An Assessment of the Workers Performance - Essay Example

? Performance Appraisal Performance Appraisal is can be said to be the evaluation of the performance of how the workers in a public organization over a certain period and this is done in a bid to ensure that not only the organization but also the workers themselves benefit from the process. It is a process through which the performance of these workers is assessed in order to make sure that they work in conformity with the goals of the said organization and that they adhere to the guidelines that have been set up for them. This procedure is often conducted as a basic part of the performance management process of the organization because it is through this process that an assessment of the workers’ performance can be made and recommendations towards the improvement of their performance are proposed to ensure that they work in accordance to the principles of the said organization (Salleh, Amin, Muda & Halim, 2013). It can further be said that a performance appraisal is an assessment and discussion of how a worker has performed in his or her work and this assessment is completely based on the performance of the individual workers. It is not based on the characteristics that are displayed by the individuals in the workplace and the latter are some of the most commendable aspects of performance appraisals. This process helps in the measurement of the skills that have been displayed and the things which a worker has accomplished with as much accuracy and uniformity as possible and this is done with the aim of ensuring that the improvement of the performance of the organization concerned. When this process is conducted within an organization, it more often than not leads to the understanding of the workers by the management of the said organization. The understanding that is developed by the management concerning the workers enables it to determine their abilities and this ensures that they are promoted to positions within the organization that will ensure the furtherance of its growth and achievement of its goals. Furthermore, it is designed to help the organization’s management to determine the areas whose performance needs to be enhanced because it would be detrimental to the organization if these areas were to be ignored. In addition, this process is designed to ensure that the workers, through an assessment of their abilities, are provided with the opportunities that are necessary for the promotion of their professional growth. It can be said to be a methodical process which gives the direct supervisors of the workers being assessed the opportunity to determine the skills of the said workers so that they can measure the payments that are made to the workers in comparison to the aims and objectives of the organization (Kline & Sulsky, 2009). It is a process which also provides the management of the organization the opportunity to make an analysis of the factors that determine how the workers perform over a certain period. One would say that it is a process that helps the organization’s management to be in a position where it is able to provide guidance to its workers towards a path which will lead to the better performance of their work. In many organizations, the process that is performance appraisal that is conducted among their workers is an activity which has to be conducted on an annual basis and has to be conducted regularly and in a standardized manner to ensure that there is a thorough assessment of the functioning of the organizations involved. While this can be said to be the ideal scenario, in many cases, the role that is given to the immediate supervisors of the workers under them as not only as the assessor, but also a judge, tends not to go down well with them and it is a fact that the entire procedure tends to be heartily disliked by many supervisors. This is because of the fact that many of the supervisors involved tend to hold the fate of their employees in their hands during this process, a situation which many individuals do not often lightly, since they often consider themselves faced by the same situation. Another problem that is related to this process is that quite a large number of supervisors who conduct the performance appraisal tend not to have any memory of the entire period that workers have been under their supervision (Flaniken & Cintron, 2011). This creates a situation where their assessment ends up being influenced more by the recent actions of the workers than that of the entire period that is covered during the appraisal. Since most of the information gathered by the supervisor is based on recent memory, it is often difficult to create a true picture of a worker’s performance. Because of such instances, there comes into consideration the fact that the appraisal process is flawed because it lacks the objectivity needed to judge the employees fairly. As a result of the above-mentioned reasons, it has become common practice in many organizations for the supervisors to put off conducting performance appraisals for the workers because of their feelings of hesitation and discomfort over being judges of the performance of the workers under their authority. While this tends to occur because of the supervisors’ need to protect their workers, it creates a paradox since it brings about a situation where many performance appraisals are often long overdue and where the workers become resentful of their supervisors because of the delay. This is often because of the fact that while the supervisors hesitate in conducting of the assessment, the workers also feel the tension because they do not know what their fate is. It is a fact that many workers often feel that their supervisors are denying them the right of receiving a well deserved pay increment since the annual pay rises of the employees tend to be based on the assessment of their performance, often done by their supervisors (Boachie-Mensah & Seidu, 2012). The entire process of making an appraisal tends to be subject to many complications some of which include inaccuracy of the information concerning employees. This is because of the fact that many of the decisions made by the supervisors as judges is often from recent memory and it fails to put into account the performance of individual workers throughout the period which is under assessment. In addition, many supervisors tend to make their assessment decisions based on the need to avoid any conflict with their subordinates. This creates a situation where supervisors end up assessing the workers favorably and not according to their real performance, and this becomes a disadvantage since there is a flaw in the day to day running of the organization. Since the latter situations have been found to affect the process of performance appraisals in the Boro, it is recommended that a the Management-by-Objective system be implemented as this system ensures that information on appraisals is not only gotten from the supervisors but also from the workers themselves, as well as their subordinates. Because of the increase in the number of sources used in the collection of information concerning the performance of workers, so will the accuracy of the information that is received (Ali, Mahdi & Malihe, 2012). It is necessary to realise that the workers within an organization tend to be the best source of information when conducting an appraisal. In addition, I believe that many workers prefer to be rated not only by their supervisors, but also by their subordinates, their fellow employees, or through self-assessments so that a fair and concise means of assessment can be achieved. It has been established that workers tend to be extremely concerned about fairness in the appraisal process and therefore, to ensure that there is fairness in the Boro; it will be necessary to ensure that they become active participants in the process. While being interviewed, the workers will have to be provided with an opportunity to give comments on what they think concerning their evaluation since this can be used as a means of determining what the aims or aspirations of these workers are and will enable the management of the Boro to determine whether they are suitable for promotion. In conclusion, the performance appraisal process among workers within an organisation is very important in the interaction between people within it. Without this process, all other elements of the organisation would not be able to function, and in fact, they would end up grinding to a halt. Performance appraisal has therefore become very important for organisations to function effectively and it has even become more important today because of globalization which has forced people to start working across cultures as opposed to when people only used to work within their own cultures or societies. Because of this, there has developed a large amount of literature concerning it, making it imperative for managers to study it in order to be more effective in their management of their workers. If this were done, then it is more likely than not that there will be improvement in the working conditions of the organisations which apply these appraisal policies and it is these which will determine their overall performance. References Ali, S. B., Mahdi, A., & Malihe, J. (2012). The effect of employees' performance appraisal procedure on their intrinsic motivation. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(12), 161-168. Boachie-Mensah, F., & Seidu, P. A. (2012). Employees' perception of performance appraisal system: A case study. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(2), 73-88. Flaniken, F., & Cintron, R. (2011). The status of performance appraisal at Christian colleges and universities: Preliminary results. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 4(1), 27-38. Kline, T. J. B., & Sulsky, L. M. (2009). Measurement and assessment issues in performance appraisal. Canadian Psychology, 50(3), 161-171. Salleh, M., Amin, A., Muda, S., & Halim, M. A. S. A. (2013). Fairness of performance appraisal and organizational commitment. Asian Social Science, 9(2), 121-128. Read More