Performance appraisal

According the flipper, "Performance Appraisal is a systematic, periodic and so

far as humanly possible and impartial rating of employee's excellence of
matters pertaining to his potentialities for a better job".

NATURE OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Performance appraisal offers the following main nature to the organization

and its employees.
i. Employee Performance
It provides yardstick by which both accomplishment and needs for further
improvement in respect of an individual can be measured.
ii. Employee Development
it is used to highlight needs and opportunities for growth& development of
employee by focusing attention on their deficiencies and potentials.
iii. Wages and Salary adjustments
It is also used by certain organizations to grants merit increase in pay to
employee in certain categories of jobs.
Evaluation of Supervisor & Manager
Performance Appraisal also provides valuable yardstick to measure the
effectiveness & Supervisors& managers in developing the team members
who under their direction. Problems in performance Appraisal
Ø There are the problems normally encountered in appraising the
performance of employees.
This is no consensus among the assessors on the factors should be given
priority in evaluating the performance of the subordinates

MEANING OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Performance appraisal or employee appraisal in the systematic process of
measuring and evaluating employees with respect to their performance on the
jobs and their potential for development .Although performance Appraisal is
often described as merit rating, strictly speaking, rating in, and only one form
of personnel evaluation. Merit rating refers to various formal systems of
appraisal in which the individual employee is compared with others and
ranked or rated performance. Appraisal is a more comprehensive process,
which combines formal ratings with supplementary observations, records &
evaluation. For gain of knowledge in a particular subject
Performance Appraisal is accepted to save various purposes in an
organization structure. Broadly speaking, performance appraisal is necessary.
· To monitor the efforts of individuals
· To integrate and co-ordinate endeavor.
· To provide protection feedback to individual.
· To provide an equitable and consistent basis of distribution rewards and
penalties.

OBJECTIVES OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

The main purposes of performance appraisal are as follows;

Ø To provide feedback to employees so that they come to know where
they stand and can improve their job performance.
Ø To provide a valid database for personnel decision concerning
placements, pay, promotion, transfer, punishment, etc.
Ø To diagnose the strengths and weakness of individuals so as to identify
further training needs.
Ø To provide coaching, counseling, career planning and motivation to
subordinates.

BENEFITS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Performance appraisal is a formal exercise carried out for all executives and
workers/ staff with respect to their contributions made towards the growth of
the organization. The benefits of a successful appraisal system can be
summed up as follows.
a. For the Appraisal
1. Better understanding of this role in the organization. What is expected
and what needs to be done in meet those expectations ,
2. Clear understanding of his strengths and weakness so as to develop
himself into a better performer in future.
b. For the Management
1. Identification of performer & non-performers and their development
towards better performance.
2. Identification of training & development needs.
3. Generation of ideas for improvement.
c. For the Organization
1. Improved performance throughout the organization.
2. Creation of culture of continuous improvement and success.
3. Conveyances of message that people are valued.
Scope
The scope of any performance appraisal should include the
following: provide employees with a better understanding of their role and
responsibilities; increase confidence through recognizing strengths while
identifying training needs to improve weaknesses; improve working
relationships and communication between supervisors and subordinates;
increase commitment to organizational goals; develop employees into future
supervisors; assist in personnel decisions such as promotions or allocating
rewards; and allow time for self-reflection, self-appraisal and personal goal
setting.

Performance Development Process — What to

expect as a laboratory professional
Rick Panning, MBA, CLS(NCA)
Beverly Farrell, Ph.D.

As you enter the clinical laboratory profession, one of the most

important aspects of the employment process is called performance
management or development (commonly called performance
appraisal). The purpose of this process is to ensure that an
organization is able to provide high quality service to meet the
service needs of the customers. This is achieved by promoting
employee competence and development. It should ensure that all
new employees are competent to perform the basic responsibilities
of the job, held accountable for job expectations and that all current
employees continue to learn new information and develop new
skills.

While many people view the performance appraisal process as

beginning after 6 or 12 months of employment and view it as a
review of how the employee has performed for the previous period,
a successful performance management process begins during the
hiring process. It continues as an ongoing cycle from recruitment,
through hiring, orientation, and goal setting and on to performance
appraisal and evaluation. This process occurs in three stages with
the following components.

The performance management process starts with employee

planning and ends with an evaluation of employee progress.
Managers and employees should meet to discuss planning and goals
throughout the year. If possible, formally sitting down with your
supervisor or manager on a quarterly basis is optimal. The process,
at its best, is a collaborative one which should add value for both
the employee and the employer.

It is unreasonable for a prospective employee to understand all of

the requirements and duties of a position before they are hired. The
process to set goals and evaluate performance should be discussed
during the hiring process. Once you have accepted a position, the
initial few months of employment should focus on orientation,
training and competence assessment. During orientation,
development goals for the coming year should be mutually
discussed and documented. Expectations for the coming year should
also be clearly defined by your supervisor. It is not unreasonable to
expect that on a regular basis, your progress should be reviewed. It
is recommend that you take the initiative to ask how you are doing,
if there are areas on which you should be concentrating on or that
need improvement, or if there are additional content areas for you
to learn.

The annual performance appraisal is usually done in two steps.

First, you and your manager complete the performance appraisal
form - you doing a self assessment. Often organizations also use a
60 degree feedback process, asking for input from your peers.
Secondly, you and your manager participate in a formal
performance appraisal interview. The appraisal form, used in the
first step, consists of performance standards and criteria that are
used to judge evaluate your performance. The items comprising
your job description are usually the performance standards that are
 used in your annual appraisal. Most clinical laboratories use a
criterion-based job description. The performance standards are
derived from a job analysis, which is a detailed list of all of the skills
involved in performing a task. For example, what are the skills
necessary to perform a complete blood count? The criteria are used
to determine the level of performance, which can be excellent,
average, or poor (or alternatively meets, exceeds or does not meet
standards). Once your appraisal is complete, your score is averaged
and your merit raise (if applicable) is determined from the final
score (Wallace & Klosinski, 1998; Wolfgang & Wolfgang, 1998).

If the above process occurs, the formal, annual performance

appraisal process should be more of a formality. There should be no
surprises at this session. If ongoing performance review has
occurred, this session can concentrate on a thorough review of your
overall performance, but more importantly can concentrate on
setting goals for the coming year. Those should include specific
areas of improvement, project goals, and specific learnings that
should take place as you move forward. The components of an
effective process are:

GOALS: Along with your supervisor, you should establish key goals
on a regular basis. A few points to keep in mind are:

• Make sure the goals are few in number (3-5) so that you can
focus on them. Some of these will be in common with other
employees and others will be specific to you.
• Goals should match your personal development goals and be
aligned with the overall goals of the department.
• Goals should be clear, precise, measurable and time-specific
• Goals should be within your control to achieve but also allow
you to "stretch".

ONGOING LEARNING: To support your goals, learning that will be

required to achieve these goals should be defined and should
provide continual development and growth. Focus on knowledge
and skills you will need to be effective now and in the future, that
will contribute to your achievement of goals, and are relevant to the
your needs and interests.

COMPETENCIES: For every employee expected competencies should

be defined. They fall into three categories.

• Those that apply to all employees and are important for the
organization to remain successful. These may be things like
customer service and employee satisfaction or engagement.
• Those that are the "core" of your job description and reflect
those competencies necessary for you to be successful as a
laboratory professional.
• Those that identify new knowledge, skills or abilities that you
must learn to remain competent in your job for the upcoming
defined time period. They may evolve around new instrumentation,
process improvement or high-risk functions and regulatory
changes.

View the performance management process as an opportunity for

you to continually grow and develop during your career in the
clinical laboratory profession. Take advantage of this process to help
you define how you can be successful in your organization and as
an individual. As a professional, career and personal development
requires and investment of time and commitment from both you
and your employer.
Challenges Of Performance Appraisal

An organization comes across various problems and challenges Of

Performance Appraisal in order to make a performance appraisal
system effective and successful. The main Performance Appraisal
challenges involved in theperformance appraisal process are:

 Determining the evaluation criteria

Identification of the appraisal criteria is one of the biggest problems
faced by the top management. The performance data to be
considered for evaluation should be carefully selected. For the
purpose of evaluation, the criteria selected should be
in quantifiable or measurable terms

 Create a rating instrument

The purpose of the Performance appraisalprocess is to judge the
performance of the employees rather than the employee. The focus
of the system should be on the development of the employees of
the organization.
 Lack of competence
Top management should choose the raters or the evaluators
carefully. They should have the required expertise and the
knowledge to decide the criteria accurately. They should have the
experience and the necessary training to carry out the appraisal
process objectively.

 Errors in rating and evaluation

Many errors based on the personal bias like stereotyping, halo
effect (i.e. one trait influencing the evaluator’s rating for all other
traits) etc. may creep in the appraisal process. Therefore the rater
should exercise objectivity and fairness in evaluating and rating
the performance of the employees.

 Resistance
The appraisal process may face resistance from the
employees and the trade unions for the fear of negative
ratings. Therefore, the employees should be
communicated and clearly explained the purpose as well
the process of appraisal. The standards should be clearly
communicated and every employee should be made
aware that what exactly is expected from him/her.

Employee Promotion & Performance

Appraisal
Company owners or executives may evaluate a company's employees to ensure they
are working hard toward the company's overall mission and goals. If an employee is
working toward these goals and performing well, a promotion or appraisal may be given.
This procedure differs greatly for each company, so ask your employer about the given
business' performance procedures.

Performance Appraisal Purpose

1. Employees are frequently evaluated in terms of their performance and role in
a business, whether the business is large or small. This is to see if the employee is
working hard to reach the goals of the business in question and whether the work
 provided by the employee is meeting the company's mission statement. If the employee
is not performing as expected, the employer may perform an employee review, where the
employee is made aware of issues that need to be addressed in the employee's daily
work tasks.
Employee Promotion
2. If the employee is working hard, addressing all tasks expected and performing
beyond expectations, the employer may give the employee a promotion as a sign of
excellence. The promotion may indicate that the employee is ready for more
responsibility in the company and is mature enough to play a larger role in the business.
A promotion may not be the result of any positive employee performance review, as the
employer may not have that option each time.
Using Performance Appraisals
3. If you are given a positive employee performance review, but do not get a
promotion as a result, do not think that you are less important in the business. Use the
positive feedback and appraisals to work harder and keep perfecting your employment
skills with the given business in question. The harder you work, the more the employer
will notice. If you are not given a promotion immediately, you can work toward it through
continuous hard work.
Setting New Goals
4. When you are given your performance appraisal from your employer, use the
opportunity to ask him what you can improve on to grow in the business. Use the
information he gives you to set new professional goals for yourself that you can work
towards. For example, your employer may tell you that you could work on your
management and leadership skills to get a promotion as event manager rather than a
sales person, for example. Use the feedback to set new goals and work towards them for
more positive appraisals and possibly a promotion.