Good performance appraisal - Essay Example

Good Performance Appraisal of Institute Good Performance Appraisal No, I do not agree. Management experts have debated the issue of assessing employee performance for several decades (Nankervis & Compton, 2006, p. 83). Employers tend to prefer a mix of objective and subjective measures today as part of the performance appraisal process due to the strengths and weaknesses associated with each method. It is not correct to argue that a good performance appraisal is completely objective and removes all opportunity for human error, subjectivity and the influence of politics.

Typically, an objective measurement defies interpretation: either a worker got late three times or she was not or he met his hourly widgets or he did not. Consequently, some employers use pure objective measures for workers with entry-level or repetitive jobs. Performance, therefore, is a function of executing (or not executing) some specific task (Boxall & Purcell, 2003, p. 14). However, some jobs such as those of attorneys and data analysts cannot be measured easily. Therefore, employers will identify measurement categories – for example, teamwork, customer service or professionalism.

Survivors offer a numeric score, which represents the employer’s perceived element of categorization, but the question whether a rating is correct is a matter of interpretation.Objective measures are effective in situations where each worker can be assessed directly and his or her performance compared with that of another worker. However, objective measures are ineffective where supervisors distill sophisticated processes into simple scores, which may not be meaningful in reality (Pauwe & Boselie, 2005, p. 80). Subjective measures are effective at allowing supervisors to exercise judgment over a worker’s performance in sophisticated systems.

However, if the worker/ employer relationship is strained, workers may view negative ratings as either unfair or punitive (Stiles et al., 1997, p. 59). Some employers use a hybrid system of evaluation – some measures are subjective, and some are objective (Pauwe & Boselie, 2005, p. 74).Because there is no purely right way of performance appraisal, managers should develop systems of assessment that match the standards of the industries in which they operate and typical employee works (Pauwe & Boselie, 2005, p. 77). For instance, a company engaging in the sale of cell phones might measure the sum of dollars sold by the sales representative and give them a score based on whether they achieved certain goals.

On the other hand, a marketing agency might obtain feedback from the clients of the account manager to determine the appropriate performance score. ReferencesBoxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2003. Strategy and Human Resource Management. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Nankervis, A. R., and Compton, R. L., 2006. Performance management: theory in practice? Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 44(1), 83-101. Pauwe, J., and Boselie, P., 2005. HRM and performance: what next? Human Resource Management Journal, 15(4), 68-83.

 Stiles, P., Gratton, L., et al, 1997. Performance management and the psychological contract. Human Resource Management Journal, 7(1), 57-66.