Human Resource Management Dersi 5. Ünite Özet

Purpose and Process of Performance Appraisal

Performance is a criterion which determines how much an individual’s responsibilities are fulfilled. Performance management is the process of creating a work environment where people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities.

Performance appraisal is the process of recognizing, observing, measuring, and developing human resources in the organization. Performance appraisal will help the company to determine the extent of the business agreement with the employees, the extent of the employee’s interest and abilities related to the job, the employee’s business success, the degree to which the job definition is reached and how the career planning is (Bakan, 2014, p. 243). There are seven reasons why performance appraisal is increasingly considered by businesses (Bayyurt, p.578):

1. Labor cost
2. Competition
3. The role change in organization
4. Change in external demands
5. Special development initiatives
6. Information technologies
7. National and international quality awards

A well designed and implemented appraisal system can create many benefits for organizations. The benefits of performance appraisal can be classified into three categories: business, managers, and employees. Performance appraisal is a challenging process. At the end of this process, the aim is to inform the employees about their work and to encourage them to get involved in new tasks. The performance appraisal process consists of six stages as:

1. Determination of performance standards
2. Communicating performance expectations to employees
3. Measure actual performance
4. Comparison of actual performance with standards
5. Discuss the appraisal with the employee
6. Initiate corrective action

The Performance Appraisal Methods

There are many performance appraisal methods developed and implemented in order to determine the performance levels of employees. All of these methods have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the method chosen for performance evaluation must be appropriate to the business’ characteristics and philosophy and should contribute positively to the business development. There two main categories of appraisal methods:

1. Traditional Performance Appraisal Methods
2. Modern Performance Appraisal Methods

Traditional Performance Appraisal Methods

Traditional Performance Appraisal Methods are relatively older methods of performance appraisal. These methods are based on studying the personal qualities of the employees, e.g., knowledge, initiative, loyalty, leadership, and judgment. The most commonly used traditional performance evaluation methods can be listed as follows:

• Ranking Method
• Paired Comparison
• Graphic Rating Scales
• Forced Distribution Method
• Critical Incidents Method

Modern Performance Appraisal Methods

Modern Performance Appraisal Methods were developed in order to eliminate the problems caused by traditional performance appraisal methods and to maximize the outputs from the performance appraisal functions are called modern performance appraisal methods. Unlike traditional methods, in modern performance appraisal methods, participation feedback, development, concrete outputs, standardization and business performance measurement are seen as distinctive features. Modern performance appraisal methods can be described as follows:

• Management by objectives method (MBO)
• Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
• 360- Degree Appraisal Method
• Assessment Centers Method
• The Balanced Scorecard Method (BSC)

The Problems Encountered during the Performance Appraisal process

Performance appraisal is a process that needs to be undertaken meticulously to obtain objective results. The problems that can be encountered during the performance appraisal can be listed as follows;

1. The Halo Effect
2. Tolerance and Flexibility
3. Biases
4. One-Way Measurement
5. The Average Trend
6. Near History Effect
7. Influenced by the Employee’s Position
8. Contrast Effect

The Halo Effect

The Halo effect is that the evaluator, who sees the excellence of an employee in certain business intervals, is affected by this and evaluates this employee higher than in other areas. The halo effect in the workplace can be seen if a manager intentionally or unintentionally favors an employee who shares a similar passion, hobby, or professional goal.

Tolerance and Flexibility

Too much tolerance causes the evaluator to evaluate the performance of the employee higher than it is. This may cause some of the employee’s mistakes to be overlooked and cause unrest among other employees who know the employee’s mistakes.

Biases

It is almost impossible not to be prejudiced when it comes to evaluating humans and their behavior. If the employees are evaluated according to their characteristics such as age, gender, and religion, a false assessment is made (Can and Kavuncubaşı, 2005, p. 165). In addition, factors such as the appearance, social status, and clothing of the employee are among the factors that cause prejudice during performance appraisal. As a result of such a biased performance assessment, the employee’s performance may be low or high.

One-Way Measurement

The organization can set multiple success standards in job descriptions. These identified standards should be considered as the main criteria for assessing the employee’s performance. If the evaluator makes an evaluation according to only one of these success criteria, he/she will get a wrong appraisal result.

The Average Trend

The average tendency is that the evaluator evaluates all employees as medium successful but does not actually make any evaluations. This average trend is one of the frequently encountered errors in performance appraisal. This error is often the case when the assessor does not trust him / herself or he/ she is afraid of the reactions of the employees to the high or low values that will be generated as a result of the performance appraisal.

Near History Effect

This type of error occurs when the performance appraisal is made considering the performance of the employee over the last few months or weeks. The assessor does not care much about the employee’s past activities.

Influenced by the Employee’s Position

Some of the raters are influenced by the position of the employee they are evaluating. In this case, they tend to view the employees who hold very important jobs or positions in the organization as having a high performance, but those who hold relatively unimportant jobs or positions as having a low performance.

Contrast Effect

The contrast effect occurs when the evaluators evaluate a large number of employees in a short period of time, and the reason is that they mix with each other.

The Concept of Career and Career Management

Career and career management is one of the most important and difficult issues of HRM. It is important because it is one of the most effective tools that positively or negatively affects the motivation of employees

Career is a path in which the individual progresses in a job that he/she has chosen, and as a result he/she gains more money, takes more responsibility, obtains higher status, and more power and respect (Can Akgün and Kavuncubaşı, 1995, p.63). Even though the concept of career is associated with individuals who have jobs with high status or rapid progress, it in fact applies to all employees of the organization. Some concepts related to career are as follows:

Career Path is identifying the jobs that can be employed as a result of the analysis of the tasks performed by individuals and ordering them in a logical and appropriate manner.

Career Mobility is that the individual works in different organizations to make a career or works at different levels within the same organization.

Career Plateau is the name given to the period when it is not possible to move or rise between tasks.

Career Trail defines the job positions that the individual should follow in order to achieve the career goal that s/he has set.

Career Map is a diagram that shows the individual’s paths to achieve his/her personal goals and a move forward in his/her career.

Career Values refer to a set of standards that are consistent with an individual’s behavior and how he / she regards himself / herself.

Career management is the process of determining an alternative job, occupation, and organization appropriate to the individual’s abilities, interests, values, and preferred lifestyle. Although career management seems to be an activity carried out by the organization for the individual, it is in fact a way determined by the individual himself.

Career Planning and Career Development

Career planning is to improve the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the individual in order for him/her to progress in the organization. Every individual needs to make career planning in order to be successful in business life. There are two main types of career planning:

• Individual career planning
• Organizational career planning

Individual Career Planning is a process in which individuals should identify what they need to do in order to reach their goals. The individual career planning process consists of four stages:

1. Self-assessment
2. Discovering
3. Focusing
4. Job search

Organizational Career Planning is the process of creating career paths and activities for individuals within the organization.

Career development, on the other hand, is an individual’s ability to develop himself/herself continuously throughout a series of stages, each of which can be distinguished by a unique set of issues, themes and tasks, and official techniques that the organization offers to its employees. Career development process takes place in connection with experience and knowledge and in this way gives the opportunity to implement strategies determined according to individual and organizational goals. The individual should follow his/her career developments and constantly update himself/ herself in order to achieve his/her career goals. In order to facilitate and accelerate the achievement of organizational objectives, the organization should plan and fulfill the necessary career development activities for its employees.