Performance Appraisal

Performance Appraisal

BUS303

Human Resources Management

Performance Appraisals

“Performance appraisals is the process through which employee performance is assessed, feedback is provided to the employee, and corrective action plans are designed.” (Youssef-Morgan, 2015) While working in a Mortgage Brokerage Office as an operations manager, I was responsible for all the performance reviews/appraisals. A Performance Appraisal provides the employee with feedback and goals to further their careers within your organization. While the same Performance Appraisal process allows the manager to score their direct employees by rating requirements that are necessary to do their current position successfully. Performance Appraisals also include information that pertains to how the employees consistently meet, exceeds, or far exceeded the call of duty to achieve the company goals. It also allows the employee to have at least one time a year to log some formal face time with their manager and to discuss what their needs and goals are for themselves within the company.

“Organizations use performance appraisals for many purposes including Managing salaries, wages, and pay adjustments, providing performance feedback for employees and communicating points of strength and weakness, determining job placement decisions such as promotions, demotions, and transfers, and justifying employee disciplinary actions such as termination or dismissal.” (Youssef-Morgan, 2015) During my many years in management, I have found that there are various benefits to performance appraisals/annual reviews. These type of reviews allow a manger to measure the employee’s job performance and future within the company. It also gives the employee an idea of how they are being measured currently and in the future. It also tells the employee how well he or she is achieving the company’s distinct goals as well.

Performance Appraisal, when correctly performed can strengthen the company’s morale and create excitement for the employee. “By working with employees to identify the weak points in their job performance and then helping to create a plan to combat that weakness, managers are setting a tone with employees that can create a positive feeling toward the company and its goals.” (Root, 2016) I firmly believe that it is a useful idea for all managers to emphasize the positives in an employee’s performance appraisals, and then turn the negatives into solvable issues that can be improved with small changes within the great job that the employee is already doing. This gives the employee incentive to do their best to achieve a higher performance appraisal next year.

“Perceptual and attribution biases are very hard to control.” (Youssef-Morgan, 2015) There are various forms of bias that may corrupt an employee’s performance review. Perceptual and attribution biases that can impact performance appraisals are Stereotyping, Halo effect, Availability, Self-fulfilling Prophesies, and fundamental attribution error. Stereotyping can have a negative impact due to an employee belonging to a specific group where their manager views them negatively. “This can be both unfair and discriminatory.” (Youssef-Morgan, 2015) Stereotyping can be based on gender, age, even a person’s religion.

The fundamental attribution error “Is that people tend to attribute their successes to internal causes and their failures to external factors while doing the opposite when they assess others’ successes and failures. They often blame others for their failures but in turn, do not give them enough credit for their successes.” (Youssef-Morgan, 2015) It is important for a manager to consider the circumstance of the situation in which the performance occurred. This can be commonly seen when deadlines are drawing near, and someone is feeling the pressure to meet that deadline. They may lash out at the person that they feel is responsible for applying the pressure, instead of looking at their possible time management issues. “This behavior can be disruptive and have a negative impact on the work team, the organization the stress of the deadline that contributed to the behavior is the cause of the unacceptable performance.” (Maxwell, 2008) In this situation, a manager should offer feedback on the behavior, as well as discuss possible strategies to manage their stress or time better.

“Many factors within an organization can have a direct impact on the performance appraisal process; one of the most influential factors is organizational culture.” (Youssef-Morgan, 2015) I believe that the organization sets the tone. Much like children that watch their parents deal with life situations and follow the leader so to speak. So do employees of a company. If the leader of the company does not know how to deal with issues that arise in a productive and professional manner, then the employees of that organization will not. If the owner of the company berates his managers for every miss step, then they will, in turn, berate their employees for every miss step. I have been in companies that have been positive and negative environments. I have seen how bad and how good influence can be on people.

In conclusion, feedback given to an employee is a fundamental part of the appraisal/ review process to any company that intends to maintain performance guidelines and employee retention. Each performance appraisal should be an agreement between both the manager and the employee to ensure that they both understood what is being asked and expected of the employee and the company to continue their professional relationship. This also a written agreement between both the employee and employer, that states they continue to move forward in good faith that the issues or goals will be addressed and satisfied by the next review/appraisal.

References

Youssef-Morgan, C. (2015) Human Resource Management. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc

Root G., Media D. (2016) Strategic Objectives in Performance Appraisals. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/strategic-objectives-performance-appraisals-1915.html

Clarke, R., De Silva, H., & Thorley, S. (2005). Performance Attribution and the Fundamental Law. Financial Analysts Journal, 61(5), 70-83.

du Plessis, T., & van Niekerk, A. (2017). Factors influencing managers’ attitudes towards performance appraisal. South African Journal Of Human Resource Management, doi:10.4102/sajhrm.v15i0.880

Seay Jr., R. F. (2000). How to Hire & Retain Good Employees. Community Banker, 9(7), 28.