Performance Appraisal System in Human Resource Management

  

                                                                               Figure 1- Performance Appraisal Method

After placed and trained as an employee on the job, most probably after 6 months. the next important and essential step in the management of human resources of an organization is to evaluate the performance of an employees. The management must be able to recognize the level of an employee’s job performance and then they can be rewarded on the basis of their contributions to organizational goals. It is the process of deciding how employees do their jobs.

As per the view of Slabbert and Swanepoel “Performance appraisal is a formal and systematic process by means of which the relevant strengths and weaknesses of the employees are identified, measured, recorded and developed’’. Performance appraisal is a systematic and periodic process of measuring an individual’s work performance against the established requirements of the job. It’s a subjective evaluation of the employee’s strengths and weaknesses, relative worth to the organization, and future development.

It is also known by different names, such as performance evaluations, performance reviews, employee appraisals, etc. Every employer should understand the capacity level of their employees and how well they are doing their jobs. It also provides an idea for employees to understand their level and the gaps in order to perform better in their job roles. It is often used to justify the decisions related to promotions, pay hikes, bonuses, and the termination of the employee.

Methods of Performance Appraisals

Here are some common types of performance appraisals that use in most of the companies.

Self-appraisal – This means individuals rate their performance and behavior. How do they feel about their current job role, and in what areas would they like to learn more. Mostly the HR Department used to give a paper with some questions to fill-up.        

Peer reviews – In this process, it uses co-workers as the evaluators. This helps to know whether the individuals work well with teams to achieve the goals and objectives. 

360 Feedback – This is a multidimensional performance appraisal method that evaluates an employee using feedback collected from the peers, supervisors, managers, secondary managers etc. The idea is to increase the sources of feedback in order to get a more accurate and holistic view of employee performance. This method is used by many companies nowadays. 

General Performance Appraisal - This is the most common type of appraisal system in most of the companies.  The department manager sets goals to his team, to achieve with in the given period.  Once the employee achieves the goal they review it and identify the level of the employees and set new goals. This is a ongoing communication process between employer and employee.

Checklist Appraisal System- In this process employees are evaluated by using a checklist in this method. This checklist can be varying according to the different factors based as per the departments. Employees are judged based on those factors. The employer must select the most suitable scale for the individual as per the given factors. Finally, the appraisal score is calculated by adding up scores of all the individual scores.

Objectives of Performance Appraisals

It is important to maintain a performance appraisal system in every company to understand where their employees stand in terms of performance and productivity. It can be varying from organization to organization depend on their capacity.

• Help Employees to Set Goals.

 This is the most important objective of performance appraisal. Employees need to know their current and expected level of the job. When there's an appraisal system it is easy for them to identify their current status and the goals to be achieved in future.

• To Motivate Employees

This can be considered as a motivating factor to the employees. When there's a proper rating system it effectively communicate to employees how they can work more to achieve the goals and objectives. When they get to know about their current rating and the performance level. They know what areas to be developed by themselves. It motivates them to work more.

• Promote the Right Person  

 It is one of the best tool to make promotion decision in a company. Because in performance appraisal system it covers all the areas of an employee. Also it helps to retain the most talented individuals  and to promote them to the next level.

• To Determine the Training Needs

Performance appraisal system is a tool to track the employee's progress and it helps to identify the training needs. What are the areas to be covered in future training programs. 

• Improves Overall Organization Performance

Having a string performance appraisal will help the organization to learn more about the employees and requirements. As well as it help employees to understand where they are lacking and where they are doing well. It will help them to learn and grow quickly and to achieve the goals and objectives of the company.

                                                                                    Video Source - You Tube

“Performance appraisal is the process of evaluating the performance and qualifications of the employees in terms of the requirements of the job for which he is employed, for the purposes of administration including placement, selection for promotions, providing financial rewards and other actions which require differential treatment among the members of a group as distinguished from actions affecting all members equally”.   

                                                                                                                      (C.Heyel,1973)

 References

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Levinson, H. (1976). Appraisals of What Performance? Harvard Business Review [online]. Available at https://hbr.org/1976/07/appraisal-of-what-performance. Accessed on November 2023.

S,M. (2019). Performance Appraisal in HRM. [online]. Economic Discussion. Available at https://www.economicsdiscussion.net/performance-appraisal/performance-appraisal-in-hrm/31873. Accessed on November 2023.

Hayes, A. (2023). What is a Performance Appraisal [online]. Available at https://www.investopedia.com/what-is-a-performance-appraisal-4586834. Accessed on November 2023.

  

Indeed Editorial Team (2021). Performance Appraisal: Definition and different types.[online]. Available at https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/define-performance-appraisal. Accessed on November 2023.

University of Minnesota, (2016). Appraisal Methods [online]. Available at https://open.lib.umn.edu/humanresourcemanagement/chapter/11-2-appraisal-methods/. Accessed on December 2023.