Performance Management and Appraisal Report for OL 211 Course

This report examines the crucial role of Human Resources in the performance management process, emphasizing the alignment of HR strategies with an organization's strategic goals. It differentiates between trait-focused, behavioral, and results-based performance appraisal systems, providing examples of their applicability. The report identifies the most suitable appraisal system for the Maersk Customer Service-CARE Business Partner, recommending a trait-focused approach. Furthermore, it describes various performance rating scales, including letter, graphical, and numerical scales, commonly used in organizations to evaluate employee performance and provide valuable feedback. The report highlights how these elements contribute to employee satisfaction and organizational success.

Performance management and appraisals
Student’s name
Institution Affiliation(s)

Question 1: The role of Human Resource in the performance management process
HR performs critical functions in any modern organization, especially in an environment
that stresses employee satisfaction. On the other hand, strategic management provides both the
purpose and the direction that the company should move towards. In the current business setups,
HR heads are playing critical functions and are even involved in significant decisions of the
organization as they represent the most variable resource that a company has – its employees
(Sánchez, Díaz, & Hernández-Fernaud, 2019).
The prevailing business environments require that human resource management be
aligned with the strategic management of any organization if the company has to have a
competitive advantage over its competitors. Thus, there is every need for any organization to
align its goals with its human resource strategies (Iqbal, Akbar, & Budhwar, 2019).
Human resource strategies and the organization’s goal should be matched together to
make up the management objectives of any organization. Therefore, the human resource team
and the strategic management of any organization is pivotal to the success of that organization
(Curzi, Scapolan, & Boscolo, 2019).
HRM plays a critical role in the process of managing performance. The HRM helps the
company or organization meet its goals by acting as a mediator between the functional heads or
reviewing authorities and the employee who is a significant step in ensuring that employees’
needs are satisfied. If a company does not meet the goals that are set forth, the company could
suffer in the long run (Schleicher, Baumann, & Sullivan, 2018).
Question 2: Systems of appraising employees
Trait focused appraisal systems enable organizations to appraise the employee
performance based on their character traits such as their reliability, their aggressiveness, their

competence among other elements that the organization deem the most critical personality traits
that an employee needs for them to achieve the organization’s objectives (Cappelli & Conyon,
2018). In order to ensure employee satisfaction, the organization needs to create a positive work
environment and a culture that all the employees can identify with. When the employees are
satisfied through either the use of rewards or incentives, they are able to perform better and thus
helping the organization achieve its goals and objectives (Rubin & Edwards, 2018). Performance
appraisal system ensures that employee traits such as their leadership skills their creativeness and
whether they can be relied upon can be noted. In trait-based appraisal systems, graphical rating
scale and forced-choice method are widely used. A trait appraisal system is best used during the
recruitment and hiring process as the company goals and values are already known, and so you
want the best traits for your employees (Tziner & Levy, 2017).
In a behavioral appraisal system employee’s performance is evaluated based on how they
behave. A behavioral appraisal system is best applicable when there is an incident and can be
used as a performance improvement plan. This can be used to address and come up with a
solution that will align with the company, and if the employee’s behaviour is found to be wrong,
their contract with the company can be terminated (Idowu, 2017).
The result-based appraisal system is based on production, that is, at the end of an
appraisal phase, the employee or a department is evaluated whether they have achieved their
objectives or the goals that were set at the beginning of that appraisal phase. Results-based
systems are as an employer reporting on what the workers have achieved and this can be based
on the values of the company or a range of activities such as the sales made, the marketing
realized, and so on (Schleicher et al., 2018).
Question 3: Most appropriate appraisal for the Maersk

A person's traits are the most valued elements of their behaviour which are formed over a
long time. Thus, for Maersk Customer Service- CARE Business Partner, a trait-focused appraisal
system is more effective because it is stressed on the character traits of a specific individual
employee (Curzi et al., 2019). Attributes such as competence, dependability, helpfulness, and
communication skills. These are traits that are centered on how the employee treats the customer.
This is why I believe that a trait centered system of appraising employee performance best suits
the Maersk Customer Service- CARE Business Partner.
Question 4: Performance rating scales
Letter scales for performance rating is a scale that uses letters to rate the performance of
the employees. Some examples of the letter scale are something along the lines of Level 5 (E):
Exceptional, which means that the employee is performing far above expectations due to the
exceptionally high quality of work that has been completed (Iqbal et al., 2019).
The graphical rating scale is a scale that is, of course, a performance rating scale. The
scale rates traits such as quality of work, teamwork, and sense of responsibility. On the other
hand, the numerical scales are pretty like the letter scales (Sánchez et al., 2019). However, using
a numeric rating scale, an example of this is: (3, 4, and 5), with 5=excellent, among others.

References
Cappelli, P., & Conyon, M. J. (2018). What Do Performance Appraisals Do? ILR Review, 71(1),
88–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793917698649
Curzi, Y., Scapolan, A. C., & Boscolo, S. (2019). Performance Appraisal and Innovative
Behavior in the Digital Era. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01659
Idowu, A. (2017). Effectiveness of Performance Appraisal System and its Effect on Employee
Motivation. Nile Journal of Business and Economics, 3.
https://doi.org/10.20321/nilejbe.v3i5.88
Iqbal, M. Z., Akbar, S., & Budhwar, P. (2019). Effectiveness of performance appraisal: Evidence
on the utilization criteria. Journal of Business Research, 101, 285–299.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.04.035
Rubin, E. V., & Edwards, A. (2018). The performance of performance appraisal systems:
Understanding the linkage between appraisal structure and appraisal discrimination
complaints. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 0(0), 1–20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1424015
Sánchez, C. R., Díaz, D., & Hernández-Fernaud, E. (2019). Does effectiveness in performance
appraisal improve with rater training? PLOS ONE, 14(9), e0222694.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222694
Schleicher, D. J., Baumann, H. M., & Sullivan, D. W. (2018). Putting the System Into
Performance Management Systems: A Review and Agenda for Performance
Management Research. Journal of Management, 44(6), 2209–2245.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318755303

Tziner, A., & Levy, S. (2017). Examination of Performance Appraisal Behavior Structure.
Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02075