■ in vi'U uLii iu n u 111 a 11 LTV; Ml Margaret Foot & Caroline Hook Chapter 7 Selection: Interviews and tests Appendix 7.1 Company name and logo Company address Town PCI 1XX Ms C Candidate 1 Named Street Candidtown PCI 1XX 1 June 2011 Dear Ms Candidate I regret to inform you that the selection panel has selected another candidate for the position of Human Resource Assistant. I would like to thank you for the time and effort you put into your application for this post and for your participation in our selection process. The panel was impressed with the cali-bre of the candidates and had a .difficult decision to make. Please do not hesitate to apply again for any suitable position with Company Name. Yours sincerely A Barker Director of Human Resources i I I t CHAPTER and appraisal Objectives By the end of this chapter you will be able to: @ state what is meant by the term 'performance management' • give examples of techniques used in the management of performance at work e design a simple performance appraisal system • discuss some of the key issues of performance management in international organisations. It is always important for managers aim supervisors to get the best performance from their workforce in terms of levels of production and quality of output. Performance management is concerned to get the best performance from the individual, but goes further in that it also aims to get the best performance from the team and from the organisation as a whole. It aims to improve performance in the workplace in order to achieve the organisation's strategic obiectives. Defihifion' of performance,ffiaiisgsiiieRl.:^;;j;:::::.' Armstrong and Baron (2004), in what is now regarded as a classic work on the subject, define performance management as a process which: contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people which will ensure it is achieved. How organisations actually carry out the performance management process and the methods ihey use will vary, but ultimately the aim is to motivate everyone in the organisation and ensure that they are all working towards the same strategic objectives. 248 249 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal Definition of performance management Performance management as an integrated and strategic process As you can see from Figure 8.1, performance management is a process thai irrvoly^ many aspects of people management and each of the topics covered in this b -makes a contribution towards it. But simply initiating a new performance manage ment scheme or introducing new HR practices or policies as part of the process not in itself bring about the desired motivation of workers. t Performance management should be a shared process between managers, inch, viduals and teams in which objectives are agreed and jointly reviewed and in which corporate, individual and team objectives are integrated. All should feel ownership of the process and share a complete understanding of the system (C1PD, 2009). The recent 2009 CIPD survey of 507 HR managers showed they were increasingly aware of this. This CIPD survey found that demand for effective performance management was even stronger during the recession as HR departments tried to ensure that they achieved the best performance possible so their organisations' strategic objectives-were met, while at the same time ensuring fair, objective measurements of perfor-: mance were used. In the survey most HR managers had continued to use similar processes as part of performance management but had emphasised more strongly its purpose to create and drive a stronger performance culture. They had made clearer the link between individual objectives and strategic objectives and most had used performance management as a way of gaining greater engagement from the workforce. Because it should also be strategic in nature it should bp dearly linked to broad" issues and establishing long-term goals. In order to achieve these things managers must ensure that the people or teams they manage: « know and understand what is expected of them • have the skills necessary to deliver on these expectations • are supported by the organisation to develop the capacity to meet these expectations • are given feedback on performance e have the opportunity to discuss and contribute to individual and team aims and objectives (Armstrong and Baron, 2004). According to Cannell (2007), the tools typically used in performance management include the following: « performance and development reviews « learning and development 9 coaching • objectives and performance standards • competences and competencies © pay © teams » 360° feedback © performance problem solving. The 2009 C3PD on-line survey, mentioned earlier, about performance management asked for opinions about performance management and what it involved in o a ■ E*B- gl -g ä to -g -."5. o ==h 53 to ca 3 öo E; Q) C, r F-.E 5' £■ o ib in UtLF '■e:8 5.._--;a!Q'3»-=..5.'P in 5 aocS c £ , 4j s3 <» <0. -co a=^<" = ,.0)-<»-^-'c- l> £ J? ™ as. 3 oj.-O'.S *0 i'S »-£ o-2 o ^ „e ; f^o.o -Q.cy.t-;y 5.(6 f • j O 4) ssaaojd luauiaSeueui aoueuuopad § I UJ Organisational strategy t2?» s x 251 250 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal Models of performance the respondents' organisations. The actual tools used in performance managern, ,|t appear not to have changed much over time with appraisal, objective setting an<| -view and development still being the most popular. A trend to link perform m , management with a wider range of HR processes was noted and 69.6 per cent 011 .u sample felt that performance management should be aligned with at least four'orji.. HR processes (CIPD, 2009). There was a great deal of variation about which HR processes it should be linUfl with but there was general agreement among 85 per cent of tlje sample thai learning and development should form a part of performance management. Othei , | > processes mentioned included career development, coaching and mentoring, ,n,; succession planning and talent management was included by 65 per cent of the participants. Performance management was also in some organisations being integrated with a wider range of HR processes designed to promote well-being, engagement and development of potential. Models of performance Figure 8.2 Figure 8.1 shows what we regard as some of the key features of the performance man"----agement process but these will vary depending on the strategic objectives and culture of the organisation. The organisation's strategic objectives need to be expressed in a way that everyone within the organisation understands, in effect by clearly communicating the organisation's vision for the future, or their Big Idea. While the strategic objectives will te'pffimartly formulated by senior management this should be part of a two-way process and the strategic objectives should be agreed after extensive discussion^ = Involvement and clear communication should mean that everyone in the workforce feels engaged and that they can contribute to the achievement of the organisation's goals or big ideas either individually or as part of a team. The right-hand side of Figure 8.1 lists some of the tools and techniques that can be used as part of-the performance management process for individuals, teams and the organisation itself. While the tools and techniques used in performance management for the indi viduat, the team and the organisation differ slightly, the performance management-... process itself is very similar for each and can be shown as a cyclical process. Fig- :■ ure 8.2 shows the performance management implementation process in this form. It does not matter whether the focus is on the individual, the team or the organisation as for each the performance management implementation process involves evaluating current levels of performance and assessing them against the desired levels. The aim is to improve performance, add value and contribute to meeting objec-. tives at whatever level. Different techniques will be used in the evaluation and assessment of current levels of performance. Individuals may be assessed, against... their objectives by using personal development reviews, performance appraisal in-v terviews, or perhaps reports of errors or complaints. For teams or departments the : information needed may involve a comparison with team or departmental targets or -a summary of faults and complaints for that department. On an organisation-wide, basis a great deal of data would need to be collected to indicate the extent to which The performance management implementation process Evaluate current performance levels for organisation, team or individual to add value and meet objectives Assess performance levels required and measures to be used \ the whole organisation was meeting objectives and cumulative feedback may be compiled using information from performance appraisals throughout the organisation, or from customer satisfaction surveys. Organisations need individuals to feel engaged in the process and may also conduct surveys to establish the extent to which the workforce feel motivated by various aspects of the performance management process such as the pay and incentives or the learning and development opportunities offered. In each case the aim is to evaluate the current levels of performance and compare this with the assessment of the performance levels required. These will depend on the organisation's objectives, which in turn feed into departmental objectives, team objectives and individual objectives. In each case it will be necessary to decide whether the aim is to achieve a satisfactory level of performance, whether it is to achieve higher performance levels to add more value to the organisation, or whether the objective is to transform performance levels by encouraging and enabling increasingly new or innovative ways of working. Once a comparison has been made between desired performance levels and existing performance levels, choices have to be made about how these can be achieved for individuals, teams, departments or organisation-wide. Some of the techniques listed 253 252 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal in Figure 8,1 may be chosen for each category and these then need to be impletn The process on an organisation-wide basis is likely to take a substantial of time. Whatever techniques are chosen as part of the performance management there should be a review to establish whether or not they have succeeded in meetings objectives set and this continues into evaluating current performance levels against those required as new objectives are set to meet strategic objectives. Measurement has bi r,jr K increasingly important in assessing whether or not there ha| been an improvement iq -performance and according to the CIPD (2010) this should be a continuous piorcis for" individuals and teams and it should be integrated into every aspect of running the organ-isation. The 2003 CIPD survey found that HR managers were in many instances finding it difficult to measure the effects of performance management in isolation from other fhi ngs that might affect business performance or individual performance. Howevci, I [R managers were keen to try to measure performance and were using a wide range of htea.- -sures such as versions of the balanced scorecard, key performance indicators .n.t-measures of level of engagement in employee satisfaction surveys. As far as the individual is concerned the performance management pro l«s . ii ,| be viewed as starting at the selection stage as individuals are selected because of their skills, knowledge and competencies in order to make a contribution to the achievement of the strategic objectives. When the individual joins the organisa i the induction into that organisation will be a way of communicating the organisation's strategic objectives, perhaps in a simpler form of one Big Idea that encapsu-. lates the objectives. It also reinforces the organisation's culture and values. As they -find out more about their job they should also discover how they can make a contribution to the performance of the organisation and the achievement of its strategi: -objectives.: figure 8.3 shows a model of the performance management process for- -the individual employee. The induction should also be used as an opportunity to evaluate the indivicl-ual's skills, knowledge and competencies using a personal development re-in-, and to compare these with the organisation's or team's needs. Even though thi person has been selected to carry out a specific job they may lack some of th. skills, knowledge or competencies needed to work in that job or team. Plans should be made to meet any gaps between the individual's skills, knowledge and competencies and the organisation's or team's requirements for these. Decisions need to be made about the appropriate ways to fill any gaps between the two and.:. this may involve using formal and informal learning and development methods. .; Individual goals and objectives will be set and the contribution expected by the in- :: dividual to team or departmental goals and objectives will also need to be dis- .. cussed. (The topics of induction, and learning and talent development will be dealt with in more detail in the next chapter but they do contribute to the process i of performance management.) In a performance management system there will be regular performance reviews throughout the year and also formal appraisal interviews at regular intervals, Each aims to monitor performance and see how individuals or teams are contributing to and meeting their targets or objectives and they are important in helping to identify learning and development needs. Their aim is to motivate for. better.. performance, but regular reviews could also help to identify poor performance at an early stage. Pay systems are used to reward excellent performance and if perfor- : mance seems to be slipping below an acceptable standard then counselling, the Figure 8.3 * Models of performance A model of the performance management process: the individual employee Organisation's strategic objectives Ambitions, goals, plans that everyone knows about The Big Idea" New targets for performance -Targets — Recruitment and selection Targets for performance Personal development review Learning and talent development Learning and talent development Formal/informal Personal development review •X Effect on pay Pay linked to achievement appra-,sa|:-of targets — review performance, targets, achievements and set new Learning and ^it-deve! g pmen.f targets Disciplinary procedures Absence" management - - ...____-d^"' Counselling absence management system or even the disciplinary system may be used. Even when these processes are used the aim should be to make clear what the required standards are and motivate the individual and team to achieve them. Topics such as learning and talent development, pay systems, discipline and absence management will be dealt with in later chapters of this book, while in this chapter we focus on issues relating to the performance management process and some specific techniques which can contribute to it such as performance appraisal and performance reviews. Many organisations are linking their performance management system to talent management and according to Angela Baron (2009) some of the best practices appeared to be 'where performance management was acting as a portal to talent management'. In these organisations the term talent management was used 255 254 Chapter S Performance management and appraisal in its widest sense, a view endorsed by the authors of this book, so that ev< ilJ|p and not just the chosen few had access to a review process: each staff me,).,. performance was reviewed and they were each helped to find ways to do their ! better. ; The ACAS model workplace and performance management ° 4 In Chapter 1 we referred to the ACAS (2005) model workplace and outlmec1 ...|1 ACAS feels are the necessary steps to turn an organisation into an effective J performing place of work. The ACAS (2005) model workplace, integrates various aspects of HR and emphj. sises the need for good two-way communication and clear goals that employs-. •. ij.. work towards. In essence it demonstrates many of the features of an excellent performance management process and seems to relate well to Armstrong and Barents (2004) definition, given at the start of this chapter, that stated performance manage. ■ ment is a process which 'contributes to the effective management of individiifU i L teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such, it ■ m lishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach ro U \i\\,y t and developing people which will ensure it is achieved' | We have advocated throughout this book the need for policies and procedures so that everyone knows and shares a common understanding of what is supposed to be~ done and this is clearly a key aspect of performance management. ACAS (2005) viva that this is a good start, but that the way things are done is also important. This is an - ___approach we also.emphasisp.throughout this book, as the way organisations manage performance can impact on most of the areas listed in the ACAS (2005) model workplace and consequently can impact on workplace effectiveness. si Pause for thought 8.1 The term performance management is used in a rather different way in a few organisations when they refer to 'performance managing someone out of an organisation' or putting someone on -performance management'. Have you heard the terms used like this? What do you think of this approach to performance management? Performance management should be about trying to get improvements in perfor-.;: mance but, as we showed in Figure 8.3, processes like attendance monitoring or disciplinary procedures are likely to form part of a performance management system.. However, organisations that use the term performance management as almost a synonym for disciplining someone have not got the right idea about managing ^ performance and motivating people. Performance management should be about; motivating individuals, teams and organisations to make a contribution to the > organisation's strategic objectives and should have much more focus on incentives and positive aspects of motivation rather than just focusing on a negative approach to people management as is the case when an organisation thinks that performance £ management is about 'performance managing someone out of the organisation. ? Such a negative approach to performance management is certainly not an approach that we advocate. 256 The role of line managers in performance management The people and performance model In Chapter 1 we also referred to the research carried out by Professor John Purcell and his team at the. School of Management at the University of Bath (Purcell el al, 2003), Their people and performance model also showed the interrelationship of different HR policies. However, while traditional HR policies and procedures were important in this, the other area that they said really made a difference in organisations was 'the way people work together to be productive and flexible enough to meet new challenges'. They found in the organisations they studied that the organisation first had to have strong values and an inclusive culture and, second, have sufficient numbers of skilled line managers to be able to bring the HR policies and practices to life. Both elements fit well with the view of performance management shown in tire definition we used earlier from Armstrong and Baron (2004). Purcell and his team found that in the organisations that were most successful at managing performance, everyone did share common values. There was generally what the researchers called 'a Big Idea' that was meaningful to everyone in the organisation (Purcell et al., 2003). This could be about the importance of customers to the organisation or the pursuit of quality, but in all cases it was an idea that eveiyone could relate to. Whatever it was, they all shared the idea and then managed the performance of people accordingly. The people and performance model indicates that it is not just the people management policies and practices that create value to an organisation but that they help form part of the process by creating the building blocks that form the basis of achieving increased performance which Purcell calls ability, motivation and opportunity (AMQ) (CIPD, 2007a|. This assumes that people have the ability to learn new skills and will want to work in organisations where their abilities and skills are recognised and can be developed farther. Motivation assumes that the organisation will be successful in motivating them to use their abilities in a way that is useful to the organisation in achieving its strategic objectives, while opportunity makes the assumption that people will use opportunities to do high-quality work and participate in team activities or problem-solving initiatives if the organisation provides them with opportunities to do this. A successful performance management system, perhaps linked to an inclusive talent management system should certainly help to identify ability, motivate both individuals and teams and also provide them with opportunities to use their skills and abilities. Ilia role of line managers in performance management Another important strand in Purcell's effective performance model is line managers. Some traditional appraisal schemes have been accused of being run for the benefit of HR managers or top managers, with many other people in the organisation not really understanding or appreciating what the performance appraisal scheme was trying to achieve. This may have been true of some poorly designed schemes, but is a rather harsh judgement on many excellent appraisal schemes and HR managers and on the contribution they make to their organisations' effectiveness. In order to ensure that performance management does not make the same mistake, there is an increased 257 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal atlrj ~ emphasis on the vole of the line manager and on gaining involvement of teams individuals. An early definition of performance management taken from Michael Armstrong ' (1994) defined performance management as 'a process which is designed to imprQVe - i organisational, team and individual performance and which is owned and driven by ' line managers' It is certainly true that line managers now have increased responsjhjj_ t fry for many HR areas in relation to managing their staff, but it is disappointing ^ note that in some organisations they do not always see the necessity for performance s management, or consider that it is not a key aspect of their >ob. s In a CIPD survey in 2005 it was claimed that in only 16 per cent of the orgamsa. - ' tions sampled was there complete buy-in from line managers, with them becon'-i- -actively involved in the performance management process (CIPD, 2005). However : on a more positive note, it was also discovered that line managers in 62 per cent uf * the organisations surveyed found performance management to be useful, while--"'. 22 per cent of the line managers were totally indifferent to the process and 1 per cariiv''S§ were actively hostile. -j-h This reluctance to get involved in performance management may not be entirely s the fault of line managers as they may not have been adequately trained, and the. relevance of performance management to them and to the organisation's strategic objectives may not have been made clear. In order to make the performance manage- "ji ment process as effective as possible it is vital that line managers are trained properly and that they have been trained thoroughly in skills such as coaching (Cunneen, : 2006). They have to understand the relevance of performance management to the .' performance of their team and that it can make a difference to meeting their targets and improving their team performance. It should not be perceived by them to be just _ —as-exerdse completed once a year where they tick boxes to satisfy the whims of the----HR department but as a continuous process involving coaching and feedback which M will make a difference to improving performance and developing the talents in their team. If line managers are to use this process to maximum effect to achieve both (heir team's and the organisation's strategic objectives then top management also have responsibilities to ensure that they clearly demonstrate the importance and relevance .-.1 of performance management and that they provide adequate resources and training ' .. to support this (Cunneen, 2006). The 2009 survey conducted by the CIPD found mixed views about the roles of line. managers; all the participants felt that performance management was an important.. ". tool for line managers and a way of them achieving their work objectives bul no-one ■ ■ in the survey felt that by enacting performance management it would create better line managers. Rather the view was held that good line managers would also be good 3§§ at performance management (CIPD, 2009). » Performance appraisal A good system of performance appraisal is important as part of the performance management process but many organisations that have not yet developed a strate- : gic viewpoint also use performance appraisal on its own. Performance appiaisaL systems were developed as a tactical approach to developing people before the more strategic idea of performance management had been thought of. Performance The role of line managers in performance management management as an approach is widely held to have grown out of performance appraisal, and also to have absorbed some of the newer techniques used in performance appraisal such as emphasis on setting objective standards of performance and competence-based appraisals. However, while most performance management systems do use performance appraisal as a central tactical activity in the good management of employees there are still many other organisations which use performance appraisal as a standalone activity so it is important to consider performance appraisal both as a tool in performance management and as a procedure in its own right. Performance appraisal is one way of giving employees feedback about their performance at work. According to ACAS (2008): Appraisals regularly record an assessment of an employee's performance, potential and development needs. The appraisal is an opportunity to take an overall view of work content, loads and volume, to look back on what has been achieved during the reporting period and agree objectives for the next. This definition clearly shows that the employee does get feedback about their past performance, but indicates that in performance appraisal there is the opportunity to assess or judge various aspects of an employee's work performance by looking back at how they have performed in the past and then by looking forward to agree future objectives or workload. Fletcher and Williams (1985) went further than this in their definition of appraisal, saying that the ass'essiffenTof' jyeople^iThoi theonlythhig that we do when we appraise a person's work performance. They feel that there are in fact two conflicting roles involved in appraisal - those of judge and helper. We shall consider each of these facets of appraisal in turn. First, we all act as judges when we make informal judgements about the way people talk, what they wear and how they behave. These informal judgements may be objective or subjective and we may not even be aware that we are making them. They may not have much effect on people in everyday life, as we don't normally have any right to try to change these things in others, and we don't usually have any power to influence the way people behave. If we start to judge people in a work situation in this informal way with regard, for example, to the way they dress, we are likely to be accused of being too subjective and we might, quite rightly, be accused of treating people unfairly according to our own whims and prejudices. This sort of appraisal is not likely to encourage people to feel motivated about work. In this sense the term 'appraisal' means judging the worth, qualities or value of something, and in a work situation especially it is important that any judgements are fair and are based on objective job-related criteria. Second, the term 'appraisal' is also used in another way, as Fletcher and Williams (1985) have indicated. When we appraise people in the work situation, we not only judge them but we usually also try to help them to improve aspects of their perfor-. mance. We may suggest alternative ways of behaving, or suggest training courses or provide developmental opportunities in order to help employees improve their performance and assess their own career developmental needs 258 259 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal bufalf TaiSal 1S theref°re ab°Ut S^ Redback to the emDl 1 but also involves the appraiser in being both judge and helper to Z of a formal opportunity in which to give feedback andTe both helper to that employee. ,ud8e ji ] Performance appraisaI schemes be ^ for o whrch mav conflict with each other, but the main reasons JllI "' following reasons are likely to include the % to improve current performance i to provide feedback » to increase motivation and retention i to identify potential i to identify training needs to aid career development to award salary increases to solve job problems to let individuals know what is expected of them to clarify job objectives to provide information about the effectiveness of the selection process to aid in career planning and development to provide information for human resource planning to provide for rewards to assess competencies. -------F^nde4^^^tE]v■(i9o4')"suggest that lor most employers there are three main uses for appraisal reviews: performance, potential and reward. That is to say that organisations want to assess an individual's past performance; they may also want to identify their potential for future roles in the organisation and any development necessary to achieve this and they may want to use the appraisal interview as a means of allocating rewards for good or excellent performance. ACAS (2008) agree with this view and say that the three main uses of reviews are a performance review, a review of poten- •;; tial and development needs and a reward review. All the reasons listed above fall into one of these three categories but there could be conflicts between the various approaches. For example, if the organisation uses performance appraisal as a means of allocating rewards then it is likely that individuals will be much less likely to discuss any developmental needs in case this prevents them getting a bonus. As was shown earlier in this chapter it is becoming increasingly common in organisations to use reviews of potential and development needs as a part of the talent management V process. Many organisations try to get too much from one appraisal scheme, and try r to use one scheme to fulfil all three purposes. This is unlikely to work, and usually results in the scheme falling into disrepute. Consequently organisations that use performance appraisal as pail of a perfor- .-mance management system will usually conduct the performance appraisal on an annual or biannual basis but wili separate these from the personal development reviews which they will organise at various times throughout the year. In this = instance the development reviews would be used to discuss development issues while the performance appraisal might be used as part of the process for identifying reward for excellent work. 260 The role of line managers in performance management Personal development review There may also be more regular separate personal development reviews which in some organisations are referred to as 'one-to-ones' as they provide an opportunity for the line manager to have a one-to-one discussion at regular intervals with individual members of their teams. These are often used alongside performance appraisals, either as standalone tools or as part of the strategic performance management process. Performance appraisal interviews usually happen just once or twice a year but personal development reviews are likely to happen much more frequently than this and to start during the induction period, when the line manager is able to have a one-to-one discussion with the individual team member to identify any gaps in knowledge and skills which need to be developed for them to become an effective team member. Cannell (2007) emphasises the constructive nature of personal developmental reviews and the need to use a variety of techniques to encourage the individual to participate fully and to do most of the talking. Regular personal development reviews will result in each individual having an individual development plan designed to give detailed goals and provide for activities to enable that individual to achieve their goals. This should start at induction although some aspects of the individual development plan may have been identified as early as the selection stage and then this continues throughout their career. The plan is jointly designed by the manager and the employee, and the manager will provide support and coaching to help the employee to meet their goals. Once again this can form a part of the performance management process. Objectives or competencies There are basically two different approaches that can be used by employers when assessing performance. The first is concerned with outputs from the employee: it uses objectives and sets targets for the employee to work towards. The alternative approach is to examine the input that the employee makes to the organisation and determine the level of competence that the employee must achieve in their job. In organisations where job descriptions based on competence are used, and where staff are used to working towards the achievement of MVQs, the second approach is likely to be favoured. Whichever approadi is used there will still be a need to develop a method of assessing the employee's performance using some form of rating scale. If the first of these approaches (using objectives) is to work well, then clearly the organisation needs to have 'ambitious goals and plans that employees know about and understand' - point 1 of the ACAS (2005) model workplace. They also need 'managers who genuinely listen to and consider their employees' views' - point 3 of the ACAS (2005) model workplace. The management by objectives approach to per-formance appraisal interviews, discussed later in this chapter, is likely to be preferred in this type of organisation. If the focus is on the employee's level of competence, then 'people will need to feel valued so they can talk confidently about their work and learn from both successes and failures' - point 6 in the ACAS (2005) model workplace. Competency concerns the behaviour that a worker must have or gain in order to be able to contribute to the achievement of high levels of performance so is about the worker. Competence on 261 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal the other hand relates to a system of occupational standards with specified le> achievement so is job related. Hogg (2010) says: vcl. Although in the 1980s and 1990s HR professionals drew a distinction between 'conipe tencies' and 'competences', now the two terms are often used interchangeably, 'i :-, -. tency' is more precisely defined as the behaviours that employees must have, or must acquire, to input into a situation in order to achieve high levels of performance, ihat-fj-a focus on the person, while 'competence' relates to a system tbf minimum standards or is demonstrated by performance and outputs, so 'competences' focus on the job. Employees need to be able to operate in a competent way and to possess behavioural competencies that reinforce their technical skills. Competency frameworks have increased in popularity and the CIPD (2007b) survey of learning and development found 60 per cent of organisations in their sample had competency framewoiks in place. They also found that the most popular use, by 56 per cent of their sample organ-isations, was as part of performance reviews and appraisals. When an organisation adopts this approach then competence will be measured and this gives a useful way of comparing actual levels of competence with required levels. This can obviously provide . a useful tool for measurement of performance and consequently for the performance management process and it is not surprising that it has grown in popularity. Problems A number of problems may prevent the appraisal schemes from being as effective as they should be as not all organisations follow the ACAS model and some try to create an appraisal scheme that does not fit with the normal culture of their organisation. These problems include: • the organisation not being clear about the purpose of the appraisal system and consequently trying to use the appraisal scheme to fulfil too many different purposes e links with pay preventing open discussion of problems or of areas where improvement could be made • keeping information secret from the employee @ the appraiser attacking the appraisee's character • being too subjective in judgements • using appraisal as part of the disciplinary process. Lack of clarity We have already shown that most appraisal schemes fall into one of three categories, i.e. they are concerned with performance, potential or reward. An organisation should not attempt to use one appraisal scheme to fulfil all three categories. The particular objectives of an appraisal scheme should be clarified before the scheme is de-.. signed in detail, and should have been discussed with employees and other workers, trade unions and managers in order to take account of their views and to gain their commitment to the new appraisal scheme. Everyone should then be clear what the Did you know? ■ is'often suggested' that, as many as two-thirds of all jpraisal schemes are abandoned or altered substan-jlly within two years of their creation. This, to a very '..p extent, is due to organisations not being aware of, oriiat paying enough attention to, a range of problems - tfiat can be. avoided with sufficient forethought and planning, and trying to make one scheme serve too many incompatible purposes. :: 262 The role of line managers in performance management particular scheme is trying to achieve. Any scheme, however good the design, is unlikely to succeed if the managers and the workforce are suspicious of the reasons for its introduction and are opposed to making it work effectively. While there are good reasons why employers should seek to appraise performance potential or give rewards to good employees, problems can also occur if employers try to achieve too much from their performance appraisal scheme. It is difficult, if not impossible, to devise a scheme that will appraise successfully all three areas, and there is a grave danger that the performance appraisal scheme will be rejected if it fails to live up to all that is claimed for it. This can easily happen if the scheme is poorly designed or if the managers show a reluctance to impart critical assessments, or if people are not trained properly in the appraisal process. Linking appraisal with pay It is quite common for appraisal-related pay to be part of the performance management process and if done well this can be effective and of benefit to both employers and employees. It is generally introduced in order to emphasise a clear link between achieving high standards of performance in jobs and increased pay and is used as a motivational tool (ACAS, 2005). However, there are also problems associated with its introduction: in particular, it is difficult to imagine that a person being appraised is likely to admit to any developmental need, or be willing to accept any help in their performance, if their salary increase depends on a good appraisal. It is therefore recommended that employers should in general try to keep reward considerations separate from the other areas of performance review. In spite of this advice and research evidence which suggests that performance-related pay (PRP) does not always motivate everyone in a workforce, many employers think that the offer of an incentive or reward is the only way to motivate employees to work harder, and this is often their main reason for introducing performance appraisal. The motivational aspects of pay will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 10, but the important point here is that great care needs to be taken if appraisal systems are linked to pay. It will be especially important to ensure that the criteria being appraised are objective and free of unfair bias, and that there are genuine opportunities for all employees to be rewarded for their efforts. Some employees may be motivated by other things such as increased holiday or more flexible benefits so appraisal-related pay may not motivate them to work harder. In many organisations financial constraints mean that the number of people who are awarded PRP is severely restricted and there is a serious danger that if the vast majority of the workforce does not feel they have any opportunity to receive a reward, they may feel much more demotivated than they did before the appraisal scheme was introduced. Only the select few who receive the reward will then feel positive about the experience and about the organisation, and even they will not necessarily be motivated to work harder. When appraisal-related pay is introduced as a part of the performance management system there will be also be other regular development reviews or performance reviews which provide opportunities for discussion of both good and bad performance. These reviews are normally kept separate from the review at which pay is 263 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal The role of the line managers in performance appraisal discussed. Consequently they do not provide such an immediate deterrent i , ! cussion of any weaknesses or aspects of poorer performance since their focus si, j be on past and future performance and the development needs of the indfvmj 1 However, although this approach does weaken any direct link between pgi performance and learning, it would be foolish to think that it breaks the conn. -| . ' entirely. Employees may still feel reluctant to fully discuss their development ii |, unless they feel confident it will not affect their pay, even if that review is held at i - ■1 different time of year. On the other hand, they may take £he view that discuss 11 , ,-areas of their performance in which they have done less .well are worthwhile if this 1 means that they gain access to more learning and development opportunities >.l i,. may ultimately result in them getting more pay or being more employable. Keeping information secret from the employee Appraisal involves, as we have already said, being both a judge and helper for an '■ individual employee. In order that we can help the individual it is also important that they know about the judgements that have been made about them and that they -receive feedback about these. Therefore, if people are to be helped to develop, there . must be discussion about problem areas, and any judgements made about employees should not be kept secret from them. Obviously the appraisal interview and re- "" ports of it do need to be confidential from other employees, but not so confidential that they are a secret from the employee concerned. Subjectivity or attacks on the appraisee's character If the person doing the appraising feels insecure ahout their own performance, thee could be a tendency to try to ensure that the employee being appraised doesn't be- — : come a threat to them by focusing solely on the aspects of the job that have not been handled well and failing to show recognition for jobs that have been done well, lit some cases, subjective judgements may be made because there are no clear criteria on which to appraise the employee, and the appraiser may resort to attacking aspects ol the person's character that the person cannot do anything about. In the past many appraisal schemes were based on assessing personality traits that were thought to be important to a particular job, but that in fact were very broad categories that could only be judged subjectively. These included personality traits such as enthusiasm, application, intelligence and resourcefulness. Pause for thought 8.2 How would you feel if one of your tutors said that you lacked integrity or that your ............intelligence was inadequate? V We imagine that you would not feel very happy with comments about your lack of integrity or poor level of intelligence, and would want to know on what criteria these____ comments were based. I If appraisal schemes are to be credible to employees, great care must be taken » that judgements made are objective and have some basis that can be discussed with_ _ . the employee. Integrity is likely to mean slightly different things to different people, 4 and judgment of a person's integrity is likely to be fairly subjective. Rather than focusing on subjective topics such as this or on aspects of an individual's personality which they cannot alter, it is better to examine aspects of the job that the person actually does, and make an objective judgement about the person's effectiveness at carrying out each aspect of the job or their success in meeting their objectives. Appraisers should also concentrate on seeking to help to bring about an improvement in areas of the employee's work where the appraisee can do something to make an improvement. Criticising someone for not being intelligent enough is similar to criticising them for being too short. There is really not much that they can do about it, so it is pointless to judge them on it and impossible to help them to change. The relationship between appraisal and the disciplinary process We have already said that appraisal is partly about making judgements about an employee's performance, and that areas where performance is not as effective as it should be need to be discussed. However, this does not mean that disciplinary matters should be saved for several months to be dealt with at the appraisal interview. If a disciplinary offence occurs, then it should be dealt with immediately and not saved for discussion at the time of the appraisal interview. The appraisal interview should be about seeking to motivate employees, not an opportunity to discipline them, although as we shall show later dealing with poor performance should be part of the performance management process. The role of the line managers in performance appraisal We have already emphasised the role of the line manager in performance management and traditionally the people who are most likely to be involved at the tactical level in the appraisal process are the person who is to be appraised and their immediate manager. This has the advantage that the managers or supervisors should know their subordinates and should also know about each subordinate's job and the way in which the subordinate carries out their duties. Managers and their subordinates will see each other every day but may be too busy to discuss performance. The performance appraisal interview provides the time for the individual and the manager to sit down together to discuss the individual's progress. This should enable the manager to feel that they are helping the career of one of the staff, and prove to be a motivating experience for the employee, who has the undivided attention of the manager listening to their views and focusing attention on their development. There can, however, be some disadvantages in having the employee's immediate manager carry out the appraisal, especially if there is a conflict of personalities or if the manager perceives the employee to be a threat and is therefore unwilling to look for positive aspects of the employee's performance. If the appraisal scheme allows a .. . high degree of subjectivity in comments made by the manager, then there is a danger that more will be learnt about the manager's attitudes to work and managing employees than about the employee's performance. Training in performance ........................appraisal techniques is obviously extremely important here. While it is always important that the line manager is involved in the process of performance management there are others who could be involved in performance appraisal. 264 265 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal The role of the line managers in performance appraisal -4? .V f ACTIVITY 8.1 The appraisee's immediate supervisor or manager is usually the person mos: i involved in the appraisal process, although in some organisations other peop be involved; Using Table 8,1, write a list of people who you think might be inv v 'r|\, the appraisal process. For each of them, list the advantages and the disadvantage;, of their involvement. ."'j" i Table 8.1 People involved in the performance appraisal process People who may be involved in the appraisal process Advantages : Disadvantages 266 Although, as we said earlier, line managers are the most frequent group to be involved in conducting appraisal interviews, they do not always relish this part of their job or see its importance. A list of the others who could be involved in performance appraisal is given in Table 8.2 at the end of this chapter. The main problem with line manager involvement according to Gillen (2001) is that some managers see appraisal as a low priority for two reasons. It is necessary to understand dieir viewpoint on this in order to be able to convince them of the relevance of appraisal to them and to their department. According to Gillen (2001), the first reason why it can be difficult to get managers to conduct performance appraisal interviews is because they prefer to spend their time doing things rather than managing things or managing and leading people. Gillen (2001) says that generally most managers went into their jobs not to manage, but to do things, for example to build things, to teach things or to sell things. They did not specifically go into the job to manage either things or people and often consider that these parts of their job are difficult and mean dtey spend less time on what they enjoy. They therefore tend to put off doing them because they do not see the immediate relevance to them or to their department of initiatives such as performance appraisal. According to Gillen (2001), the second reason is because managers perceive some specific problems related to appraisal. These will vary from organisation to organisation but are likely to result in line managers saying or feeling some of the following: 1 I've got enough to do without also having to fill in forms for Personnel. 2 The appraisal process is 'divorced' from the realities of my 'business cycle'. 3 Appraisal is inherently unfair. 4 Appraisal is amazingly time-consuming. 5 Giving staff feedback on their performance during an appraisal interview is uncomfortable. (Gillen, 2001) Some of these statements are undoubtedly true. As we said, it can be difficult to give staff feedback on their performance and sometimes managers struggle to remember their employee's key achievements, particularly those that occurred some months earlier. Appraisal can seem quite time-consuming and may appear to be organised to suit someone else's time schedule. Some of the other statements are less easy to justify and may result from the line manager's false perception of the situation. If an organisation has established a performance appraisal scheme in the ways we will describe, then it should certainly not be perceived as 'inherently unfair' and managers who feel that the appraisal process is undertaken just to please the personnel or HR department have not had the process properly explained to them. Whatever the reasons for these negative perceptions of performance appraisal, they do need to be overcome if the scheme is to be successful. Gillen (2001) suggests various ways to erase these misconceptions and to help tine managers appreciate the benefits of appraisal. One useful idea he suggests is that line managers should be made aware of the three main elements to their job: doing things, managing things, and managing and leading people, and that they should be involved in a discussion about which of these they enjoy most. After a discussion in which he establishes that 267 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal performance requirements in a job are generally getting harder and that pe0;i|., not want to work even longer to achieve them, he then draws a parallel with liftinti s heavy load using a lever and explains that this becomes easier if one uses a ]on^_j lever. He says that for managers, using performance appraisal and working .n j: ' managing and leading element of their job is the equivalent of using a longer lever, It is about working smarter and not harder. « CASE STUDY 8.1 Performance appraisal Joan Bywell is a busy manager in an insurance company, heading the life insurance division. She has worked with the company for six years and has always enjoyed organising the work to reach targets and implementing new ideas to improve sale* and streamline the processing of policies. The company has now introduced a performance appraisal system so that \ managers can formally evaluate their staff on a regular basis. Angela Jones, the HR manager, sees this partly as a preliminary step to introducing performance-related \ pay for administrative staff within the next five years. Angela has devised a form for managers to use to evaluate their staff, and she has distributed these to managers , with instructions to complete the evaluation within four weeks and return the forrr": \ to the personnel office, to be held on the employees' personal files. j Joan is reluctant to waste valuable managerial time on this process, but she duly , fills in the forms for her administrative staff. She decides not to waste more time on | endless discussions with her staff, so she gives each employee the completed form j and asks them to sign it to confirm they have seen the evaluation and return it to her i the next day. She suggests that if they wish to discuss any points, they should mtke~& an appointment to speak to her. George has been with the company for three years. He feels that he works hard and he is hoping he will be considered for a supervisory post when one of the unit ■ >, supervisors retires next year. George is incensed when he looks at his evaluation and sees that his performance has been graded as 'satisfactory' on a number of criteria such as 'initiative', 'reliability', and 'amount of work completed'. He would have expected a grading of very good or excellent. George storms into Joan's office and says: 'I know you said we could talk to you if. we had any queries about this so-called performance appraisal, but if this is what you : think of me, I do not see any point. I think my best plan is to look for a job with a company that will appreciate hard work.' Joan actually thinks quite highly of George and is perturbed at this turn of events. Question Comment on what is wrong with this performance appraisal system and make suggestions for improvement. Discussion of case study 8.1 This disastrous appraisal nearly ended with the loss of George, a good worker, and is the result of several factors. First, the HR manager Angela Jones has not actually consulted with or involved anyone in the organisation in the design of the appraisal forms or in conducting the appraisal interview and no one has received any training Design of documentation in how to use them. Consequently managers such as Joan are not aware of how important an issue performance appraisal is for motivating her team, identifying talent and improving her team's performance. Joan is also typical of many of the supervisors described earlier who are very good at the aspects of the job which they see as important, such as achieving targets. However, she does not realise that managing people is an equally important part of her job. If Angela Jones had explained how the performance appraisal process could help Joan achieve her targets and had given her training to this effect then she would have viewed the process in a much more positive light and would have spent time on it. The performance appraisal form is designed badly so that employees and their supervisors are being asked to rate the individual against criteria which may have nothing to do with their jobs The amount of work is probably much less important than the quality of the work done and this should be broken down to consider various aspects of the job or to specific objectives or competencies needed. Initiative could be difficult to assess and may not be particularly useful in a job where perhaps there is very limited scope to exercise initiative. Reliability is also a rather vague term as it does not describe the circumstances in which reliability is needed. Angela Jones needs to consult more widely about the criteria that would work on a performance appraisal form and needs to tailor the forms to objectives, job descriptions or competencies required. She then needs to provide training for both managers and subordinates so that everyone is clear about the purpose of the performance appraisal scheme before it is introduced into the organisation. The next section discusses the design of the documentation and Table 8.2 gives an example of documentation using objectives. Design of documentation In most appraisal systems it is necessary to have some type of documentation to record what has been agreed. At its simplest this could just be blank sheets of paper for both the appraiser and appraisee, on which they both assess the performance of the appraisee. This provides a means for jotting down ideas and views on performance which can then be used as a basis for discussion at the time of the performance appraisal interview. The disadvantage of this system is that there may be little basis for agreement about the topics to be discussed. In order to provide for a systematic and consistent approach to performance appraisal, many organisations design an appraisal form. In this case, die manager and the person being appraised both complete a form prior to the appraisal interview. They then exchange forms and at the interview use both the forms as a basis for discussion. This has the advantage of both parties having focused on similar topics and saves time at the interview, as both should have already done quite a bit of preparation for the interview. When designing such a form, there should be clear guidelines explaining what is meant by each section, and the points already discussed in the section on problems must be borne in mind. The criteria to be appraised should not be subjective and should be fair. They should relate to things that employees could 268 269 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal improve, and there should be opportunities for the employee to see the appraise comments and a section in which to respond to those comments. There should be a right of appeal. The guidelines should indicate what should then happen to jj^ appraisal forms. Where will they be kept? Who will ensure that action is taken on !(s,y points? The actual content of such a form will be influenced by the type of appraiSll| scheme adopted by the organisation. This will now be discussed. Types of performance appraisal Management by objectives (MBO) We have already said that appraisal schemes are most likely to succeed if the criteria to be appraised can be assessed objectively rather than subjectively, and that the ap- ; praisal of aspects of a person's personality should be avoided. One way of achieving ': this is to set dear objectives for the employee to achieve before the next appraisal/ -and then to focus the discussion at the appraisal interview on the extent to which these objectives have been achieved. An appraisal interview also provides an opportunity to look forward, so the next stage would be to set and agree objectives for the next review period. One way in which to achieve this would be to look first at the job description and then agree specific objectives for each of the main tasks. This has the additional advantage that the objectives can be linked very clearly to the organisation's strategic joals^jtlMA^'^?iduaLcan. see exactly what to Ho to help the organisation meet-its objectives. A sample form for this type of performance appraisal is shown in Figure 8.4. In this example there is an opportunity to look at past objectives and consider the extent to which they have been achieved, and also a chance to look forward and agree future objectives. Here the appraisee has an opportunity to write comments, as do: the manager and countersigning manager. This type of appraisal can also link with overall organisational objectives, and is often used as part of a performance manage-ment system, as we shall show later. Rating scales This is another form of performance appraisal scheme that seeks to encourage objectivity by focusing on aspects of the employee's job and then indicating by graded statements how successfully the employee has fulfilled each of the main duties listed in their job description. The statements would be linked to the job description with a statement for each category of the job description, indicating. levels of performance or level of competence required in that duty, ranging from excellent to poor. The appraiser would discuss the person's performance using these scales during the appraisal interview, and would then tick the statement that they and die appraisee agreed best summed up the appraisee's performance or which matched . their level of competence. Figu Types of performance appraisal re 8.4 Sample form for performance appraisal using management by objectives NAME........... DATE OF APPRAISAL . JOB TITLE........... DEPARTMENT/SECTION . JOB DESCRIPTION (To be agreed with employee) REVIEW PERIOD . 1. Objectives agreed for this last review period. (This should include special tasks, personal training and development.) 2. To what extent have these objectives been achieved? 3. Were there any other major achievements? 4. Were there any obstacles which prevented achievement of agreed objectives? 5. What steps need to be taken to overcome these obstacles? 6. What training, development and education were undertaken during the review period? NEXT REVIEW PERIOD............. 1. What specific objectives have been agreed for the next review period? 2. What training, development and education should be undertaken during the next review period? 3. What follow-up action is needed? COMMENTS OF APPRAISER Signed.........................(Appraiser) COMMENTS OF APPRAISEE Signed.........................(Appraisee) COMMENTS OF COUNTERSIGNING MANAGER 270 271 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal Types of performance appraisal Fm ACTIVITY8.2 Do you remember the job description which we gave in Chapter 6? The main duties for this are.listed in Figure 8.5.. For each of these duties,write a series of statements to indicate the possible: degrees of success of someone who is working in this job. It is intended that these statements, will form the basic information with which the individual's performance in that job is compared by the appraiser. We I . ■-.started this.for.you by suggesting some graded statements:for the first row. ■■:■.■■■( re 8.5 Continued Figure 8.5 Job rating Name of job holder: . . Job title: Receptionist Date of appraisal: , . . Main duties Appraiser's comments A (Well ahead of standard performance) B (More than satisfactory, slightly above job requirements) c (Less than satisfactory, needs slight improvement) D (Requires constant supervision) Greet walk-in visitors and Always quick to greet visitors Greets visitors, ascertains Normally greets visitors promptly Slow to notice walk-in visitors, ascSitäiu purpose of their visit. Handle or redirect queries as appropriate and ascertain purpose of visit, dealing with queries extremely rapidly and effectively so visitors are always highly satisfied purpose of visit and deals effectively with queries and ascertains purpose of their visit; sometimes slow to redirect queries does not always greet them promptly, and is not always able to deal with queries or redirect them to the appropriate place Answer phone queries as above Answer all initial queries about receipt of payments using the online payment receipts system 272 Win duties t Ippraiser's omrments A (Well ahead of standard performance) B (More than satisfactory, slightly above job requirements) c (Less than satisfactory, needs slight improvement) D (Requires constant supervision) Open and sort incoming post by department. Organise delivery of post by assistant receptionist Perform clerical tasks assigned by department in agreement with the Office Services Manager Supervise assistant receptionists and delegate work as innmnrifltp .......... . Perform other duties as assigned by the Office Services Manager or other authorised manager Comments of appraiser Signature ..........................(Appraiser) Comments of appraisee Signature ..........................(Appraisee) Comments of countersigning manager Signature ..........................(Manager) 273 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal Discussion of Activity 8.2 This gives a simple way of rating the employee's behaviour in the job that is clear .in, easy to use, as the appraiser simply ticks the box containing the comment that most nearly reflects the actual performance of the employee. It also means that there is , common standard which all appraisers would use when appraising a person ih , . that job. In this case, examples of four types of behaviour had to be provided for each aspect of the main duties listed in the job description. This was because i appraisers tend to rate employees as average just to avoid'upsetting people or to avoid giving too much praise: by not allowing a middle category, they are encour.i, to be more decisive. There may still be a tendency to go for the middle two b" ■■" Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (2005) The ACAS Model Workplace, ACAS (www.acas.org.co.uk; accessed 10.8.2010). Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (2008) Employee Appraisal, ACAS. Armstrong, M. (1994) Performance Management, Kogan Page. Armstrong, M. and A. Baron (2004) Managing Performance: Performance Management in Action, CIPD. Arkin, A. (2007) From soft to strong, People Management, 6 September, Vol. 13, No. IS, 30-33. Baron, A. (2009) in Pertormance Management - Podcast 25, CIPD. Cannell, M. (2007) Performance Management: An Overview, February, CIPD. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2005) Performance Management Survey Report September 2005, CIPD. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2007a) The People and Performance Link, May, CIPD. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2007b) Learning and Development: Annual Survey Report 2007, CiPD. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2009) Performance Management in Action: Current Trends and Practice, CIPD. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2010) Factsfieet: Performance Management an Overview, CIPD. Coomber, J. (2006) 360 Feedback, CIPD. Cunneen, P (2006) How to improve performance management, People Management, 12 January, Vol. 12, No. 1, 42-43. Fletcher, C. and R. Wiiliams (1985) Performance Appraisal and Career Development, Hutchinson. Gillen, T. (2001) Appraisal: Getting Managers' Buy-in, CIPD (www.cipd.co.uk; accessed 17.9.07). Hogg, C. (2010) Competency and Competency Frameworks, CIPD (www.cipd.co.uk; accessed 10.8.2010). Purcell. J.. N. Rinnie and S. Hutchinson (2003) Open minded, People Management, Vol. 9, No. 10, 31-33. Randell, G.A., RM.A. Packard, R.L Shaw and A.J.P. Slater (1984) Staff Appraisal, IPM. Further study . Books Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (2008) Employee Appraisal, ACAS. An excellent, clear guide to performance appraisal. Armstrong, M. and A. Baron (2004) Managing Performance: Performance Management in Action, CIPD. This has become a classic text on the subject of performance management. Articles Arkin, A. (2007) From soft to strong, Peopte Management, 6 September, Vol. 13, No. 18,30-33. An overview of how Kimberly-Clark, a multinational, introduced pertormance management into its companies across the world. Cunneen, P (2006) How to improve performance management, Peopte Management, 12 January, Vol. 12, No. 1, 42-3. A short article that makes suggestions about getting the best from a performance management system. Fielder, R. (2006) How to unlock discretionary behaviour, People Management, 12 October, Vol. 12, No. 20, 44-5. Another brief article that explains how to energise and motivate staff to work at peak performance. 285 Chapter 8 Performance management and appraisal Further study- Table 8.2 People involved in the performance appraisal process People who may be Involved in the appraisal process Advantages Disadvantages The appraisee's manager's immediate manager Often used as well as the appraisee's manager to check that the manager is being fair. When used as sole appraiser there is the possible advantage of being more objective about employee's work and of not being directly threatened by their success. Not likely to know the appraisee well =n1 likely to have to obtain information about the individual's performance from their immediate manager, j The HR manager Often used as a check that the manager is being fair and as a monitor of consistency of approach throughout the organisation. HR managers are sometimes used as sole appraiser for reasons of fairness and consistency and because they are not perceived to be a threat to the manager. Not likely to know the appraisee well and !: likely to have to obtain information about the individual's performance from their immediate manager. Colleagues This can be especially useful where teamwork is important or in an enterprise with a matrix organisation structure where the individual may report to more than one manager. The main advantage is that colleagues are likely to have a clear idea of how effective the individual is at working with them and the views of several people are likely to provide a balanced perspective. The colleagues concerned may not know about all aspects of the individual's job. The) may be reluctant to express an honest opinion about a colleague, and may be influenced by whether they have a good or poor relationship with that person, or by jealousy or rivaln, Subordinates People who work for the individual who is being appraised will certainly have a different view of that indiyiduars^^abNities_and performance and can therefore provide valuable information about the person's performance. They may be too frightened to express their real opinion if they feel that their manager might hold th:s against tfiern at surrie future date. The person being appraised may be raluctantto accept the views of their subordinates. Self-appraisal Often used as part of the appraisal process, as in many systems the appraisers and the ap-praisee complete forms independently of each other and then use them as the basis of discussion. The individual will have more detailed knowledge of the standard of their own work performance than their manager. Since individuals should be encouraged to take a great deal of responsibility for their own development, this increased self-awareness will be useful. Some people may find it difficult to analyse their own work performance and may have : unrealistic views of how well they have actually done. They may not be willing to admit to weaknesses, although in many cases the .: opposite is true, and people are more critical of themselves than their manager would be. 360-degree appraisal (not actually a person, but gathers information from all the people mentioned so far) This form of appraisal gathers information from all the above sources to gain an all-round view of the person's performance. This is extremely thorough and will provide information on different aspects of the individual's performance so that it is possible to compile a total picture of the person's job performance. This may also include those outside the organisation, such as clients or customers who may be able to provide very valuable insights into how an individual is performing. It can he very time-consuming to collect information from so many people, and may not-always be cost-effective. It is also subject to all the disadvantages listed above. If it uses customers or clients it may prove particularly difficult to organise as customers or clients may not wish to spend time participating in questionnaires and cannot be coerced into doing so. Many employers will also be hesitant to use this approach as they may not wish to give their clients or customers any cause to think that they, or any of their em- ■ ployees, might ever provide a less than perfect service or product. 286 Table 5.2 Continued :^pletfho maybe irivowed in the appraisal process Advantages Assessment centres (not actually a person, so you --wnot have Included assessment centres in "this list. Mwe include J them as they form yet another important way of ■■■ assessing performance) Individuals undertake a battery of tests to measure: aspects of personality; verbal, numerical and reasoning skills; and ability to lead and work in a team. This provides an all-round view of the person's talents and abilities. Particularly useful when assessing future potential and in the appraisal of potential supervisors or managers. Disadvantages Expensive and time-consuming to carry out for all employees. 287