Have you ever thought why performance appraisals don’t work these days?

Many HR’s are trying to find an answer for this question but fail to respond. It could be the traditional and inappropriate methods of performance appraisal or the fact that how distressing it is for the manager to appraise their employees. But then performance appraisals are inevitable function of an organization and someone has to do the dirty work.

Performance Appraisals

 It is the assessment of the performance of the employees. It helps the employees as well as the organization to measure the individual and employee performance respectively which supports decision such as promotions, feedback, compensation, training and development etc.

There are two methods of performance appraisals: Traditional and Non – Traditional.

• TRADITIONAL: These are long – established methods used in organizations to assess their employees. It is characterized as regular, occasional, unreliable, time-consuming and discouraging method. It’s not just the manager who feels the heat of performance appraisal but also the employees who are annoyed by the result of such assessment which does not portray the facts. Some of the traditional and cumbersome methods are rating scales, checklist, critical incidents, essay test etc.
• NON – TRADITIONAL:  These are modernized methods used in some organizations which are characterized as frequent, systematic, development- oriented, satisfying and reliable method. Some of the methods are management by objectives, 360 degree appraisals, psychological appraisals etc.

Why don’t Performance Appraisals work?

One of the challenges that an HR has to face is to measure the performance of employees and provide the organization with true and reliable feedback.

The reasons why managers avoid performance appraisals at work are given below:

1. HR faces many problems due to the conventional practices of performance management followed in the organization. He finds it difficult to create performance reviews based on the opinions of manager or other staffs. Similarly, the practice of self review is really old and immature.
2. The traditional methods of performance appraisals are unreliable. This could be because of bias in the reviews. Also, manager can not remember all the events which led to false assessment.
3. One needs to be quite judgmental during performance appraisals. Manager feels very uncomfortable making such judgments as he is not quiet sure about its authenticity.
4. Following traditional methods involves delay in providing performance reviews. Manager tends to postpone performance appraisals till there seems to be any serious situation.
5. The work of performance appraisal is time consuming. This can be one of the reasons why managers are inclined to escape such obligations.
6. It is one of the toughest tasks a manager has to do. Employees might not be satisfied with their performance reviews which can lead to conflicts between both ends. These conflicts induce lack of harmony and trust between the manager and the employees.

Performance appraisals can be a boon or bane depending on how the manager manages it. One thing is for sure that how much ever effort the manager puts to make his employees happy, he might end up making someone unhappy. HR Performance management system is an opportunity for HR to hold on for better results. Why not just leave behind the traditional method and start exploring HR Performance management system? As said there is no harm in trying, right?

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Also Read: How to Respond to a Bad Performance Review