Performance Appraisal

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All about Performance Appraisals

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Definition Performance Appraisal? Meaning.

A Performance Appraisal is a method and a process to identify, observe, measure, evaluate and develop individual employee performance, providing employee feedback, and (indirectly) to improve the effectiveness of the organization as a whole. An appraisal normally consists out of the assessment by a qualified person of the performance and of a discussion of the development and training needs of an employee. It is important to realize there are two sides to any appraisal:

Judgment (Historic). Actual performance is compared against performance targets and feedback (both positive and negative) is given. This may or may not include the determination of a pay increase. Generally, including pay in the Appraisal has the major disadvantages that honest and open communication becomes almost impossible, and the judgment part of the Appraisal becomes too dominant.
Development (Future-oriented). The needs of the employee are evaluated in terms of the training requirement to improve skills and knowledge in line with future performance objectives and the direction the employee wants to grow. Furthermore Employee Objectives (SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic/Relevant, Time-related) are agreed. Compare: Career Management.

Any Performance Appraisal should be:

Documented.
Delivered in a face-to-face meeting.

Performance Appraisal Form Any Appraisal should be well prepared for by both the manager and the employee. Although normally the line manager of the employee is best positioned to be the appraiser, in some organizations it can be a special Personnel Manager. The advantage can be that this specialized person has more experience, special skills and knowledge on doing employee reviews. An issue is that the Personnel Manager must be aware of how the employee is functioning in his work environment. This can be supported by Peer-Appraisals and/or by 360-Degree Feedback.

Steps in a Performance Appraisal. Process

Typically a an appraisal of performance is comprised of three main steps:

Definition of the expected duties and the job standards. By line manager, together with employee.
Conduct of the performance appraisal, comparing the actual performance of the employee with the performance standard that were previously defined.
Feedback and follow-up: line manager provides feedback to the employee and plans are made for future development.

Special Interest Group - Performance Appraisals

Special Interest Group (139 members)

Forum - Performance Appraisals

Discussions about Performance Appraisals.

	Checklist of Common Errors in Performance Appraisals I was asked to make a list of common mistakes by managers in performance appraisals. G.T. Milkovich and J.M. Newman rep (...)

	How to Achieve Fair Performance Appraisals? It's important that a fair method / system of feed back must be implemented in every organization. This means the apprai (...)

	How to Give Constructive Feedback? Models and Tips I would like to gather methods and best practices on giving constructive feedback... Perhaps you are using a particular (...)

	How to Deal with Average Performers? Managing Average Performers They did deliver, if only a mediocre, standard performance. So they can not be dismissed on (...)

	Obsession with Quantifying Human Performance In his book (2018), Jerry Muller describes the damage our obsession with metrics is causing. Today, a lot of organizati (...)

	Don't Forget Appraisal Follow-up I came to realise that some appraisals take long to bear any effect. Some data is compiled about the employees but no ef (...)

	How to Deal with Poor Performers and Non Performers? How does one manage poor performing employees and how do you deal with someone that comes to work that is not productive (...)

	Outcomes of Performance Appraisals The performance appraisal process in practice seeks to develop the human capital of the organisation. However, an indire (...)

	How to Prepare for a Performance Appraisal as Appraiser It is wise to put yourself in the position of the recipient of the appraisal you are about to give to someone else. How (...)

	Avoiding Biases in Performance Appraisals My experience indicates that while an employee is being appraised, there are certain which effect the performance appra (...)

	Appraisal for Future Job? I am currently studying Project Planning and management . Can a performance appraisal be done to appraise an employee on (...)

	Consider the Job Situation in Appraisals It is not only the performance that is to be studied but the situation where the job is being carried out needs to be st (...)

	Appraise the Past, Develop for the Future As described in the summary, performance management has a dual role: 1. Feedback on past performance, and achievement o (...)

	Decentralized Performance Appraisals In my opinion, performance appraisal should be done at the small units (branches), especially in large corporations. In (...)

	Performance Appraisal Quotes My quote for the day not related to this topic but willing to add here "use less people instead of useless people" in th (...)

	Disparaging Appraisal Terms I recently heard the following terms referring to some office workers: they are "do nothings" and "non-performing invest (...)

	Theory of Performance Appraisal? Are there any theories regarding performance appraisals? (...)

	How to Deal with Very Good Performers? How to manage very good and top performing employees? What is the best way to reward employees that are ever hitting ta (...)

	Double Purpose of Employee Appraisals Basically there seem to be two reasons / goals of appraisal systems. 1. To give a feedback to appraisee so that he/she (...)

	Bonuses.. what is Fair to All Within Large Corporations What is fair to all in a large corporation when bonus time rolls around, quarterly, and yearly. Should all employees be (...)

	Mismatch in Performance Appraisals: Actions from Last Year are Rewarded/Punished This Year It has always been my concern that the traditional way of determining the compensation of an employee is on the basis (a (...)

	How Role Clarity and Employee Performance Management can help with Strategic Focus Leadership teams often face the challenge that the majority of jobs in the business defaults mainly in the first level o (...)

	Subjectivity in Performance Appraisals There is a general feeling that performance appraisals are subjective and that when managers rate their team members, a (...)

	New Performance Appraisal System for Teachers in the Philippines? What is the new performance appraisal for teachers being used here in the Philippines? (...)

	Value System Appraisal Performance evaluation is a function of any value system. Thus, efficient performance appraisal should deliver valuable (...)

	Deloitte’s New Performance Management System Deloitte redesigned their employee performance management system. In Deloitte’s new system there are no cascading object (...)

	How to Receive Personal Feedback? Tips Even if we know intellectually that feedback from other people has many advantages (like helping us to avoid making cert (...)

	Annual Confidential Report (ACR) Systems In performance appraisals, employees are evaluated over a certain time and given feedback for future development. I thin (...)

	Comparing Appraisals with Examinations Appraisals are to employees what examinations are to students. Examinations have undergone several changes and so have (...)

	How to Conduct Appraisals in Project Organizations? What is the best type of appraisal for organizations where work is organized around tasks or projects that take a short (...)

	Tips on Performance Management of Employees I'd like to share some important tips on employee performance management: Define and Communicate Company Goa (...)

	The Best Methods of Performance Appraisal System in Government Sector I am currently working on finding out the best methods to conduct performance appraisals in the government sector where (...)

	Appraising the What and the How In my organisation a semestral (semi-annual) appraisal of performance is held to all employees. We evaluate WHAT they di (...)

	Feedback Should be Like a Mirror: Neutral As we can see in various documents on feedback, it is often seen in terms of 'good' or 'bad'. However, feedback is neu (...)

	The Meanings of Performance Evaluations The employee evaluations that I have had for the past 15+ years are for the most part reiterations of previous evaluatio (...)

	Methods for Evaluation of Employees Let's collect methods and tools, old and new for the evaluation of personnel used by the management of human resources. (...)

	Performance Appraisal and Salary Determination The performance appraisal process should be based upon an assessment of the employee's value to the company. This value (...)

	From Business Objectives > Department Deliverables > Employee Objectives > Performance Appraisal Each year, an organization determines business objectives and these objectives are cascaded into set of action items. Ea (...)

	Performance Appraisals are not Fair I don't believe in performance appraisals. Because it is not fair system for employees due to it's such a very complicat (...)

	Difficulty of Conducting Performance Apprasals in an R&D Organisation The work of an R&D organisation cannot be defined precisely at the beginning of a year. This poses challenges for mid ye (...)

Best Practices - Performance Appraisals

Here you find the most valuable discussions from the past.

	No Routine Annual Performance Appraisals Performance appraisals in my opinion should not be allowed to become a routine annual exercise, but should be used to im (...)

	Concerns not Previously Discussed During Performance Reviews I am always worried that there has not been enough upfront review. When my supervisors complete a performance review I a (...)

	Open Communication? Try Coffee Talks I my view, the main problem with annual performance evaluations is the lack of open honest communication. I have found t (...)

	How to Get Employees to Improve? Issues with Feedback As a manager, you are trying to improve the performance of your team members. And so you should. It's quite common to th (...)

	Wrong Use of Employee Appraisals My personal view regarding appraisals is that it has become a penalty tool to fight personnel vendettas and not for the (...)

	Three Types of Performance Appraisals In employee performance management, performance appraisals are an important method to detect the strengths and weaknesse (...)

	Broken Confidentiality of Performance Appraisals Hi, my problem is related to behaviour of my boss, who is a causing trouble, especially between employees, because he is (...)

	Conditions for Successful Performance Appraisals Performance appraisals are a vital action in HR systems. But it will not be a successful program, unless we teach employ (...)

	How to React When You are Undervalued? How can you succeed when your tumultuous efforts are not recognized by your superiors and your performance is rated on p (...)

	Tips for Ensuring Performance Appraisals Hold Up in Court One inherent risk in the use of performance evaluations is that they may become the basis for or evidence in workplace d (...)

Expert Tips - Performance Appraisals

Here you will find advices by experts.

	3 Suggested Changes to Improve the Performance Review Process Improving Performance Appraisal Process, Improving Performance Reviews, Best Practices (...)

	The Focus of Improving Appraisal Systems Improving Performance Appraisal Process, Improving Performance Reviews, Improving Appraisal Systems, Best Practices (...)

	Fairness of Managers and Leaders: are Fair Leaders More Effective? Management, Leadership, HR, Performance Appraisals (...)

	Solutions for Top 50 Problems Faced in Performance Appraisals Improvement of Performance Appraisals (...)

Resources - Performance Appraisals

Here you find powerpoint presentations, micro-learning videos and further information sources.

	How to Give Successful Feedback to Employees Giving Feedback, Conducting a Performance Review, Performance Appraisal (...)

	Effective Employee Performance Appraisals: Purposes, Characteristics, Sources and Methods Performance Appraisal (...)

	Employee Performance Management and Performance Appraisals (In depth) Performance Appraisals, Performance Management, Employee Performance (...)

	10 Common Mistakes in Giving People Feedback Performance Feedback, Performance Appraisal, Giving Feedback, Feedback to Employees (...)

	The Role of Supervisor \| Skills of Supervisors Skills of a Supervisor, Supervisor Role, Supervisor Behavior (...)

	You Cause Poor Employee Performance Employee Appraisal, Performance Appraisal, Performance Review, Employee Performance (...)

	The High Performance Development Model Employee Performance Management, Employee Development, Career Management (...)

	Multitasking and Ways to Avoid It Multitasking Behavior, Peeformance Management (...)

	Bullying: Workplace Performance and Preventive Strategies Organizational Management, Strategy (...)

	DCOM Model Organization Dashboard Evaluate Organization Capability in DCOM (...)

	DCOM Roadmap at 3 Levels Applying the DCOM Approach (...)

	Guide Toward Coaching your Employees Coaching Employees, Performance Reviews, Giving Effective Feedback (...)

	How to Get a Raise. 5 Negotiation Secrets Salary Negotiations, Negotiating a Raise (...)

	Introduction to Performance Appraisal of Employees Initial Understanding of Performance Appraisal, Start of Workshop (...)

	Work-Family Conflicts and Work-Life Policies Performance Management, Work-Life Balance, HR, Programs (...)

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