Employees are often frustrated about the appraisal process Appraisals are too subjective Possibility of unfair treatment by a

supervisor Way to improve performance appraisals:

Recognize that part of performance is influenced more by the work environment and system than by employee behaviors

Identify strategies for understanding and measuring job performance better

Improve appraisal formats Select the right raters Understand how raters process

information Training raters to rate more

accurately

Evaluation formats can be divided into: two general categories Ranking▪ The rater compare employees against each other▪ Straight ranking, Alternation ranking, and paired-

comparison ranking

Rating ▪ Requires evaluating employees on some absolute

standard rather than relative to other employees▪ Standard rating scale; Behaviorally anchored rating

scales (BARS); management by objectives (MBO)

In both the standard rating scale and BARS, overall performance is calculated as some weighted average of the ratings on all dimensions.

An alternative method for obtaining the overall rating would be to allow rater discretion in rating performance on the individual dimensions and also assigning the overall evaluation.

Source: Mark L. McConkie, “A Clarification of the Goal Setting and Appraisal Process in MBO,” Academy of Management Review 4(1) (1979), pp. 29–40. © 1979, Academy of Management Review.

What makes for a good appraisal format? Employee development potential ▪ Critical feedback focused on the task, not on the

individual

Administrative ease▪ For the use concerning wage increases, promotions,

demotions, terminations, and transfers▪ Need for numerical ratings

Personnel research potential▪ Relationship with employment tests?

Cost▪ Initial costs, time requirement for use

Validity▪ Reducing errors and improving accuracy

360-degree feedback Assesses employee performance from

five points of view: supervisor, peer, self, customer, subordinate

Is flexible Improves employee understanding

and self-awareness Promotes communication between

supervisors and staff Promotes better performance and

results

Criterion deficiency Using objective measures that don’t

truly represent all of the key dimensions of the job

Criterion contamination Allowing non-performance factors to

affect performance scores

Rater-error training Goal is to reduce psychometric errors by

familiarizing raters with their existence Performance-dimension training

Exposes supervisors to the performance dimensions to be used in rating

Performance-standard training Provides raters with a standard or frame of

reference for making appraisals

General increase Cost-of-living adjustments

Progression pattern based on seniority Merit guidelines

Promotional increases