Performance Appraisal Techniques

5. Performance Appraisal Techniques

 

According to Decenzo and Robbins (1998) there are 3 approaches for performance appraisal. They are;

• ·         Absolute Standards
• ·         Relative Standards
• ·         Objectives

5.1 Absolute Standards

 

These are appraisal techniques where employees were compared against a standard and independent of other employees. Absolute standards include;

5.1.1. Essay Appraisal

Evaluator writes an explanation about employee’s strength and weakness points, previous performance, positional and suggestion for his (her) improvement at the end of evaluation time (Aggarwal and Thakur, 2013)

5.1.2. Critical Incident Appraisal

The manager maintains the logs of each employee to record the critical incidents to use them to evaluate the employee’s performance at the end of the rating period. (Turgut and Mert, 2014)

5.1.3. The Checklist

In this method a checklist that presented work related descriptive statements, is used for every work position. Manager chooses “Yes” or “No” option that represents the effective or ineffective behavior of the employee on the job, that is familiar with these work related descriptive statements. (Turgut and Mert, 2014)

5.1.4. The graphic rating scale

A checklist of work related statements is presented and managers tick “yes” or “no” that represent effectiveness or ineffectiveness of work.

5.1.5. The graphic rating scale

In this method the rater indicates on a numerical scale the degree to which the employee possesses certain personality traits. The performance dimensions are usually difficult to measure. The traits include leadership, initiative, cooperation, judgment, creativity, resourcefulness, innovativeness, and dependability [Wiese and Buckley, 1998]

5.1.6. Forced Choice                                             

Managers are given some pre-defined expressions to evaluate the performance of worker for each item. Managers indicate which items are most descriptive of the employee. Manager does not know the score equivalent of the expressions

5.1.7. Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS)

BARS combines elements from critical incident and graphic rating scale approaches. The supervisor rates employees according to items on a numerical scale (Aggarwal and Thakur, 2013)

5.2 Relative Standards

Here employees are compared against other employees rather than on set standards. Relative standards would include the following.

5.2.1. Group order ranking

The employees are ranked and categorized into groups. So that the highest ranked would in one group and lowest ranked would be in another group. There could be more groups in between.

5.2.2. Individual Ranking

Same as group order ranking but the difference is that the employees are not grouped.        

5.2.3. Paired Comparison

 In this method, employees are compared with all others in pairs. The number of comparison is followed as (N*(N-1) )/2 in which N shows the number of employees. (Jafari et al., 2009)

5.2.4. Assessment Centres

Evaluation process is performed objectively by specialists or Human Resources (HR) professionals in the center. In this center the employee is observed on some simulated incidents, tests similar to actual working environment. Additionally, some tests, social and unofficial events and exercises are used to support assessment. (Turgut and Mert, 2014)

 

5.3. Objectives

The third approach to appraisal makes use of objectives. Employees are evaluated on how well they accomplished a specific set of objectives that have been pre-determined. This approach includes Management by Objective technique.

5.3.1. Management by Objective (MBO)

This is a method necessitating the attainment of the pre-defined objectives. According to this method, managers and employees determine collectively the objectives for employees to meet during a specific period. Attainment of an objective is more important than “how it was attained”. Employees are then evaluated with a view to how they have achieved their determined goals. (Turgut and Mert, 2014)

 

5.4. 360 Degree and 720 Degree Appraisal

They are the latest approaches for performance appraisal.

360 Degree appraisal involves inputs from multiple parties within the organization as well as from outside the organization on appraising the performance of the employee. It involves feedback from colleagues, superiors, subordinates, sometimes customers, suppliers and/or spouses.

In 720 Degree appraisal, 360 degree appraisal method is practiced twice. When 360-degree appraisal is done, then the performance of the employee is evaluated and having a good feedback mechanism, the boss sits down with the employee again a second time and gives him feedback and tips on achieving the set targets (Aggarwal and Thakur, 2013)

Conclusion

Although there are number of performance appraisal techniques all of them have inherent benefits and drawbacks. Therefore it is important for an organization to determine a performance appraisal technique which best suits its goals, objectives and expectations and cost beneficial.

 

References

Aggarwal, A. and Thakur, G.S.M., 2013. Techniques of performance appraisal-a review. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT), 2(3), pp.617-621. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.679.2130&rep=rep1&type=pdf [Accessed 2 May 2022]

Jafari, M., Bourouni, A. and Amiri, R.H., 2009. A new framework for selection of the best performance appraisal method. European Journal of Social Sciences, 7(3), pp.92-100. Available From https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Atieh-Bourouni/publication/228901398_A_new_framework_for_selection_of_the_best_performance_appraisal_method/links/0fcfd5101390753583000000/A-new-framework-for-selection-of-the-best-performance-appraisal-method.pdf  [Accessed 2 May 2022]

Majid, J., 2016. Effectiveness of performance appraisal methods–An empirical study of the Telecommunication Sector. International journal of trend in research and development, 3(3), pp.10-17. http://www.ijtrd.com/papers/IJTRD3747.pdf  [Accessed 2 May 2022]

Turgut, H. and Mert, I.S., 2014. Evaluation of performance appraisal methods through appraisal errors by using fuzzy VIKOR method. International Business Research, 7(10), p.170. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ibrahim-Mert-2/publication/314528073_Evaluation_of_Performance_Appraisal_Methods_through_Appraisal_Errors_by_Using_Fuzzy_VIKOR_Method/links/59c8dfcca6fdccc71929c632/Evaluation-of-Performance-Appraisal-Methods-through-Appraisal-Errors-by-Using-Fuzzy-VIKOR-Method.pdf [Accessed 2 May 2022]

Wiese, D.S. and Buckley, M.R., 1998. The evolution of the performance appraisal process. Journal of management History. Available From https://doi.org/10.1108/13552529810231003 [Accessed 2 May 2022]