Performance Appraisal

In some organizations performance appraisal (PA) and performance management systems are treated as unnecesary or routine job. But the evaluation of of employees’ job performance is vital human resources function and of critical importance to the organization. In work organizations performance measurement typically takes place in the form of formal performance appraisals, which measure worker performance in comparison to certain predetermined standards. Performance appraisals serve many purposes for the individual worker, for the worker’s supervisor and for whole organization. (Cleveland, Murphy, and Williams, 1989).

For the Worker:

• means of reinforcement

• career advancement

• information about work goal attainment

• source of feedback to improve performance

For the Supervisor:

• basis for making personnel decisions

• assessment of workers’ goal attainment

• opportunity to provide constructive feedback to workers

• opportunity to interact with subordinates

For the Organization:

• assessment of productivity of individuals and work units

• validation of personnel selection and placement methods

• means for recognizing and motivating workers

• source of information for training needs

• evaluation of the effectiveness of organizational interventions

Research has been done on numerous facets of performance appraisals (PA), including psychometric issues, rater-ratee characteristics, cognitive processes, rater training, and appraisal fairness (Bretz, Milkovich, and Read, 1992). How PAs are used has been shown to influence rating behavior and outcomes (for example, Jawahar and Williams, 1997) and to be an important predictor of employee attitudes toward their supervisor, the job, and the appraisal process (Jordan and Nasis, 1992). In the Meyer, Kay, and French (1965) study, for example, researchers proposed that conducting salary discussions during the annual performance review interfered with the constructive discussion of plans for future performance improvement and could lead to negative reactions. However, in the