Appraisal Process

Performance appraisal is a systematic evaluation of individual with respect to

his/her performance on the job and his/her potential for development.

Meaning & Definition
Common Appraisal Errors
What is the purpose of performance appraisal?

Performance appraisal serves different organizational purposes:

Providing feedback to employees about their performance
Determining who gets promoted
Encouraging performance improvement
Motivating superior performance
Setting and measuring goals
Counseling poor performers
Determining compensation changes
Encouraging coaching and mentoring
Supporting manpower planning or succession planning
Determining individual training and development needs
Determining organizational training and development needs
Confirming that good hiring decisions are being made
Improving overall organizational performance
Keep good records-Both praise and criticism are most meaningful when
supported by factual examples.

Review previous goals-Use previous goals to evaluate progress.

Get input from others-Seek feedback from others who work with the appraisee
in areas they will have objective knowledge of and get examples where available.

Prepare carefully - Prepare in advance so that you can deliver the message that
you intend to.

Refer Checklist

Appraisers Home-Work
Explain the meeting agenda - Outline what is about to happen for the session.
Encourage communication listen encourage two-way communication ask for ideas
on how they can improve their performance ask for how they feel you can help the mask
for feedback on the appraisal section
Stay focused -Keep the session focused on past and future performance, summaries
discussion issues often to ensure agreement.
Communicating shortcomings The employee expects and should know what he/she
needs to improve.
Be open Be versatile and open-minded if you hear things that cause you to change your
opinion.
During the Appraisal
Evaluation process- 1.Begin with the positive things that were well done.
2.Follow this with areas that need improvement and a plan on how
to address them.
3.Conclude with a reinforcement of your desire to help the person
grow and improve.

Making promises-Dont make promises you do not have control over (e.g. salary
increments, promotions, transfers etc)

Review goals - Concentrate on a few areas- things that make a difference. Try to
encourage continuation and growth in the areas of strength.
During the Appraisal Contd
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Avoid using subjective, vague or overly broad descriptions such as poor attitude
or no initiative. Give specific, objective comments or examples.

Examples of Subjective Comments Example of Objective Comments
1. Lacks proactiveness Never asks for domain knowledge
2.. Chronically absent Absent six days in last
month
3. Does not care about quality Has an error rate of 10%
4. Lacks interest in the work Missed the due date for assignment

Be consistent. If an issue (weakness of performance) was mentioned on the
previous performance appraisal, it should be mentioned again if it is still an issue.
An omission may assume the problem has been resolved. Conversely, if there has
been improvement since the last appraisal, acknowledge it.
During the Appraisal Contd
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Becoming silent. An employee who is feeling hostility or resentment towards you may
react by silence. Talk to the employee about whatever you need to, but do not push the
issue by attempting to make small talk. Ask open-ended questions such as What
would your approach to the problem be? Why do you think you were successful in
completing that project? If the employee continues to refuse to talk, you may have to
address the employee directly and request that he/she talk to you so that you can put
the problem behind you.

Quick to Agree. The employee may want to get out of the appraisal meeting as soon as
possible. If this situation occurs, ask the employee to summarize major points. Use
questions such as, What is your understanding of the problem? Make sure there is a
mutual understanding of overall performance, goals and objectives before the meeting
ends.
Addressing some situations .
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1. Be honest and frank regarding performance deficiencies. Address areas that the
employee has control over and can change.

2. Use tact and sensitivity without getting personal when discussing the employees work
performance.

3. Have documentation available. Mark entries in your employee notes or journal with
paperclips so that you can quickly show examples of problems the employee has had with
performance and/or behavior during the past year.

4. Make sure you have also documented the times you have spoken to the employee about
his or her performance. This chronological history will assist you when you discuss
specific dates of performance deficiencies.

5.Show the employee examples of how his/her work does not meet performance
objectives. Tie individual tasks, goals, and directions to group and organizational goals.


Dealing with the Low Performers
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6. Set improvement goals. Set short-term goals that are specific and achievable
for the employee. Explicitly state the level of performance you expect for the
persons work to be considered acceptable. Make a contract with the employee
to improve performance within a certain amount of time. Set measurable
standards for improvement and work together to determine how the performance
objectives can be accomplished. Be positive about the employees ability to
improve.

7. Establish an action plan. If appropriate, arrange for extra training by yourself
or a senior co-worker, or closer supervision by yourself.

8. Schedule a follow-up on progress meeting in one or two months to assess the
progress that has been made, or establish another way to monitor the workers
progress towards achieving the established goals.

Dealing with the Low Performers Contd..
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Appraisal Errors
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Halo/horns effect
Xs outstanding writing ability caused his
supervisor to rate him highly in unrelated
areas where his performance was actually
mediocre.
Inappropriate generalizations from one aspect of an
individuals performance to all areas of that persons
performance
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First impression Error

Tendency of a rater to make an initial positive or negative judgment of
an employee and allow that first impression to colour or distort later
information

If a TL noticed
an employee who was going
through a severe family
problem performing
poorly. Within a month the
employees performance
returned to its previous high
level, but The supervisors
opinion of the individuals
performance was affected by
the initial negative impression.
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Similar-to-me effect

The tendency of individuals to rate people who resemble themselves more highly than they rate
others
X was from a small village.

Unknowingly she rated several other
women who were from small villages
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Contrast Effect
Tendency of a rater to evaluate people in comparison with
other individuals rather than against the standards for the
job.
Think of the most attractive person
you know and rate this person on a
scale of 1 to 10. Now think of your
favorite glamorous movie star. Re-
rate your acquaintance. If you
rated your friend lower the second
time, contrast effect is at work.
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Stereotyping
The tendency to generalize across groups and ignore individual differences
Sanjay was quiet and reserved, however, he is well liked and respected by
both internal and external customers. His boss rated him lower than the
other customer service personnel since he didnt fit the mold.
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Negative and Positive skew

The opposite of central tendency: the rating of all
individuals as higher or lower than their
performance warrants
X rates all of his employees higher than she
feels they actually deserve , in the hope that this
will cause them to live up to the high rating.
While y sets impossibly high standards and is
proud of never having met an employee who
deserved a superior rating.
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Attribution bias
The tendency to attribute performance
failings to factors under the control of the
individual and performance successes to
external causes.
xs, attributes the successes of her work
group to the quality of her leadership and
the failings to their bad attitudes and
inherent laziness.
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Central tendency
The inclination to rate people in the
middle scale even when their performance
clearly warrants a substantially higher or
lower rating.
Because Y had a concern that he would not
be able to deal with confrontation during an
appraisal session, he rated all of his employees as
Meets Expectations.
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Recency effect
The tendency of minor events that have happened recently to
have more influence on the rating than major events of many
months ago.
X kept no records of
critical incidents.
When she began
writing the appraisals
for her
employees she
discovered that she
could only recall
examples of either
positive or negative
performance for
the last two months.
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A structured feedback process the ABCDE model
The ABCDE model provides a structured process a manager can use to give
feedback to their staff. It not only provides a sequential order to follow, but
also
encourages good practice in delivering the feedback by incorporating all
these
principles.
The five stages of the model are:
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ASK
Firstly, the manager should ask themselves a series of
questions, before engaging the staff member at all:
Is my aim genuinely to encourage effective behaviour?
Is it worth giving feedback about this particular behaviour?
Is there something Im doing which is causing poor
performance?
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BEHAVIOR
The manager should tell the staff member which particular behaviours they have observed that they
wish to talk about. Feedback should always start with what is observable, not conclusions about
observations. This means the manager focusing on what they have seen, what they have heard, or what
they have read.
We cannot observe abstract concepts like teamwork, attitude, laziness,
enthusiasm or commitment; these are conclusions we draw from observing
behaviours. In giving feedback, we should avoid starting with such
interpretations because:
We can easily misinterpret what we observe, which may damage the trust
the staff member has in us.
The staff member is asked to interpret what you mean, and they may get
that wrong!
Be as specific as possible, give examples, and stick to behaviours.
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Consequences
Having stated the behaviours, the manager should go on to
state the impact that those behaviours have, whether positive
(in the case of affirming feedback) or negative (in the case of
adjusting feedback). As far as possible, these consequences
should be framed in terms that affect the individual
concerned; the impact should have consequences for them.
For example: Chandra, when you decide to stay late and
make sure everythings ready for tomorrows shift, it really
helps things run smoothly and I know the other staff really
appreciate it Or: Martin, when you dont return my emails,
even when I have asked you specifically to reply, what
happens is that I start to doubt whether youre on top of
things or whether youre prioritising your work properly
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DO
Having stated what has been observed and how those behaviours impact on
performance, the manager then makes the ask: Please keep it up (affirming)
or What can you do differently? (adjusting). The onus is on the member of
staff to take responsibility and suggest how they can change (or to accept the
praise!).
It may occasionally be appropriate to ask What do we need to do
differently?, recognising a joint responsibility for a situation. But the staff
member should retain responsibility for their behaviour in any case.
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Evaluate
Most instances of feedback will not require any kind of follow up or evaluation,
including almost all cases of affirming feedback. Feedback at its best is regular and
low-key, and will rarely turn into anything formal. In these cases, it will be
appropriate for the manager to ask the staff member about a timescale for change,
and how they can assess whether progress has been made or not.
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Too often, we wade through the performance appraisal process believing our
end result is simply the completion of a cycle. Change your perspective.

Appraisals are more than assessments of the past yearThey are starting points
for the next year. As such, be sure

You devote equal time to creating tasks and high-level goals for the next year.
These objectives serve as guideposts for employees, and they provide the
benchmark against which future performance will be measured.


Look to the future

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Remember that your greatest assets are your employees. I will be assisting
managers with identifying individual employee gaps and developing employees
one by one.

Incorporate these gaps into performance appraisal reports, and use the data to
generate each employees personal development plan. After all, a performance
appraisal is simply a measurement of what has already happened; development
plans and follow-up action are the catalysts that actually improve individuals
performance, which should in turn positively influence the organizations
overall performance.


Dont just assess competencies, develop employees

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Get Evidences

Mantis Entries
Customers comments
Bug list
Delay proof


Explaining Forms

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