Hca 311 Performance Appraisal Paper

Running Head: PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 1

Debra L. Immel
HCA 311 Human Resources Management
Performance Appraisal Assignment
Instructor: Volante Henderson
July 29, 2013

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Performance Appraisal Assignment Performance appraisals can increase employee performance and improve the work environment. The performance appraisal is a detailed evaluation of the employee’s job performance. The work standards approach is a performance appraisal in which the evaluator and the staff member care the staff member’s performance to the objectives listed in the job description (Youssef, 2012). Despite the importance of the performance appraisal, both employees and management view the process as frustrating and unfair. This can be attributed to appraisal instruments that are not job related, have a confusing or unclear rating levels. This is viewed as subjective and biased by the employee (Mulvaney, 2012).
Managers need to understand performance appraisals should be free of bias or harshness.
A manager rating an employee more severely than their work performance merits will create a frustrated and disgruntled employee. Workers will resent the unfair assessment of their performance. The opposite is also true, if a manager rates an employee more favourably than their performance merits “cheats them and the department of the benefits of exploring areas for improvement and the opportunities for developing and coaching” (MacKenzie, 2013) Some basic principles of the appraisal process are arranging for a private place without interruptions, notifying the employee ahead of time and should treat the interview as an important event for both parties. Both the appraiser and the employees should remind themselves of the organizational and departmental purposes of their roles (MacKenzie,
2013).

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The purpose of the performance appraisal is to manage salaries and pay adjustments/increases, to provide performance feedback to the employee and open the communication regarding the employee’s strengths and weaknesses. This provides a manager with an understanding for future educational opportunities and advanced training the employee may need or qualify for. Management can also benefit from the performance appraisals to “determine job placement decisions such as promotions, demotions and transfers and to justify employee disciplinary actions such as termination or dismissal” (Youssef, 2012).
A well- designed employee evaluation or performance appraisal instrument can guide administrative and developmental decision-making about their most important company asset; their human resources. Administratively, they serve as the formal evaluation tool used by managers when making decisions about pay increases, promotion, demotion and termination of an employee. Developmentally, they assist in the identification of issues such as employee training needs and cross training opportunities (Mulvaney, 2012).
There are two types of performance evaluations or appraisals, objective and subjective. An objective performance evaluation are successful if they are directed to the task in which the employee is directly responsible for and can be directly compared to the performance of another individual’s performance of the same tasks in the same amount time. This is effective in a parts assembly in a factory type scenario. It is not a useful for a manager to apply this form of appraisal evaluation in complex processes. For example according to Youssef, “the number of reported safety incidents per month would not constitute an effective objective measure because such incidents vary in term of importance and severity (Mulvaney, 2012).
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 4 Subjective evaluations are more helpful for professionals whose performance cannot be measured by one specific task or specific number such as nurses, lawyers and trainers. The tasks performed by the professional do not have the ability to be measured objectively such as teamwork capabilities, communication skills and level of professionalism (Mulvaney, 2012). Engellandt (2011) discussed the results that support a hypothesis that an employee’s effort responds positively to a surprise bonus payments. Employees will provide more effort if their supervisors re-evaluate their performance anew from year to year as opposed to leaving individual positions unchanged. Employee productivity can be defined as the ratio between actual employee production and anticipated production (Youssef, 2012). Mulvaney points out despite the importance, employees and managers often view the performance appraisal as frustrating and unfair. The frustrations are largely due to a reliance on appraisal tools that are not job related. Some appraisals contain confusing terminology or unclear rating levels. This can be viewed as subjective and biased (2012). This can be avoided by the manager by having supportive documentation over time. Specific dates and examples of a job well-done or poorly done and requiring the employee to be trained or educated. An accurate and fair appraisal can lead to improved employee performance. If an employee is performing less than adequately it should not wait until the evaluation process to be corrected. Effective managers are evaluating employees performance and a daily basis, encouraging and motivating staff to perform to the maximum ability.

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REFERENCES
Engellandt, A., & Riphahn, R.T. (2011). Evidence on Incentive Effects of Subjective Performance Evaluations. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 64 (2), 241-257.
Mackenzie, R. (2013). Supervision and appraisal: how to support staff performance. Nursing & Residential Care, 15 (6), 452-454.
Mulvaney, M.A., McKinney, W.R., & Grodsky, R. (2012). The Development of a Pay-
Performance Appraisal System for Municipal Agencies: A Case Study. Public Personal
Management, 41(3), 505-533.
Youssef, C. (2012). Human resource management. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.