STAFF APPRAISAL:

A staff appraisal is a meeting held with an employee to discuss their

performance and future development within the company. They are often used
to determine whether goals have been met and to discuss the future potential growth
of an employee.
NEED OF STAFF APPRAISAL:
A staff appraisal is a management tool to help support employees in their
professional development. Centered around an appraisal meeting, this is
management's chance to determine how an employee is faring, and what they might
need to be better at their job in a more precise and actionable way.
Objectives of employee appraisals include:
 Defining employee's roles and responsibilities.
 Identifying strengths and weaknesses.
 Determining compensation and pay packages.
 Providing performance feedback to a staff member.
 Receiving feedback from the employee.
 Improving communication.

SKILLS REQUIRED FOR CONDUCTING APPRAISAL:

Managers who are expected to carry out performance appraisal should have some
appropriate training. This should include the reasons the organization carries out
appraisals, and the skills of performance appraisal.
Managers need to appreciate how the process fits into the wider strategic process of
performance management, and how the data collected contributes to an analysis of
the organization’s human resources, and its capability to contribute to business
strategy and value.
They should have an opportunity to practice the skills needed to carry out an
effective appraisal. They need to learn to ask the right questions, listen actively and
provide constructive feedback.
In this context asking the right questions means using both open and probing
questions.
Open questions are general and enable people to answer in various ways, take the
conversation where they want it to go, and encourage them to talk freely.

1
Listening
A good listener should:

 Concentrate on the speaker

 Be aware of behaviour, body language and intonations.
 Respond when necessary but not interrupt.
 Ask relevant questions to clarify meaning.
 Demonstrate understanding by making short comments such as “I see “.

Giving feedback is a skill that managers need to learn and practice. Feedback

should be based on facts, not subjective opinion, and should be backed up with
evidence and examples.
Feedback should be used to help employees understand the impact of their actions
and behaviour. It is best used positively to reinforce good points and identify
opportunities for further positive action. Sometimes corrective action may be needed.

360 degree review or feedback

An alternative approach to performance management is the use of 360 degree
assessment. Here comment and feedback is gathered from a wide range of people,
including the person’s direct reports, line manager, colleagues and customers.
Sometimes to provide anonymity for contributors, the feedback is collated and
presented to the appraisee by HR, or even a peer in another branch or department.

ROLE OF APPRAISER:

Prior to the formal appraisal, preparation should be done by both parties. The
manager should look at objectives set at any previous appraisals, while the
employee should give due consideration to any points they want to bring up.

It’s important for the success of the business that appraisals are conducted with an
eye on the bigger picture, ‘Make sure the whole process is joined up,’ stresses
Clake. ‘The objectives set for the individual must match up to those of the team,
which in turn must tally with those of the whole business.’

To get the most out of staff appraisals follow these simple rules:

1) Be prepared

Prepare by referring to a list of agreed objectives and notes on performance

throughout the year.

2
 2) Create the right atmosphere

A successful meeting depends on creating an informal environment in which a full,

frank but friendly exchange of views can take place.

It is best to start with a fairly general discussion before getting into any detail.

3) Work to a clear structure

The meeting should be planned to cover all the points identified during preparation
with time allowed for individuals to fully express their views.

4) Use positive feedback

Where possible, reviewers should begin with praise for some specific achievement,
but this should be sincere and deserved.

Praise helps people to relax – everyone needs encouragement and appreciation.

5) Let the employee do the talking

This enables them to get things off their chest and helps them to feel that they are
getting a fair hearing. Use open questions to encourage people to be expansive.

6) Invite self-appraisal

This is to see how things look from the employee’s point of view and to provide a
basis for discussion that many people underestimate themselves.

7) Performance, not personality

Always refer to actual events, behaviour and results.

8) Encourage analysis of performance

Do not just hand out praise or blame. Analyse jointly and objectively why things went
well or badly and what can be done to maintain a high standard in the future.

3
 9) Don’t deliver unexpected criticisms

Feedback on performance should be immediate. It should not wait until the end of
the year. The purpose of the formal review is to reflect briefly on experiences during
the review period and to look ahead.

10)Agree measurable objectives and a plan of action

The aim should be to end the review meeting on a positive note.

Point out what the individual has achieved. Any performance problems should have
been identified a long time before.

‘Employees should go away from the appraisal meeting feeling good about
themselves and involved in their own development.’

JOB DESCRIPTION AND JOB SPECIFICATION:

The first critical element of a performance management system is the job

description. It is important to document the duties, responsibilities and requisite
qualifications for each position in your company. A job description establishes
expectations and functions much like an agreement between you and your
employee. A properly written job description describes the expectations the
organization has of an employee. It states the general responsibilities of each job,
and the key duties that must be performed.

A job specification defines the knowledge, skills and abilities that are required to
perform a job in an organization. Job specification covers aspects like education,
work-experience, managerial experience etc. which can help accomplish the goals
related to the job. Job specification helps in the recruitment & selection process,
evaluating the performance of employees and in their appraisal & promotion. Job
specification, along with job description, is actually derived from job analysis.
Collectively, job specification and job description help in giving a overview of the job
in terms of its title, position, roles, responsibilities, education, experience, workplace
etc.

4
 APPRAISAL METHODS USED FOR STAFF APPRAISAL:

Six modern performance appraisal methods

 Management by Objectives (MBO) ...
 360-Degree Feedback. ...
 Assessment Centre Method. ...
 Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) ...
 Psychological Appraisals. ...
 Human-Resource (Cost) Accounting Method.

RATERS ERROR:
Rater errors are errors in judgment that occur in a systematic manner when an
individual observes and evaluates another. Personal perceptions and biases may
influence how we evaluate an individual's performance.

Rating Errors of performance appraisal are as follows:

1. Rating Errors: Positive or negative deviations in ratings of performance appraisal,

which affect its accuracy, are termed as rating errors.
The most common rating errors are as follows:

i) First Impression Error: It occurs when a manager forms a positive or negative

image about an employee on the basis of the first impression and keeps it in mind for
future judgments as well. It is also known as the primary or primacy effect.
For example, a new manager finds that an employee is not performing properly. The
reason behind this is that his parents had recently died in a mishap.
In a month’s time, the employee became normal and began giving a high-level
performance, but the manager’s opinion did not change as it was negatively
influenced by the first impression.

ii) Halo Effect: It takes place whenever a rater gives too much importance to a
particular factor of performance and gives identical ratings to other performance
factors as well.
For example, if an employee is always the first one to reach the office and the last
one to leave the office, he is considered to be very industrious and creative.
Whereas an employee with a casual attitude and relaxed body language would not
be taken seriously and would not be relied upon.

5
These two judgments taken by a manager are based on the halo effect and might
not be accurate as the manager has taken into account only a single obvious
characteristic of the employees.

Such judgments should be carefully examined as a single trait cannot define the
character and performance of an employee.

iii) Strictness or Leniency: Several managers rate their subordinates equally,

either low or high. These are known as strictness or leniency errors.
The strict manager assigns lower ratings to what an employee is entitled to. While
the lenient manager assigns a higher rating than entitled.

For example, Ramesh gives higher ratings to all his employees than what they
deserve because he feels that this will motivate them to perform better, and they will
put all their efforts to match up with the rating being given to them.

iv) Central Tendency Bias: Some managers play a safe game by giving average
ratings to all the employees. It could be performed with a view to averse the need for
valid scoring across two ends.
The reason behind this is because several systems want the managers to mention
additional remarks when assigning too high or too low ratings to employees.

v) Recency Bias: Recent actions have the tendency to surpass overall

performance. Generally, people have a short memory.
For example, an individual performed very well and hard over the year, but due to
some inevitable situations in the last few weeks, his performance level went down.
As a result, his supervisor gave him a bad rating on the basis of his last few weeks’
performances and ignored his eleven months of superior performance.

This is termed a recency error. If the manager maintains the record of his
performance throughout the year, then recency error can be reduced to a large
extent.

vi) Stereotyping: Stereotyping refers to making a general image regarding the

characteristics (which is usually wrong) of members of a group. This hampers a
manager’s ability to make correct decisions.
For example, Mahesh is an introvert but an excellent salesman, but his manager
underrates his performance as compared to the other salespersons because he
does not fit with them. The manager here ignored Mahesh’s performance due to
stereotyping and made an inaccurate judgment.

6
 vii) Personal Bias: Sometimes, unfair evaluation occurs due to various reasons like
personal beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, experiences, preferences, and deficiency of
accepting any particular individual, class, or fact.
Everyone experiences such biasness while making day-to-day decisions about
people, things, etc. Differentiating people on the basis of race, religion, age, sex,
etc., and assuming that a particular person is not suitable for a specific job, is an
example of personal bias.

If a manager believes that women are emotional and men are rational, then he will
not select a female candidate for a job, which requires practical decisions.

Another assumption is that people believe that young workers are more efficient than
aged workers. This may result in giving a lower efficiency rating to the older workers
as compared to the young worker.

DATA COLLECTION:

Companies collect a variety of employee data to improve effectiveness, meet

business objectives and reduce legal liabilities. With massive amounts of employee
data collection happening, it can be easy for things to get out of control. 

Data is what the business world revolves around. Without data, organizations would
not be able to make clear and strategic decisions. Human resources activities
contribute a great deal of employee data which is useful to organizations. This data
is then collected, organized, analyzed, and compared to measure success or failure.
Employee data collection often takes place on a continual basis. For example,
recruitment data that tracks applications and interviews, candidate diversity, and new
hires over the course of a year. It is important to know what data to collect, the best
data sources, and how to manage HR analytics effectively. Sometimes, it may take a
little trial and error to get this right. However, it’s a good idea to start with what kinds
of employee data can be collected.

DATA COLLECTION METHODS USED FOR HRD EVALUATION:

 Interviews.
 Questionnaires.
 Direct observation.
 Written tests.
 Simulation/Performance tests.
 Archival performance information.

7
 CONDUCTING APPRAISAL INTERVIEW:

The following FIVE STEPS need to be followed to ensure a constructive

session:
1. Start with an icebreaker.
2. Explain the purpose of the interview.
3. Work through the Performance Measures (agree Actual Performance, Ratings and
POPs)
4. Agree Performance Measures and Standards for the next performance period.
5. Close on a positive note.

Performance Appraisal Interview – 4 guidelines to make it...

 Put the team member at ease. Be friendly, but businesslike. ...
 Stick to the topic and be tactful. ...
 Review successes as well as areas for improvement. ...
 Focus on the future.

FOLLOW UP AND REVIEW:

The follow-up to your performance review is just as important as the review itself. It
helps you ensure that employees are carrying out your feedback and tips in
their day-to-day efforts. It also keeps employees and managers aligned and
encourages two-way conversation about employee goals, progress, and
performance.