Characteristics of performance appraisal
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I. Contents of getting characteristics of performance appraisal
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The annual performance appraisal is something employees and managers alike often dread. Yet,
the meeting can be a source of motivation and reward if both parties are knowledgeable about
how a performance appraisal works. The performance appraisal is an opportunity for the
manager to convey to an employee specific expectations and suggestions for future performance.
The meeting is also an opportunity for an employee to share with her manager her professional
goals and career aspirations.
Explain The Appraisal Process
In the meeting between a manager and employee, the manager should first explain the purpose
and the process of the performance appraisal. Generally, a performance appraisal is conducted to
clarify job expectations, set goals for improvement of weaknesses and reward for
accomplishments and overall performance. The manager’s job is to explain the steps involved
during and after the performance appraisal.
Clarify Job Expectations
A mutual understanding of the job expectations is essential to an effective performance appraisal.
Absent this, the appraisal meeting could spiral downward because the manager and employee
might be working from completely different vantage points. A review of the job description, and
employee skills, qualifications and responsibilities should precede the actual performance
appraisal.
Review and Update Job Skills

Review the employee’s beginning job skills, meaning what qualifications the employee had at
the start of the evaluation period one year ago. Discuss any improvements necessary and praise
the employee for skills that have improved during this time. Determine what additional skills the
employee can learn during the next evaluation period by setting reasonable goals for professional
development.
The employee should feel free to provide input throughout the performance appraisal. Employers
who formally implement employee input often have an employee self-appraisal form. If this is
the case, the employee will come to the performance appraisal meeting with the completed self-
appraisal.
Review Accomplishments and Goals
Accomplishments throughout the evaluation year will be enumerated. If there are quantifiable
goals established for the review period, the manager and employee determine if the goals have
been met. Often, a “management by objective” technique is used to track specific goals, progress
and completion for each quarter. Using this technique simplifies the performance appraisal
because there are intermediate assessments made during the evaluation period.
Final Steps and Rewards
An overall appraisal score may be discussed during the meeting or it may be calculated after the
manager has had an opportunity to consider the employee input. In addition, the manager should
indicate whether or not the employee will be entitled to an increase in pay or bonus, if
applicable. Many employers use a scale that determines a percentage increase for performance
appraisal scores. Whenever possible, the manager should inform the employee of the type or
amount of increase to expect for her performance during the year.
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III. Performance appraisal methods

1.Ranking Method
The ranking system requires the rater to rank his
subordinates on overall performance. This consists in
simply putting a man in a rank order. Under this method,
the ranking of an employee in a work group is done
against that of another employee. The relative position of
each employee is tested in terms of his numerical rank. It
may also be done by ranking a person on his job
performance against another member of the competitive
group.
Advantages of Ranking Method
i. Employees are ranked according to their performance
levels.
ii. It is easier to rank the best and the worst employee.
Limitations of Ranking Method
i. The “whole man” is compared with another “whole man”
in this method. In practice, it is very difficult to compare
individuals possessing various individual traits.
ii. This method speaks only of the position where an
employee stands in his group. It does not test anything
about how much better or how much worse an employee
is when compared to another employee.
iii. When a large number of employees are working, ranking
of individuals become a difficult issue.
iv. There is no systematic procedure for ranking individuals
in the organization. The ranking system does not eliminate
the possibility of snap judgements.
2. Rating Scale
Rating scales consists of several numerical scales
representing job related performance criterions such as
dependability, initiative, output, attendance, attitude etc.
Each scales ranges from excellent to poor. The total
numerical scores are computed and final conclusions are
derived. Advantages – Adaptability, easy to use, low cost,
every type of job can be evaluated, large number of
employees covered, no formal training required.
Disadvantages – Rater’s biases

3. Checklist method
Under this method, checklist of statements of traits of
employee in the form of Yes or No based questions is
prepared. Here the rater only does the reporting or
checking and HR department does the actual evaluation.
Advantages – economy, ease of administration, limited
training required, standardization. Disadvantages – Raters
biases, use of improper weighs by HR, does not allow
rater to give relative ratings
4. Critical Incidents Method
The approach is focused on certain critical behaviors of
employee that makes all the difference in the
performance. Supervisors as and when they occur record
such incidents. Advantages – Evaluations are based on
actual job behaviors, ratings are supported by
descriptions, feedback is easy, reduces recency biases,
chances of subordinate improvement are high.
Disadvantages – Negative incidents can be prioritized,
forgetting incidents, overly close supervision; feedback
may be too much and may appear to be punishment.
5. Essay Method

In this method the rater writes down the employee
description in detail within a number of broad categories
like, overall impression of performance, promoteability
of employee, existing capabilities and qualifications of
performing jobs, strengths and weaknesses and training
needs of the employee. Advantage – It is extremely
useful in filing information gaps about the employees
that often occur in a better-structured checklist.
Disadvantages – It its highly dependent upon the writing
skills of rater and most of them are not good writers.
They may get confused success depends on the memory
power of raters.
6. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales
statements of effective and ineffective behaviors
determine the points. They are said to be
behaviorally anchored. The rater is supposed to
say, which behavior describes the employee
performance. Advantages – helps overcome rating
errors. Disadvantages – Suffers from distortions
inherent in most rating techniques.
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