Research Paper on Employee Performance Appraisals Ranking System

Introduction

Employee performance appraisal plays a critical role in the success of a business. It provides the basis for the management to evaluate the performance level of the staff members. This is important since it helps in identifying the areas that an employee needs to improve (Bernardin & Wiatrowski, 2013). Importantly, documenting performance offers an avenue by which workers are rewarded. Besides, the feedback serves an array of other functions including the framework for clarifying employee's responsibilities in line with the current trends in the market as well as assessments of potentially outdated business practices (Bernardin & Wiatrowski, 2013). The feedback help employees to be cognizant of what is expected from them, their strengths, and the areas they need to improve. For performance appraisals to be effective, it is paramount for employees and managers to set clear goals that are to be accomplished and identify specific strategies to achieve them. This paper sheds lights on the various techniques that an organization can leverage to evaluate the performance level of employees.

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Several employee performance appraisals exist. However, prelude to the main discussion; it is paramount to elaborate on the common standards that apply to all appraisals. To begin with, all measurements in the performance reviews must be objective (Gruman & Saks, 2011). This means that the group tasked with the responsibility of designing the appraisal document must determine the most appropriate measurements standard (Gruman & Saks, 2011). For instance, if measuring absenteeism, it is objective to consider the number of days an employee is absent. Such a measure would be considered valid. Again, if evaluating issues to do with employee's safety, a measure such as the number of accidents would be considered valid. Thus, the measurements should not only be clearly defined but also objective.

Also, the standards used should be communicated to the employees. This is pivotal since it helps prevent any misunderstandings of expectations that may surface on the course of the work. Many companies use standards such as quantity, quality, return on investment, and timelessness (Gruman & Saks, 2011). Performance competencies such as skills, knowledge, and abilities can also be included. Some organizations also include appraisal elements such as employee's flexibility, level of cooperation, and behaviors (Mone & London, 2018). Thus, the standards used to develop performance appraisals should clearly be defined to the workers and consistently applied across the organization.

Importantly, appraisers should solicit feedbacks that relate to the job. To put simply, managers should ensure that the feedback comments are related to the employee's work. For example, if performance evaluation regarding waitress's serving skills is requested, criticism of her dressing mode would not be appropriate since it is not part of the job description. What is more, obtaining responses from different people who are familiar with the employees' conduct is vital in delivering fair feedback when evaluating the employee's performance.

Moreover, the company should prepare the review appraisal accordingly. They should be short, precise, and to the point. Also, before conducting the assessment, it is recommendable that they are reviewed by someone else who is an expert in handling employee's issues (Cappelli & Conyon, 2018). Ensure that the language used is easy to understand and that the information to be captured relates to the performance and behaviors of the employee (Cappelli & Conyon, 2018). Besides, supervisors should be wary of using terminologies that can result in vexed reactions. This includes terms such as "stupid acts," or "useless worker." This is because the core objective of performance appraisals is to offer the basis for discussing performance and the strategies to improve in future and not to critic an employee.

Over and above, it is yet again important to note that employee performance appraisals are confidential. For this reason, supervisors are advised to conduct them in a private area. In most cases, a conference room is reserved or employees are taken in an offsite place for a hike or lunch (Daoanis, 2012). In such meetings, companies can also provide employees with copies of appraisal document for them to conduct their self-evaluation that is analogous to the one completed by the supervisor. Markedly, irrespective of the format used, the meeting should provide room for employees and managers to discuss and ask questions (Daoanis, 2012). Crucially, managers should offer a positively balanced response while identifying areas of improvements. Lastly, it is critical to set goals for the next appraisal and conduct a follow up to ensure that the target is met.

As mentioned earlier on, different types of performance appraisal exist. This next section explores three common types: Rating Scale, 360-Degree, and Self-Assessment Performance Appraisal

Rating Scale

This type of performance appraisal takes into considerations the various elements to be captured and rates them on a scale. The major items that are evaluated are the employee's skills and behaviors. It is important to mention that in this appraisal all employees are graded using the same standards (Lunenburg, 2012). This kind of relative comparison is helpful in determining the key players in a team. Notably, in most cases, the rating scale is numerically based.

A good example is a rating scale of one to ten. In such, score ten indicates the best possible performance attainable.

Nonetheless, it is also possible that the scale used simply rates the performance as either poor, average, standard, or excellent (Lunenburg, 2012). At times, it can be as simple as "unacceptable" or "acceptable." This method is used to separate employees into various tiers. This is important particularly determining remuneration adjustments and promotion (Lunenburg, 2012). Show below is an example of a rating scale performance appraisal for employees working on a project.

Figure 1.0. Rating Scale Employee Performance Appraisal

The rating scale shown above can be adapted to evaluate the performance level of employees working in a project for a given period. An employee can rank as extremely poor, bad, average, good, or excellent in a given area.

A rating scale is often used when ranking employee's behaviors. In such cases, each level of performance is associated with certain behaviors. Shown below is a vivid example of a behavioral rating scale for customer care service.

Figure 2.0. Behavioral Rating Scale

The rating scale method of appraisal has the advantage that it is easy to develop and apply (Lee & Steers, 2017). Also, it provides a consistent way of evaluating the performance of the employees. Additionally, it is appropriate for organizations that have a large number of employees. However, this technique has several drawbacks. First, maintaining behavioral rating scales is time-consuming and tedious (Lee & Steers, 2017). Besides, it requires an organization to develop varying rating scale appraisals to accommodate the different types of tasks in an organization (Lee & Steers, 2017). For example, in a hospital, separate rating scale performance reviews are needed for nurses, doctors, dieticians, and health records keeping clerks.

360-Degree Employee Performance Appraisal

This performance evaluation method assumes a more holistic view since it requires gaining reviews from co-workers to provide their experience with a certain employee (Aggarwal & Thakur, 2013). Besides, other metrics such as customer feedback and sales data record are also assessed. The reviews provide a basis for assessing whether a worker is a good candidate for promotion. All in all, the tactic is more time consuming since it requires feedback from all staff members that work with the employee (Aggarwal & Thakur, 2013). Appendix A shows some of the 360-degree questions that can be asked to gain insight into the performance level of an employee.

This technique has several benefits. Firstly, it provides a chance to bring together all staff members since feedback is given by peer workers, subordinates, as well as the managers (Leonard, 2018). Secondly, it offers a unique chance for employees to identify areas of improvements. This is because the feedback given is diverse. However, the method has the disadvantage that the feedback given maybe biased. For example, co-workers might concentrate on individual weaknesses rather than also highlight his or her strength (Leonard, 2018). At times, the responses given might also be untrue.

Self-Assessment Performance Appraisal

This technique entails employees assessing their performance. The results are then compared with the supervisor's completed assessment findings. This offers the manager better insight on whether the employees understands his responsibilities and expectations (Boud, 2013). Although skeptics observe self-assessment appraisal as a waste of time since employees will find themselves as excellent in all areas, studies have shown that the majority of the workers are conscious of their strengths and weaknesses (Boud, 2013). Appendix B features examples of self-assessment questions that can be used to gain insight into the performance level of an employee.

Conclusion

To wrap up, it is apparent that employers want workers who perform their tasks well and significantly contribute to the mission and goals of the company. However, to achieve this, managers must provide an environment for such high productivity. Employee performance appraisal is the primary tool that is used to evaluate, measure, and reward workers so that they can make such important contributions. Thus, developing an effective appraisal document is paramount for identifying opportunities for employees to improve. The discussion has underscored several aspects that need to be observed when developing performance appraisals. Importantly, it has featured some of the methods that are commonly used to evaluate the performance level of employees.

References

Aggarwal, A., & Thakur, G. S. M. (2013). Techniques of performance appraisal-a review. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT), 2(3), 617-621.

Bernardin, H. J., & Wiatrowski, M. (2013). Performance Appraisal. Psychology and Policing, 257.

Boud, D. (2013). Enhancing learning through self-assessment. Routledge.

Cappelli, P., & Conyon, M. J. (2018). What Do Performance Appraisals Do?. ILR Review, 71(1), 88-116.

Daoanis, L. E. (2012). Performance Appraisal System: It's Implication to Employee Performance. International Journal of Economics and Management Sciences, 2(3), 55-62.

Gruman, J. A., & Saks, A. M. (2011). Performance management and employee engagement. Human Resource Management Review, 21(2), 123-136.

Lee, T. W., & Steers, R. M. (2017). Facilitating effective performance appraisals: The role of employee commitment and organizational climate. In Performance measurement and theory (pp. 75-93). Routledge.

Leonard, K. (2018). What Are the Different Types of Performance Appraisal? Retrieved from < HYPERLINK "https://smallbusiness.chron.com/different-types-performance-appraisal-1904.html" https://smallbusiness.chron.com/different-types-performance-appraisal-1904.html

Lunenburg, F. C. (2012). Performance appraisal: methods and rating errors. International journal of scholarly academic, intellectual diversity, 14(1), 1-9.

Mone, E. M., & London, M. (2018). Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge