Managing Performance

Performance Feedback
First, communicate the importance of
performance appraisal to everyone in the organization. In particular, let everyone know that the process is used as a fundamental determinant of many decisions that affect people in a very personal way.

Performance Feedback
Second, review your appraisal instrument
to make sure that it can provide the data the organization and appraisers need to serve all of the different purposes (realize that this may make the appraisal form more complex and comprehensive).

Performance Feedback
Finally, consider using different processes
and holding separate meetings to deal with each of the areas that a performance management system addresses.

Performance Feedback
You should have a minimum of two
meetings. Youll hold one at the beginning of the yearthe performance planning meetingwhere you will talk about the important results to be achieved over the next twelve months.

Performance Feedback
In this meeting you and your subordinate
will review the job description, the organizations mission and vision and values statements, your departments goals, and the most important items on the performance appraisal form.

Performance Feedback
The second mandatory meeting will be at
the end of the year, after you have written the appraisal and had it approved by your boss. This is the performance review meeting.

Performance Feedback
You and the individual will discuss the
performance appraisal, talk about the individuals achievements over the past twelve months, review his development needs, and then plan for the next twelve months.

Upper Mgt Feedback

Provide for upper-management review
before the appraisal is discussed with the individual. Most organizations require the manager who completes the appraisal form to have it reviewed and approved by his boss before it is given to the employee.

Upper Mgt Feedback

Managers who might be capricious or
arbitrary (let alone directly discriminatory) in their appraisal assessments may tend to be a tad more cautious knowing that their direct supervisor must review and approve what they have written first.

Upper Mgt Feedback

Upper managers should be encouraged to
do more than rubberstamp the appraisals that are sent up to them for review. Most of the time, senior managers have a reasonably good idea of the overall quality of performance of the people in their department, even though the individuals may be two or three organizational levels down.

Appeal Mechanism
Today, virtually every employee of every
organization has an appeal mechanism he can use to contest a perceived unfair appraisalthe legal system.

Appeal Mechanism
Since employees do in fact have a way to
challenge unfair appraisals, providing them with an internal means to appeal what they believe to be an unfair performance appraisal without having to go outside the organization can be a cheap form of insurance against unnecessary embarrassment and management time.

Appeal Mechanism
One immediate appeal mechanism simply
involves allowing the individual who believes himself to be the victim of an inaccurate appraisal to state his side of the story as a formal part of the record. Most appraisal forms contain a space for employee comments. Employees should be encouraged to use it.

Appeal Mechanism
One immediate appeal mechanism simply
involves allowing the individual who believes himself to be the victim of an inaccurate appraisal to state his side of the story as a formal part of the record. Most appraisal forms contain a space for employee comments. Employees should be encouraged to use it.