Effective Performance Management Systems

1118 Words3 Pages

Prior to any development, management should take note of what exactly they want to achieve with their performance appraisal system (goals), what properties they want their appraisal systems to possess (characteristics), how they wish to execute the performance appraisal (method), and how they will use the data collected to achieve said goals (feedback). It is also pertinent that effective performance management systems clearly communicate expectations, distribute performance information to employees, determine areas of strength as well as areas in need of development, and document performance for personnel records. Typical goals affect the employee as well as the employer. Many employers seek to improve company productivity via appraisals; others see appraisals as the primary supportive document in promotion and termination decisions. Most organizations would value both of these uses. Other examples of goals would be: to reference the job description while identifying what is required to perform the job, including goals and responsibilities of the job itself, to assess an employee's performance against these goals, to work to improve performance by recognizing strengths and acknowledging areas in need of development, to identify overall training needs to support valuable employees while working to provide assistance to weaker employees, to reward or discipline as needed, to find issues within the company, use action to remedy these issues, and use feedback to check the success of such initiatives, and to encourage employee involvement and commitment to performance improvement. McLaughlin claims that by failing to identify you beat people, you increase the likelihood of loosing them. Performance assessments ... ... middle of paper ... ...nsight into normal operations. If better performance is desirable, it should be an organizational effort, a cultural campaign to seek valuable, enabled and engaged employees. Therefore, it is suggested that employers participate in two types of appraisals: supervisors rating employees and employee self-rating. These should each be conducted annually, one at mid-year and the other at year-end. The former assessment should be in narrative form, while the latter assessment should be in the form of a likert scale. These assessments should be reasoned, transparent, consistent, objective, reliable, valid, and relatively structured for ease of use. It should also consider the avoidance of wrongful discharge or discrimination claims in the case of employee termination. Again, both appraisals should fundamentally focus on the duties detailed in the job description.

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