Performance Appraisal: Improving Employee Performance at Proton

This report examines the role of performance appraisal, specifically the function of providing feedback, in improving employee performance at Proton Malaysia. It highlights the importance of feedback, both positive and negative, in motivating employees and enhancing their skills through targeted training and development programs. The report emphasizes the need for equality, impartiality, and a feedback-oriented culture within the organization. Suggestions for improving the feedback process include using objective examples and adopting a multi-directional approach to ensure comprehensive input and continuous improvement. The ultimate goal is to align individual performance with organizational goals, fostering growth for both the employees and Proton Malaysia.

Running Head: PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
Performance Appraisal

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Background of the Organization......................................................................................................2
Description of the selected function of performance appraisal.......................................................2
Improvement in Employee Performance through Selected Function of Performance Appraisal. . .4
Suggestions for Improving the Selected Function of Performance Appraisal................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Performance appraisal can be defined as the formal system which evaluates and examines the
performance of the employees on periodic basis. It is a process with the help of which the
performance of the employees is measured whereby employee performance is the level to which
the work requirements have been completed by the employee. In other words, it is the process of
making identification, observation, measurement and development of the performance of the
employees in an organization. In other words, performance appraisal is not only responsible for
measuring the performance but also acts as a tool for the development of employees (DeNisi &
Smith, 2014). This report is focused on one of the function of performance appraisal. The
function selected for the purpose of this report is providing adequate feedback to the employees
on their performance. Furthermore, it focuses on the evaluation of how it can improve the
employee performance in Proton Malaysia along with the relevant suggestions.
Background of the Organization
The organization selected for the purpose of this assignment if Proton Malaysia. Proton Holdings
Berhad or Proton is the company based in Malaysia and is engaged in the business of automobile
designing, manufacturing, distribution and sales. The establishment of Proton took place in the
year 1983 as the sole national budget car company of that time. The vision of Proton is to
become a leading mobility solutions provider in the globe. On the other hand, the mission of
Proton provides to ensure the continuous creation of innovative products, services and processes
in order to win the hearts and minds of people. The types of employees engaged in the company
are those who are capable of learning new technologies easily. This is due to the fact that the
automotive industry is highly tech- focused. Around 12,000 employees are current employed in
this company (Proton, 2018).
Description of the selected function of performance appraisal
The three basic functions of performance appraisal are providing adequate feedback to the
employees regarding their performance, serving as a basis for the modification or change in the
behavior towards more effective working habits, and providing the requisite data to the managers

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 3
with the help of which they can judge the compensation and future job assignments. The concept
of performance appraisal is central to effective management (Rabenu & Tziner, 2016).
This assignment is based on the most important function of performance appraisal i.e. providing
the employees feedback regarding their performance. When feedback is provided to the
employees regarding their performance during a specific period of time provides an opportunity
to the employees to improve their performance in the needed direction (Fletcher & Williams,
2016(. This is the main purpose of this function of performance appraisal. The feedback can be
either positive or negative. In other words, there is possibility that the components of the
feedback can be positive or negative (Lee & Steers, 2017). This is the most important function of
performance appraisal as the future performance of the employees is dependent on this function.
Feedback plays a key role in the improvement of the performance of employees. Sometimes
feedback is often misunderstood as criticism, however, a well- delivered constructive criticism
can assist in the improvement of performance and production of better decisions (Ikramullah,
Van Prooijen, Iqbal & Ul- Hassan, 2016). The managers require their workforces to be highly
motivated and engaged for the achievement of organizational goals. For this, feedback is
required in order to motivate them to produce optimal outcomes. Whether the feedback is
positive or negative, it can perform the function of motivating the employees. In case of positive
feedback, the employee is motivated to further improve the performance in order to become the
best performing employee of the organization, and on the other hand, if the employee is
performing below average then he/she will be motivated to become at least the average
performer of the organization (Brown, Kulik & Lim, 2016).
Furthermore, communication is also improved between the employee and the reviewer. Along
with this, the long term goals can also be addressed by providing a career path to the employees.
The employees who are unable to meet the performance standards can be offered effective
training and development opportunities and work achievement recognition can be offered to
those who have performed well during the given period. The process of performance feedback
involves evaluating the performance of the employee over a period of time, making identification
of the strengths and weaknesses of the performance, acknowledging the outstanding performance
of the employee, making identification of the areas where training is needed, and determining the
development programs for employee (Rasheed, Khan, Rasheed & Munir, 2015).

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 4
Improvement in Employee Performance through Selected Function of Performance
Appraisal
The employee performance in Proton can be improved with the help of the selected function of
performance appraisal. Proton is engaged in the designing, development, manufacturing,
marketing and distribution of motor vehicles. Working in an automobile company is a difficult
job. The employees are required to learn the use of new technology every now and then so that
the cars produced by the company can effectively compete in the market. New technologies
make working in an automobile industry a difficult job. Some employees are quickly able to
learn the use of new technologies. On the other hand, the adoption of the use of new technologies
in the day to day tasks becomes very difficult for some employees. This difficulty is reflected in
the performance of the employees over a period of time (Parke, Weinhardt, Brodsky, Tangirala
& DeVoe, 2018).
Performance appraisal will be the step where the management ill identify how effective the
hiring and placing of employees have been for Proton. This will be the step where the
management if Proton will review the performance of all the employees in the organization along
with their progress in the job and assessment of their potential for future improvement. When the
management of Proton will use performance appraisal for their employees, it will perform the
function of offering the feedback to their employees regarding their current performance in the
organization. Accordingly, the management will be capable of making the identification of the
strengths and weaknesses of each employee working in Proton. If possible, the management of
Proton can make an effective use of the strengths of the employees for the benefit of the
organization by engaging them in the tasks that needs their expertise and competence. On the
other hand, the management of Proton can also focus on the weaknesses of the employees by
way of providing them effective training (Dipboye, 2018). The employees who are performing
extremely well should be rewarded as the outstanding performer along with providing them
recognition in front of the employees of whole organization. This will further motivate them to
improve their performance. The employees who are performing below average will be provided
adequate training such that they can improve their performance. Training will enhance the skills
of the employees to adopt new technologies and processes quickly. Furthermore, development
programs will also be organized for the employees (Iqbal, Akbar & Budhwar, 2015).

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 5
For the purpose of improving employee performance in Proton, the company needs to follow the
entire process of performance appraisal which involves steps such as identification of
performance evaluation objectives, development of performance standards, monitoring of the
work performance of employees, evaluation of performance and discussion of such evaluation
with the respective employee. The evaluation of performance will evaluate the performance of
the employees against the standards set at the beginning. If there are deviations in the
performance then the standards set at the beginning then it will be discussed with the employee
by the managers. They will identify the problems which are being faced by the employees such
that they can be resolved on time and the performance can be improved. The performance of the
employees working in Proton can be significantly improved if it will be delivered in a positive
manner. In this way, it will support the growth of both the organization and the individual.
Proton can embrace a positive feedback culture in the organization which will improve the
performance (Mostafa, Gould‐ Williams & Bottomley, 2015). Providing feedback to the
employees will improve employee performance in the following manner:
Specificity- the results of the feedback are the best when it is associated with a specific goal.
When the employees are communicated that they are performing well in the organization then
they can be expected to exceed their goal by 10% (Ayers, 2015).
Timeliness- The feedback given at the time of performance appraisal will allow them to perform
for the next period by making extra efforts.
Manner- the manner of feedback adopted in Proton should be such that it improves the
performance. The responses of the employees are better to the information presented in a
positive way and therefore, the feedback should always be expressed in a positive manner (Mone
& London, 2018).
Suggestions for Improving the Selected Function of Performance Appraisal
Following suggestions should be followed by Proton for the purpose of improving the feedback
process for improving the performance of employees.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 6
There should be equality and impartiality in the feedback and the performance appraisals done
by the organization Proton. The same should be followed during the assessment of the employee
performance along with the maintenance of the same standards for each and every employee
working in the organization. Moreover, at the time of providing the feedback to the employees,
their concerns should also be given equal importance along with the factors which are reducing
their productivity in the organization. Along with this, the organization should aim at building a
culture which values feedback and is willing to improve the performance by taking the feedback
into consideration. Furthermore, the company should provide feedback to the employees with the
help of objective and concrete examples (Harrington & Lee, 2015).
For this, the feedback process does not need to be overcomplicated. It should be given and
received in an easy manner. The employees should be provided with a framework which
provides them an opportunity to actively request and share feedback in a straightforward and
simple manner. Moreover, the feedback given should be multi- directional. Proton should not
make the use of traditional feedback process in which only top- down feedback is allowed. This
is due to the fact the adoption of this process make the employees feel that there is no importance
of their input (Cheng, 2014). However, if Proton will adopt the multi- directional approach it will
provides the employees an opportunity to provide bottom- up feedback.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that performance appraisal is the formal system which evaluates
and examines the performance of the employees on periodic basis. Proton is the company based
in Malaysia and is engaged in the business of automobile designing, manufacturing, distribution
and sales. This report focused on one of the function of performance appraisal. The function
selected for the purpose of this report was providing adequate feedback to the employees on their
performance. When feedback is provided to the employees regarding their performance during a
specific period of time provides an opportunity to the employees to improve their performance in
the needed direction.
Training will enhance the skills of the employees to adopt new technologies and processes
quickly. Furthermore, development programs will also be organized for the employees for the
purpose of improving their performance. It is suggested that there should be equality and

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impartiality in the feedback and the performance appraisals done by the organization Proton
along with building a culture which values feedback.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 8
References
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federal government agency performance appraisal programs. Public Personnel
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Brown, M., Kulik, C. T., & Lim, V. (2016). Managerial tactics for communicating negative
performance feedback. Personnel Review, 45(5), 969-987.
Cheng, S. Y. (2014). The mediating role of organizational justice on the relationship between
administrative performance appraisal practices and organizational commitment. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(8), 1131-1148.
DeNisi, A., & Smith, C. E. (2014). Performance appraisal, performance management, and firm-
level performance: A review, a proposed model, and new directions for future
research. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 127-179.
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Publishing Limited.
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Harrington, J. R., & Lee, J. H. (2015). What drives perceived fairness of performance appraisal?
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Iqbal, M. Z., Akbar, S., & Budhwar, P. (2015). Effectiveness of performance appraisal: An
integrated framework. International Journal of Management Reviews, 17(4), 510-533.

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Lee, T. W., & Steers, R. M. (2017). Facilitating effective performance appraisals: The role of
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