Performance Evaluation Rating - Assignment Example

?Performance evaluation Performance evaluation aims to assess the skills displayed by an employee and accordingly judge the performance. Currently the company put more emphasis in evaluation workers on the relationships displayed with co – workers and personal characteristics. The current rating system of performance evaluation does not take into account the level of performance or skill displayed by a worker. An individual may have excellent rapport with his co – workers and good personal attributes, but he may not have the necessary skill and expertise to perform a task. This is one important aspect which the current rating scale does not consider. Another point of concern is that the ratings given by supervisors may be biased. A person may be an excellent worker but may have differences with the supervisor. This would result in him received a bad feedback despite displaying excellent end – results in work. Another point of concern is that people may be work shirkers and at the same time develop cordial relationships with colleagues and bosses. This appraisal system will not judge the person on the skills performed and he will still receive good rankings. On the other hand, a good worker who is unable to please colleagues and bosses may receive poor rankings. This will lead to frustration and people may even leave the organization in future. Performance of an employee can be evaluated by following some common criteria. In order to assess performance, a set objective must be given to each employee at the start of the year. Depending on the achievement of both short – term and long – term goals, the performance of an employee can be judged. Some of the most common criteria for juding the performance evaluation of an employee are as follows: 1. Skill and expertise in performing a task – One of the most common criteria is the skill and expertise shown in performing a task. This may involve critical issues like problem solving and decision making skills. Meeting deadlines and meeting up with the quality and service standards is also included in this. 2. Behavioural aspects – the behavioural aspects of an employee should also be taken into consideration while judging the performance of an employee. Cordial attitude and good rapport with staff. A leader should encourage the followers to perform a task in a proper way, assumes responsibility for finishing a task and is accountable for the losses made due to his or her decisions. Keeping things organized and maintaining good relationships with subordinates is also a common criterion for performance evaluation. 3. Verbal feedback of the superior is also an important criteria for performance evaluation. There should be a face – to – face interaction between the superior and subordinates in which the superior suggests areas of improvement and also rates the subordinate on his or her performance. 4. Performance evaluation criteria must not be biased and should be impartial and fair. The supervisor should try to judge the subordinate depending on the work performed and the behavioural traits shown towards a work. He or she should not give wrong ratings due to individual differences. The current organization does not take into account the performance of the engineer. Here the supervisor found that the current performance evaluation was indeed biased as it did not take into consideration the positive traits that the engineer displayed in matching deadlines and attaining a certain task to perfection. Hence the current performance evaluation systems need to be altered as it does not consider all of the above mentioned common criteria to evaluate the performance of an employee. All in all, performance evaluation should be a judicious mix of qualitative and quantitative aspects displayed by an employee in his work place. (Weiss, Brennan, Thomas, Kirlik & Miller, 2009). The feedback method which entails taking into consideration the opinions given by superiors, peers and subordinates in the performance appraisal of an employee is known a 360 degree performance appraisal. This type of appraisal has several pros and cons. The advantages of 360 degree performance appraisal are as follows: 1. The feedback obtained from this appraisal is more accurate and reliable than other traditional methods. 2. Feedback received from multiple sources is more effective in creating an impact on the individual who performance is being rated. 3. This helps to motivate employees as they want to obtain desirable feedbacks from co – workers. 4. This approach helps to obtain a comprehensive and balanced view. 5. It is not as time consuming as the traditional methods of performance appraisal. 6. Associates usually do not wish to identify poor traits of co – workers 7. Free from bias as it takes opinions of many people. The disadvantages of this kind of performance appraisal are as follows: 1. Feedback can be biased 2. Co – workers may be reluctant to point out anything that may hurt a colleague 3. Evaluator may lack proper training 4. Sometimes subordinates may identify the feedbacks received. This is despite the clause of anonymity attached to it. (Parker, 1998). Three common methods of performance evaluation are behavioural observation scales (BOS), behavioural anchored rating scales (BARS) and graphic rating scales (GRS). BOS asks raters to identify specific behaviours which have already taken place, BARS use behaviours as examples to establish scales and rating dimensions and GRS asks raters to give general feedbacks of ratee’ performance in specific areas. Ratees’ may be more satisfied with the BOS system of appraisal than the GRS system. BARS may be less subjective than GRS. As a rating scale, BOS will lead to goals that are elucidated, more observable and accepted by ratees than GRS. However commitment to attain goals is greater if the GRS rating system is applied. (Tziner, Joanis & Murphy, 2000) Performance evaluation methods are not free from biases. Three most common biases which can happen in a performance evaluation method are as follows: 1. Halo effect – A supervisor or a rater may give very high or very low ratings to the rate. This is known as halo effect and is one of the common biases of the performance appraisal method. 2. Personal biases – The rater may provide ratings to the subordinate employee depending on the personal biases. This may result in not providing accurate and fair ratings. 3. Spill over effect – the present performance is based on ratings which depend on the past performance of the ratee. A person may not be performing well presently and yet receives high ratings as he or she used to be a good worker previously. In the given situation described, performance evaluation should be a mixture of the 360 degrees performance and graphic rating scale. A combination of these two ratings will help the team to get an overall effect of the engineer’s performance. The graphic rating scale should be presented only to the plant manager who would rate the engineer on the quantitative characteristics displayed during work performance. On the other hand, the 360 degrees performance evaluation should be provided to peers, co – workers and superiors to judge the qualitative and behavioural aspects displayed by the engineer in his work place. This will help to achieve a more or less fair and accurate performance evaluation rating. References: Weiss, D.J., Brennan, K., Thomas, R., Kirlik, A. & Miller, S.M., 2009, ‘Criteria for performance evaluation’, Judgement and Decision Making, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 164 – 174. Parker, T. R., 1998, November, “Exploring 360 – degree feedback performance appraisal”. Retrieved on June 02, 2011 from http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/pdf/efop/efo29061.pdf Tziner, A., Joanis, C. & Murphy, K.R., 2000, ‘Comparison of three methods of performance appraisal with regard to goal properties, goal perception and ratee satisfaction, Group & Organization Management, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 175 – 190. Read More