Performance Appraisal Effects in Jamaica's Public Sector

This project examines the effects of performance appraisal systems on employee performance within the public service of Jamaica, focusing on a case study of the Ministry of National Security. It highlights the context and rationale behind performance appraisals, noting their potential problems and their role in employee development and organizational productivity. The study aims to determine whether performance appraisals enhance productivity, review the relationship between employee productivity and performance appraisal, and help employees and managers improve their performance. A descriptive research design was used to gather data from the Ministry of National Security in Jamaica. The project also addresses potential ethical issues related to employee monitoring and the use of performance appraisals in staffing decisions. Key references in the field of human resource management and performance appraisal are cited to support the research.

MBA– OUTLINE RESEARCH TEMPLATE
Matriculation number:
Indicative project title:
The Effects of Performance Appraisal System on Employees’ Performance in the Public Service of Jamaica – A
Case Study of the Ministry Of National Security
Main academic area(s) and sub-area(s)
Human Resource Management
Context and rationale:
According to Allen and Mayfield (1983), the performance appraisal is one of the components in the
organizations that causes serious problems in the Human Resource Departments. Despite being a problematic and
conflicting tool, (Schoorman, Mayer, and Davis, 2016) Appraisal system is viewed as a basic tool in any
organization that enables the employees to contemplate on their work and needs so as to improve on their
production.
The performance appraisal usually takes place after a set period of time depending on the rules of a
given company. It may occur annually or semi-annually where the productivity of the employees is reviewed and
discussed; weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats are all identified for caution and development of the
organization (Paillé, Chen, Boiral, and Jin, 2014). Some of the major factors that affect the effectiveness of an
appraisal system include; communication, training, documented process and evaluation of results. Reward review,
potential review and performance review are the major types of appraisals commonly used in the organizations.
This research is about the effects of appraisal system on employees in the public service of Jamaica in the
Ministry of National Security and the potential ethical issues that are likely to affect this system. The major
significance of production in most of the organizations is to maintain, (Mone, and London, 2018) meet and satisfy
the customers’ needs; this ensures that the company competes favorably regardless of the stiffness of the
competition in the market.
Aims and objectives:
This study seeks;
(i) To know whether the performance appraisal enhances the productivity
(ii) To review the relationship between employees’ productivity and the appraisal of performance.
(iii) To help the employees understand the important information related to their work.
(iv) To help managers and supervisors improve on their current performance based on their past performances.
Indicative research approach (methodology, design and methods):
Descriptive research design was adopted and used as the best method so as to discuss in depth the
issues concerning the variables of the study. The design was used where the offices of the Ministry of National
Security in Jamaica were visited. This method was approved the best since the main objective was to understand
the effects of appraisal system in employees’ performance. The method also enabled to come up with the required
data appropriately. The descriptive design is very suitable because there is the use of random methods and the
errors can be easily identified through observing the samples. This approach is very significant to this study since
it answered the research questions. The questions included ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘who’.

Potential ethical issues:
Close supervision and monitoring of the acts by the employees can highly cause ethical issues that lead
to productivity management systems; this can cause interference with one’s and employees’ privacy which they
could not entertain at all cost. When employees are monitored and supervised closely, the right to private life is not
followed and might cause problems in the organization.
Use of measures in staffing can also cause ethical issues in an organization. The measurements of
staffing are used at handling the systems of appraisal. These appraisals of performances are helpful in identifying a
certain employee’s performance level. Performance appraisals can also be used to reward and motivate employees
and also advise them on the areas that they should improve and take caution on. The Human Resource Managers
must be very keen when handling the employees’ performance. When keenness and careful instructions are not
followed in handling performance appraisals, promoting and demoting of the wrong employees can be carried out
since they carried out the tasks using false information of the employees (Sykes, Venkatesh, and Johnson, 2014).
Seminal (or most relevant) references [maximum of five]:
Mone, E. M., & London, M. (2018). Employee engagement through effective performance management: A
practical guide for managers. Routledge.
Paillé, P., Chen, Y., Boiral, O., & Jin, J. (2014). The impact of human resource management on environmental
performance: An employee-level study. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(3), 451-466.
Schoorman, F. D., Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. (2016). Perspective: Empowerment in veterinary clinics: the role
of trust in delegation. Journal of Trust Research, 6(1), 91-95.
Sykes, T. A., Venkatesh, V., & Johnson, J. L. (2014). Enterprise system implementation and employee job
performance: Understanding the role of advice networks. MIS quarterly, 38(1).
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