Traditional and Modern Methods of Performance Appraisal Assignment Sample

Performance Portfolio

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Discussion.

Types of performance management technique(s) present in the instrument

Instrument’s major strengths.

Features in the instrument that may compromise assessment, reliability and felt-fairness.

Ways in which the instrument, and the approach to performance management that it reveals, might be improved.

Conclusion.

Reference list

Introduction to Traditional and Modern Methods of Performance Appraisal

In an attempt to nurture the most important asset of any organization, human resources, often the help of performance appraisals is taken. There has been a huge body of work done to continuously identify and improve the systems of performance management and tailor them to suit the needs of different organizations. The following report is aimed at evaluating the performance management instrument. The report will identify the types of management techniques present in the instrument, the major strengths, any areas of improvement and possible suggestions that could help in enhancing the accuracy of the instrument. The report will be concluded with the summarization of key findings.

Discussion on Traditional and Modern Methods of Performance Appraisal

Types of Performance Management Technique(s) Present in The Instrument

The techniques identified are -

• MBO – evident from “work objectives” that require the employee to define specific goals, duration in which they will be completed, the status of achievement of those goals and identification of goals for future (Islami, Mulolli and Mustafa, 2018).
• 360 (Singh, 2015)-degree Feedback This is evident through various sections of the instrument where the employee is required to review himself (“self-review”) and a parallel review by the supervisor is also shared (“supervisor review”) and staff review (Singh, 2015).
• BARS – This scale has been provided in the instrument which measures the expectation achieved by the employee as per his supervisor and organization (Singh, 2015).
• Competency-based assessment - this is evident from certain sections where the employee is required to evaluate his competence like key achievements and evaluation received from peers or supervisors such as awards, recognition or feedback (Shet, Patil and Chandawarkar, 2019).

Instrument’s Major Strengths

A successful performance management instrument is the one that comprehensively combines a judicial mix of various techniques (Longenecker and Fink, 2017). This is evident from the given performance instrument which makes a balanced blend of various techniques combining specific advantages that can lead to efficient evaluation of employee performance which overall contributes to organizational goals. In the given instrument the qualities of various techniques are connected in a way that supports the benefits arising out of each.

The Goal setting at the start of the instrument gives an objective base for the employee and informs the evaluator how aligned the vision of the individual is with organization goals. Additionally, it also lays the foundation for future goals thus, giving a definitive direction to his/her future efforts within the organization. This is complemented comprehensively by the competency-based assessment that ensures that key areas highlighting the contribution and strength of the employee are effectively brought to notice of the evaluators. The 360-degree feedback ensures that the performance of the employee is assessed on all levels thereby maintaining the validity of feedbacks and eliminating the scope of any personal bias. The BARS that have been provided on important junctures of the instrument helps in improving the feedback received from various entities and increase the accuracy of performance evaluation.

The outcomes achieved facilitates ineffective planning for employee's future performance, working meticulously on the shortcomings that may be identified in the course of evaluation (Longenecker and Fink, 2017). Hence, the instrument’s comprehensiveness work in favour of both employee and organization growth and development.

Features in The Instrument that May Compromise Assessment, Reliability and Felt-Fairness

The instrument is reasonably comprehensive and covers critical aspects that can be helpful in the evaluation of employee output and performance. However, some areas are noted where the instrument seems incomplete.

1. The instrument has incorporated the 360-degree feedback analysis method and provides evaluations received from the employee, his supervisor and employee's contribution to staff and organization. However, the feedback does not incorporate review from customers and review from peers which are an essential component in making the performance evaluation complete. This becomes especially important as in the given instrument an administrative profile is being evaluated wherein the employee has specifically mentioned his direct involvement with prospective clients. Therefore, if the validity of the employee with regards to his contribution to customer relationship is to be checked, a review/feedback at the end of a customer becomes imperative. According to Jaiswal, 2020, the feedback from customers is considered more reliable as a customer is an external entity who will give feedback without any personal benefit or bias towards employees (Jaiswal, 2020). Thus, the organization stands to benefit because in evaluating the performance of the employee they become informed of customer’s perspective and in doing so, the organizations can also effectively identify any gaps arising in customer service and correcting them by taking appropriate measures internally (Das and Panda, 2017).
2. Another area where the instrument seems to compromise the fairness aspect is not giving the employee an option to indicate if they have had any challenges to face in their work that could restrict them from delivering more to the organization. Most of the times, a performance appraisal is done for an employee hoping to get promotion and if it doesn’t leave scope for an employee to reflect on the challenges then it increases the possibility of inaccuracy in the project (Smith, 2017).

Ways in Which the Instrument, and The Approach to Performance Management that It Reveals, Might Be Improved

The performance management instrument has scope in improving and enhancing its accuracy. Following approaches are proposed in this regard -

• Introduction of Customer feedback in performance management: According to Jaiswal, 2020, incorporating customer feedback becomes an essential element in deriving unbiased performance indicators. The given instrument can incorporate a section wherein general feedback from customers that the employee services can be shared to validate the employee's self-review. Additionally, if there have been critical incidents which have been left unattended (intentionally or unintentionally) by the employee or his/her supervisor can also be included. As mentioned before, customers are an external entity and the review provided by them will be transparent and free from any possible bias. This will give the evaluators a better and clearer understanding of how an employee treats customer services and can work on any gaps that they identify in the process of gathering customer feedbacks (Jaiswal, 2020).
• Include scope for discussion of areas of improvement that can be identified from an employee perspective: The instrument can make provisions where an employee can without any hesitation share the areas in his performance where he has particularly faced challenges. The objective should be to encourage the employees to share their grievances without having to worry that their response might affect the prospects of receiving a promotion. This can lead to enhancing the scope of competency-based assessment and balance the perspective that presently seems to focus largely on positive achievements. Often the employees out of fear of losing merit through performance evaluation tend to avoid sharing any difficulties which affect the credibility of the intended appraisal (Smith, 2017). By ensuring that the difficulties shared by the employee will not affect any prospects arising out of their evaluation, the management can receive realistic responses which will be more helpful in attaining organizational goals.

Conclusion on Traditional and Modern Methods of Performance Appraisal

The report identifies that the given instrument has made judicious use of techniques such as Management By Objectives, 360-degree feedback, Behaviour Anchored rating Scale and Competency-based assessment in its formulation. How the instrument has incorporated critical elements from various techniques marks its strengths. However, the instrument lacks in reflecting the feedback received from customers which is an essential factor to make the instrument more concrete and credible. It is proposed to incorporate sections that can reflect customer feedback and also allow employees to share any challenges they have faced in performing their jobs so that the instrument can become sounder and more effective in evaluation.

Reference List for Traditional and Modern Methods of Performance Appraisal

Das, U.K. and Panda, J. 2017. The Impact of 360 Degree Feedback on Employee Role in Leadership Development. Asian Journal of Management, 8(4), p.962. [Online]. Available at http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ajm&volume=8&issue=4&article=005 [Accessed 17^th September 2020].

Islami, X., Mulolli, E. and Mustafa, N. 2018. Using Management by Objectives as a performance appraisal tool for employee satisfaction. Future Business Journal, 4(1), pp.94–108. [Online]. Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2314721016300275 [Accessed 17^th September 2020].

Jaiswal, B. 2020. Traditional and Modern Methods of Performance Appraisal. [online] Available at https://www.lkouniv.ac.in/site/writereaddata/siteContent/202004032240236202babita_jais_Methods_of_Performance_Appraisal.pdf [Accessed 17^th September 2020].

Longenecker, C. and Fink, L. 2017. Lessons for improving your formal performance appraisal process. Strategic HR Review, 16(1), pp.32–38. [Online]. Available at https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SHR-11-2016-0096/full/html [Accessed 17^th September 2020].

Shet, S.V., Patil, S.V. and Chandawarkar, M.R. 2019. Competency based superior performance and organizational effectiveness. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 68(4), pp.753–773. [Online]. Available at https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJPPM-03-2018-0128/full/html [Accessed 17^th September 2020]

Singh, P. 2015. Performance Appraisal and it’s Effectiveness in Modern Business Scenarios. The SIJ Transactions on Industrial, Financial & Business Management, 03(02), pp.01–05. [Online]. Available at https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/39518719/Performance_Appraisal_and_its_Effectiveness_in_Modern_Business_Scenarios.pdf?1446109820=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DPerformance_Appraisal_and_its_Effectiven.pdf&Expires=1600155756&Signature=ErZA4mciHsiTlBgGI-aWZBNRDZImFDgUQB6Uj4T6PvNNRr338mrZZYqUSibE6cjOCDGafmKVuGRP~6nueBkTVi90WM~rI2Y8sNofcmopMkdTgpc8oso9E42qe4i6CauK5XnZfFvk-zpuasrAADVZfZBnT1SWbNE74AaAIDDQ5kDUSn05k5OxlI2UUU-baECQCdgsU1XjZ3p3-ejugAVtHm69L~NPdemn2EagJr9finX4SJne3RhOvEhIzx7lUFEMK6lw7LvzL5h1Qp5~SEQ1SzeOrwNv6v3BU1mcDYGbcps5slmM0oNIRX5oeO6N7BSsOVPJbWyuFuwT3UDlVDH6Yw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA [Accessed 17^th September 2020].

Smith, L.L. 2017. The Performance Appraisal Process: Best Approaches to Support Organizational Justice for Employees - ProQuest. [online]. Available at https://search.proquest.com/docview/2024333531?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true [Accessed 17^th September 2020].

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