Chapter Four:

Performance
Appraisal/Management

1
 Performance Appraisal; Definition
• Performance appraisal system has been defined
in many ways. The easiest way to understand
the meaning of performance appraisal is as
follows:
• It is the systematic assessment of an individual
with respect to his or her performance on the
job and his or her potential for development in
that job.
• Thus, performance appraisal is a systematic and
objective way of evaluating the relative worth or
ability of an employee in performing his job. 2
 Definition…..
• According to Flippo, a prominent personality in
the field of Human resources, “performance
appraisal is the systematic, periodic and an
impartial rating of an employee’s excellence in the
matters pertaining to his present job and his
potential for a better job.”
• Thus performance appraisal is a formal
programme in an organization which is concerned
with not only the contributions of the members
who form part of the organization, but also aims
at spotting the potential of the people.”
3
 Performance Appraisal Vs. Performance
Management
• The terms 'performance management' and 'performance
appraisal' are sometimes used synonymously, but they are
different.
• Performance management- is a comprehensive,
continuous and flexible approach to the management of
organizations, teams and individuals which involves the
maximum amount of dialogue between those concerned.
• Performance appraisal- is a more limited approach which
involves managers making top-down assessments and
rating the performance of their subordinates at an annual
performance appraisal meeting.
4
 Comparison Chart
Performance appraisal Performance management
Top-down assessment Joint process through dialogue
Annual appraisal meeting Continuous review with one or
more formal reviews
Use of ratings Ratings less common
Monolithic system Flexible process
Focus on quantified objectives Focus on values and behaviors as
well as objectives
Often linked to pay Less likely to be directly linked to
pay
Bureaucratic - complex Documentation kept to a minimum
paperwork
Owned by the HR department Owned by line managers
5
 Purpose of Performance Appraisal
• Personal Attention: Gives employee to draw personal concern
from supervisor and talk about their own strengths and
weaknesses.
• Feedback: Employees on a regular basis get feedback of their
performances.
• Career Path: It allows employees and supervisors to converse
goals that must be met to grow within the company.
• Employee Accountability: Employees are acquainted that their
evaluation will take place on a regular basis and therefore they
are accountable for their job performance.
• Communicate Divisional and Company Goals: It not only
communicates employees’ individual goals but provides an
opportunity for managers to explain organizational goals and in
the manner in which employees can contribute in the
achievement of those goals. 6
 Performance Appraisal Steps

1. Establish Performance Standards:

• What the manager expect from their employee
in terms of outputs, accomplishments and
skills that they will evaluate with the passage
of time.
• The standards which are set are evolved out of job
analysis and job descriptions.
• Standards set should be clear and not the vague one.
• The expectation of the manager from his employee
should be clear so that it could be communicated to
the subordinates that they will be appraised against
the standards set for them. 7
 ……..Steps

2. Communicating the Standards Set for an Employee:

• Once the standards for performance are set it should
be communicated to the concerned employee, about
what it expected from them in terms of performance.
• Communication is said to be two ways street, mere
passing of information to subordinate does not mean
that the work is done.
• It should be received and understood by subordinate.
• If necessary, the standards may be tailored or revised
in the light of feedback obtained from the employees.

8
 ……..Steps
3. Measuring of the Actual Performances:
• The four important sources frequently used by
managers are personal observation, statistical
reports, oral reports, and written reports.
• However, combination of all these resources
gives more reliable information.
• The selection of the incorrect criteria can result
in serious consequences.
• What we measure gives an idea about what
people in an organization will attempt to
achieve. 9
 ……..Steps
4. Comparing Actual Performance with Standards:
• In this step of performance appraisal the actual
performance is compared with the expected or
desired standard set.
• A comparison between actual or desired
standard may disclose the deviation between
standard performance and actual performance
and will allow the evaluator to carry on with the
discussion of the appraisal with the concerned
employees.

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 ……..Steps
5. Discussion with the Concerned Employee:
• In this step performance of the employee is
communicated and discussed.
• It gives an idea to the employee regarding their
strengths and weaknesses.
• The impact of this discussion may be positive or
negative.
• The impression that subordinates receive from
their assessment has a very strong impact on
their self esteem and, is very important, for their
future performances. 11
 ……..Steps
6. Initiate Corrective Action:
• It follows a course of progressive discipline that
will use increasingly serious actions if there is no
sufficient improvement or if there is repeated
failure to correct unacceptable conduct or work
performance.
• The purpose of corrective action is to correct
and resolve employee poor performance.
• Prior to taking any corrective action, managers
and supervisors are required to consult with
Employee and Labor Relations. 12
 Problems Associated With PA
1. Biasness in rating employee: Biasness of rater may
include:
A. Halo Effect: It is the propensity of the raters to rate on
the basis of one trait or behavioral consideration in
rating all other traits or behavioral considerations. One
way of minimizing the halo effect is appraising all the
employees by one trait before going to rate on the basis
of another trait.
B. The Central Tendency Error: The rater tries to rate each
and every person on the middle point of the rating scale
and tries not to rate the people on both ends of the scale
that is rating too high or too low. They want to be on the
safer side as they are answerable to the management.
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 Problems …. Cont’d
C. The Leniency and Strictness Biases: It exists when
some raters have a tendency to be generous in their
rating by assigning higher rates constantly.
D. Personal prejudice: If the raters do not like any
employee or any group, in such circumstances he may
rate him on the lower side of the scale, the very
purpose of rating is distorted which might affect the
career of employees also.
E. The Recent Effect: The raters usually retain
information about the recent actions of the employee
at the time of rating and rate on the basis of recent
action taken place which may be favorable or
unfavorable at that point of time. 14
 Problems……

2. The superiors may be unsuccessful in conducting

performance appraisal of employees.
3. The performance appraisal is mostly based on subjective
assessment.
4. The techniques have a low reliability and validity in terms
of result.
5. Ratings an employee on the negative side may disturb
interpersonal relations and industrial relations system.
6. Appraisers’ opinion on the performance of the employee
may lead to setback on production.
7. An organization may give emphasis to punishment if an
employee has not done a good job rather than providing
training.
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 How to Overcome Performance Appraisal Problems?
1. Beginning
• Schedule a time with your new employee to
reach a mutual understanding of the job's duties
and responsibilities.
2. Accountability
• Delay in the evaluation process causes frustration
among employees that leads to dissatisfaction
with company management.
• Hold managers accountable for preparing their
employees' performance appraisals in a timely
manner. 16
 How to overcome…..
3. Adequate Feedback
• Employers that provide regular feedback
generally get high approval marks from their
employees.
• Workers feel good about managers who are
genuinely appreciative of employee efforts,
even if it's just an informal "thanks for your hard
work.
• Providing feedback on just an annual basis tends
to focus mainly on the most recent
accomplishments. 17
 How to overcome…..
4. The Right System
• Utilizing a performance appraisal system that's
right for your company size, work environment,
business and industry is important.
• A small work force may benefit from a less
formal, more interactive appraisal system where
managers encourage employees to play an
integral role in assessing their own performance.
• On the other hand, larger organizations may
benefit from a more structured one that rates
employees and designates wage increases in a
more systematic way. 18
 How to overcome…..
5. Explain Your Purpose
• The purpose of evaluating job performance is to
uncover strengths, identify weaknesses and
work on striking a balance between the two.
• Train your supervisors and managers should
train on how to conduct performance appraisals
that instill pride in individual accomplishments
and contributions to the company.

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 Performance Appraisals Methods

A. Traditional Methods
1. Ranking Method: It is the oldest and simplest method
of performance appraisal in which employees’ are ranked
on certain criteria such as trait or characteristic.
• The employee is ranked from highest to lowest or
from worst to best in an organization.
• Rating scales offer the advantages of flexibility
comparatively easy use and low cost.
• Thus, the greatest limitation of this method is that
differences in ranks do not indicate how much an
employee of rank 1 is better than the employee whose
rank is last. 20
 Traditional Methods ….

2. Paired Comparison: In this method, the evaluator ranks

employees by comparing one employee with all other
employees in the group.
• This method provides comparison of persons in a better way.
• However, this increases the work as the large number of
comparisons has to be made.
• Example: If the following five teachers have to be evaluated
by the academic Vice president of a University : Carter (C),
Mik (M), Rahel (R), Ford (F), and Bethelehem (B). The
comparison is between:
• C with M,
• C with R M with R
• C with F M with F R with F
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• C with B M with B R with B F with B
 Traditional Methods ….

3. Grading Method:
• In this method, certain categories are defined well in
advance and employees are put in particular category
depending on their traits and characteristics.
• Such categories may be defined as outstanding, good,
average, poor, very poor, or may be in terms of alphabet
like A, B, C, D, etc. where
• A may indicate the best and D indicating the worst.
• This type of grading method is applied during Semester
pattern of examinations.
• One of the major limitations of this method is that the
rater may rate many employees on the better side of their
performance. 22
 Traditional Methods ….
4. Forced Distribution Method:
• The fundamental assumption in this method is that
employees’ performance level conforms to a normal
statistical distribution.
• Example, 10 per cent employees may be rated as
excellent, 40 per cent as above average, 20 per cent
as average, 10 per cent below average, and 20 per
cent as poor.
• This method was evolved to abolish the trend of
rating most of the employees at a higher end of the
scale.
• It eliminates or minimizes the favoritism of rating23
 Traditional Methods ….

5. Forced-choice Method:
• It contains a sequence of question in a statement form
with which the rater checks how effectively the statement
describes each individual being evaluated in the
organization.
• The most common method of forced choice contains two
statements both of which may be positive or negative.
• It may be both the statement describes the characteristics
of an employee, but the rater is forced to tick only one.
• Example, a rater may be given the following two
statements:
(i) The employee is very sincere.
(ii) Employee gives clear and fast instructions to 24his
 Traditional Methods ….
6. Check-list Method:
• It consist of series of questions which is related to the
appraise.
• Such questions are prepared in a manner that reflects
the behavior of the concerned appraise. Every
question has two alternatives, yes or no, as given
below:
Example:
– Is he/she respected by his/her subordinates? Yes/No
– Does her behavior remain same for everyone in the
organization? Yes/No
• The concerned rater/evaluator has to tick appropriate
answers relevant to the appraises. 25
 Traditional Methods ….
7. Critical Incidents Method:
• In this method, only the case of sudden trouble
and behavior associated with these incidents or
trouble are taken for evaluation.
• Its strong side is it focuses on behaviors and, thus,
judge’s performance rather than personalities.
• Its drawbacks are that too frequently they need to
write down the critical incidents which is very
time consuming and burdensome for evaluators,
i.e., managers.
• Generally, negative incidents are more noticeable
than positives. 26
 Traditional Methods ….

8. Graphic Scale Method:

• In graphic rating scale the printed appraisal
form is used to appraise each employee.
• Such forms contain a number of objectives, and
trait qualities and characters to be.
• Five-point scales is used. Some organizations
use numbers in order to avoid the propensity of
the rater to tick mark central points.
• It may be numbered. Thus numbers like 5, 4, 3,
2 and 1 may denote points for various degrees
of excellent-poor, high-low, or good-bad, and so
on. 27
 Traditional Methods ….
9. Essay Method:
• The rater writes a detailed description on an
employee’s characteristics and behavior,
Knowledge about organizational policies,
procedures and rules, Knowledge about the job,
Training and development needs of the employee,
strengths, weakness, past performance, potential
and suggestions for improvement.
• It is said to be the encouraging and simple
method to use.
• It does not need difficult formats and specific
training to complete it. 28
 Traditional Methods ….

10. Field Review Method:

• In this method of appraisal direct superior is not
going to appraise an employee but appraised by
another person, usually, from personnel department.
• The rater, in such a case, appraises the employee on
the basis of his past records of productivity and other
information such as absenteeism, late coming, etc.
• It is more suitable in a situation where an
organization wants to provide promotion to an
employee.
• It also gives information for comparing employees
from different locations and units. 29
 B. Modern Methods
1. Management by Objectives (MBO):
• It is a process where the employees and the superiors
come together to identify some goals which are common to
them, the employees set their own goals to be achieved,
the benchmark is taken as the criteria for measuring their
performances.
• The basic nature of MBO is participative, setting their goals,
selecting a course of actions to achieve goals and then
taking decision.
• The most important aspect of MBO is measuring the actual
performances of the employee with the standards set by
them.
• It is also said to be a process that integrates organizational
30
objectives into individual objectives.
 Modern Methods….

2. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales: This method is a

combination of traditional rating scales and critical incidents
methods.
• It consists of preset critical areas of job performance or sets
of behavioral statements which describes the important job
performance qualities as good or bad.
• Those behaviors are translated into appropriate
performance dimensions. Those that are selected into the
dimension are retained.
• The final groups of behavior incidents are then scaled
numerically to a level of performance that is perceived to
represent.
• A rater must indicate which behavior on each scale best
describes an employee’s performance. 31
 Modern Methods….
3. Assessment Centers:
• Employee is assessed by many experts.
• The techniques which may be used are role playing, case
studies, simulation exercises, transactional analysis etc.
• Employees from different departments are brought
together for an assignment which they are supposed to
perform in a group, as if they are working for a higher
post or promoted.
• Each employee is ranked by the observer on the basis of
merit .
• The basic purpose behind assessment is to recognize
whether a particular employee can be promoted, or is
there any need for training or development. 32
 Modern Methods….

4. 360 Degree Performance Appraisals:

• This method is also known as ‘multi-rater feedback.
• An employee can be appraised by his peers, managers
(i.e. superior), subordinates, team members,
customers, suppliers/ vendors - anyone who comes
into direct or indirect contact with the employee.
• The four major component of 360 degree performance
appraisal are
i. Employees Self Appraisal
ii. Appraisal by Superior
iii. Appraisal by Subordinate
iv. Peer Appraisal.
33
 Modern Methods….

5. Cost Accounting Method:

• Performance of an employee is evaluated on the
basis of monetary returns the employee gives to
his or her organization.
• A relationship is recognized between the cost
included in keeping the employee in an
organization and the benefit the organization
gets from him or her.
• The evaluation is based on the established
relationship between the cost and the benefit.
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 Benefits of Performance Appraisal
1) For the Organizations:
• It leads to better performance.
• Overall improvement in the duties performed by each
employee of the organization.
• Due to performance appraisal of employee new ideas for
improvement in their work is generated.
• Long-term plans can be generated.
• The need for training and development can be identified .
• A traditions of nonstop improvement and success in the
organization can be formed and maintained.
• Career development plans can be chalked out for capable
employee to enhance their performance in future.
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 Benefits…..
2) For the appraiser:
• It gives an opportunity to develop a general idea of
individual jobs and departments.
• For every new or difficult situation new idea is generated
for improvement or for overcoming that problem.
• It gives an opportunity to integrate team and individual
objectives and targets with departmental and
organizational objectives.
• It gives an opportunity to explain the amount of work
expected by manager from teams and individuals.
• It gives an opportunity to focus more on targets.
• It enables to form more productive relationship with
staff. 36
 Benefits….
3) For the Appraisee:
• Increased motivation.
• Increased job satisfaction.
• Increased sense of personal value.
• Increase in morale.
• It gives an opportunity to know their strength and
weaknesses.
• It gives an idea about areas of their improvement.
• There will be a chance to subordinate to express his
views even after performance appraisal
• An employee should express his emotional needs and his
value system which is considered to be important today.
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 Emerging Trends in Performance Management

1. Integrated Assessment-
• Integrated computerized human resources systems
allow department managers to ensure each employee
has met every training requirement through a variety of
assessment methods.
• Multiple assessment methods allow managers to gain a
more complete understanding of an employee's
performance.
• Assessment methods can include oral or written
examinations, observation of employees during job
performance and the results from employee training
programs. 38
 Emerging Trends….

2. Aligning SMART Objectives with Company

Goals-
• Anyone working in performance related HR will
be familiar with the concept of SMART objectives.
• Quite often though, objective setting comes from
the top down: a lengthy, trickle-down process
which requires superiors to set goals first.
• A more effective way of planning goals advocated
by leading management thinkers such as the to
share organizational goals with employees and
have them set their own goals relative to these.
39
 Emerging Trends….
3. Regular Check-In Meetings-
• Top companies are all moving away from annual
review meetings — some are even scrapping them
altogether — in favor of regular check-ins between
managers and employees.
• These one-to-one meetings allow managers to
regularly keep track of progress and personal
development plans to be constantly updated in line
with this.
• For HR, a change to continuous performance
monitoring involves preparing both employees and
managers for the change, which means time spent
communicating and predicting how it will affect them.
40
 Emerging Trends….

4. In-the-Moment Feedback-
• Along with regular meetings, new performance
management trends are also advocating that
managers and colleagues give feedback in a more
timely way.
• This process has been shown to be more effective
than once a year feedback sessions.
• Example; General Electric have got on board with
this approach and now use a feedback app where
managers and colleagues can record feedback
online at any time. 41
 Emerging Trends….

5. De-Coupling Reward
• Performance management experts recommend
running pay reviews and performance reviews
separately.
• Having pay directly tied to performance has been
shown to have a negative impact on both staff
motivation and performance.
• As well as performance, pay reviews should be
taking into account other factors including market
rate, increases in responsibility, and skills and
knowledge. 42
 Emerging Trends….

6. New performance management software tools

are rapidly adopted-
• Before performance management software, HR
teams spent weeks analyzing data in order to
determine what actions needed to be taken.
• Now, HR are able to use performance
management software to collate data on the
training and development needs of the whole
organization by running a report that takes just
seconds to complete
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 Emerging Trends….
7. Increasing Impact of Social Media-
• We‘re already seeing social media taking on a
role in the recruiting sector and it looks like it will
also impact performance management.
• In the future, social media interfaces will be part
of the software design to make it as user-friendly
as possible.
• Software will be designed to function in real-time
to allow for constant feedback and regular
updates between managers and co-workers.
44
 Emerging Trends….

8. Focus on achievements and learning-

• The tone and tenor of performance feedback sessions
will also likely shift.
• With frequent review conversations, managers will get
to share not just feedback on things that need to be
different / change, but will also feel encouraged to
focus on the here, now and forward‘.
• Annual performance review discussions will be
managed with a strong emphasis on performance
development, and conducted within a supportive
framework that encourages reflections on
achievements and learnings as against rating and
rankings. 45
 Emerging Trends….
9. Succession Planning
• Once organizations have Performance
Management systems in place, they can leverage
the data collected to implement Succession
Planning systems.
• These systems allow HR to identify Successors for
critical and non critical roles, High potential staff
who are then put through accelerated learning
and development programs

46
 Emerging Trends….

10. Employee autonomy will become a huge perk

• Independence and autonomy will become critical
to employees and a perk that performance
management systems cannot ignore.
• In order to get the most out of our workforce,
managers should coach and support, rather than
micromanage.
• Make employees responsible for arranging their
regular one-to-ones with their manager, reducing
the burden on managers to keep track of who
they need to check-in with. 47
 Emerging Trends….

11. Increased Integration of HR Functions-

• Now a days in many organizations there is a clear
movement to integrate HR functions into more
holistic, strategic approaches to human capital
management.
• Some integration opportunities include:
– Aligning employee goals (ECM) with corporate goals
(CPM)
– Targeting learning and development toward
performance gaps
– Identifying skills and competencies of top performers
for retention and succession planning 48
 Emerging Trends….
12. Focusing on the future
• Appraisals were very backward focused.
– What happened?
– What went well?
– What did you do wrong?
– What is your grade?
• But now, Increasingly there is a focus on the objective
setting, development plan, and the future.
– How will we improve?
– How do we achieve more in the coming year?
• This is a particularly positive change that leads to
improved conversations. Carefully implemented
system shows a positive trend. 49
Thank You!
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