Grammar Requirements

(Title Page)

Presented to
Perry Barton
MGMT2215 - Team Projects

By
Spencer Hammonds

Date
1/28/2015

There are many very important factors in the workplace. They range from overviews to
hiring and more. One of the biggest parts of the workplace is performance. Performance plays an
important role in the workplace because how well a employee or follower carries out a task will
determine how high productivity is. In order for employers and leaders to keep track of
productivity they monitor the performance of the employees. This is how employers make their
decisions about what employees get raises and which employees get the pink slips.
A performance appraisal is a meeting between an employer and employee where they
both sit down and discuss the overall performance of the employee. This means that they discuss
the strengths and weaknesses of that employee based on observations of the employee and what
has been seen in the workplace so far. The performance of the employee is discussed in great
detail as to give a vivid description to the employee. It is important to have performance
appraisals because employees need to be able to see their progress or to be able to witness if their
performance and productivity in the workplace has diminished. Employees are not able to see
themselves work and as such cannot necessarily view any of the mistakes being they are making
thought out the day in the workplace. As it is stated that the performance of the employees is
supposed to increase over time as the employee becomes used to the tasks and processes that are
assigned to them and they become more skilled and experienced. Because of this productivity
overall is supposed to increase and the tasks and processes become smoother and easier to
oversee as the employees themselves become more experienced with their overall job positions
and the tasks assigned to those job positions. This process however does not necessarily happen.
There are many factors and reasons that some employees do not necessarily get faster with their
job and tasks. Some may have issues understanding what their job asks of them, some may be
distracted with other problems in their life, and some may not be motivated enough or posses
enough morale to take their job seriously enough to push themselves to become more skilled at
their job. Whatever reason, productivity does not always increase overtime like it is supposed to
as it is first stated. This is where performance appraisals come in. Performance Appraisals allow
employee and employer to sit down and discuss their performance. The Performance appraisal
looks back at all the accomplishments and mistakes that have been made on the job. It looks how
fast the job is being done, how much quality is being put into the job, how the employee acts on
the job, and overall if they are becoming more skilled at the job they are doing. This means they
also look at the weaknesses of the employee. They look at where they are weak and what parts of
the job they are not carrying out in the most efficient manner. This allows the leader or employer
to talk about how to improve productivity in the employee, state where they need to improve on
the job, and give instructions on how to improve on the job. This created a great opportunity for
the employee because they can see how well they are doing at their job and it give employers an
chance to shed some light on what parts of their job they excel at and what parts of the job need
improvement. Performance appraisals shed light for the employee and give them a rundown on
the biggest problems that they are seeing in that employee and gives them instructions and
advice on how they can better themselves in all aspects of the workplace as to increase
productivity in the workplace as well as their individual performance on the jobs and tasks that
they are assigned.
The performance appraisal is given by the Human Resources Department. They usually
carry one out ever quarter of the year which gives employees a chance to change and increase
their performance based on the previous performance appraisals given. There has been however
some businesses that do not do quarterly as they are too expensive and as such carry out an
appraisal once every year. These meetings are most likely much longer and more detailed in

terms of what is seen and what needs to be improved in the workplace. It also means that the
employee has more time to increase productivity in their job and more time to become more
skilled at the jobs and tasks given.
There are many different types of performance appraisals each coming with its own
strengths and weaknesses. These different methods are used based on the type of workplace the
manager is overseeing. Different workplaces require different performance appraisal methods
because if the appraisal method that is being is not sufficient for that type of workplace than the
data and information that has been gathered and the strengths and weaknesses of each individual
employee will not be completely accurate. This can cause many different situations. They can
range from gathering the wrong data to giving the wrong advice about how the employees can
better themselves and fix their weaknesses in the workplace. This can all be caused by inaccurate
observations made by the use of an inaccurate performance appraisal. It is always important for
employers to note what type of workplace they are managing and as such should choose the right
performance appraisal that fits that type of workplace and the flow of the processes that each task
builds up too.
There are many different types of appraisals that aim at different parts of the workplace
and the employees that work in it. Some performance appraisals focus more on a one-on-one
basis which is the basic having a meeting where the employee sits down with the manager to
discuss their performance. In some case this cannot happen. If a workplace is too big than it will
be much more difficult to have a one on one conversation with each employee, it would take up
too much time and would distract both the employees and the mangers for other duties and tasks
that are required of them. Wrong findings or wrong observations can cause many problems in a
performance appraisal. This can affect the overall productivity and efficiency of the workplace
itself as the mangers are giving the wrong feedback from observations. This inaccurate feedback
in turn causes the workers to work on improving wrong aspects of their working ability and in
turn do not improve in the places they need to become successful in the workplace. In is
important to note that this can result from the use of an inaccurate performance appraisal method.
One of the many types of performance appraisal types is the three hundred sixty degree
method. This method is very common in which an employer or a manager gains information on
the employee. The amount of data gained from observations is enough to create a complete
profile filled with facts about the employee ranging from strengths, special, skills, and of course
weaknesses. This method is the easiest because it is very cut and dry and does not take much
effort compared to the other methods. In the three hundred sixty degree method the manger or
the employer interviews the employee or anyone that they are doing observations on. In the
interview the employer looks for key points in personality and collects data on the interviewee.
The employer or interview gauges the worker and creates skill levels and ranks them according
to the data that they are collecting. This means that the interviewer creates some type of chart
that describes the different abilities and how good the interviewee is at those jobs and tasks. This
allows for a clear image of the worker and his or her ability in the workplace. At the end of the
interview the employer or interviewer can clearly see what the weaknesses of the employee are.
This method allows the weaknesses to be seen on paper and allows the interviewer or employer
to sit down and discuss what these weaknesses are and the different ways the employee can
improve them in an effort to increase their working ability and the overall productivity in the
workplace. This allows the employer to basically manage the development of the employees in
the workplace and also allows the employer or interviewer to view the employees progress over
time as the employee learns from the mistakes and weaknesses that were relayed to him/her. This

includes but is not limited to: Behavior, character, leadership ability, technical skills, etc. Overall
the three hundred sixty degree method is the easiest to initiate and the easiest to read and review
in terms of the basic employer or interviewer and the standard workplace. In my opinion this
method is the most common and possibly the most needed in the workplace. Every employee in
a workplace must be evaluated at some point during the year. If employees go unevaluated it can
cause serious issues in the workplace ranging from lowered productivity to employees no
improving on their abilities in the workplace. It is important to keep this method as the basic
standard of performance appraisals and to have some remnant of this method incorporated into
the mangers or leaders list of tasks to do at least once a year. This will allow employees to see
their flaws and weaknesses in the workplace and overtime see their improvement in the
workplace. This will in turn cause an increase in productivity for each employee and the tasks
that they are assigned. One last aspect of the three hundred sixty degree methods is the fellow
employee input. One of the best and more powerful parts of this method is allowing an
evaluation of an employee to be done by the fellow employees that work with them. Employees
evaluating other employees is one of the key parts in this method as it allows employers or
leaders to gain a full view of the employee based on not just the observations of the leader but
the first hand observations of the people that work with that employee. This way there is full
view of the employee from all angles. An example of one of the positive abilities of this method
is every employee working with the employee being evaluated giving positive feedback to that
employee, while on the contrary the employer or leader of the workplace is not very fond of the
employee or how they operate and perform tasks based on their individual observation. It can be
concluded to the possibility that the employer may simply possess a dislike of the employee or
the employees personality and nothing more. The method itself helps self development and also
assists in the development of work relationships
The next method on the on the list of performance appraisal methods is the management
of objectives also known as MBO. Management by objectives was a performance appraisal
method that was founded by a management theorist named Peter Drucker in the 1950s. He first
outlined the idea of MBO is a book named The Practice of Management. The Management by
Objectives method was created in hopes to improve performance of an organization by clearly
telling the objectives that need to be met which are predetermined and agreed upon between both
the managers in the workplace that will oversee these objectives being completed and the
employees that must work hard to make sure these objectives are complete. The objectives that
are predetermined by both parties usually possess a time limit. This method serves a very
important purpose in the workplace. The major reason is that it sets goals and objectives in the
workplace for everyone. The Management by objectives method not only organizes the
employees on what they should be working on it also motivates the entire workplace and gives
them something to work toward. This method is used in every type of workplace in one way or
another because all workplaces have objectives that need to be met within a certain time frame.
An example of this method would be a salesman working for a product company. The salesman
sits down with his manager. The manager or the leader who oversees his sales states that he must
meet a sales quota every month in order to keep his job. This objective will motivate the
salesman to work harder to not only keep his job, but the reach the objective before the time
frame that was given is up. The method also does contain some parts of the method previously
explained which is the three hundred sixty degree method. The big difference being that this
method uses objectives and time limits and bases stats and abilities on how well the employee
can perform under a set time limit and a clear objective. This method is also useful in creating an

organization method for the workplace. The Management by Objective method organizes the
employees by creating objectives of the different types of tasks employees may have. An
example that would help with the understanding is all employees of the sales department have a
quota to meet every month where as all employees in the internet department have a quota to
meet every week. The different objectives and quotas that need to be met by different employees
can add labels to departments and allow managers to differentiate employees according to their
objectives. This method is also built for achievements and allows employees to see their progress
over time as the number of objectives and quotas are met over a set period. In my opinion this
method is just as important as the others and should come standard in all workplaces. If this
method is not implemented or incorporated into the workplace it can have drastic drawbacks.
Due to the fact that the management by objectives method is so apparent, many things can go
wrong if the method is messing from the workplace. The method in itself also helps raise moral
and productivity in the workplace. Employees will be much more willing to work hard if there is
a clear objective and goal set. This goal or objective that was predetermined by the meeting
between the employee and manager creates a finish line. Overtime as more and more objectives
and quotas are made employees will see their progress and become more confident in their jobs
and tasks. It also indicates that they are growing in experience and are becoming more skilled at
their job. As the employees become more confident in their jobs and tasks they will be more
motivated to come to work each day which over time increase productivity due to the hard work
and motivation of the employees. There are however some weaknesses to this method. The
management by objectives focuses more on achieving objectives rather than planning to achieve
the objectives, in other words the method focuses more on creating the objectives rather than
discussing how to carry them out. This can be a problem in terms of creating plans and ways of
achieving the preapproved goal. This can also have a negative effect on schedule and overall
how tasks will be planned out to get to the objective within the time free. All in all the
Management by objectives method is another performance appraisal method that needs to be
incorporated in the workplace if the manger wants the maximum amount of productivity and
want all of their employees to work their hardest.
The next method that can be used in a performance appraisal is the rating scale. The
rating scale differs greatly from the previous two methods stated earlier. This method is more
like a grade book developed for the employee based on observations that are seen in the
workplace. The rating scale is an in-depth grading system that possesses many similarities to a
regular grading system in high school or middle school. The scale is created based on
observations than the creator uses the scale to evaluate the employee and the employees
successes and weaknesses based on the scale itself. AN example being one of the categories on
the rating scale being physical skills and communication skills. These are basic skills that are
needed in a workplace. If the employee scores lower than they should on the rating scale that the
employer or the person conducting the evaluations has to bring that employee in and sit down
and discuss ways that the employee can improve the skills that had low ratings on. Another
similarity that this method possesses along with grade school grading system is the minimum
score needed to pass a rating scale. Each rating possesses a minimum score needed for an
employee to be considered satisfactory in that part of the scale. If the employees score does not
reach them minimum than that employee has failed the performance appraisal and must be met
with to discuss ways to improve their performance. This method can be one of the easiest ways
an employee can lose their job due to low performance and not reaching the standards of the
company that are required of them. Usually if the employees scores do not meet the standards

many organizations can put that employee on a performance improvement plan. This way the
employer can hone in or emphasize of some of the employees weaknesses and work on
improving their performance and overall productivity within the organization. In my opinion this
method is less needed in the workplace but at the same time should be incorporated into a
performance appraisal every once in a while. The reason being is many managers have a lot to do
on their plate and some may not have all the time in the world to focus on each and every
individual employee, and even if they can they cannot attaint he perfect reading through simple
observation and stating their opinion on their performance and how they can create ways to
improve it. This method provides much assistance by doing much of the job for them. The
grading scale creates the standard in itself and allows employers to visualize and actually see the
successful or failing performance on paper. This in turn make it easier for the employer to home
in on the skills that the employee may be lacking in and allows the employer to create specific
plans that home in on their poor performance in different ways. In conclusion the grading scale
method should be another method that should be incorporated into all businesses performance
appraisals every once in a while. The method is incredibly detailed and allows managers and
leaders to connect on a personal level with the employees and hone in on an employees
strengths and how to focus on them, and an employees weaknesses and how to make
improvements as needed.
There are many other types of methods that can be taken advantage of in performance
appraisals. The number of different methods is constantly changing due to new methods being
constructed. These new methods come from a new generation of mangers and also a vastly
growing and changing workforce. As many new jobs and job titles are being created this means
that there will be new forms of workplaces which in turn would require new performance
appraisal methods that need to be used. One method that has not been spoken on yet is the
critical incident method. The critical incident method makes use of extreme individual
observation. The critical incident method identifies a specific incident that took place in the
workplace and observes how employees respond to it. The employees response to the incident is
observed and is based on how well they responded to the incident or how poorly they responded
to the incident. This is how and what their performance is based off of. The manager keeps a log
or a file of each employee and observes how each employee behaves in certain situations and
records the behavior that will be assessed later. The main part of this method is pure
documentation and helping employees better themselves based on the data gathered and written
down. There are however some drawbacks to the critical incident method. Some of the
drawbacks can range from the focus of the method to higher up or high ranking employees rather
than lower level. Another drawback is the close supervision and the watchful eye of the method.
This drawback is particularly problematic as this part of the method may make many employees
feel uncomfortable due to the constant watch of the manger or leader. This can cause a strain in
the relationship between the two and can affect productivity in the workplace due to the lowered
quality of work from emotionally uncomfortable employees. The method is also very tedious for
the manager his/herself. The job requires a normal manger to constantly add on to the large list
of things to do by being required to observe the actions and behavior of each and every employee
in the workplace. This task may become a simple chore and the manager may begin to neglect
the job and in time forget to perform the task completely. The last drawback is the supervisors
have been known to file complaints during annual review sessions. In my opinion this method
should be reserved or better left to a workplace will a lowering productivity rate. This method is
tedious and requires large amounts of time to perform. The critical method should be left for

critical workplace productivity. Another performance appraisal method that can be discussed in
the weighted checklist method. This method is used by Human Resources departments in larger
workplaces. The method performs performance appraisals by listing different jobs in groups then
evaluating them based on the different types of behavior or behavior patterns in each group. This
method has been known to use questions in order to properly evaluate an employee, questions
that ask about behavior and how they act in the workplace. The weighted checklist is done by
creating a list of questions and then answering them based on their actions. The most common
way that this method is performed is through the use of the yes or no questions. These questions
are straight forward and can be answered easily. At the end of the questionnaire the employees
performance is based on the questions and how many of the questions were positive on the
questionnaire. There are many strengths and weaknesses to this method. One of its major
strengths is the amount of assistance that the method brings to evaluating an employee to the
manager. A drawback however is it becomes difficult for the manager to perform questionnaires
of all employees due to employees possessing different personalities and as such some may be
much more confusing than others in certain questions.
The paired comparison method is another one of the many different types of performance
appraisals. This method can be used or incorporated in different methods and as such is a good
way to properly conduct a performance appraisal. The method is also used to hire and to promote
in the workplace due to its evaluation style and what the method actually does. This method is
performed by creating options for each employee. After the options have been chosen the options
are then paired up with the options of another employee. The results of each of the options are
recorded and the employee with the highest score of the highest options in comparison of the
other employees is chosen. This performance appraisal is more of a ranking type method among
others. The way the paired comparison method performed involved comparing employees to one
and other to see who is better than the other. This method does not seem suitable for actually
evaluating employees to find out their strengths and weaknesses in the workplace and as such
should not be used outside of the initial job it is intended to do. The appraisal creates a basic list
of elements that is used for all employees. These elements can range from attitude, to teamwork,
to basic behaviors in the workplace. Each employee is ranked in each element and the highest
scores are the employees that are usually chosen for the better jobs and the big job promotions.
Another performance appraisal method is the graphic rating scales method. This method is
literally the most common and possibly the oldest method of performance appraisal that has ever
been created. This method is simple and easy to use to evaluate employees to discover strengths
and weaknesses. In the graphic rating scales the manager simply checks on the performance
levels of each employee in the workplace. The evaluation questions are incredibly simplistic and
can be answered through short observation and can be completed in a matter of minutes for each
employee. The method makes use of a rating scale along with the questionnaire. The fact that
this method is less time consuming puts much less stress on the manager or leader and allows
them to perform the appraisal frequently to keep up with changes in the workplace and the
employees, the method also allows form small comparisons of employees which give more of a
view of the higher performing employees in the workplace. There is however a number of
drawbacks. The different supervisors will use the same scales in different ways which can cause
an inaccurate reading of each employee. The use of different supervisors to use the scales can
cause much confusion as what may be unsatisfactory with one supervisor or mangers
performance appraisal may not score as high with another. In my opinion there should be one

basic scale that all supervisors should use and they should all use and evaluate the same way as
to not cause any confusion in the workplace.
Another method that can be utilized in the workplace is the essay evaluation method. This
method of performance appraisal is much more cut and dry or simplistic than the other methods
that have be previously discussed. The method requires managers, supervisors, or leaders to
figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the employee based on pure observations. This
method is not a complete performance appraisal and as such is usually mixed in with much larger
appraisals or other performance appraisal methods. The essay evaluation by itself usually
involves the manager or supervisor to look for basic points in the workplace that the employees
performance that need to be noted. These points range from attitude and the ability to work with
others, to the employees knowledge for the company and task that they are assigned to doing.
This performance appraisal method comes with many drawbacks. Due to the cut and dry style
that this appraisal method is used the readings or the notes may be inaccurate. The supervisor or
manager may note many nonexistent weaknesses or weak points due to the dislike of the
employee. This can also lead to inaccurate readings as well as straining relationships between the
employee and the supervisor or manager. Another disadvantage is due to the size of the appraisal
the manager or supervisor may create inaccurate readings from lack of time to properly observe
the employee. The evaluations may also be poor and may not be understandable to others and
difficult to explain to the employee who in turn makes it difficult to plot and hone in on weak
points and creating new ways to improve those weaknesses in the workplace. Another
performance appraisal method is the behaviorally anchored rating scales or the BARs. This
method is more tuned towards behavior in the workplace before anything. The appraisal involves
making rates on behaviors based on a set of indicators to determine the productivity of the
employee in the workplace. The attitude and behavior play a big role in the workplace, if the
employee is not motivated to come into work every day to work hard and put in their best effort
than that employee will not be putting out their full one hundred percent in the task that they are
assigned. This can be the cause of low productivity in the workplace. This method is the
combinations of two separate appraisal methods that have been mentioned before. These two
methods are the rating scale and the critical incident method. The behavior of the employee is
compared based on the indicators like behavior expectations, and behavior observation. This
method is very accurate with its readings as well as the discovering if the employee is truly
motivated to show up to work and put in their best effort. This method can be a great way to test
in workplace relationships between the employee and the supervisor. The last performance
appraisal method that will be discussed is the forced ranking method. This method is similar to
other appraisal methods that involve comparing employees to each other. The method makes use
of a basic ranking system with a slightly rigged number scale. The best of the best or the highest
ranking employees can only represent the top one ten percent or twenty percent of the ranking
scale, while the next sixty to seventy percent is dedicated to the middle levels or the level
beneath the high performers, these can be considered the middle level. The last level is
considered the low performers in the workplace which represent the last ten percent or whatever
is left within the percentage scale. Many automotive companies and United States corporations
use this method heavily in the workplace by basing it off of how many sales each employee has
made. This method has many positive purposes like forcing hesitant or reluctant managers to
make tough choices by discovering the best and the worst in the workplace, and also force a
constant increase in productivity. There are also some large drawbacks such as straining
workplace friendships and relationships due to a heightened level of competition which leads to

lower collaboration and lower levels of teamwork. These drawbacks in turn lower morale and
begin to create a negative workplace.
Performance appraisals are an important part of the workplace. The supervisors and
managers use these different methods to discover new ways to make improvements to the
workplace to make it more comfortable to the employees while at the same time allowing
employees to better themselves at their job and constantly see their improvement over time as
they grow. The different methods that have been previously discussed hone in on all aspects of
the workplace including behavior, attitude, performance, ranking, talent, strengths, weaknesses,
personality, motivation, etc. Each category affects the overall performance of the employee and
how well they perform in the workplace as well as their productivity. Each performance
appraisal method comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, some are more severe than
others such as creating a negative work environment, putt a lot more work on the supervisor or
the manager which lengthens the time they themselves have to work, straining relationships and
friendships between employees or employees and the manager or supervisor, and can even do the
opposite of what the appraisal was intended to do such as lower productivity. The main key in
performance appraisal is to figure out which one fit the workplace the best. The performance
appraisal must fit the workplace as well as any drawbacks that come with it. Performance
appraisal is one of the key ways that a supervisor or manager can get the best out of their
employees. Constantly rating them and observing how they work and carry out tasks in the
workplace over time motivates them to do better and increase overall productivity in the
workplace.

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