Performance appraisal entails are tools or instruments used by the organizations and companies to assist in gauging and valuing the productivity of employees. The success of ant performance appraisal lies in how well it leads to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the company. In other words, clear understanding of the strategic goals in the performance appraisals is vital in adapting performance evaluations that tally with the requirements of the company. There are many companies that utilize appraisals for providing strategic appraisals in supporting on the company goals and core values, better emphasis on harmonization of employee efforts, and aligning employee performance to rhyme with the mission and vision of the company in all ways.
Initially, performance appraisal was used in the larger companies for the sake of ensuring proper administration. However, focus has shifted because of the intensive research in the subject area, emphasis is currently on the utilization of employee assessments for the purpose of motivating employees and ensuring there is proper organization of the company. In a perfect scenario, a performance appraisal on the achievements of the individual employee, but in reality, there are usually other factors that need to be considered when assessing the performance of an individual employee. Emotions and feelings play an important role on the employee-employer relations and have a greater impact on the performance of employees on their job (Belschak & Hartog 2009).
Feelings usually lead to shifting of the motivational play a vital role in influencing the behavior of employees at work. When an individual is under the influence emotional reactions, their behaviors to coping with their emotions are given more priority and, therefore, precede all the other behaviors. The impact of feedback on the performance of employees has been a major focus for most of the researches, and this has sidelined some of the other aspects of performance appraisal. Studies have shown that receiving of either positive or negative feedback from the supervisory authorities both publicly and privately has an impact on the employee’s performance. Research studies in the subject area show that affect can be used to mediate in the relations between the feedback received by the employee and the employee’s goal regulation (Belschak & Hartog 2009).
Strategic advantages of performance appraisals
Performance appraisal is important to both the company and the employee in various ways. It fosters the relationship between the employee and management, which is very important in ensuring motivation and productivity within the company. Performance appraisal demonstrates the need for improvement. When employees have a clear picture of how their performance in the company, they will not need to be motivated any further to work because this alone is a motivation to them of where they need to pull up their performance (Lloyd, 2013).
It also helps in meeting the higher-level psychological needs o the employees. Recognition is an important tool in management as employees would always want their effort to be recognized. Therefore, through performance, it is possible to recognize the performance of each employee and provide them with the appropriate feedback to keep them motivated (Lloyd, 2013).
It creates a sense of personal worth, especially when managers take their time to assess carefully and discuss the effort made by employees. This gives employees a feeling of importance and through this, they are motivated to continue working with vigor regardless of whether or not the feedback is positive (Lloyd, 2013).
Performance appraisal encourages personal development of employees and increases their satisfaction. Evaluations provide information and create new insights that help employees improve their skills and performance levels. In addition, when the management recognizes the performance of each individual employee, they will be satisfied with their work and work with more commitment (Lloyd, 2013).
Potential forms of bias
It is imperative that managers are careful at how they carry out their assessment of employees, especially about teamwork. One of the potential forms of bias is when the manager compares the performance of one employee against the other or ranks employees in terms of their performance.
It also important to consider how each employee contributes to the collective success of the company relative to team work. It is common for some employees to have better performance and use this to undermine the effort of other employees (Lauby, 2013).
Some managers focus and emphasize on the weaknesses of an employee without acknowledging their strengths as far as performance is concerned. This usually demoralizes them and makes them feel the management does not value them. Leniency is also a common form of bias. This is most common where all employees are not rated uniformly as others are favored whereas others are assessed strictly. In addition, there is a tendency of managers giving more consideration on the recent behavior of employees and ignore the effort made by the respective employees in the past (Lauby, 2013).
Therefore, it is important that employers understand the benefits and consequences associated with providing feedback to their employees. Depending on the desired result, there are numerous ways through which managers can strategic assess their employees and provide them with feedback.
References
Belschak, F. D., & Hartog, D. N. (2009). Consequences of Positive and Negative Feedback: The Impact on Emotions and Extra-Role Behaviors. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 58(2), 274-303. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2008.00336.x
Lauby, S. (2013). Overcoming 5 common performance Appraisal Biases. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.hrbartender.com/2013/training/overcoming-5-common-performance-appraisal-biases/
Lloyd, K. (2013). How to use performance appraisal to motivate employees. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-use-performance-appraisals-to-motivate-empl.html
