"Traditional performance appraisal may actually backfire causing conflict between supervisor and subordinates and leading to dysfunctional behaviour?

Essay by balajiram May 2008

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Managing human capital tactically is very crucial job in this world of technology; it may become the strength of the company or may lead to shutting down. To make the available human capital vigour of an organisation it's vital to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of workforce. The technical term used for this assessment process is known as performance appraisal. According to John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold "Assessment is the procedure by which information are collected about an individual employee's past current work behaviour and performance. This allows appraisal, which can be seen as an investigation of general capabilities and potential allowing a decision to be taken in accordance with the purpose." (Human Resource Management Theory and Practice 2nd ed Palgrave 1999 p. 214) Though theoretically performance appraisal seems to be easy, its not so in practice. Most of the times it gives the impression of management being autocratic to employee and it lead to dysfunctional behaviour in employees, supervisors and managers.

This report will make an attempt to explain the process and various means of undertaking performance appraisal, its advantages, and drawbacks with the help of suitable case studies and will conclude by giving most probable solution for the problem.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL METHODSThere are various performance appraisal methods which are used regularly in such as,1.Written Essay2.Critical Incidents3.Graphic Rating Scales4. Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales5.Multiperson Comparisons6.Management By Objective7.360 - Degree Feedback(Source: Robbins et.al. 2003)STEPS INVOLVED IN PERFORMANCE APPRAISALTo generalise we can say there are few steps involved in performance appraisal as stated below. (Bratton J and Gold J, 1999)Select what performance data to collectDetermine who conducts the appraisalDecide on a rating philosophyDeliver useful information to employeesSelect what performance data to collectAs suggests Kubo, H. (1990) for categorize worker's performance we should to consider the three...