Performance Appraisal.

Different approaches to measure performance appraisal:-

There are several techniques and approaches that the organization has to take into account in appraising performance of their employees. Comparative approach deals in comparison of one individual employee to the other in the organization or to the team working together. The manager rates the employee's performance comparing to the other employee's performance deciding who is best and who is worst in performing the given work task. However, as this approach could help the organization to eliminate the problems of leniency & strictness, on the other hand it could demoralize the employees for having compared his efforts & performance. Attribute approach is on of the techniques define a set of initiative ness leadership and competitiveness to evaluate the employees on this basis. For an organization, Knowing performance dimensions such as knowledge to the employees and, management and managerial and interpersonal skills, of the employees and also teamwork and initiative ness helps the organization to evaluate performance of employees and rate them accordingly. For example in multicultural countries where the organizations have employees working from different cultures, language could be a barrier for the employees as a result of performance appraisal as misinterpretation or lack of communication may lead to poor performance level. Performance appraisal plays a vital role in the upbringing of the organization as a whole. It could be also referred to as the backbone of the organization. Performance appraisal is the key factor in getting things done from the employees which is the prime objective of the employers. If at any point of time there is no proper evaluation and performance appraisal in the organization, there are possibilities of getting things messed up within the organization. However, still the question arise is "Whether the performance appraisal contributes to the strategic development of the organization and the individual as well"?

I feel that it all depends on how the performance appraisal is processed in the organization. A good performance appraisal process is an integral part of the performance management system and it works seamlessly with the other components. (Source: http://www.expressitpeople.com/20030310/index.shtml)

Benefits of performance appraisal that helps in the strategic development of an organization :-

Performance appraisal process helps the employees to understand the company's objective. It helps them to set their goals and precisely know what role they play in their work to serve the organization. This avoids mental frustration and gives job satisfaction to the employees. Performance appraisal benefits the organization where the supervisors and the subordinates are satisfied with each other and they report their experience to be beneficial and positive. The performance appraisal is an opportunity to focus on work activities and goals, to identify and correct existing problems, and to encourage better future performance. Thus the performance of the whole organization is enhanced. Every employee in the organization would like to work to the best provided if there is no appreciation for doing good work and no monitoring for committing mistakes, there are chances of getting fewer results from the employees due to demoralization and lack of motivation in them. Motivation and the human basic needs go hand-in-hand. The strength and prevalence of this natural human desire for individual recognition should not be overlooked by the employers. For example, if there is lack of motivation and appreciation of employee's contribution to the organization, the absenteeism and the turnover rates of the employees would surely be found less. It is thus very important for the organization's perspective to motivate their employees. The employees may be motivated by several ways so that ultimately the employees perform well in their given task. One of these ways would be by rewarding the employees from time to time. Rewarding the employee from time to time build sense of responsibility and enthusiasm in the employees to work more and more so as to get the best for the next time. Individuals judge the performance management system and the culture of the organization based on the message sent by the rewards system. For example, if the employers are satisfied with the work and the output they get from their employees, the employers should reward their employees so that the employees get the sense of awareness and closeness towards the company. Rewards could be the appraisal results are used to identify the better performing employees who should get the majority of available merit pay increases, bonuses, and promotions.

However, these issues can be rectified by the training and development program. Performance appraisal can make the need for training more pressing and relevant by linking it clearly to performance outcomes and future career aspirations. Employee evaluation is one of the important factors in performance appraisal. Employee evaluation is based on the concept of analyzing and evaluating the employees in the organization. Monitoring the employees and evaluating their performance is the key task in the management's perspective. Performance levels of the employees working in the organization could be evaluated by conducting activities such as interviewing the employees or by getting the evaluation forms filled by the employees. The evaluation form is nothing but the set of questionnaire where the employee needs to fill up from for the employers. Different organizations have different appraisal forms. Still it is noticed that creating performance appraisal forms can be hassles. Firstly, creating the performance appraisal and getting them duly filled by the employees if the company is very time consuming and secondly to hire the human resource consultants or outsourcing the performance evaluation to the third party for conducting the interviews would obviously not be cost effective. However, it is a very though job for the company to point out the performance of the individual especially if he is not performing as per the company's expectation. The need to evaluate (i.e., to judge) is also an ongoing source of tension, since evaluative and developmental priorities appear to frequently clash. Yet at its most basic level, performance appraisal is the process of examining and evaluating the performance of an individual. (Source: www.performancew-appraisal.com)

Performance appraisal is defined as the structural interaction between the supervisor and the subordinates. It helps in smooth running of the organization. It should be understood that by evaluating the employees and analyzing their potentialities and capabilities can only the organization achieve their goals and make profits. Proper understanding of the employees basic needs and requirements, appreciating the employees when necessary, rewarding and motivating the employees so that they perform enthusiastically for the benefit of the organization and building the supervisor and subordinate harmonious relationships are the key factors of human resource management and the elements of the performance appraisal. Maintaining proper individual performance records in the organization such as the absenteeism, the turnover of work, measuring work satisfaction level and work output, employee's communication skills and development skills are significant for the management as well as to the employees so as to get the feedback from the employers. As on one hand there are advantages of the performance appraisal for the development of the organization, there are certainly several disadvantages as well. Performance appraisal could demoralized the employees and create wrong impression on the supervisors sometimes. Performance appraisal may be dangerous if there is a comparison between two or more employees in one organization. Performance appraisal has many important employee development uses, but scorn any attempt to link the process to reward outcomes - such as pay rises and promotions. One of the examples of the disadvantages that performance appraisal may be appraisal results. The appraisal results that are evaluated may identify the poorer performers of the employees in the organization who may require some form of counseling or in extreme cases if the employees are not really giving their best results or performance then demotion or reduce salary or wages or dismissal at times as well.

As discussed above, it must be understood that performance appraisal is a very relative term. It is a very sensitive element of human resource management where the employers or the supervisors have to play a critical role in balancing the tempo between the subordinates and the top management. The performance appraisal process plays a vital role in the development of the organization as a whole and also helps the employees to develop in their specialized area of work. The system of the organization needs to continuously review the operational processes to ensure that they facilitate and enable performance. Performance appraisal helps the employee to understand his / her job knowledge in depth. Performance appraisal enhances the quantitative and qualitative aspect of work performed such as how accurate the work is performed and how neat the work is been completed. Also it evaluates if the amount of job performed is appropriate to the given task. With the performance appraisal system and the process in place, I feel that the organization shall be benefited with having the clear and precise written reports of their employee's performance, get the optimum potential from their employees, achieve the organization's objective through goal setting exercise.

REFERENCES

http://www.expressitpeople.com/20030310/index.shtml

http://www.expressitpeople.com/20030310/management.shtml

http://www.performance-appraisal-form.com/

http://www.performance-appraisal.com