Lecture 3. Performance Appraisals Methods

By

Husam Al-Najar

The Islamic University of Gaza- Civil Engineering Department

Designing Performance appraisal (ENGC 6391 )

Basic Performance Appraisal Process

Conduct a Job Analysis (e.g., specify tasks and Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs)

Develop Performance Standards (e.g., define what is

superior, acceptable, and poor job performance)

Develop or Choose a Performance Appraisal Approach

Organization’s common goals Measures of

organization performance

Department-specific goals Measures of department

performance

Subordinate proposes goals and measures for his or her

job

Supervisor lists goals and measures for subordinate

Joint agreement on subordinate goals and

measures

Periodic review periods providing feedback on

interim results measured against established goals

Final review of subordinate results measured against

established or revised goals

New

New inputs provided

Inappropriate goals eliminated

Measuring Performance

Performance Appraisal Tools and Techniques

Field Review Technique

Ranking Paired Comparison Forced Distribution Confidential Report

Essay Evaluation

Critical Incident

Checklists Graphic Rating Scale

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)

مقياس التصنيف المرتبط بالسلوك

Forced Choice Method Management By Objective (MBO)

Performance Test

360 Degree Feedback

Perfect appraisal evaluation feedback

has to be:

• Constructive – don’t put workers down,

show them how to succeed.

• Specific – vague statements aren’t going

to help much when it comes to

employee review forms and

performance feedback.

• Personalized – to accomplish this goal,

you need to base performance feedback

on individual data.

• Consistent – uniform enough to give

you a long-term data pattern.

• Capable of achieving goals – at least

until the next performance feedback

cycle.

1. Ranking Method التصنيف طريقة

The ranking system requires the rater to rank his subordinates on overall performance. This consists in simply

putting a man in a rank order. Under this method, the ranking of an employee in a work group is done against

that of another employee. The relative position of each employee is tested in terms of his numerical rank. It may

also be done by ranking a person on his job performance against another member of the competitive group.

Advantages of Ranking Method

• Employees are ranked according to their performance levels.

• It is easier to rank the best and the worst employee.

Limitations of Ranking Method

• The “whole man” is compared with another “whole man” in this method. In practice, it is very difficult to

compare individuals possessing various individual traits سمات.

• This method speaks only of the position where an employee stands in his group. It does not test anything

about how much better or how much worse an employee is when compared to another employee.

• When a large number of employees are working, ranking of individuals become a difficult issue.

• There is no systematic procedure for ranking individuals in the organization. The ranking system does not

eliminate the possibility of snap judgements. المفاجئة الأحكام إصدار إمكانية يلغي لا التصنيف نظام

2. Forced Distribution method القسري التوزيع طريقة

This is a ranking technique where raters are required to allocate a certain percentage of rates to certain categories

(eg: superior, above average, average) or percentiles (eg: top 10 percent, bottom 20 percent .. etc). Both the

number of categories and percentage of employees to be allotted to each category are a function of performance

appraisal design and format. The workers of outstanding merit جدارة may be placed at top 10 percent of the scale,

the rest may be placed as 20 % good, 40 % outstanding, 20 % fair and 10 % fair.

Advantages of Forced Distribution

• This method tends to eliminate raters bias انحياز

• By forcing the distribution according to pre-determined percentages, the problem of making use of different

raters with different scales is avoided.

Limitations of Forced Distribution

• The limitation of using this method in salary administration, however, is that it may lead low morale, low

productivity and high absenteeism. المعنوية الروح انخفاض إلى يؤدي قد أنه هو الرواتب إدارة في الطريقة هذه استخدام من الحد إن

العالي والتغيب المنخفضة والإنتاجية

Employees who feel that they are productive, but find themselves in lower grade (than expected) feel frustrated

and exhibit over a period of time reluctance to work العمل عن الإحجام .

No.

of

employees

10% 20% 40% 20% 10%

poor Below

average

average good Excellent

Force distribution curve

Forced Distribution method

3. Critical Incident techniques الحرج الحادث طريقة

Under this method, the manager prepares lists of statements of very effective and ineffective behavior of an

employee. These critical incidents or events represent the outstanding or poor behavior of employees or the job. The

manager maintains logs of each employee, whereby he periodically records critical incidents of the workers

behavior. At the end of the rating period, these recorded critical incidents are used in the evaluation of the worker’s

performance. Example of a good critical incident of a Customer Relations Officer is : March 12 - The Officer

patiently attended to a customers complaint. He was very polite and prompt in attending the customers problem.

Advantages of Critical Incident techniques

• This method provides an objective basis for conducting a thorough discussion of an employees performance.

• This method avoids recency bias (most recent incidents are too much emphasized الأخيرة الحوادث على التأكيد يتم )

Limitations of Critical Incident techniques

• Negative incidents may be more noticeable than positive incidents.

• The supervisors have a tendency to unload a series of complaints about the incidents during an annual

performance review sessions. السنوية الأداء مراجعة جلسات خلال الحوادث حول الشكاوى من سلسلة تفريغ إلى المشرفون يميل

• It results in very close supervision which may not be liked by an employee.

• The recording of incidents may be a chore for the manager concerned, who may be too busy or may forget to do

it. المعني للمدير روتينية مهمة الحوادث تسجيل يكون قد

Example of Critical Incident Method

A fire, sudden breakdown, accident

Workers Reaction scale

A Informed the supervisor immediately 5

B Become anxious on loss of output 4

C Tried to repair the machine 3

D Complained for poor maintenance 2

E Was happy to forced test 1

4. Checklists and Weighted Checklists المرجحة المراجعة وقوائم المراجعة قوائم

In this system, a large number of statements that describe a specific job are given. Each statement has a

weight or scale value attached to it. While rating an employee the supervisor checks all those statements

that most closely describe the behavior of the individual under assessment. The rating sheet is then

scored by averaging the weights of all the statements checked by the rater. A checklist is constructed for

each job by having persons who are quite familiar with the jobs. These statements are then categorized

by the judges and weights are assigned to the statements in accordance with the value attached by the

judges.

Advantages of Checklists and Weighted Checklists

• Most frequently used method in evaluation of the employees performance.

Limitations of Checklists and Weighted Checklists

• This method is very expensive and time consuming

• Rater may be biased in distinguishing the positive and negative questions.

• It becomes difficult for the manager to assemble, analyze and weigh a number of statements about the

employees characteristics, contributions and behaviors.

5. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) مقياس التصنيف المرتبط بالسلوك

A behavioral approach to performance appraisal that consists of a series of vertical scales, one for each

important dimension of job performance.

Performance Points Behavior

Extremely good 7 Can expect trainee to make valuable suggestions for increased sales

and to have positive relationships with customers all over the country.

Good 6 Can expect to initiate creative ideas for improved sales.

Above average 5 Can expect to keep in touch with the customers throughout the year.

Average 4 Can manage, with difficulty, to deliver the goods in time.

Below average 3 Can expect to unload the trucks when asked by the supervisor.

Poor 2 Can expect to inform only a part of the customers.

Extremely poor 1 Can expect to take extended coffee breaks & roam around

purposelessly. يمكن أن نتوقع أن يأخذ استراحات القهوة الممتدة والتجول دون هدف

6. Graphic Rating-Scale Method: Performance appraisal whereby each employee is rated according to a

scale of pre-defined characteristics that are job performance related.

No interest

In work:

consistent

complainer

Careless:

In-different

Instructions

Interested in

work: Accepts

opinions &

advice of

others

Enthusiastic

about job &

fellow-workers

Enthusiastic

opinions &

advice sought

by others

0 5 10 15 20

Attitude

Decisiveness

0 5 10 15 20

Slow to

take

decisions

Take decisions

after careful

consideration

Takes

decisions

promptly

Take decisions

in consultation

with others

whose views he

values

Take decisions

without

consultation

7. Forced-Choice Method: A trait approach to performance appraisal that requires the rater

to choose from statements designed to distinguish between successful and unsuccessful

performance

Criteria Rating

1.Regularity on the job Most Least

Example: Forced-Choice Method

• Always regular

• Inform in advance for delay

• Never regular

• Remain absent

• Neither regular nor irregular

8. Essay Method

• Write a Behavioral Statement

• Strengths versus Weaknesses

• Describe Selected Traits

• Evaluate Performance

9. Management By Objective (MBO) Philosophy of management that rates performance on

the basis of employee achievement of goals set by mutual agreement of employee and

manager.

Advantages of MBO

• Employees Can Measure Performance

• Quantifiable Goals

• Joint Effort

• Employee Satisfaction in Participation

Disadvantages of MBO

• Easy to Set Unrealistic Goals

• Hard to Get Full Commitment to Process

• Difficult to Define Some Goals

10. Paired comparisons

Each employee is compared with every other employee in the group, one at a time, either on

overall performance or on a particular aspect of the job.

If employee A is considered ‘better’ than employee B, A is given two points.

If the employees are considered ‘equally good’, A gets one point.

No points are scored if A is rated ‘worse’ than B.

When every pair has been compared, the scores for each employee are added up and arranged

in rank order.

11. 360 Degree Feedback: This multi-source feedback method provides a comprehensive

perspective of employee performance by utilizing feedback from the full circle of people with

whom the employee interacts: supervisors, subordinates and co-workers. It is effective for

career coaching and identifying strengths and weaknesses

Self

Supervisor

Customers

Subordinates

Co-Workers

Individual Staff

Self-Assessment

Supervisor

Other Superiors

Peers

Teams

Sub-Ordinates

Teams

Customers

Other Superiors

12. Field Review Method: This is an appraisal done by someone outside employees’ own

department usually from corporate or HR department.

Advantages – Useful for managerial level promotions, when comparable information is

needed,

Disadvantages – Outsider is generally not familiar with employees work environment,

Observation of actual behaviors not possible. Since individual assessors differ in their

standards, they inadvertently introduce bias in their ratings. To overcome this assessor-related

bias, essay and graphic rating techniques can be combined in a systematic review process. In

the field review method, 'a member of the HRM staff meets a small group of assessors from

the supervisory units to discuss each rating, systematically identifying areas of inter-assessor

disagreement.' It can then be a mechanism to help each assessor to perceive the standards

uniformly and thus match the other assessors. Although field review assessment is considered

valid and reliable, it is very time consuming.

Performance subordinate peers superior customer

Dimension

Leadership ^ ^

Communication ^ ^

Interpersonal skills ^ ^

Decision making ^ ^ ^

Technical skills ^ ^ ^

Motivation ^ ^ ^

Example: Field Review Method

13. Checklists

To develop a checklist for performance review, statements about employee characteristics or

behaviors in a job are gathered from people who know the job well, and then assessed and

weighted according to how favorable or unfavorable they are for effective performance. The

reviewing manager is given the list, without the weightings shown, and asked to indicate

whether the employee does or does not engage in the particular behaviors. That assessment

may be made on a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ basis (as in the example below) by noting how

frequently the employee engages in the behavior on a scale from, say, 5 equals Always

through 3 equals Sometimes to 1 equals Never. Despite its apparent simplicity, the checklist

approach requires you to have a very close understanding of a job and its key success factors

if the list of performance criteria is to be validly selected and weighted. To check the

reliability of the assessments, the same or very similar questions may be asked in different

ways, as is the case with Questions 7 and 10 in the following example.

Effective Performance Management Systems

There is no best way to design and introduce a performance planning and review system.

What works in one organization might fail miserably بائس in another.

However, the experience of a wide range of organizations suggests that effective performance

management systems share certain characteristics

• The performance management system has clear aims and measurable success criteria.

• Employees are involved in the design and implementation of the system.

• The system is simple to understand and operate.

• Effective use of the performance management system is at the core of managers’

performance goals.

• The system allows employees a clear ‘line of sight’ between their performance goals and

those of the organization.

• The system focuses on role clarity الدور وضوح and performance improvement.

• The focus on performance improvement is closely linked to an adequately resourced

training and development infrastructure.

• The purpose of any direct link between the performance management system and

employee rewards الموظف مكافآت is made crystal clear, and proper equity and transparency

safeguards الشفافية ضمانات are built in.

• The performance management system is regularly and openly reviewed against its own

success criteria.