Assignment:
How do you reply to the following discussion post? Minimum of 150 words with references.
The performance appraisal process for my organization serves multiple purposes. These purposes include an evaluation for promotion consideration, an evaluation for the individual for who is conducting the appraisal and ultimately a retention decision. Although there is an ideology that the appraisal assists in developing the employee, it is more of a reporting of the asset or liability that the employee is to the organization.
The performance appraisal form for my organization identifies both hard and soft skills that the employee possess. It creates a standard and assesses the employee's performance to these standards (Dressler, 2013, pg. 285). The employee is graded on how well they illustrated these skills and characteristics during a given period. These grades are evaluated at the time of promotion consideration to compare to colleagues who are also competing for the same promotion. Provided that the employee has successfully illustrated that they have developed their hard and soft skills greater than their peers, the likelihood of their promotion increases.
Additionally, managers of the organization are evaluated on how they appraise their employees by their leadership. The managers must ensure that they are not overstating an employee's worth or level of development in their hard and soft skills on a graphic rating scale (Dressler, 2013, pg 291). Basically, the manager is graded on how accurately they manage their appraisal process. This sometimes leads to inaccurate appraisals because of the managers fear of the perception that they may be overinflating an employee's appraisal, which could negatively affect their own appraisal.
Ultimately, the appraisal process impacts the employee's retention potential. In this organization, the ability for retention is placed on the ability to be promoted. In an organization of this size, this type of performance system works well. Provided that the employee continues to develop and maintains their ability to be competitive with their appraisals for promotion (compared with their peers or "paired comparison method" (Dressler, 2013, pg. 294)), they maintain their ability to be retained by the organization.
The appraisal process for this organization provides the employee feedback to the areas of development and the areas where they are deficient. The problem with this appraisal process is that more times than not, the manager does not physically conduct an appraisal meeting unless it is a negative (below standard) report, as it is not a requirement. Therefore, it is up to the employee to interpret what message the manager is trying to convey. Additionally, unless the manager has made a conscious effort to be involved to observe the performance of the employees, the evaluation is based on the employee's reputation within the organization and feedback from front-line managers to the appraisal manager.
The performance management process for this organization works for their needs. Unfortunately, there are a few flaws to the system that allow for individual bias to cause an effect on promotion potential of an employee and the organizational restrictions to promotion vacancies which can cause an unexpected termination of an employee. The areas of this process that needs to be truly overhauled in the responsibility of a manager to physically meet and explain their appraisal to the employee and restructuring the grading of the manager on how they manage their appraisals.
Reference
Dressler, G. (2013). Human Resource Management. 13th Edition. Boston, MA. Pearson.