The Extent to Which Performance Appraisal Meets the Requirements of the Organization - Essay Example

?Critically analyze the extent to which performance appraisal meets the requirements of the organization for improved performance from employees. Performance appraisal is a very significant tool within the organizations of today. This is because the performance appraisal methodology takes care of finding out the strengths and weaknesses which remain within the fore of employees, and how well they have been able to deliver value and quality for the sake of different processes within the business enterprise. This is one of the most important yardsticks that decide the relevant course of action as far as the business undertakings are concerned as fruitful employees would mean sound results at the end of the day (Chen, 2011). The performance appraisal system basically pinpoints the basis of success that comes about within an organization and which shall always be dealt with a stern approach so as to maximize its potential and effects over a period of time. This paper discusses the pertinent understanding of the performance appraisals and how these have meant pure value for the organizations when they are trying to encourage their employees as well as to keep a check in terms of uplifting their morale. The performance appraisal system has gained worldwide recognition because it is accepted everywhere. It is the basis of determining which areas are the most strongest and where a general sense of lacking was observed throughout the year. The employees are monitored annually which means that their entire year’s working regimes are scrutinized properly and then only a solution is found out which shall solve their quandaries if they had any during the last year (Booth, 2006). If they met their targets and achieved outstanding results, then there is reason enough to believe that the performance appraisal worked in essence, and it gained what it really had to achieve in the long term scheme of things. The performance appraisal is such an important barometer for finding out the areas where more success could be achieved and where negativities could be subsided. This is the reason why the performance appraisal system has been given the legal cover that it richly deserves, and its clauses have been backed up by research, evidence and logic. The past records have been adequately understood before a decision is made to find out where the employees went wrong and what have been the areas that they have not been able to tap (Donovan, 2011). Moving further ahead, these performance appraisals highlight how good the employees have been as well. Even the minutest of their successes and achievements are highlighted and projected to the employers who now have to make a decision as to whether the employees deserve a raise, a promotion or any other financial lift-up. This is because the performance appraisals are usually very daring and look to find the positives and negatives in a cut throat fashion. There are not any negatives that will not be covered during the length of the performance appraisals and this has been duly mentioned within the coining up of the performance appraisals. The people who are drafting these performance appraisals have to take into consideration a number of areas so that the employees do not feel left out of the whole equation and believe in getting what they truly deserve (Shaw, 2011). It is their collective effort which counts for the work to become better and more organized within the contexts of the organization. The employees therefore receive what they want to achieve if they have given their best and made the organization aware of their endeavors, efforts and undertakings. This shall solve quite a lot of problems that other performance related systems might just skip. Maximizing individual performance is the need of the hour as far as the organizations are concerned. This is because individual performance can only be enhanced and improved upon if whole-hearted and concerted efforts are put into place (Beer, 2011). This has been proven true with the advent of time and much success will eventually be achieved when one is scrutinized for his performance at the end of the year. Performance management is all about extracting the best possible results from the organization so that its teams and individuals give in their utmost and derive the much needed value (Taylor, 2008). This is dependent a great deal on the aspects which are directly related with the employees who are always willing to give in their best no matter how difficult or tough the circumstances within the workplace are. Getting better results is something that shall always be seen as a point of strength as far as the workplace standards are concerned (Roy, 2011). This is also true for the individuals who are given the performance appraisals at the end of each year where each and every aspect of their work ethos is checked upon with a sense of sheer optimism for the times to come. When one discusses the aspects of performance appraisals, it is all the more significant to comprehend that these performance appraisals can either make an employee or break him in the literal sense of the word (Nurse, 2006). This is because he can either feel equipped with the different aspects that surround his professional life or be at complete odds with whatever has been happening at his ends within the workplace settings (Fiorentino, 2010). The performance appraisals are seen in a very skeptical sense by the employees because they are not sure what they would be receiving from the employers at the end of every year. The annual bonuses, increments and promotions depend upon these performance appraisals and this is the reason why they are seen with a sense of confusion at their ends. What is even more distressing is the fact that these performance appraisals have always been and always will be judged on the basis of what work ethos are of the employees and what they have not been able to achieve over a period of time (Orpen, 1995). Since these are conducted on an annual basis, the performance appraisals are all the more confusing for the employees because they have to wait for one complete year before they could know what sort of incentives they would be getting at the hands of the organizational domains. However, in certain cases there have been instances when the performance appraisals have been conducted twice a year as well. This is true in the case of many events that take place within an organization, most important of which is the one that is related with the completion of work tasks, adherence to standards and promulgation of the same with regards to the industrial codes and procedures. The performance appraisals clarify quite a few things to the employees. It asks of them to justify their basis and means in front of the organization because it is for them that the organization has been in existence apart from the end consumers (Rankin, 1988). What is even more enticing is the fact that these performance appraisals have time and again meant encouragement for the employees because they require proper hard work and commitment before they are drafted in the first place. The performance appraisals are therefore very tactfully prepared because these look to settle the negatives that surround the perception of these performance appraisals (Jehn, 2011). What is even more interesting is the fact that these performance appraisals are always based on the premise of bringing in a change which is for the taking on the part of the employees (Massingham, 2011). This change is meant to be a positive one for the entire organizational clan as has been deciphered by the human resources management department and the top management realms within an organizational boundary. The organization tells the employees exactly what is required of them and what they need to do in order to make both ends meet (Town, 2000). This is a clear indication that the organization under discussion needs a very clear perspective within its folds and for that it is ready to commit to just about anything. The performance appraisals ensure that the performance remains top class and does not come down ever. This also means that the performance is expanded upon so that the future of the organization becomes more stable than it is at the present. The performance appraisals therefore are very elaborate and exclusive because these highlight some of the most significant elements that an employee would have to give in, and what he shall expect from the organization at the end of each year, or has been specified in terms of the period that it is due. The performance appraisals must always be encouraged across the board because they bring sheer value towards the realms of the organization and they highlight the negativities which the employees have committed into for so long. These performances have jointly been agreed with regards to an objective or goal. The performance appraisals have been seen as increasing the performance of employees over a period of time. This is because these performance appraisals have more or less targeted the required areas where there have been gross irregularities as well as the ones where success has been achieved by the employees in due course of time (Buckley, 1998). There have been instances when the employees have felt that they have been hard done by, by the employers since their due has not been given to them. Also then again there have been moments when the employees have felt over the moon with what they have been rewarded for the year gone by. This is all dependent on the actions and behaviors that the employees commit into within a workplace setting. As performance management is a continuous evolutionary process, there is all the more reason that the performance appraisals will bring the very same within the related domains of an organization. This has been proven true with solid research that has come to the fore and which has been a source of inspiration and upheaval here. The research and evidence has come about because employees want a fresh breather from their normal routines and this can only be done when they are looked after well within the realms of an organization. The financial angle always pays well because it takes care of many things in essence. What is a given here is the fact that the performance appraisals create a two-way communication hierarchy within the entire performance management system. It has also meant that these performance appraisals have more or less discussed, analyzed and taken into account the aftereffects of the employees upon their work settings, their professional commitments and last but not the least their own morale which is imperative to state the least (Kuvaas, 2011). The performance appraisals bring about feedback from the employers as far as the work is done which is related with the employees themselves. The performance appraisals are also very strengthening in the sense that those employees which have done well in the recent times look up to the benchmarks which already exist within the organizational hierarchies. In the end, it would be fair to state here that the performance appraisal is not just a tool; it is an entire psychology in its own right. This has been proven true with the advent of time and this will shape up in a better way in the times to come as more changes and amendments will eventually be made (Briggs, 2011). The performance appraisal is a yardstick between how a thing should be done and what are the ways under which goals could be achieved within the domains of an organization. This is important because it solves quite a few issues that mar the basis of a business enterprise, more so when it comes to the dealing of employees with one another and with their top management heads (Pilbeam, 2006). All said and done, performance appraisals is the way to go as far as the organizational undertakings with their employees is concerned. This would mean achieving more success than is being grabbed at the present. However, the relationship between the employer and the employee must be reinforced upon with a sense of doing things right, always. Bibliography Beer, Michael., 2011. Developing an Effective Organization: Intervention Method, Empirical Evidence, and Theory. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 19 Booth, Andrew., 2006. Counting what counts: performance measurement and evidence-based practice. Performance Measurement and Metrics, 7(2) Briggs, Hilary., 2011. How to use a data-focused approach to embed good HR practices. Strategic HR Review, 10(2) Buckley, M. Ronald., 1998. The evolution of the performance appraisal process. Journal of Management History, 4(3) Chen, Tingting., 2011. Individual performance appraisal and appraisee reactions to workgroups: The mediating role of goal interdependence and the moderating role of procedural justice. Personnel Review, 40(1) Donovan, Jerome., 2011. Investigating the links between management control approaches and performance measurement systems. Advances in Management Accounting, 19 Fiorentino, Raffaele., 2010. Performance measurement in strategic changes. Studies in Managerial and Financial Accounting, 20 Jehn, Karen., 2011. Negotiating within Groups: A Psychophysiological Approach. Research on Managing Groups and Teams, 14 Kuvaas, Bard., 2011. The interactive role of performance appraisal reactions and regular feedback. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 26(2) Massingham, Rada., 2011. Using 360 degree peer review to validate self-reporting in human capital measurement. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 12(1) Nurse, L., 2006. Performance appraisal, employee development and organizational justice: exploring the linkages. Development and Learning in Organizations, 20(2) Orpen, Christopher., 1995. Employee job performance and relations with superior as moderators of the effect of appraisal goal setting on employee work attitudes. International Journal of Career Management, 7(2) Pilbeam, S., 2006. People Resourcing: HRM in Practice (3rd Edition), Harlow, FT Prentice Hall Rankin, Gregory., 1988. Effective Performance Appraisal. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 88(1 & 2) Roy, Michel., 2011. Globalization of performance appraisals: theory and applications. Management Decision, 49(4) Shaw, Rajib., 2011. From Action Planning to Community-Based Adaptation. Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, 6 Taylor, S., 2008. People Resourcing (3rd Edition), London, CIPD Town, J. Stephen., 2000. Performance or Measurement. Performance Measurement and Metrics, 1(1) Read More