Performance Appraisal

Brief Overview of Performance Appraisal

Performance Appraisal can be referred to as a method of evaluating your employees. Using this method, the performance of an employee is evaluated in terms of the quality, quantity, cost and time. Performance appraisal can be regarded as a part of career development.

According to the modern approach of performance appraisal, it can be regarded as a formal interaction between a superior and a subordinate, usually taking place periodically, during which the performance of the subordinate is discussed with the aim of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the subordinate. This takes place mainly to help the subordinate enhance his skills and also to analyze the opportunities that are available to the subordinate. As a part of his job, the supervisor is supposed to monitor the progress of the employee from time to time. Performance appraisals are usually spread out over a period of three month, six month and twelve month period. It is the job of the supervisor to provide the employees with feedback and help them improve in any way if needed.

Performance appraisals are important from the supervisor’s viewpoint as it makes them paint a picture of the way things are going in the organization. This helps them analyze whether the things are working out below expectations, as expected or at a pace that can be appreciated. This analysis in turn will help the supervisor formulate a list of those employees who need to be rewarded and those who need to be penalized for the way they have been performing.

At the end of the process of performance appraisal, the evaluation should be discussed personally with the employee so that even the employee knows what he has to work on and what things ar...

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...s. The skill and sensitivity used to handle these often difficult sessions is critical. If the appraisee accepts the negative feedback and resolves to improve, all is well. But if the result is an angry or hurt employee, then the process of correction has failed. The performance of an employee in such cases is unlikely to improve and may deteriorate even further. Appraisers should not confront employees directly with criticism. Rather, they should aim to let the evidence of poor performance emerge "naturally" during the course of the appraisal interview. This is done by way of open-ended questioning techniques that encourage the employee to identify their own performance problems. Sometimes the shock of direct confrontation will result in the employee admitting that they do need to make improvements. But sometimes it will just make their denial of the problem worse.