A performance appraisal (PA), is a method by which the job performance of an employee is evaluated. Performance appraisals are a part of career development and consist of regular reviews of employee performance within organizations.
An organizations goals can be achieved only when people put in their best efforts. With the help of performance appraisal it can ascertain that an employee has shown his her best performance on a given job. Employee assessment is one of the fundamental jobs of HRM.
Meaning and Definition
Performance Appraisal is the assessment of an individual’s performance in a systematic way, performance being measured against such factors as job knowledge,quality and quantity of output, initiative, leadership abilities, supervision, dependability, co-operation, judgement, versatility, health and the like. Assessment should not be confined to past performance alone. Potentials of the employee for further performance must also be assessed. The other terms used for performance appraisal are: performance rating, employee assessment, Employees performance review, personnel appraisal, performance evaluation, employee evaluation, and merit rating.
Definition
It is the systematic evaluation of the individual wit respect to his or her performance on the job and his or her potential for development.
A more comprehensive definition is :
Performance appraisal is a formal structured system of measuring and evaluating an employee’s job related behaviors and outcomes to discover how and why the employee is presently performing on the job and how the employee can perform more effectively in the future so that the employee organization and society all benefit.
According to Flippo “performance appraisal is the systematic, periodic and an impartial rating of an employee’s excellence in matters pertaining to his present job and his potential for a better