EVALUATING

Employee
Performance
Performance
Appraisal Determine purpose of appraisal
$

Process Identify env & cultural limitations

Determine who will evaluate performance

Select appraisal methods

Train raters

Observe & Document Performance

Evaluate Performance

Communicate appraisal reports

Make personnel decision

 Determine purpose of appraisal

1. Providing employee training & feedback

2. Determining salary increases
3. Making promotion decisions
4. Making termination decisions
5. Conducting personnel research
6. Training Needs Assessment & Evaluating
Trainings
Identify environmental
& cultural limitations
 Determine who will evaluate performance

Supervisors

Peers

Subordinates

Customers

Self
Determine who will evaluate performance
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 1: Focus of
the appraisal
dimensions

Competency-focused
*knowledge, skills, abilities*

Report writing
Driving
Public speaking
Knowledge of the law
Decision-making
Leadership
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 1: Focus of
the appraisal
dimensions

Task-focused
*organized by similarity of tasks*

Crime prevention
Use of vehicle
Training Facilitation
Payroll Processing
Administrative Tasks
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 1: Focus of
the appraisal
dimensions

Trait-focused
Honesty
Courtesy
Reponsibility
Dependability
Assertiveness
Cooperation
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 1: Focus of
the appraisal
dimensions

Goal-focused
* based on goals to be
accomplished by employee *
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 1: Focus of
the appraisal
dimensions

Contextual Performance
* effort to get along w/ others, to
improve the orgnanization,
performance of tasks that
are needed but not necessarily
in the JD *
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 1: Focus of
the appraisal
dimensions
Position Title: Customer Service Representative

Work Activities:
Customer Care
• Answers incoming phonecalls from customers
• Addresses customer concerns when applicable
• Refers customers to appropriate department when needed

Trait Competency Task Goal-Focused

Courtesy Communicatio Customer Care 98% Customer

n Skills Satisfaction
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 2: Should
Dimensions
be weighted
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 3: Use of...

a) employee comparisons

• rank order
• paired
comparisons
• forced distribution

b) objective measures
ex: quantity of work, quality of work,
attendance, safety
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 3: Use of...

c) Ratings of Performance

c.1 graphic rating scales

 Select appraisal methods
Decision 3: Use of...

c) ratings

c.2 behavioral checklist

- consists of a list of behaviors, expectations, or results for
each dimension
- may be written in the form of behaviors or in the form of
results
Dimension:
Customer Care BEHAVIORS RESULTS

answers incoming phone • answers phone calls within All customers’ concerns
calls from customers three rings or less are addressed within five
• voice is clear & easy to days after phone call
understand
• provides feedback after
addressing concern
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 3: Use of
c) ratings

c.2 behavioral checklist

Contamination – factors outside employees’ control that

may prevent him/her from getting desired results

Dimension:
Customer Care BEHAVIORS RESULTS

answers incoming phone • answers phone calls within All customers’ concerns
calls from customers three rings or less are addressed within five
• voice is clear & easy to days after phone call
understand
• provides feedback after
addressing concern
 Select appraisal methods
Decision 3: Use of
c) ratings

c.2 behavioral checklist

May be rated in three ways:

Extent to which
Comparison with Other Frequency of Desired Organizational
Employees Behaviors Expectation are Met
(5) Much better than (5) Always (5) Greatly exceeds
other CSRs (4) Almost always expectations
(4) Better than other (3) Often (4) Exceeds
CSRs (2) Seldom expectations
(3) The same as other (1) Never (3) Meets expectations
CSRs (2) Falls below
(2) Worse than other expectations
CSRs (1) Falls well below
(1) Much worse than expectations
other CSRs
Train Raters
 Observe & Document Performance

- observe employee behavior and document critical

incidents as they occur
- CRITICAL INCIDENTS are examples of excellent
or poor employee performance

focus on employee behaviors

rather than traits

helps recall behaviors

WHY? Supervisors tends to remember the
following:
(1) first impressions
(2) recent behaviors
(3) unusual or extreme behaviors
(4) behavior consistent with the
supervisor’s opinion
 Observe & Document Performance

- observe employee behavior and document critical

incidents as they occur
- CRITICAL INCIDENTS are examples of excellent
or poor employee performance

focus on employee behaviors

rather than traits

helps recall behaviors

WHY?
provides examples to use when reviewing
performance ratings with employees

helps an organization defend against legal

actions
 Observe & Document Performance

Employee Performance Record (Flanagan & Burns)

- developed for General Motors

- result: no. of disciplinary warnings declined, suggestions
on suggestion box increased, productivity increased

Type of Performance
Dimension
Poor Excellent
Knowledge

Employee Relations

Accuracy of Work
 Evaluate Performance

• Obtaining and reviewing objective data

• Reading Critical Incident Logs
• Completing the Rating Form

Common Ratings Errors

1. Distribution Errors – involves distribution of ratings on

a rating scale
a) leniency error
b) central tendency error
c) strictness error

2. Halo Errors – rater allows either a single attribute or an

overall impression of an individual to affect the ratings on
each job dimension
 Evaluate Performance

• Obtaining and reviewing objective data

• Reading Critical Incident Logs
• Completing the Rating Form

Common Ratings Errors

3. Proximity Errors – rating made on one dimension

affects the rating made on the dimension that immediately
follows it on the rating scale

4. Contrast Errors
– performance rating a person receives can be influenced
by the performance of a previously evaluated person
- may also occur between separate performance
evaluations of the same employee
- assimilation (new supervisor rates employee based on
previous appraisal)
 Evaluate Performance

Other Factors that Affect Ratings

• Low reliability across raters

• Sampling problems
* recency effect
* infrequent observation

• Cognitive Processing of Observed Behavior

* observation of behavior
* emotional state
* bias
– rater’s feelings (affect) towards an employee may
interfere with the cognitive processing
 Communicate appraisal reports

• Role of performance appraisal

• How appraisal was conducted
• How evaluation process was
accomplished
• Interview will be interactive
• Goal of understanding &
improving performance
Make personnel
decision