Performance management appraisals

Recalling also the requirement in Staff Regulation 4.4(a), for contract extensions to be assessed upon, inter alia, the Secretariat staff member s performance measured in accordance with a rigorous performance appraisal system, and noting the Director-General s stated intention to maintain and continuously improve the Performance Management Appraisal System ... 

The traditional appraisal scheme involves the manager appraising the performance of staff members on a one to one basis. These can be well-conducted conversations on an individual s performance but do have the capacity to become authoritarian and dictatorial. Competency based appraisals are those where performance is appraised against clearly identified competencies and are not concerned with personality or character traits. 360° appraisal, as its name implies, involves getting feedback on a person s performance from contacts all on fronts. Upward appraisal is a method used by managers basically to improve their personal performance. Getting the views from their own staff on their managerial skills does this. 

A-10] Naisby, A., Appraisal and Performance Management, Spiro Press, London, 2002 [A-ll] Kenney, T., The Observer, London, 10th September, 1994... 

Assigning a person to a project team is in effect a secondment to that team. The individual s priorities and loyalties now He with the project. For the period of the project, management of this resource is in the hands of the Project Manager. For individuals to feel happy in this situation they have to be reassured by the R D Manager that the performance management and appraisal systems will take this twin management aspect and loyalty into account. 

DeNisi, A. S. (2000). Performance appraisal and performance management A multilevel analysis. In K Klein S. Kozlowski (Eds.), Muitilevel theory, research, and methods in organizations Eoundations, extensions, and new directions (pp. 121-156). San Francisco Jossey-Bass. 

As R D spending increases to a record share of revenue, many R D management teams have started to appraise their own performance in decision making. None of the following simple recipes seems like the easy answers that they appeared to be to many companies (and consultancies) over the past 15 years ... 

Human resources management Conduct job analyses Hire personnel Orient and train personnel Motivate personnel for performance Appraise personnel performance Allocate organizational rewards Terminate employment Marketing... 

Many performance appraisal systems allow the manager to either rate employees on a given set of attributes or rank them in comparison with other... 

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. 

The behavior-anchored rating scale (BARS) method of performance appraisal is designed more specifically to assess behaviors necessary for successful performance. Most BARS methods use the term job dimension to mean those broad categories of duties and responsibilities that make up a job, requiring development of unique scales for each dimension. Managers often develop BARS in collaboration with employees well versed in the job. An example of how a BARS may look for a community pharmacy technician in dealing with customers is illustrated in Table 10-4. The BARS system lends itself to providing quality feedback, particularly if supplemented with qualitative comments on how to improve. A drawback is the time and effort required to develop an effective BARS appraisal. 

Regardless of the type of system selected, the written appraisal should be accompanied by a formal interview of the employee. It is during the interview that the results of the written appraisal are discussed. The success of the performance appraisal hinges significantly on the interview. If the manager is mindful of taking a few pre-... 

The manager should enter the interview well informed of prior appraisals and be intimately familiar with the responsibilities of the employee s job. The manager should also have appropriate documentation and evidence to support claims of the employee s performance, particularly in areas of deficiency but also in areas of strength. To prepare for the interview, the manager should have answered the following questions (Byars and Rue, 2000, p. 286) ... 

There are detractors to using performance appraisals as a means to allocate rewards. It has been suggested that appraisals used in this way create winners and losers, ultimately a zero-sum game for an organization, which should not use systems to make miniscule distinctions in pay adjustments (Kennedy and Dresser, 2001). Monetary rewards are said to work best when completely unanticipated by the employee rather than based on the appraisal feedback. Moreover, while managers ability to reward with pay is limited, there are no such constraints on other forms of recognition. 

---