Performance Appraisal Process

Introduction

Performance appraisal elements describe the overall responsibilities of an employee. Performance standards are the expected level of performance of the employees. It includes job description which specifies the roles and responsibilities of the employee towards the objective, or goal of the organization. Performance appraisal is the regular analysis of the employee within the organization. It leads to achieve higher productivity input and it also explains that how employees meet job specification. Job specification means a statement of employee’s characteristics and qualifications required for the performance of duties and tasks comprising a specific job or function.

Performance appraisal

Performance management helps in identifying, communicating, measuring and rewarding employee performance. It helps to achieve organizational goals or objectives i.e. performance management is linked with organizational objectives. “Performance management is a series of activities designed to ensure that the organization gets the performance it needs from its employees. Performance appraisal is the process of determining how well employees do their job relative to a standard and communicating that information to the employee.” (Mathis and Jackson, 327). A performance management will be effective only if the organization clearly points out the expectations, communicate the information to the employees and the key areas of improvement with proper documentation.

The calculation is done on the basis of quality, quantity, cost and time. It is part of career development. The purpose of the performance provides pay increases, promotions and for selecting disciplinary actions. It helps to improve the performance of the employees and gives an opportunity by which they can reward or be recognized for doing the job very well. It also helps to be a developmental experience for the employee and a teaching experience for the manager.

Objectives

The important objectives of performance appraisal are as follows:

1. Provide advice on performance to employees
2. Find out the employees who need training
3. Formulate the personal decisions such as disciplinary accomplishment, promotion, salary issues, etc.
4. Diagnose inadequacies and seek remedial measures
5. Organizational analysis and development opportunities provide by the performance appraisal
6. Foster a closer relationship between the employee and the administrator

Process of performance appraisal

1. Establishing performance standards: The first step in the performance appraisal process is the setting up of the standards. It means that setting to analyze the performance of the employees as good or bad and identify their involvement to the organizational goals and objectives. It should be clear and measurable.
2. Communicating the standard: The next step after standard setting is to communicate the established standards to the employees in the organization. It helps workforce to know what exactly is expected from them and could help recognize the duties. The standard should be communicated to the appraiser, or evaluators and also adapt a relevant response from the employees or evaluators.
3. Measuring actual performance: The third step is to measure the actual performance of employees. It is a very complicated element of the performance appraisal process. The manager provides a specific period of time for doing the work. i.e., it is an ongoing or never-ending process that involves analyzing the performance throughout the year. In order to measure the actual performance appropriate techniques should be chosen ignoring personal bias. Otherwise the performance appraisal process will be negatively affected and it will be rather a time-consuming event.
4. Comparing the actual with standard: This step describes that the changes of the employees from the standard and actual. This change indicates the two aspects i.e. positive deviation and negative deviation. In positive deviation will show the actual performance is more than the standard performance. While in the case of negative deviation it shows the actual performance is less than the desired performance.
5. Analysis of result: After comparing the actual with standard the next step is analyzing the result. The result of the appraisal is communicated with employees directly. The feedback can have effect on the employee’s future performance.
6. Decision making: The final step of the process is to take decisions. These decisions can be taken either to improve the performance of the employees, or to take corrective actions.

Various studies have been conducted about the performance appraisal method of teachers. Report by David J. Wilkerson, Richard P.Manatt, Mary Ann Roger titled Validation of Student, Principal, and Self-Ratings in 360 Feedback for Teacher Evaluation describes the students’ achievement with respect to teacher performance. (Wilkerson, 179-192).

The report titled Teacher and Administrator Performance Evaluation: Benefits of 360-Degree Feedback by Richard P.Manatt and Michael Benway points out the importance of 360-degree performance appraisal method comparative to traditional method of just superior evaluation. In the study the appraisal was done on the basis of supervisor evaluation, self-evaluation, student achievement, student feedback and parent feedback. (Manatt and Benwey).

Faculty performance appraisal-recommendation

The performance appraisal of new teachers helps in strengthening the university as learning community. It also helps in improving and promoting students of the university. As performance appraisal is linked with the overall objectives of the organization, the performance evaluation method should be based on it. The mission of Queens University of Charlotte is a commitment to foster a positive environment that could possibly change students’ lives and breed personal and professional success of the highest order. The vision is to be renowned as a foremost comprehensive university in the Southeast, famed for its commitment to “transforming the lives of its students and enhancing the intellectual and cultural fabric of its community.” To fulfill its mission and its vision, Queens University of Charlotte has certain values like Focus on Students; Integrity and Respect; Stewardship; Creativity and Innovation; and Service. (Mission Statement).

The author suggests 360º feedback or Multisource rating evaluate the performance of the new faculty. It has now been popularly used and it helps in evaluating an employee from different angles and for the future development.” (Mathis, and Jackson, 340).

Performance evaluation components: performance evaluation can be done for determining the requirements like counseling, promotion, salary increments, etc. The first step in performance evaluation is to state the objectives. The objective here is to know the effectiveness of teaching. The factors to be evaluated include the teaching skill, communication skills, language skills, professional skills, analyzing skill etc. After stating the objectives other decisions like who, when, what, why etc should be taken.

Who of the appraisal: here the person to be evaluated is the faculty. As multisource feedback is used for evaluating, the appraisal is done through self-evaluation, student feedback, peer feedback and superior assessment. Student feedback, Peer feedback and self-evaluation could be obtained through a questionnaire getting filled by them. Superior feedback could be on the basis of observation or the achievement of the goals attained by the teachers.

How to appraise: graphic or linear rating scale could be used to evaluate the teaching effectiveness. These three aspects are being appraised: descriptive categories, job duties and behavioral dimensions. As teachers are one of the most important assets in Universities, the entire three categories are appraised to achieve the mission and vision of the university. Each characteristic that is to be rated is given in a rating scale ranging from outstanding, exceeds expectation, meets expectation, below expectation and unsatisfactory. Certain scores are also assigned to it. At last we can tabulate the scores. It ensures that all aspects of employees are covered to take decisions for future.

Where and when to appraise: On-the-job evaluation on a quarterly basis is significant to rely upon the values of the university and to improve the effectiveness of the faculty.

Rewards and recognition: appraisal is mainly linked with the results and rewards of the university. If performance appraisal does not correlate with reward or punishment performance appraisal is worthless. The university should encourage an employee recognition and reward program. The following are the important employee recognition and reward.

1. Awards for excellence: It explained that to provide acknowledgment to the employees for their good performance of the employees. This type of award motivates the employees to work hard.
2. Employee recognition and reward program: This enables the prompt award of employees who achieve high standards of performance in the place of work.

It helps in the career development of the employees. Performance appraisal also helps in identifying future training and development needs, promotions, demotions and changes in remuneration.

Performance appraisal form: it provides the performance review information which could be provided to the employees about their performance. Usually performance appraisal form is filled by the immediate supervisor of the employee. The performance throughout the year is rated along with all the valuable documents. The teacher should be provided with the completed evaluation form in order to identify his/her strength and weakness.

The typical performance appraisal form should contain the following

1. Name of the teacher.
2. Name of the college principal.
3. Department
4. Name of the university
5. Description of the teacher’s responsibilities i.e. subjects, whether part-time or full time etc.
6. Date of appraisal
7. Superior comments about the work.
8. Colleague’s comments.
9. Student’s comments about the teaching of the faculty.
10. Steps for improvement.
11. Next appraisal date.
12. Self-opinion of the teacher about the requirements of the improvement.
13. Signature of the principal, colleagues, students, and teacher. (Performance Appraisal Evaluation of Teachers).

Requisites for a performance appraisal: an effective performance appraisal requires the following: a documentation of the performance; clear and achievable goals; simple appraisal format; appropriate evaluation technique, excellent communication system; timely feedback to the employees. The appraisal process should be free from personal bias. (Pre Requisites for Effective & Successful Performance Appraisal).

Conclusion

Employees differ in their skills and abilities. So the same work will be done in different ways by various employees. This makes the significance of performance appraisal method. It is both beneficial to organization and employees. It helps to evaluate the performance of the employees and it helps the organization to check the progress. The performance appraisal method mainly depends on the past performance and focuses on the future improvement to employees thus helps in achieving organizational goals.

Works Cited

Mission Statement. Queens University of Charlotte. 2009. Web.

Manatt, Richard P., and Benwey, Michael. Teacher and Administrator Performance Evaluation: Benefits of 360-Degree Feedback. ERS Spectrum, Spring 1998. Web.

Mathis, Robert l., and Jackson, John h. Chapter 11: Human Resourse Management. Twelth edition. 327.

Mathis, Robert l., and Jackson, John h. Chapter 11: Human Resourse Management. Twelth edition. 340.

Pre Requisites for Effective & Successful Performance Appraisal. Appraisals.Naukrihub.com. 2009. Web.

Performance Appraisal Evaluation of Teachers. Irving ISD. 2004. Web.

Wilkerson, David J, et al. Validation of Student, Principal and Self-Rating in 360 Feedback for Teacher Evaluation. Journal of Personal Evaluation in Education. 2000. Web.