As well as helping to show whether the staff should have training/career planning and if so what they need in relation to it and how the communication can be improved between the manager and member of staff, especially in relation to general feedback.
Methods of Reviewing and appraisal schemes
It has been said that appraisals are the most suitable methods of reviewing employees for management and supervisory staff. Increasingly clerical, secretarial and manual staffs with skilled or technical jobs are now also being appraised.
There are many different people within a business who may carry out an appraisal; the appraisers are sometimes called raters. Below I have shown a list of the people who may carry out an employee’s appraisal, with explanation about them ad why they would be chosen: -
Self-appraisal
This is quite a new idea to the process of development. It is not a highly used form of reviewing.
With self-appraisal’s, which is pretty self explanatory, the member of staff will perform a self-analysis in the traditional appraisal schemes, although there is the involvement of the superior whose decision officially counts.
The ratings that the employee gives themselves maybe changed, but only in the light of the workers notes.
Peer-appraisal
These are said to be the majority of the time a very reliable method of reviewing an employee’s performance and how it can be improved.
This is due to the fact that the employees peers are said to have a comprehensive opinion of the performance from the worker in their job position.
Although there is a big problem with using this method of appraising, this is that employee’s peers might be reluctant to appraise each other, as it might be seen as grassing.
Superiors
The majority of appraisals are performed by an employee’s superior.
An advantage of this is that they have intimate knowledge and instant access to knowledge to information about the tasks that the worker carries out and how well they perform, as well as what targets they need to be set to improve their performance for the future.
Superiors of the employee’s superior
This are people who can be involved in an employee’s appraisal in two different ways.
The first way in which they can be involved in the appraisal is by approving for the superiors appraisal of the employee, as well as the fact that the manager also might want to have a say in the appraisal of the worker.
The second way they maybe involved in the appraisal is by being the one is performing the appraisal of the worker. This will be more likely to happen when the employees decide that they want someone higher up the hierarchy, such as the manager to appraise them due to the fact they will have more chance of promotion etc.
360 degrees appraisal
This is a method that takes opinions of many different members of a company’s workforce, such as colleagues, supervisors, managers and sub-ordinates.
As well as that they may even use self-ratings and the thoughts of customers due to the fact that it is a 360° appraisal. With this form of reviewing it enables the company to get feedback to pass on the individual and the relevant people who their performance is viewed by the businesses stakeholders.
As well as that it also makes it so that the employee can understand what their strengths and weaknesses are so that they can build on and use their strengths as well as improve their weaknesses to hopefully turn them into strengths, by setting themselves realistically reachable targets that are too easy.
They are also to find out if training is needed, and if then are then specifically what areas they are needed in, and as well as that the Human resources department can use them when making important decisions, such as promotion, training, sacking of staff or even in extreme cases restructuring of their workforce (Mumford, 1997).
Subordinates
This one of the least known methods of reviewing staff. This is due to the fact that it is limited because the subordinates will only know about certain parts of the work that the employee they are reviewing regularly performs.
There are lots of companies that use appraisal systems just to find out what they have to change or get rid off after a certain period of time. There are other businesses that carry on with the same system, but then find out that it isn’t good enough and is disliked (Margerison, 1983)
Factors that positively & negatively affect Management Development
Therefore there must be many factors that affect the success of an appraisal system of which I have explained below: -
Appraisal criteria
This is a criterion that is related to the job, of which is easy to use and looks fair towards the worker.
Purpose of the system
This is the effectiveness of it, which will be higher if all of the people involved with it are all understood about what the system is for.
Action
When performing an appraisal it needs to be assisted by follow-up action. These have to be plans that agree with what the appraiser and the worker feel, and they will have to be checked that they take place and are completed and meet.
Control
It’s vital that the system is controlled by the senior and line management and that it isn’t something done just for the human resources department.
Selection of raters
When choosing the raters they should be carefully done and controlled to make sure that the employee isn’t just nominating staff they now to give them good feedback.
Training
The staff that are performing may need training to understand what they are trying to get out of it and what they are meant to do, in they way they are to conduct the review.
Training of raters
The raters of staff may need to trained, as they might not know they should be ranking, assessing the employee as well as how they have to fill out the appraisal assessment documents.
Administrative efficiency
When an appraisal is performed it must be done so that it causes the minimal amount of troubles, for both groups. As well as needing to be confidential.
Anonymity of assessors
The people who are ranking and assessing the employees, will have to made anonymous so that they will therefore feel that they can be as honest as possible.
Honesty and contribution
The process of reviewing will be more likely to be accepted when there is as much feedback as possible given back as it will help the appraisers give their ratings.
Also the more that the employee is able to have involvement in the system, the higher chance they will have of their employees obtaining their commitment.
