Performance Management: Techniques, Strengths, and Improvements

This article discusses the techniques, strengths, and improvements of performance management. It explores the use of performance appraisal tools to evaluate employee job performance and determine areas that need improvement. The article also highlights the strengths of performance appraisal tools, such as creating plans for employee development and allowing employees to interact and learn from their managers. Additionally, it identifies features in the instrument that may compromise assessment, reliability, and felt-fairness and suggests ways to improve the effectiveness of the appraisal tool, such as increased communication, designing the tool based on the job description of the employee, and training.

Running head: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
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Performance Management
Student’s Name
University

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Introduction
Performance appraisal is a management strategy that employers use to review the work of
their employees to evaluate and document job performance of an employee through regular
reviews to determine areas that need improvement and the development needs of the employee
(Chiang & Birtch, 2010).
The specific types or type of performance management technique present in the instrument
The specific technique of performance management in the instrument is performance
appraisal which seeks review employee job performance and how the job contributes to the
organization to meet its goals. This is an evaluation of the work of an employee through
assessing their skills, achievements and any growth patterns that the employee possesses or lacks
(Keeping & Levy, 2008). This is an important management tool since it assists managers to
decide whether to promote an employee, increase pay or terminate the services of the employee
if they fail to meet the goals of the organization. Apart from reviewing the performance of the
employee, performance appraisal tools lead to creating of plans for employee development since
employee are allowed to list their development needs and how they can be met. Since the
supervisor takes part in the review, it is the only time that the employees review their targets and
sets new ones with the immediate supervisor or manager.
The instruments major strengths
One major strength of performance appraisal tools is that it evaluates the actual
performance of the employee against the expected goals. The tool allows employees to review
their performance and at the end of the appraisal set new goals that form the basis of appraisal in
the next period. This process is realistic since it views employees work and addresses any

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barriers in meeting the expected goals. This forms the basis for employee improvement since it
identifies the gaps in the work of the individual thus allowing the supervisor to work on ways of
addressing any barriers.
Since it has a self-evaluation part where the employee reviews him/herself, it allows
management to understand the interests, proficiencies, and skills of the employee which can be
positively utilized by aligning them to specific organizational needs. This process improves
employee performance since it ensures that employee abilities are utilized. Such abilities can be
utilized by management through planning the human resource system in the organization based
on the needs and interests of employees to build greater teams.
Lastly, the tool is iterative in nature allowing the employee and the manager to work
together and at the same time give feedback to the employee. Feedback can be improvement
point of the employee since it gives insights on how to set realistic goals while at the same time
ensures that the employees understand the concerns of management thus allowing them an
opportunity to work on them. Further, the process allows employees to interact and learn more
from their managers thus improving coordination of tasks between the two levels of the
organization.
Features in the instrument that may compromise assessment, reliability, and felt-fairness
The instrument lacks bias controls which ensure that the employee is protected from the
management. Since the employee is supposed to review himself followed by a management
review. There may be biases challenges in employees assessing themselves and at the same time
biases from the manager. This includes rating errors that can arise from both the employee and
the manager giving wrong ratings (Selden & Sowa, 2011). The fact that the tool only has a scale

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makes it difficult to convert the ratings into the scale. This bias can arise from the supervisor
having a formed opinion that all employees are similar thus the ratings appear across all the
employees. However, there are employee differences in ability and needs that they require to
meet their professional needs.
The tool also lacks objectivity in the way the rating should be done. The performance
appraisal tool needs to be done objectively. There is no guide in the tool that can control the
objectivity of the rater when performing the process. Lack of objectivity can lead to leniency in
rating which compromises the purpose of the whole process (Bicudo-de-Castro, 2017). This
means that the employee and the manager should understand the purpose of the whole process
and must ensure that the ratings are done well.
Lastly, contrast errors can arise especially for employees who work in routine works.
Such employees perform similar activities the whole year but the ratings that on performance
should be contrasted with each other. This means that the challenges the employees face within
one year are not the same the following year and the employee needs and priorities keep on
changing (Fletcher, 2004). The contrast challenge thus making it difficult to achieve the intended
appraisal objective since the rater views the employee performance in relation to the
performance in previous years.
Ways in which the instrument, and the approach to performance management that it
reveals, might be improved
One way to improve the effectiveness of the appraisal tool is increased communication in
the organization. In most cases, the tool is seen by employees as a disciplinary tool used to
identify deficiencies in performance and reprimand employees. Most employees do not see it as

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an interactive process that provides insights on how they can improve their performance (Selden
& Sowa, 2011). Through improved communication processes, employees find it comfortable
being appraised since they are free to interact with management. When targets have not been
met, management can work together with the employee to address key areas that require
intervention.
Another way that the tool can be improved is to design the tool based on the job
description of the employee. This improves the appraisal process since it ensures that the criteria
for appraisal reflect the duties that they perform rather than allowing employees to find words
and indicators that they can fill in the template (Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton, 2010). Such
employees find it difficult working with the tool because it fails to reflect the work requirements
that they engage in. Despite the fact that the tools relate individual job roles, they have not been
aligned with the job responsibility of the job that they are used to appraise thus making it
difficult for them to be related to employee roles.
Lastly, training is an important element in improving the performance appraisal process.
This is because it empowers both the employee and the rater with skills to be used in working on
the issues within the appraisal system (Manasa & Reddy, 2009). In most cases, employees are
the ones who lack appraisal skills which renders them vulnerable to management and unable to
fully appraise themselves. Once an employee’s failure to properly appraise themselves, it
becomes difficult for them to understand supervisor feedback since the whole appraisal process
is wrong.
Conclusion

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Therefore, employee management and appraisal tools can yield better results if they are
designed to meet the intended needs. The tools are supposed to reflect the job roles of the
employee and the same time reflect the goals of the organization. Through training employees
and management can be empowered with proper skills for applying the tools thus reducing biases
and contrast which affect the outcome of the process.

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References
Bicudo de Castro, V. (2017). Unpacking the notion of subjectivity: Performance evaluation and
supervisor discretion. The British Accounting Review, 49(6), 532–544.
Chiang, F., & Birtch, T. (2010). Appraising performance across borders: An empirical
examination of the purposes and practices of performance appraisal in a multi-country
context. Journal of Management Studies, 47(7), 1365-1393.
Fletcher, C. (2004). Performance appraisal and management: The developing research agenda.
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74.
Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Bono, J. E., & Patton, G. K. (2010). The job satisfaction-job
performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin,
127(3), 376-407.
Keeping, L. M., & Levy, P. E. (2008). Performance appraisal reactions: Measurement, modeling,
and method bias. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(5), 708-723.
Manasa, K., & Reddy, N. (2009). Role of Training in Improving Performance. The IUP Journal
of Soft Skills, 3, 72-80.
Selden, S., & Sowa, J. (2011). Performance management and appraisal in human service
organizations: Management and staff perspectives. Public Personnel Management, 40(3),
251-264.