Developing a Perfomance Appraisal System - Essay Example

Federal and state laws have added to the complexity and difficulty of appraisal plans. Criteria for compliance with equal employment opportunity laws are stringent. Management needs to design and operate its appraisal systems carefully in order to comply with these laws. A generation ago, appraisal programs tended to emphasize employee traits, deficiencies, and abilities, but modern appraisal philosophy emphasizes present performance and future goals. Modern philosophy also stresses employee participation in mutually setting goals with the supervisor and knowledge of results.

Thus the hallmarks of modern appraisal philosophy are as follows: 2. Focus on goals or objectives - as the discussion of MBO shows, employees need to have a clear idea of what they are supposed to be doing and the priorities among their tasks; as the saying goes," If you know where you want to go, you are more likely to get there." 3. Mutual goal setting within supervisor and employee - this is the belief the people will work harder for goals or objectives that they have participated in setting.

Among their desires are perform a worthwhile task, share in a group effort, share in setting their objectives, share in the rewards of their efforts and continue personal growth. The (Theory Y) assumption is that people want to satisfy some of their needs through work and that they will do if management will provide them with a supportive environment.4. Clarification of behavioral expectations - this is often done via a behavioral anchored rating scale (BARS), which provides the employee and the manager with concrete examples of various levels of behaviors.

Brief descriptions of outstanding, very good, acceptable, below average and unacceptable behaviors are specified for each major dimension of a job, thuis cueing the employee in advance regarding the organization's expectations. BARS helps reduce manager's tendency to focus on attitudes, personality, and nquirks of an employee and shift emphasis toward productive behaviors.5. Extensive Feedback Systems - employees can fine-tune their performance better if they know how they are doing in the eyes of the organization.

Most organizational appraisal systems requires supervisors to assess employees on various aspects of their productivity, behavior, and or personal traits. Examples of these three dimensions include quality of work and quantity of output, attendance and initiative and general attitude. Many appraisal systems also point toward both historical performance and the individual's potential for growth and advancement. The actual forms and procedures used for assessing this information vary widely. Some organizations ask supervisors to write essays describing the employee's performance; others recommend that they accumulate a record of incidents both positive and negative; mant firms use various types of graphic rating scales that grade employees on A-B-C-D-E or 1-2-3-4-5 systems.

Regardless of the system used, the assessment is then communicated to the employee through the appraisal interview. This is a session