PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

- Is a control process in which employee’s performance is evaluated against standards.

- Most valuable tool in controlling human resources and productivity

- Reflects how nursing personnel have performed during a specific period of time

Purposes of performance appraisal :

 Determine salary standards and merit increases

 Select qualified individuals for promotion or transfer

 Identify unsatisfactory employees for demotion or termination

 Make inventories of talents within the institution

 Determine training and developmental needs of employees

 Improve the performance of work groups by examining, improving, correcting interrelationships

between members

 Purposes of performance appraisal

 Improve communication between supervisors and employees and reach an understanding on

the objectives of the job

 Establish standards of supervisory performance

 Discover the aspirations of employees and reconcile these with the goals of the institution

 Provide “employee recognition” for accomplishments; and

 Inform employees “where they stand”

Factors contributing to an effective performance appraisal system :

 Compatibility between the criteria for individual evaluation and organization goals

 Direct application of the rated performance to performance standards and objectives

expected of the worker

 Development of behavioral expectations which have been mutually agreed upon by both the
rater and the worker

 Understanding the process and effective utilization of procedure by the rater

 Rating of each individual by the immediate supervisor

  Concentration on the strengths and weaknesses to improve individual performance

 Encouragement of feedback from the rated employees about their performance needs and
interest

 Provision for initiating preventive and corrective action and making adjustments to improve
performance

Strategies to ensure accuracy and fairness in the performance appraisal :

 Consultation should be sought frequently

 Data should be gathered appropriately

 Information should be written down and not trusted to memory

 Collected assessments should contain positive examples of growth and achievement and areas
of needed development

 Appraiser needs to guard against three common pitfalls of assessment:

 “halo effect” – occurs when the appraiser lets one or two positive aspects of the
assessment or behaviour of the employee unduly influence all other aspects of the
employee’s performance

 “horns effect” – occurs when the appraiser allows some negative aspects of the
employee’s performance influence the assessment to such an extent that other levels of
job performance are not accurately recorded

 “central tendency” trap – manager is hesitant to risk true assessment and therefore
rates all employees as average.

 Self – appraisal – can be appraisal interview or completing a joint assessment with the
manager

Methods of measuring performance:

 May be done both:

 Informal appraisal: consist of incidental observation of performance or by

responses made by worker during conferences

 Formal appraisal: accomplished regularly and methodically by collecting

objective facts that can demonstrate the difference between what is expected
and what was done.
 These methods includes:

 Essay – appraiser writes a paragraph or more about the worker’s strengths,

weaknesses, and potentials

 Ranking - evaluator ranks the employees according to how he or she fared with
co-workers

 Forced-choice comparison – evaluator asked to choose the statement that best

describes the nurse being evaluated

 Anecdotal records – describes the nurse’s experience with a group or a person,

or in validating technical skills and interpersonal relationships

 Rating scales

Trait Rating Scales – oldest type of rating scales

- subject to central tendency and halo and horn effect errors

Job Dimension Scales – requires that a rating scale be constructed for

each job classification

- focus on job requirements rather than on ambiguous terms,

such as quantity of work

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales – called behavioral expectation

scales

- requires that a separate rating form be developed for each job

classification

- disadvantage: time and expense

- primarily applicable to physically observable rather than to

conceptualize skills

- effective tool because it focuses on specific behaviors, allows

employees to know exactly what is expected of them, and
reduces rating errors

 Checklist – a compilation of all nursing performances expected of a worker

- appraiser’s task is to mark the appropriate column whether

the worker does or does not show desired behavior

- types of checklist:
 weighted checklist (composed of behavioral statement that represent desirable
behaviors with weighted score attached)

forced checklist ( select desirable and undesirable with corresponding quantitative

value)

simple checklist (check to describe the employee)

- weakness: no set performance standards, components behavior are not addressed

 Management By Objective (MBO)

- is an excellent tool for determining individual employee progress because it

incorporates the assessment of the employee and the organization

Steps on how MBO can be used effectively:

1. Employee and supervisor meet and agree on the principal duties and responsibilities of the
employee’s job

2. Employee sets short term goals and target dates

3. Both parties agree on the criteria that will used for measuring and evaluating the
accomplishment of goals

4. Regularly, but more than once a year, the employee and supervisor meet to discuss progress

5. The manager’s role is supportive, assisting the employee to reach goals by coaching and
counseling

6. During the appraisal process, the manager determines whether the employee has met the goals

7. The entire process focuses on outcomes and results and not on personal traits

 Advantage of MBO:

- the method creates a vested interest in the employee to accomplish goals because
employees are able to set their own goals

- defensive feelings are minimized, and spirit of teamwork prevails

- focus on controllable present and future than the uncontrollable past

 Disadvantage to MBO:

- highly directive and authoritarian managers find it difficult to lead employees in this
manner

- marginal employee frequently attempts to set easily attainable goals

  Peer Review - monitoring and assessing work performance are carried out by peers rather than
by supervisor.

- one of the most effective ways to promote excellence in nursing practice is for
nurses to offer information, support, guidance, criticism and direction to one another
(Curtin, 1994)

- has the potential to increased professionalism, performance and professional

accountability among practicing staff (Roper & Russel, 1997)

- provides the employee with valuable feedback that can promote growth

- Disadvantages: time consuming, and requires great deal of energy.

Coaching: a mechanism for informal performance appraisal

 Coaching - should be delivered in the following manner to be effective and improve work
performance (Orth, Wilkinson, & Benfari, 1990):

1. Be specific, not general, in describing behavior that needs improvement

2. Be descriptive, not evaluative, when describing that was wrong with the work performance

3. Be certain that the feedback is not self-serving but meets the needs of the employee

4. Direct the feedback toward behavior that can be changed

5. Use sensitivity in timing the feedback

6. Make sure the employee has clearly understood the feedback and that the employee’s
communication also has been clearly heard.

References:

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (2000), Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing (3 rd ed.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_appraisal
By: ANGEL MAE R. BABOR