The Pakistani Spectator

Introduction

Performance appraisal can be defined as a managerial arrangement in organizations to assess job performance/ traits/ credentials/ fitness/ prospects of the personnel with respect to their role/ future deployment. Suitability of the employees is normally gauged through annual evaluation report initiated by supervisors and endorsed by senior managers.

Annual evaluation report is an important tool available to managers for reporting upon performance of personnel placed under their control. It is the most effective means of appraisal promising many dividends at various levels. However, many managers, not realising its importance, handle the annual reporting just half-heartedly. As natural corollary, wrong reporting leads to wrong decisions that adversely affect efficiency of the organisation in the long run.

Role of Appraisals

Basic Purpose. Originally, job appraisal is a fact-sheet on employees’ performance meant for organisational improvement. The assessment, if carried out diligently, rationalizes/ reorganises individuals’ faculties / skills for improvement in work/ output, suggests training requirements/ removal of impediments and means for enhancement of motivation level. It is also a judgment on an individual to furnish a base for reward allocation/ promotion/ postings, offers a comparative profile of work force and validates the selection/ training etc.

Two way Benefits. Performance appraisal is useful both for the employees as well as the organisation. It helps the personnel to determine the direction and level of their ambitions and encourages the employees who perform well. Similarly, it increases the employer’s interest in grooming of the assessed personnel leading to latter’s motivation and retention in organisation. It also facilitates action against the undesirable individuals for their correction / expulsion. Above all, it assists the organisation to handle crucial decisions like rewards / appointments etc.

Tips for Employer

It may be reiterated that ‘appraisal report’ exerts direct bearing on career progression including reward, promotion, and appointment of personnel.  Therefore, it is mandatory for assessors to display extra care in the activity with all objectivity (free of personal biases), entirely guided by the principle of merit.

Following are the general guidelines recommended for employer in order to ensure judicious reports on employees:

o Standardise / Disseminate duties. All the duties should be realistically standardised and judiciously assigned. A written list of such duties must be readily available for consumption of both the individuals and the organisation.
o Monitoring / feedback. A good supervisor is supposed to regularly monitor performance of the subordinates and provide feedback as corrective measure where necessary. He should also regularly endorse entries to the effect in personal folders of the individuals.
o Review. A periodic review of individuals’ performance be arranged with due recognition of accomplishments / shortcomings.
o Devise development. A suitable development strategy may be coined in the shape of special projects / courses catering for various incentives to ensure enthusiastic participation.
o Initiate annual reports. Supervisors are to raise annual reports comparing individual performance with pre-determined standards and record the variations. He should also recommend improvement, if any, and brief the individual of the entries.

Flaws in Appraisal System

Misuse of Powers / Discretion.   The initiating officer enjoys a lot of powers in reporting upon employees. Most of the impressions he records on an individual are a subjective reaction of his own person / perceptions / specific mood or personal relations with the assessed. Even endorsement of the appraisal at higher level is in name only (i.e. ‘I agree with IO’) due to superior officers’ lack of personal knowledge about the individual, accepting the report as genuine, and unwillingness to lose confidence of initiating officer by amending his observations.

Trait-rating Dilemma.  A balanced trait-rating assists in ascertaining aptitude and attitude of assessor leading to more stable appraisal of job performance. However, most of the supervisors overlook this factor causing non-serious, subjective and unreliable appraisals downward.  On the other side, influence of personal traits of assessors, if identical to or different than those of the assessee, can cause positive or negative leniency respectively for the latter. In either way, the phenomenon leads to impede judicious judgement.

Timing Error.  An opinion made/ recorded instant on occurrence of a performance makes a judicious assessment. As a practice, when appraisal is left to end of the year, the void between performance and the assessment is normally filled by many biased and unrelated developments leading to lop-sided reporting.

The Scale Variable.  Many manages do not make even use of full-scale rating. Some restrict themselves to lower bracket of rating with overall strict assessment whereas others show general leniency and fluctuate in higher domain of the rating scale. Also, some supervisors display central tendency by awarding average rating due to various reasons. In either case, the assessments not only remain unsatisfactory, but also disturb the overall arrangement when evaluated centrally in comparison with reports initiated by other assessors.

Faulty Debriefing.   The assessor normally considers his appraisal to be the ultimate and does not entertain explanation/ discussion by assessee during debrief on the assessment. Due to the one-way communication, the improvement factor of assessor remains unsatisfied.

Remedial Measures

Multiple/ Open Evaluation.  Total reliance on subjective / arbitrary judgement of a single assessor may not secure a balanced appraisal. To counter the anomaly, performance of an individual may be judged by multiple assessors in either or the both vertical and lateral hierarchy. In many organisations, even the colleagues and subordinates also render their feedback on an individual. An open and participative management helps involvement of employees in appraisal process, in turn, making the performance appraisal more acceptable and genuine.

Multiple Criteria / Full Scale.    Employees perform multiple actions against different requirements and with variant ratings. It is not possible to gauge every activity of an individual with the same yardstick. Therefore, suitable criteria with full- scale rating should be used for performance appraisal.

Assess Performance, not Traits. There are numerous traits that may not have any bearing on performance. Moreover, trait appeal is a subjective entity and may vary person to person. Therefore, appraisal should be performance-oriented, not trait-oriented. The measure would safely discourage stereotype approach.

Instant Evaluation.  Performance, either solo or collective, of an individual should be evaluated in writing instant on occurrence. This practice will totally block leniency / time error. However, in final evaluation, a particular factor / trait of all the assessees should be gauged at one time before moving to another dimension of an individual.

Cite Incidents. Managers should cite critical incidents on which the assessments are based. The measure would not only check trait appraisal approach, but also add reason / authenticity to the assessment.

Conclusion

OER (Officer Evaluation Report) is the annual performance appraisal of personnel. It is a balanced document with separate blocks for assessing different dimensions of an individual. Even personality traits / leadership attributes are linked with sense of duty and integrity. Professional competence / performance with a space for response to secondary duties are dealt with separately. Similarly, potential for development along with prospects for better deployment receive exclusive reporting, besides recommendation for next training course as well as posting. Moreover, the assessment is not left at mercy of a single assessor and assessments of more than one supervisor deem merit.

With the above run down of an ideal performance appraisal, personnel would enjoy every confidence in validity and merit of OER. As the report is initiated with multiple evaluations, processed centrally at head office with utmost confidentiality and studied in comparison with overall profile of an individual, the chances of bias or injustice become are minimized.

In a nutshell, OER, if religiously adopted forms the most relied upon tool guaranteeing both organizational excellence and personnel grooming leading to job satisfaction/ career progression further enhancing dividends to the organization again.