Performance evaluation is extremely critical for any organization. It is useful in making the organization exclusively sensitive to various issues of performance. The manufacturing plant named above raises several points, which may of exclusive concern. The first point of concern on the performance evaluation strategies is lack of exclusive strategy to measure the quality of performance that one delivers. It is difficult to evaluate the competence of the engineer since the manager is not equally qualified. The second element of concern is the concentration of the current performance evaluation technique on personal characteristics and relationship among employees. The third major concern on the company’s performance evaluation method is lack of proper guidance on what methods to employ in executing reliable performance evaluation in an organization.
Various criteria may be significant in performance evaluation in companies. The first criterion is the management by objectives. This method aims at evaluation of the extent to which employees follow the objectives of the company. The second criterion is the critical incident method, where the manager writes down negative and positive traits that define their employees. The third criterion is based on the behavior of the employees. This method calls on managers to set specific focus on behavior, which is relevant in indication of effective, as well as ineffective performance. In addition, the method of 360-degree performance is useful in definition of personal behavior to the employee without leaking the feedback to the colleagues (Robbins & Judge, 2007).
Performance evaluation is an extremely useful element in definition of success of an organization. All methods of performance evaluation should conform to excellence of the company. In the execution of these methods, all companies aim at achieving high performance and excellence in rendering the required services as well as producing necessary goods. Employees are extremely fundamental in defining the success of the company. Therefore, the behavior towards each other should be treated with all necessary keenness as defined by some methods. It is further valued that employees should not be aware of the performance feedback of their colleagues upon personal evaluation. This is useful in minimizing competition among employees, which may be extremely costly to the organization upon its continuity. The negative and positive characteristics of employees should be confidential to make performance evaluation significant to the organization (Robbins & Judge, 2007).
At some point, performance evaluation may be required to involve supervisors, peers, and subordinates. There are merits that go with the use of this method. The first merit is consideration of a wide view of different people on certain performance indicators. These people may be useful in expounding on certain indicators necessary for extensive performance evaluation. In addition, these people may be helpful in making it easy for the managers to understand certain findings of the performance evaluation process. This is because they are the people on the ground and they have first hand information concerning the issues on consideration (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Moreover, these groups of people could have been useful in explaining to the employer or the manager why certain elements of behavior are common among different employees in the organization.
On the other hand, there are disadvantages of involving supervisors, peers, and subordinates in the evaluation performance. The first demerit is defined by the activity of exposing the employees to each other. Not all employees may be perfect in their performance. This method would create a cold atmosphere among employees, as they may fear to expose their weaknesses to their peers. Therefore, this method would negatively affect the performance of a company. In addition, involvement of subordinates may reduce the command of the senior employees. Their weaknesses will have been exposed to those they are supposed to command (Robbins & Judge, 2007). This will make it extremely difficult to come up with a management that is effective in issuing guidance on execution of various processes.
Different tools may be significant in defining the performance of an employee in an evaluation. This means there certain processes that have to be followed before reaching a conclusion on certain behaviors of an employee. For example, the 360-degree evaluation method employs performance forms, which are fundamental in finding relevant information concerning employees. The information is useful while indicated in the form since it becomes extremely easy to follow up on the different performance valuations. Also, computer aided tools are becoming relevant in analyzing data concerning an employee. An outstanding example of this is the Emergenetics Performance Evaluation method. Performance index is an equally critical tool of data analysis (Robbins & Judge, 2007). It is extensively assistive in defining the effectiveness of an employee at workplace.
However, like other tools and techniques there are exclusive errors. These errors mainly arise from existence of biasness in performance evaluation. For example, an employee who may have been outstanding in performance may be attached to negative traits by the manager who may be fearing losing his position to the employee. This would induce error in performance evaluation. In addition, some tools like observation of the performance behavior of an employee may be erroneous. For instance, managers may not identify all negative traits by their subordinates (Robbins & Judge, 2007).This may lead to extensive ruin on the name of the employee.
However, various techniques or tools may be used to improve performance evaluation methods. One of the tools is existence of forms and computer programs that will allow easy recording and tracking of data concerning the performance of the employee. All elements of biasness in evaluation should be critically analyzed and handled with due respect and concern (Robbins & Judge, 2007).
Reference
Robbins, S. P. & Judge, T. A., (2007). Organizational behavior. (12th ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
