Communication Skills for Managers

Performance appraisal is probably the most misused and abused
management tool in history. When asked, the majority of human resource
managers will swear blind that it is their most important device for
reviewing members of the team. The reality is that, on the whole,
managers, supervisors, and employees hate the thoughts of them and
they rarely get done. Human resource professionals spend a lot of time whipping people into doing them, while managers look for a variety of
reasons to delay the process.

The reason for this is that it's often an uncomfortable practice to
carry out, people undertake performance appraisal for the wrong
reasons and from the wrong perspective. This can end up putting the
manager and the employee on different "sides". Appraisals are used for
determining pay increases, who gets let go, who gets promoted. Most
commonly, they are used to focus on what people have done wrong.

So what is the real point of performance appraisals?


Generally, the aim of the practice is to:
• Give feedback on performance to employees.
• Identify employee training needs.
• Document criteria used to allocate organizational rewards.
• Form a basis for personnel decisions: salary increases, promotions,
disciplinary actions, etc.
• Provide the opportunity for organizational diagnosis and development.
• Facilitate communication between employee and administrator.
• Validate selection techniques and human resource policies to meet
federal Equal Employment Opportunity requirements

The most important purpose or goal of the appraisal is to improve
performance in the future, in both employees and team leaders.
Managers can get valuable information from staff to help them make
their jobs more productive. Through feedback given in performance
appraisals work units can identify problems that interfere with
everyone's, and take steps to rectify them. If there is a shift from
affixing blame to identifying barriers to performance the fear and
dread associated with appraisals will be removed.

When managers put away the "blaming stick" in appraisals and move to a
cooperative, dialogue approach, the whole process can become more
comfortable and effective. Because, it puts the manager and employee
on the same side, and working towards the same goals, getting better
and better.

Performance appraisals are always awkward for everyone. While managers
make an effort to be as objective as possible, there are always
concerns about specific performance appraisals, and their accuracy.
When you're evaluating your staff it's wise to be aware of factors
that may affect your assessments. Here are a few factors you should be
aware of, so that you can examine your own assessment processes to
ensure that they are as free from bias as possible.

Generalising

Generalising, or the halo effect, is the tendency to rate someone high
or low in all categories, based on their performance in other areas.
Results of performance appraisals, where generalising occurs, do not
help develop employees because they are inaccurate and unspecific to
their entire performance.

Different Standards of Evaluation

Evaluation terms such as fair, good, excellent, etc, are commonly used
in performance appraisals, yet managers should be aware that the
meaning of these words will differ from person to person. In any case,
the use of these categories is not recommended; they are just too
unspecific and do little to provide sufficient information to evaluate
individuals and help them develop.

Current and Lenient Bias

Current bias is the tendency to assess people based on their most
recent performance and to ignore previous behaviour. Leniency bias
occurs when the employee gets rated higher than warranted, this is
usually accompanied by rationalization as to why this is appropriate.

Opportunity Bias

This occurs as a result of ignoring the notion that factors beyond the
control of the employee may either restrict or facilitate their
performance. In the case of opportunity bias, credit or blame is given
to the employee when the true cause of the performance was
opportunity.

False Attribution Errors

There is often a tendency, in performance appraisal, to attribute
success or failure to individual effort and ability. So when someone
does well, we give them credit, and when someone does less well, we
suggest it's somehow their fault. While there is some truth in this,
the reality is that performance is a function of both the individual
and the system he or she works in. If both factors are not taken into
account, it will be increasingly difficult to improve on performance.
Although performance appraisals are commonly dreaded throughout the
company, from team leader to employee, they are a necessary tool in
ensuring development. If conducted fairly and appropriately the
information gathered can be used to vastly improve the performance of
the entire team.

About the Author
Sheila Mulrennan from Professionaldevelopment.ie specialises in
writing articles relating to Personal Development Training,
Communication Skills, Prfesentation Skills and Performance Appraisals.
Visit her website at www.Professionaldevelopment.ie for more.