Performance appraisal

A performance appraisal, also referred to as a performance review, performance evaluation, (career) development discussion, or employee appraisal is a method by which the job performance of an employee is documented and evaluated. Performance appraisals are a part of career development and consist of regular reviews of employee performance within organizations. A performance appraisal is a systematic, general and periodic process that assesses an individual employee's job performance and productivity in relation to certain pre-established criteria and organizational objectives. Other aspects of individual employees are considered as well, such as organizational citizenship behavior, accomplishments, potential for future improvement, strengths and weaknesses, etc. To collect PA data, there are three main methods: objective production, personnel, and judgmental evaluation. Judgmental evaluations are the most commonly used with a large variety of evaluation methods. Historically, PA has been conducted annually (long-cycle appraisals); however, many companies are moving towards shorter cycles (every six months, every quarter), and some have been moving into short-cycle (weekly, bi-weekly) PA. The interview could function as 'providing feedback to employees, counseling and developing employees, and conveying and discussing compensation, job status, or disciplinary decisions'. PA is often included in performance management systems. PA helps the subordinate answer two key questions: first, 'What are your expectations of me?' second, 'How am I doing to meet your expectations?' Performance management systems are employed 'to manage and align' all of an organization's resources in order to achieve highest possible performance. 'How performance is managed in an organization determines to a large extent the success or failure of the organization. Therefore, improving PA for everyone should be among the highest priorities of contemporary organizations'. Some applications of PA are compensation, performance improvement, promotions, termination, test validation, and more. While there are many potential benefits of PA, there are also some potential drawbacks. For example, PA can help facilitate management-employee communication; however, PA may result in legal issues if not executed appropriately, as many employees tend to be unsatisfied with the PA process. PAs created in and determined as useful in the United States are not necessarily able to be transferable cross-culturally. A central reason for the utilization of performance appraisals (PAs) is performance improvement ('initially at the level of the individual employee, and ultimately at the level of the organization'). Other fundamental reasons include 'as a basis for employment decisions (e.g. promotions, terminations, transfers), as criteria in research (e.g. test validation), to aid with communication (e.g. allowing employees to know how they are doing and organizational expectations), to establish personal objectives for training' programs, for transmission of objective feedback for personal development, 'as a means of documentation to aid in keeping track of decisions and legal requirements' and in wage and salary administration. Additionally, PAs can aid in the formulation of job criteria and selection of individuals 'who are best suited to perform the required organizational tasks'. A PA can be part of guiding and monitoring employee career development. PAs can also be used to aid in work motivation through the use of reward systems. There are a number of potential benefits of organizational performance management conducting formal performance appraisals (PAs). There has been a general consensus in the belief that PAs lead to positive implications of organizations. Furthermore, PAs can benefit an organization's effectiveness. One way is PAs can often lead to giving individual workers feedback about their job performance. From this may spawn several potential benefits such as the individual workers becoming more productive.