Human resources management: performance appraisals - Essay Example

Running Head: Human resources management Human Resources Management and Section # of Human Resources Management: Performance Appraisals A 360-degree performance appraisal takes into consideration the views of all the other individuals who enter any form of interaction with the members of the college i.e. the employees or the faculty members. Therefore this form of appraisal will consist of a number of perspectives about the members of this organization. The selection of a performance appraisal system will be influenced by the type of organization that it will be used for. For a college the requirement is for a comprehensive evaluation system. However, the management may have preference for a certain appraisal system over the new one and this could be an issue. Furthermore, if the members believe that a particular type of appraisal system will affect them positively whereas the new system may incorporate many different dimensions that may bring their weaknesses to the forefront, they may resist to the selection of a new appraisal system. Therefore there are a number of issues that affect the selection process. In order to design an effective appraisal system, it is important to consider a number of issues that may have an impact on the appraisal system. The management must make sure that the new system provides some quantitative measure of the employee's performance to facilitate the process of evaluation (Robbins & Judge, 2004). First of all the human resource manager must decide on the criterion to be used for the appraisal mechanism. The ideal criteria would be the ability to deliver, to communicate effectively, quality of work, the ability to plan and set goals, to motivate, to lead and to complete the assigned tasks on time. Performance appraisals help organizations clarify expectations that it may have from the employees and build trust. Since it allows an organization to evaluate each employee's contribution to the organization, it also helps in determining each employee's strengths and weaknesses. The management can then assign tasks to employees based on their individual skills. Not only will this lead to better results but it will also lead to employee satisfaction because they will be doing what they are best at and enjoy the most (Daft, 2001). Also, it aids the organization in determining which employees are outstanding performers and hence it ties rewards, bonuses and other benefits with the employee performance and appraisal. Moreover, the appraisal mechanism allows the management to determine the level of satisfaction of employees. Through feedback after the appraisal, management can determine the problems faced by the employees and their view and attitude towards the organization and work. This way the management will be able to adjust its policies to suit most of its employees. However one issue of concern is the rater biasness in performance appraisals. Since the evaluators are humans, it is possible and generally does happen that their appraisals of certain employee may be biased either in his favor or against him. This hinders the process of an objective assessment of the employee's work. Rater bias maybe the result of good personal relations with a particular employee, a positive inclination towards that employee for some reason or the pressure of upper management or some other individual of higher authority in the company to rate that person high. All these issues lead to rater bias which greatly dilutes the importance and effectiveness of the appraisal system. Once the appraisal method has been adopted and the appraisal has been performed, a feedback session needs to be held to make the employees aware of their workings. The feedback session should include a number of topics that need to be discussed with the employee. This session provides the employee with management's perspective on his work and performance. First the session should focus on explaining the employee the purpose and methodology of the appraisal system to reiterate that the mechanism is built in a way to rate the employee without any personal biases (Daft, 2001). Secondly, the session should aim to determine whether the employee feels comfortable in the organizational environment. This session should be an opportunity for the employee to express his concerns over any issue bothering him. Furthermore, in this session the employees need to be given a summary of their appraisal as to what the evaluators believe to be true about them. The names of the evaluator should not be disclosed but the employees should be informed about the rating criterion to make the procedure more transparent and believable. The feedback session should also be aimed at eliminating any misunderstandings or misconceptions that the employee has about the organization and it should also help him identify his tasks and responsibilities. Therefore the feedback session provides the employee with a chance to convey his point of view to the organization and also understand the organization's perspective about him. The results of performance appraisal help the human resource department in its ability to determine the best fit for a particular job or department. It also helps the human resource department determine the level of contribution by each employee. This way the department can introduce rewards that can encourage or incentivize employees to work harder. Furthermore, the human resource department is able to identify the needs and requirements of each employee and whether their expectations from the organization are being met. Since employees are an asset of the company, human resource management is a critical job to ensure success of an organization. In order for an organization to have a satisfied and productive workforce, it is important that the two-way expectations i.e. expectations of the company from its employees and that of the employees from the company are being met. The process of human resource management therefore becomes an intermediary process to connect the organization with the employees and performance appraisals enhance the process of human resource management effectively (Missouri Business Center, 2009). Since the human resource department through performance appraisals is aware of the performance of each individual, it is able to communicate to the employees where they are lacking and what they need to incorporate in order to do a better job in the future. They should also provide them positive feedback if the appraisal reflects that. This way employees will be able to manage and change themselves according to new situations and the requirements of their job. Therefore performance appraisal plays an essential role in human resource management. However the new appraisal system will face resistance from the CEO mainly because it will replace the appraisal system introduced by him. This rigid attitude needs to be changed but this will only be possible by conveying the benefits of the new system to the CEO and making him aware that the old appraisal system is not coherent to incorporate all aspects of performance appraisal that are required to evaluate an individual. The CEO will be resistant initially because he may feel his authority threatened by the introduction of a new appraisal system. However, the human resource manager will need to convince him by pointing out to the CEO that the previous appraisal system was subjective and hence it was difficult to attach a quantitative measure to the particular criterion. Subjective measures may be difficult to evaluate as the rating may not be uniform. For instance good performance for some individuals may just be meeting deadlines whereas for others it may involve meeting deadlines with high quality work. Through proper communication, the CEO can be convinced to adopt the new appraisal mechanism provided that the benefits of the new system outweigh those of the previous one introduced by him. 360-degree appraisal form You are required to assign numbers to the below mentioned attributes by circling the appropriate choice. 1 on a scale of 1 to 5 is poor whereas 5 is outstanding. Communication skills Clearly articulates information to others: 1 2 3 4 5 Is able to effectively communicate ideas: 1 2 3 4 5 Speaks clearly and articulately: 1 2 3 4 5 Appears highly credible when speaking: 1 2 3 4 5 Is able to effectively handle and answer tough questions: 1 2 3 4 5 Motivational skills Has the ability to lead team members: 1 2 3 4 5 Is persuasive in his arguments: 1 2 3 4 5 Provides reasoning and logic to motivate other team members: 1 2 3 4 5 Is easily available to respond to queries: 1 2 3 4 5 Job knowledge Understands the requirements of the job: 1 2 3 4 5 Is able to allocate resources and people adequately to jobs: 1 2 3 4 5 Decision making skills: Stays committed to his decision and defends it when required: 1 2 3 4 5 Is able to take unbiased decisions based on knowledge of existing facts: 1 2 3 4 5 Gives preference to other people's opinions: 1 2 3 4 5 Is able to adapt his decisions to suit the requirements of the organization: 1 2 3 4 5 References: 360 degree performance appraisals (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Missouri Small Business Center: http://www.missouribusiness.net/ Daft, R. (2001). Organization Theory and Design, 9th ed. Chicago: South-Western. Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2004). Organizational Behavior. New York: Pearsons. Session 4: Performance appraisals (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Corporate Document Repository: http://www.fao.org/docrep/W7505E/w7505e00.HTM Read More