of affairs. They’re reinventing performance reviews and reaping substantial rewards.

“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

159). The evaluation process provides employees the opportunity to give a self-appraisal. Through these appraisals, an employee could justify a salary increase. It is also the time to discuss future plans, goals, aspirations, and career growth. Together with Laura, an employee would decide on goals and objectives for the next review period (Southwell, 2015, Unit 4). In the article “A Discourse Analytical Perspective on the Professionalization of the Performance Appraisal Interview,” the authors discuss how performance appraisal interviews between managers and their employees can resemble a therapy or counseling session (Van De Mieroop & Vrolix, 2014, p. 160). “Performance appraisal, in general, and performance appraisal interviews, in particular, were once rather basic communication processes, but nowadays institutions and organizations increasingly invest resources in them and this results in a growing professionalization of this genre” (Van De Mieroop & Vrolix, 2014, p.

Performance evaluations are important parts of all employees and managers tools to ensure positive actions are rewarded while negative actions can be evaluated and fixed to decrease problems in the future. Performance evaluations benefit supervisors and employees by identifying how to bring out the employees best attributes for the company (Hamlett, nd.). Evaluations provide a look at how a worker is doing compared to earlier reviews of their skill, knowledge, initiative and participation in the company’s vision (Hamlett, nd.). Introducing performance review evaluations is important to most organization for the success of their organization and the advancement of its employees. Performance evaluations provide a way for managers and supervisors to manage the performance of an organization and the people who make of the human resources of the organization (McCarroll, nd.). When implementing a new system it is important to understand the process must be realistic, challenging, yet attainable for performance expectations and standards to be successful for employees and the organization (McCarroll, nd.). Balanced scorecards are utilized in performance evaluations to essentially provide a way for organizations to align their strategic plans with day to day operations (Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2015). Balanced scorecards look at traditional financial measures, which are past events and long-term investments like

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

As stated by Peter F. Drucker, “Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.” Performance management is essential to achieving an organization 's mission statement and business goals, and also in attracting, retaining, and motivating qualified employees. There are many benefits and reasons why an organization should execute a performance management system. Performance appraisals establish the basis for qualifying, recognizing, and rewarding employee contributions. In this paper, I will discuss what performance management is, the problems with the current performance management system at my organization, how other organizations have succeeded in their performance management system and how I would advise management at my current organization to improve our performance management system.

Performance appraisal process if made clear and transparent can help a lot to avert low morale in employees. Fair, trustworthy, and transparent processes for performances management and resource allocation help to meet people’s drive to defend.

“Performance appraisal encroaches upon ‘one of the most emotionally charged activities in business life – the assessment of a man’s contribution and ability” (Narcisse & Harcourt, 2008, p. 1152; Thompson & Dalton, 1970, p. 150). The performance management process is a tool organizations use to align the mission and strategic goals with the employee’s expectations. Furthermore, the process can groom employees to perform at their optimum potential (Schanie & Kemper, 2008). There are six primary components of the performance management process that intertwine with each other; without one the system is not whole.

Although Performance Management evolved from performance appraisals few decades ago, most literature still intensely focuses on performance appraisals when addressing performance management.

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