Assignment
Assignment
Assignment
Much of the information in this topic is adapted from the books Field Guide to
Leadership and Supervision and Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision for Nonprofit
Staff.
performance appraisal
The process by which a manager or consultant (1) examines and evaluates an employee's work
behavior by comparing it with preset standards, (2) documents the results of the comparison, and
(3) uses the results to provide feedback to the employee to show where improvements are needed
and why.
Performance appraisals are employed to determine who needs what training, and who will be
promoted, demoted, retained, or fired.
Planning Phase:
Set mutually agreed upon goals and guidelines for employee evaluation. Determine the key
objectives for measuring success in the position and set developmental goals to encourage
greater productivity and results.
Performance Phase:
The longest phase that allows the employee to meet goal and objectives, develop new skills and
track accomplishments or set backs in the system throughout the process. Managers are
reviewing performance and making notes as well.
Assessment Phase:
Employees are given an opportunity near the end of the performance cycle to provide feedback
on the preset goals, competencies and objectives to deliver to their manager. This is when the
manager will document feedback on the employee performance as well. The system allows
senior managers to review all submitted documentation and sign off before the actual review is
complete.
Review Phase:
Manager and employee sit down together to discuss the year in review. Reviews can be
presented online or printed and e-signature that the review took place can be captured in the
system to protect the organization if legal review should occur.
4. Offer feedback
Constructive criticism provides employees with the necessary information to improve their onthe-job performance. Good managers give feedback that motivates employees to strive for
improvement. Employees informed about performance expectations are better able to meet the challenges
of excellence. By giving employees feedback about their performance on a regular basis, managers open
up the lines of communication, enabling a good working relationship and encouraging a spirit of
collaboration. Employees and managers work together to tackle the roadblocks to success.
5. Introducing training programs
Performance reviews offer an excellent time to discuss additional training and continuing
education requirements. Professionals need to stay up-to-date on industry best practices.
The only way to ensure this happens, is to track training and offer programs internally. Not
only do training programs help keep employees current on new policies and procedures,
they also help keep employees on the cutting edge of technology. Office software, project
management solutions and even management philosophies change as businesses adapt to
changes in the marketplace. The success of an organization depend s on every memaking
training an integral part of continued success.
ROLES OF SUPERVISORS
Coach
A good supervisor places a high priority on coaching employees. Good coaching involves working with employees to
establish suitable goals, action plans and time lines. The supervisor delegates and also provides ongoing guidance
and support to the employee as they complete their action plans. Rarely can job goals be established without
considering other aspects of an employee's life, e.g., time available for training, career preferences, personal
strengths and weaknesses, etc. A supervisor is sometimes confronted with walking a fine line between being a
supervisor and the employee's confidant.
Mentor
Usually the supervisor understands the organization and the employee's profession better than the employee.
Consequently, the supervisor is in a unique position to give ongoing advice to the employee about job and career.
The employee can look to the supervisor as a model for direction and development. An effective mentor-mentee
relationship requires the supervisor to accept the responsibility of mentorship. A good supervisor can be a priceless
addition to the career of an employee.
Key Features
Job or Individual Centred Performance Contracts
Uploading of Performance Goals from previous periods
Secure Password Controlled Environment
Secure On Line Appraisal
Option of automatic E mail Notification of Completed
Appraisal to employee and next level manager
Client Specific Performance Periods
Workflow control to monitor appraisal progress
Archive Capability for Previous Period Appraisals
Options of different weighting protocols
Option to include competency ratings
15. Cross-comparisons are not required one of the goals of the process is often to
compare the performance of employees in the same job. Unfortunately, most appraisal
processes (with the exception of forced ranking) do not require managers to do a side-by-side
comparison, comparing each member of the team with one another.
16. Assessments are kept secret although a salespersons performance ranking may be
posted on a wall, performance appraisals are often kept secret. An overemphasis on privacy
concerns might allow managers to play favorites, to discriminate, and to be extremely
subjective. Keeping ratings secret allows managers to avoid open conversations about equity.
17. Process manager is not powerful often the process is managed by lower-level HR
administrators without a complete understanding of performance and productivity.
18. No process goals the overall process operates without clear and measurable goals, and
as a result there is little focus.
19. Not global most processes and forms are headquarters centric, failing to address
cultural, language, and legal differences.
20. Forced ranking issues although forced ranking has some advantages, using it may
result in significant morale and PR issues.
21. No ROI calculation HR fails to do a periodic business case justifying the value added
compared to the time and the cost of the process.
Instrument (form) problems
22. Doesnt address diversity all too often, the same appraisal form is applied to a large but
not homogeneous group of employees (i.e. all hourly, all exempts, all managers etc.). As a
result, the assessment form does not fit the job. Only management-by-objective-type
approaches address individual needs.
23. The process does not flex with the business rarely does any portion of the appraisal
process flex to address changing business objectives.
24. The factors are all equal most forms treat all assessment factors as if they are of equal
importance. Instead, they should be weighted based on their relative importance in a particular
job (i.e. a janitors customer service rating should be weighted lower than for a salesperson.
25. Inconsistent ratings on the same form it is not uncommon for managers to put one
level (high, average or low) of ratings in the Likert scale portion of the form, but another level of
rating in the overall assessment box. The final narrative portion of the assessment may
contain still another completely different level of assessment.
26. Disconnected from job descriptions in many cases, the factors on the form are
completely different from the factors on an employees job description, bonus criteria, or yearly
goals. This can confuse employees and cause them to lose focus.
Manager/execution problems
27. Managers are not trained in most organizations, managers are not trained on how to
assess and give honest feedback. If the process includes a career development component, it is
even more likely that managers will not know how to enhance the career path of their
employees.
28. Managers are chickens some managers will do almost anything to avoid tough
decisions or confrontation. Some provide no differentiation and spread peanut butter (an even
distribution) to avoid it, while others give everyone above
29. Gaming the system often managers artificially rate individual employees to save money
or to keep employees from becoming visible for promotion. Some selfishly give a score just
below that required for a pay increase, while others give scores just above the point where they
would be required to take disciplinary action.
30. Recency errors managers, especially those who dont consult employee files and data,
have a tendency to evaluate based primarily on events that occurred during the last few months
(rather than over the entire year).
31. Corporate culture issues subjective appraisals can restrict cultural change in
organizations. In some organizations, there are cultural norms and values that influence
performance appraisals. For example, in one organization new hires were automatically given
an average rating for their first year, regardless of their actual performance. One top performing
hire I knew abruptly quit after receiving this cultural gift.
32. Inconsistency across managers some managers are naturally easy raters while
others are not. As a result, employees working under easy managers have a better chance of
promotion due to their higher scores. In firms that rely heavily on the narrative portion of the
assessment, having a manager with poor writing skills may hamper an employees career.
Without benchmark numbers to set as a standard, inconsistency is guaranteed in large
organizations.
33. Managers dont know the employee managers of large and global organizations, as
well as newly hired and transferred in managers may be forced to do appraisals on employees
they barely know. Recently promoted managers may be forced to assess their former friends
and colleagues. Following a merger, managers are likely to be confused about whether to focus
on the whole year or just post-merger work.
34. Secret codes I did some work with an army unit where by custom literally everyone got a
perfect numerical score. So assessments by higher-ups were made as a result of interpreting
code words in the small written narrative portion of the assessment. Unfortunately, if your
commander didnt know the code words, your army career was limited.
35. Mirror assessments most people, and managers are no exception, have a tendency to
rate people like themselves more positively. This can result in discrimination issues.
36. Managers are not rewarded managers that go out of their way to provide honest
feedback and actually improve the performance of their workers are not rewarded or
recognized.
37. Managers dont own it managers often feel they dont own the process, so they invest
little in it and proceed to blame HR for everything. Managers would embrace it instead of
grumbling if they were presented with a positive correlation proving that managers who did
excellent performance appraisals were among the highest performers with regards to business
result and bonus awards.
Employee/subject problems
38. High anxiety because the process is so subjective and no benchmark performance
numbers are set in advance, uncertainty can cause many employees high levels of anxiety
weeks before the process. Managers may also be anxious because of the uncertainty related to
the an employees reaction. I know one employee who sincerely thought she was going to be
fired prior to her assessment but ended up being the highest rated employee on the team.
Employees should have an accurate idea of their assessment long before any meeting is
scheduled.
39. One-way communication some managers simply give the employee the form to quickly
sign and they dont even solicit feedback. Many employees are intimidated by managers and
the process, and as a result, they say nothing during or after the appraisal.
Training
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Induct thoroughly
Induction is the time when the new employee gains their sense of purpose
Do not limit yourself to formal face-to-face and e-learning modules
Toolbox meetings
Quizzes, crosswords, puzzles
Competitions
Work site role plays
Design and create measures for the training outcomes you want before designing
training
Involve your people as trainers
Train managers and supervisors to coach.
Appraisals
Set up formal appraisals no less than annually, preferably every six months
Appraise against quality, quantity, job knowledge, initiative, reliability, adaptability
Have supervisor and employee complete the appraisal and compare
Set new goals for next appraisal for everyone
Include completion of training as a goal
Career plan for those who want a career.
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Use rewards that can link directly with the performance in the memory of the recipient
For monetary rewards use a salary plus pool system for best results
Create a pool of funds
The availability of the pool is triggered by a single measure which the team can
influence
The pool is divided amongst a team using a set of measures which the individual can
readily influence
Publically recognise performance
e.g. League tables for teams, outstanding employee
Take care not to embarrass shy people.
Career development
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General
Home
Recommendations:
Make sure mgrs and subordinates understand the appraisal system:
The appraisal system should be explicitly described specific to the purpose of the appraisal.
Organizations that clearly state the purpose for the appraisal reduce the confusion and ambiguity
of the process. The goal should be that everyone knows why you are conducting appraisals.
Think of it as purpose and procedure training.
Assess the effectiveness of your current system:
What are the intended functions of the current system? Recall that in What do performance
appraisals accomplish?, managers and subordinates agreed that the system uphold some
functions while falling short in other functions. Additionally, managers and subordinates have
different needs. Identify them, and construct a questionnaire to assess the degree to which org
members perceive the process to be effective. Only then is the organization in position to
develop a strategy to address shortcomings.
Appraisal skills training for your managers is a must:
It can reasonably be concluded that the ability of the supervisor to skillfully appraise his/her
subordinate is critical to an effective appraisal. Training must focus on helping managers develop
specific appraisal skills and confidence in their ability to effectively evaluate others. Skills
should include (each of these could be a book on their own):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Goal setting
Communicating performance standards
Observing subordinate performance
Coaching and providing feedback
Completing the rating form
Conducting the appraisal review