Performance appraisal—evaluation

Performance appraisals—evaluate an employee s performance over a period of time... 

Identify various types of performance appraisal processes and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each type. 

Discuss issues of validity and reliability within the context of evaluating a performance appraisal system. 

Absolute systems require the rater to indicate whether or not the employee is meeting a set of predetermined criteria for performance. This usually involves the use of a scale or index. Absolute systems are the most commonly employed of the three types of performance appraisal methods (Byars and Rue, 2000, p. 277). The main advantage that absolute systems have over other types of appraisal methods is the feedback that is derived inherently from the process. Allowing employees to see how they are evaluated among criteria deemed important by management enables them to learn about their strengths and the areas in which they will require improvement. 

Three types of relative performance appraisal systems are used. One is called alternation ranking, a method in which the rater chooses the most and least valuable persons from a list of employees with similar jobs. Both names are crossed off, and then the procedure is repeated until every employee on the list has been ranked. With its ability to eliminate central tendency and leniency and with its ease of implementation, alternation ranking may appear appealing. However, aside from its failure to generate feedback, the halo effect could come into play. Moreover, employees may be concerned with the potential for bias and inaccuracy by the evaluator, especially when criteria for performance have not been delineated clearly. 

Once an intern has graduated from pharmacy school and becomes a graduate pharmacy intern, the next hurdle is to take and pass the national licensure examination plus any additional examinations required to practice in a particular state. Once verification of licensure has been made, the former intern now can practice as a pharmacist. For a pharmacist to move to the next level within the corporation, such as to pharmacy manager, or for the pharmacy manager to move to a pharmacy development manager level, a series of evaluations takes place. Many organizations in pharmacy are emphasizing annual performance appraisals of associates. An appraisal may be scheduled more fre-... 

A formal appraisal is an important opportunity to summarize the informal evaluations of employee performance over a long period of time. Most organizations have a policy defining timeframes for conducting formal performance appraisals, typically once every year. 

Performance appraisal— including team-member and total team results with functional evaluations,... 

Review the performance appraisal requirements of the institution or practice site. Guidelines or other requirements for employee evaluations should be incorporated into the instrument. 

Pharmacists are expected to deliver pharmaceutical care, that is, to accept responsibility for patients well-being by ensuring optimum outcomes of drug therapy. Therefore, their performance must be evaluated based on this expectation. The template should be a useful tool for assessing the extent to which clinical pharmacists performance meets predefined practice standards. Its adaptability will allow it to meet site-and pharmacist-specific requirements for performance appraisal. The evaluator and clinical pharmacist should work together to establish a priori percentage standards. 

If you think your performance appraisal is unfair, most companies will suggest you talk to someone in the HR department. It s rare for evaluations to be changed, but it s important that your point of view should at least be heard. 

There are several sources for individual and organizational assessment, including self-assessment and assessments from family and friends, colleagues, peers, bosses, subordinates in the workplace, customers, coaches, counselors, trainers, facilitators, and organizational consultants. Assessments can be formal or informal. They can be done informally through feedback by others or formally through performance appraisals, 360-degree feedback, employee satisfaction surveys, and evaluations. 

They provide a basis for evaluating individual performance within an organization s performance appraisal process. 

In addition, managers and supervisors may be evaluated on how well they implement and maintain the observation and feedback processes. The delayed outcomes (such as the manager s annual performance appraisal) then also support the observational feedback process that has a more direct impact on all employees daily safety practices. 

Of course, the golf scenario I have asked you to imagine is far-fetched, but is this not the way it is for safety at many industrial sites The primary evaluation tool used to rank companies and determine performance appraisals and bonuses is an outcome number (such as total recordable injury rate) which is quite remote from the daily plant processes people have control over. Without a scoring system that focuses on controllable processes (as discussed earlier in this Handbook), safety will be viewed as beyond personal control. An injury is just bad luck," analogous to hitting a golf ball in a sandtrap while blindfolded. 

My guess is most readers will find Figure 17.8 humorous. Why What is the problem with most performance appraisals If performance appraisals were objective, fair, and based on behavior, you would not see any humor in this illustration. Right So, a useful evaluation of team performance needs to be objective, fair, and related to changeable behaviors and conditions. 

I have met very few employees who respect and appreciate annual performance appraisals. They do not see the evaluations as being fair, objective, and motivational. I am sure you know department heads and supervisors who complete performance appraisals only because it is mandatory. They are not interested in providing constructive, performance-focused feedback for continuous improvement. They do not maintain ongoing records of employees accomplishments and less-than-adequate performance. Instead, they typically wait until a few days before appraisals are due and then make their best-guess estimate of an individual s ranking, using nebulous performance dimensions like "competent," "enthusiastic," "self-motivated," "cooperative," "responsive to feedback," and "willing to improve."... 

The coaching process detailed in Chapter 12 also discussed how to develop and apply both generic and job-specific checklists for one-on-one observation and feedback sessions with coworkers (see Figures 12.9 and 12.10). As mentioned previously, using a behavioral checklist to observe and evaluate ongoing work practices is the type of performance appraisal that can lead to continuous improvement. 

As discussed in Chapter 6, this principle is termed "The Fimdamental Attribution Error." It contributes to systematic bias whenever we attempt to evaluate others, from completing performance appraisals to conducting an injury investigation. Because we are quick to attribute internal (person-based) factors to other people s behavior, we tend to presume consistency in others because of permanent traits or personality characteristics. To explain injuries to other persons, we use expressions like, "He s just careless," "She had the wrong attitude," and "They were not thinking like a team."... 

Once the ANN has been trained, its performance is evaluated separately in the training and testing dada sets. Correlation coefficients (R) between the experimental and predicted values, mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean squared error (MSE) are the statistical parameters with which the performance of ANN is appraised. The expressions of these statistical parameters have been given below ... 

The key to all the review approaches is that performance should be systematically and regularly assessed. Systematic evaluation allows an objective and comprehensive appraisal of performance and identification of strengths, weaknesses and measures for improvement. Regular evaluation enables a DRA to learn continually about the quality of its performance, and to develop awareness of any positive or negative changes in that performance. It also helps the authority to understand whether improvement strategies are working and, if so, to what extent. 

Patient care plans should include a number of daily evaluations to be performed by the patient, such as examination of the feet for any sores, cuts, or abrasions checking the skin for dryness to prevent cracking and chafing and monitoring blood glucose values as directed. Weekly appraisals of weight and blood pressure are also advised. 

Test conducted using a reference toxicant in conjunction with a toxicity test to appraise the sensitivity of the organisms and the precision and reliability of results obtained by the laboratory at the time the test material is evaluated. Deviations outside an established normal range indicate that the sensitivity of the test organisms (and/or the performance and precision of the test) are suspect. Volume 1(2,7,10). 

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