Performance appraisal methods Essay Example for Free

Performance appraisal methods Essay In order to succeed in the market, companies need to ensure they provide efficient management of human resources. Companies can perform well only in such a case when all of the employees are able to realize their potential, apply their skills and make sufficient contribution to the development of the company. Performance appraisal is particularly important for all of the organizations because it enables them to determine the contribution of every employee to the performance of the company. Performance appraisal is currently one of the most important issues in human resources management which â€Å"continues to be a subject of interest and importance to human resource specialists. † (Hornsby et al. 1996, p. 10). Bernardin Klatt (1985); Hall, Posner, Hardner (1989); Maroney Buckley (1992); Thomas Bretz (1994) have all devoted considerable attention to the development of theoretical models of performance appraisal. How can a manager of the organization make a conclusion about the necessity to promote this or that employee, increase of decrease his salary, shift him to another department? How can the manager decide which employee needs special training or which can perform on the highest level without additional training? The most efficient tool in such a case is performance appraisal. If carried out correctly and on the basis of efficient methods, performance appraisal can be very helpful for the evaluation of employees’ work. â€Å"Companies that hope to succeed in todays competitive business environment must learn to identify their most capable employees for placement in key organizational appointments. To do this, managers should devote more attention to maximizing the effectiveness of performance appraisal systems. (Mcbey 1994, p. 23). Appraisal methods for the performance of the customer care supervisor in Fabulous. com require both the application of generally recognized methods of performance appraisal and their slight adjustment to the specification of the position. On one hand, this position needs to be appraised with the help of commonly used principles and methods. On the other hand, it requires deep understanding of the functions which customer care supervisor needs to perform daily, his responsibilities, all of the complication which can occur in the process of the fulfillment of his responsibilities. The choice of appraisal methods needs to be guided by the specifications of the position. In order to make a decision about the appraisal method which will be used for the position of customers care supervisor, it is necessary to analyze all of the most well-known methods of performance appraisal in relation to their effectiveness for this position. What needs to be kept in mind is that there is no possibility to find one completely efficient method. All of the methods will have both advantages and disadvantages. After more than 30 years of serious research†¦ it seems that little progress has been made in developing an efficient and psychometrically sound alternative to the traditional graphic rating scale. One major conclusion to be drawn from this research is that there is no easy way to get accurate and informative performance data. † (Rice 1985, p. 30). Even though there is no possibility to determine a completely accurate method, some tools of performance appraisal need to be used in any case because â€Å"timely, useful, and accepted feedback can help individuals make great strides toward optimal performance. (Coyens, Jenkins 2001, p. 34). Comparative standards include straight ranking method; alternative ranking method; paired comparison method; forced distribution method. All of these methods are inappropriate for the position of customer care supervisor due to the specifics of his activities. Comparative standards can be very efficient for the types of job in which employees need to do exactly the same kind of work and it is possible to tell the differences between their performance. However, the position of customer care supervisor is created in order to maintain a solid relationship with customers and supervise all of the major activities dealing with customer service in the company. This is not the type of job in which employees’ performance can be compared because it is hard to find the criterion of comparison in such a case. Comparative standards application in performance appraisal of customer care supervisor would lead to inaccurate results. Besides, in customer care it is particularly important to make emphasize on the further improvement of performance of the supervisor. Comparative standards do not provide any information on that point. The straight ranking method is the simplest and the most inaccurate because it only enables to compare employees. It does not let the appraisers to perceive the qualities of the employee himself. Alternative ranking method, paired comparison method and forced distribution methods can all be used in manufacturing companies and organizations of similar type but they will be completely useless when appraising customer care supervisor at Fabulous. com. Absolute standards include narrative essay; critical incidents method; weighted checklists; forced choice; Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS); Behavioral Observations Scale (BOS). â€Å"With this style of appraisal, managers use written, absolute standards. Reviews are not based upon relative standing of the employee in a specific work group. Absolute methods facilitate intergroup comparison of employees in an organization. † (Mcbey 1994, p. 11). They are more efficient and could be applied for performance appraisal of the position of customer care supervisor. However, they have many disadvantages which need to be discussed. Narrative essay generally could give a good idea about the employee working at the position of customer care supervisor. However, it is more a qualitative description than a quantitative method of appraisal. It would not provide all of the important data about the performance of the employee. Critical incidents method is efficient only to some extent because it provides information about the employee’s behavior only in critical situations. The work of customer care supervisor does not always consist of critical situations, in fact, they are quite rare. That is why there is no sense the measure the employee’s performance with the help of this method. Weighted checklists can be useful but they have a very large impact of the appraiser’s opinion, and weighting coefficients can sometimes be applied incorrectly. Forced choice is not the most efficient method to be applied for the case of customer care supervisor because this method does not meet developmental needs and does not allow the appraiser to interpret the ratings correctly at times. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) are used quite frequently nowadays. BARS uses expected performance levels as a basis for the appraisal. Behavior is judged by a job analysis and comments from those in the same or similar jobs. Behavioral statements are developed for each job in the organization and are anchored by numerical scales. † (Mcbey 1994, p. 12). However, this method has some important disadvantages. â€Å"Although BARS provides excellent specific behavioral guidance for employees, it is among the most complex and difficult performance appraisal system that can be introduced, especially for smaller organizations without significant human resource staff capabilities. † (Mcbey 1994, p. 2). Other authors also point at the complexity of this method: â€Å"While advocates of BARS, particularly the consultants who do a thriving business with it, claim its a great leap forward, critics point to several drawbacks. The lengthy job analyses and complex scale construction require a major investment of a companys time and money. A scale designed for use in one department may not apply in another. † (Rice 1985, p. 32). In our opinion, there is no sense to apply very complicated performance appraisal techniques in our case because the position which is being analyzed is not the key position in the company. Such complex techniques should rather be used for employees occupying positions of senior- and top management. Behavioral Observations Scale (BOS) are very similar to BARS in their complexity. â€Å"The BOS system observes past performance as the standard for appraisal. BOS offers many of the same benefits as BARS, most notably concrete examples to guide employee behavior and developmental difficulty. † (Mcbey 1994, p. 13). The application of this method is also not efficient for the position which is being analyzed due to its over-complexity. Objectives-based approaches include Management by Objectives (MBO) and work standards approach. These approaches are the most suitable for the performance appraisal of the customer care supervisor because it is particularly important for the employee in the position to achieve his goals. There are types of jobs in which the goals are pre-determined for many years ahead of time: for example, a salesperson needs to ensure he or she sells as much merchandise available in the store as possible. There are no adjustments of this goal or any corrections because it is universal. The position dealing with customer care and maintenance of successful relationship with customers is very challenging and deals with change in many aspects. The goals constantly need to be re-adjusted according to the needs to customers. The capability of the customer care supervisor to achieve all of the goals is the measurement of his success in this position and his adequate performance. There can be no better appraisal methods for this position than objective-based approaches. Management by Objectives (MBO) is very useful in this case. â€Å"MBO became popular because, in theory, it can be tailored to each individual job and because it lets subordinates know how their performance will be measured and gives them specific, mutually-agreed-on goals. (Rice 1985, p. 33). Its mechanism is relatively simple. â€Å"As customarily practiced today, supervisors and their subordinates sit down at the beginning of each year, or every six months, and agree (often in writing) on specific goals to be accomplished. At the end of the period, the supervisors evaluate their subordinates in terms of how well they have met those objectives. † (Rice 1985, p. 33). Work standards approach is similar to MBO except that organizations determine goals and appraisal techniques on the basis of their past experience. Of course, there are some disadvantages of this method which need to be taken into consideration. For example, â€Å"one major weakness is the difficulty of setting reasonable goals well in advance, when they may be vulnerable to factors outside the employees control, such as economic conditions, labor problems and price increases. † (Rice 1985, p. 33). At the same time, this disadvantage can be interpreted as an advantage in such a case if the goals are constantly re-adjusted according to the needs of the consumers. In such a case, the performance appraisal method will work efficiently.