Comparing Performance Appraisal

and Performance Management

Performance appraisal
Evaluating an employees current and/or
past performance relative to his or her
performance standards.
Performance management
The process employers use to make sure
employees are working toward
organizational goals.
Why Performance Management?
Increasing use by employers of performance
management reflects:
The popularity of the total quality
management (TQM) concepts.
The belief that traditional performance
appraisals are often not just useless but
counterproductive.
The necessity in todays globally
competitive industrial environment for every
employees efforts to focus on helping the
company to achieve its strategic goals.
An Introduction to Appraising
Performance
Why appraise performance?
Appraisals play an integral role in the
employers performance management
process.
Appraisals help in planning for correcting
deficiencies and reinforce things done
correctly.
Appraisals, in identifying employee strengths
and weaknesses, are useful for career
planning
Appraisals affect the employers salary raise
decisions.
 Classroom
Teaching
Appraisal By
Students

Source: Richard I. Miller, Evaluating Faculty

for Promotional and Tenure (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1987), pp. 164165.
Copyright 1987, Jossey-Bass Inc.,
Publishers. All rights reserved. Reprinted with
permission.
Figure 91
Realistic Appraisals
Motivations for soft (less-than-candid)
appraisals
The fear of having to hire and train someone
new
The unpleasant reaction of the appraisee
A company appraisal process thats not
conducive to candor
Hazards of giving soft appraisals
Employee loses the chance to improve
before being forced to change jobs.
Lawsuits arising from dismissals involving
inaccurate performance appraisals.
Continuous improvement
A management philosophy that requires
employers to continuously set and
relentlessly meet ever-higher quality, cost,
delivery, and availability goals by:
Eradicating the seven wastes:
overproduction, defective products, and unnecessary
downtime, transportation, processing costs, motion, and
inventory.
Requiring each employee to continuously
improve his or her own personal
performance, from one appraisal period to
the next.
 The Components of an Effective
Performance Management Process
Direction sharing
Role clarification
Goal alignment
Developmental goal setting
Ongoing performance monitoring
Ongoing feedback
Coaching and support
Performance assessment (appraisal)
Rewards, recognition, and compensation
Workflow and process control and return
Figure 92
Defining Goals and Work Efforts
Guidelines for effective goals
Assign specific goals
Assign measurable goals
Assign challenging but doable goals
Encourage participation
SMART goals are:
Specific, and clearly state the desired results.
Measurable in answering how much.
Attainable, and not too tough or too easy.
Relevant to whats to be achieved.
Timely in reflecting deadlines and milestones.
Performance Appraisal Roles
Supervisors
Usually do the actual appraising.
Must be familiar with basic appraisal
techniques.
Must understand and avoid problems that
can cripple appraisals.
Must know how to conduct appraisals fairly.
Performance Appraisal Roles
(contd)
HR department
Serves a policy-making and advisory role.
Provides advice and assistance regarding
the appraisal tool to use.
Prepares forms and procedures and insists
that all departments use them.
Responsible for training supervisors to
improve their appraisal skills.
Responsible for monitoring the system to
ensure that appraisal formats and criteria
comply with EEO laws and are up to date.
Steps in Appraising Performance
Defining the job
Making sure that you and your subordinate
agree on his or her duties and job standards.
Appraising performance
Comparing your subordinates actual
performance to the standards that have
been set; this usually involves some type of
rating form.
Providing feedback
Discussing the subordinates performance
and progress, and making plans for any
development required.
Designing the Appraisal Tool
What to measure?
Work output (quality and quantity)
Personal competencies
Goal (objective) achievement
How to measure?
Graphic rating scales
Alternation ranking method
MBO
Performance Appraisal Methods
Graphic rating scale
A scale that lists a number of traits and a
range of performance for each that is used
to identify the score that best describes an
employees level of performance for each
trait.
 Graphic
Rating
Scale with
Space for
Comments

Figure 93
 Portion of an Administrative Secretarys
Sample Performance Appraisal Form

Source: James Buford Jr., Bettye Burkhalter, and Grover Jacobs, Link Job
Description to Performance Appraisals, Personnel Journal, June 1988, pp. 135136.
Figure 94
 Performance
Performance
Management
Management
Outline
Outline

Source: www.cwru.edu.
Figure 95a
 Performance
Performance
Management
Management
Outline
Outline
(contd)
(contd)

Figure 95b
Source: www.cwru.edu.
 Performance
Performance
Management
Management
Outline
Outline
(contd)
(contd)

Figure 95c
Source: www.cwru.edu.
Performance Appraisal Methods
(contd)
Alternation ranking method
Ranking employees from best to worst on a
particular trait, choosing highest, then
lowest, until all are ranked.
Paired comparison method
Ranking employees by making a chart of all
possible pairs of the employees for each
trait and indicating which is the better
employee of the pair.
Alternation Ranking Scale

Figure 96
 Ranking Employees by the
Paired Comparison Method

Note: + means better than. means worse than. For each chart, add up
the number of 1s in each column to get the highest-ranked employee.
Figure 97
Performance Appraisal Methods
(contd)
Forced distribution method
Similar to grading on a curve;
predetermined percentages of ratees are
placed in various performance categories.
Example:
15% high performers
20% high-average performers
30% average performers
20% low-average performers
15% low performers
Narrative Forms
Performance Appraisal Methods
(contd)
Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)
An appraisal method that uses quantified
scale with specific narrative examples of
good and poor performance.
Developing a BARS:
Generate critical incidents
Develop performance dimensions
Reallocate incidents
Scale the incidents
Develop a final instrument
Performance Appraisal Methods
(contd)
Advantages of using a BARS
A more accurate gauge
Clearer standards
Feedback
Independent dimensions
Consistency
 Appraisal-
Coaching
Workshee
t

Source: Reprinted with permission of

the publisher, HRnext.com; copyright
HRnext.com, 2003.
Figure 98
Examples of Critical Incidents for
an Assistant Plant Manager

Table 91
 Example of a
Behaviorally
Anchored Rating
Scale for the
Dimension
Salesmanship
Skill

Source:Walter C. Borman, Behavior

Based Rating, in Ronald A. Berk (ed.),
Performance Assessment: Methods and
Applications (Baltimore, MD: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1986), p. 103.
Figure 99
Management by Objectives (MBO)
Involves setting specific measurable goals
with each employee and then periodically
reviewing the progress made.
1. Set the organizations goals.
2. Set departmental goals.
3. Discuss departmental goals.
4. Define expected results (set individual
goals).
5. Performance reviews.
6. Provide feedback.
Computerized and Web-Based
Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisal software programs
Keep notes on subordinates during the year.
Electronically rate employees on a series of
performance traits.
Generate written text to support each part
of the appraisal.
Electronic performance monitoring (EPM)
Having supervisors electronically monitor
the amount of computerized data an
employee is processing per day, and
thereby his or her performance.
Potential Rating Scale Appraisal
Problems
Unclear standards
An appraisal that is too open to
interpretation.
Halo effect
Occurs when a supervisors rating of a
subordinate on one trait biases the rating of
that person on other traits.
Central tendency
A tendency to rate all employees the same
way, such as rating them all average.
A Graphic Rating Scale with Unclear
Standards

Note: For example, what exactly is meant by

good, quantity of work, and so forth?

Table 92
Potential Rating Scale Appraisal
Problems (contd)
Strictness/leniency
The problem that occurs when a supervisor
has a tendency to rate all subordinates
either high or low.
Bias
The tendency to allow individual differences
such as age, race, and sex to affect the
appraisal ratings employees receive.
How to Avoid Appraisal Problems
Learn and understand the potential problems,
and the solutions for each.
Use the right appraisal tool. Each tool has its
own pros and cons.
Train supervisors to reduce rating errors such
as halo, leniency, and central tendency.
Have raters compile positive and negative
critical incidents as they occur.
Who Should Do the Appraising?
The immediate supervisor
Peers
Rating committees
Self-ratings
Subordinates
360-Degree feedback
Advantages and Disadvantages of Appraisal
Tools

Table 93
The Appraisal Interview
Types of appraisal interviews
SatisfactoryPromotable
SatisfactoryNot promotable
UnsatisfactoryCorrectable
UnsatisfactoryUncorrectable
How to conduct the appraisal interview
Talk in terms of objective work data.
Dont get personal.
Encourage the person to talk.
Dont tiptoe around.
Performance
Contract

Source: David Antonion, Improving the

Performance Management Process Before
Discontinuing Performance Appraisals,
Compensation and Benefits Review May
June 1994, p. 33, 34.
Figure 910
 Checklist
During the
Appraisal
Interview

Source: Reprinted with permission of

the publisher, HRnext.com. Copyright
HRnext.com, 2003.
Figure 911
The Appraisal Interview (contd)
How to handle a defensive subordinate
Recognize that defensive behavior is
normal.
Never attack a persons defenses.
Postpone action.
Recognize your own limitations.
The Appraisal Interview (contd)
How to criticize a subordinate
Do it in a manner that lets the person
maintain his or her dignity and sense of
worth.
Criticize in private, and do it constructively.
Avoid once-a-year critical broadsides by
giving feedback on a daily basis, so that the
formal review contains no surprises.
Never say the person is always wrong
Criticism should be objective and free of any
personal biases on your part.
The Appraisal Interview (contd)
How to ensure the interview leads to
improved performance
Dont make the subordinate feel threatened
during the interview.
Give the subordinate the opportunity to
present his or her ideas and feelings and to
influence the course of the interview.
Have a helpful and constructive supervisor
conduct the interview.
Offer the subordinate the necessary support
for development and change.
The Appraisal Interview (contd)
How to handle a formal written warning
Purposes of the written warning
To shake your employee out of bad habits.
Help you defend your rating, both to your own boss and
(if needed) to the courts.
Written warnings should:
Identify standards by which employee is judged.
Make clear that employee was aware of the standard.
Specify deficiencies relative to the standard.
Indicates employees prior opportunity for correction.
Creating the Total Performance
Management Process
What is our strategy and what are our
goals?
What does this mean for the goals we set for
our employees, and for how we train,
appraise, promote, and reward them?
What will be the technological support
requirements?
 Information Required for TRWs Web-
Based Performance Management System

Source: D. Bradford Neary,Creating a Company-Wide, Online, Performance Management System:

A Case Study at TRW, Inc., Human Resource Management 41, no 4 (Winter 2002), p. 495.
Figure 912
 HR Scorecard
for Hotel
Paris
International
Corporation*

Note: *(An abbreviated example showing selected

HR practices and outcomes aimed at implementing
the competitive strategy, To use superior guest
services to differentiate the Hotel Paris properties
and thus increase the length of stays and the return
rate of guests and thus boost revenues and
profitability)

Figure 13
 Key Terms

performance appraisal management by objectives

(MBO)
performance management
electronic performance
graphic rating scale
monitoring (EPM)
alternation ranking method
unclear standards
paired comparison method
halo effect
forced distribution method
central tendency
critical incident method
strictness/leniency
behaviorally anchored rating
bias
scale (BARS)
appraisal interview