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WilliamManning
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Someone once said, “If you always do what you‘ve
always done, you‘ll always get what you‘ve always
got.” And, remember what the German philosopher
Goethe said: “Treat people as if they were what they
ought to be and you help them become what they are
capable of being.”
Setting goals and objectives to aim for will give
supervisors and employees a unified focus and targets
to aim for. Supervisors must also learn how to give
feedback, both positive and negative, on a regular
and timely basis so that employees can grow and
develop. Performance appraisals involve all these
activities.
A Breif History of Performance Appraisals
Performance appraisal is not new; it goes back
centuries. A Chinese philosopher of the 3rd century
criticized a rater he felt was biased, claiming he
“seldom rates men according to their merits but
according to his likes and dislikes.”
Robert Owens in his cotton mills in Scotland, in the
early 1800‘s, had wooden cubes of different colors
indicating different degrees of merit hung over each
worker’s workstation. If performance changed, so did
the color of the cubes above his head.
Like many other management concepts, the concept
of performance appraisals (commonly referred to as
PAs) was used during WWI andWWII to determine
who would get promoted. By the 1950s, PAs were
in larger organizations, primarily for the lower
level employees. (Managers were exempt.) In the
beginning of the twenty-first century, however, PAs
are nearly universal at least in theory.
However, many are done poorly, and many
organizations are still in “to-it”mode: they are going to
do appraisals when they get around to it.
Some Things Haven’t Changed
PAs are still not popular; nobody looks forward to
them. Perhaps this is because neither supervisors nor
employees are totally satisfied with PA systems in their
own organizations.
What Are the Major Concerns?
During one large study in the United States,
researchers discovered that employees have five
major concerns about appraisals:
• They are not happy if their performance is
reviewed or appraised by someone who is not their
direct supervisor.
• They want to be reviewed by somebody who
knows their work and what the work consists of.
• They are not happy if there is no opportunity for
them to tell their side of the story. They want two-
way communication with their review.
• Employees are not happy if they get generalities
in their discussions. They
want specific feedback
on their performance and
specific suggestions for
improvement.
• Employees are unhappy if
they make a commitment
to change and there is
no follow-up on that
commitment.
How Can We Address
These Concerns?
As managers and supervisors,
this can give us some food for thought. What does this
research tell us we should be doing?
• Make sure supervisors are able to do performance
evaluations for their employees.
• Learn how to conduct two-way feedback and
interview sessions.
• Get better at observing behavior and learn to those
observations translate into specific comments.
• Remember to follow-up on performance
commitments.
What Makes PAs a Defensible Process?
Some General Guidelines
First, performance appraisals should be based on
specific job dimensions whose relevance has been
established during job analysis. Make certain that
your appraisals are based on what the job actually
requires employees to do, not on a comparison with
other employees, and not on what you would like
them to be able to do.
That is the value of job analysis and detailed job
descriptions.
As well, raters should have received training or
instruction. It may be useful for employees to know
what qualifications the raters have. Performance
dimensions should be defined in terms of behaviors.
Be especially cautious of making subjective
judgments. Ask yourself, “Could I back these
statements up if they were challenged?”
Feedback should be given to employees and there
should be an appeal process in place in case the
employee feels the rating is inaccurate. Stick to
facts that can be and are documented. When in
doubt, keep a record of an occurrence that might be
disputed.
Raters should have
adequate opportunity to
observe the performance
they are asked to evaluate.
Extreme ratings should have
documentation attached.
If possible, there should be
multiple ratings.
Never say anything, even
in the spirit of leveling with
an employee, which could
possibly be interpreted as
meaning that your appraisal
was based on a favorable or unfavorable reaction to
the individual‘s race, color, religion, age, sex, national
origin, or sexual orientation. You must do everything
possible to avoid the appearance of prejudice or
discrimination.
Appraisals should be given on a regular basis, at least
annually.
These guidelines are also developed to prevent
biased appraisals. These are also safeguards to protect
employees from arbitrary or subjective evaluations.
Conducting Effective Performance Reviews
Performance reviews are an essential
component of employee development.