Friday,
August 2, 2013
No
one likes performance reviews.
Regardless of which side of the table you are on, giving or receiving a
performance assessment often is not fun.
Many organizational performance reviews are perceived as one-sided,
unfair, invalid, and ineffective. Managers
have to do them, employees have to endure them.
Most organizations, large, small, and in between, still require periodic
reviews be given. Being late or failing
to complete employee reviews can affect the performance outcomes for managers. Like a Sword of Damocles, annual employee appraisals
are dreaded, even feared by managers and employees alike.
Although
some employers have embraced 360 or peer reviews and self-assessments to
supplement the manager’s review, these are often seen as just another add-on
that must be endured. An additional
trend has been to separate the performance review so that any adjustment to
compensation is completed at a separate time.
But do performance reviews still matter?
There
is an evolving thought that traditional manager-employee performance reviews no
longer matter, are not relevant, and are more harmful and less than helpful in
improving performance. The emerging
analysis on the subject of the ineffectiveness of performance reviews is
beginning to mount. A simple survey of
recent publications makes one rethink the role of performance reviews.
If
performance reviews as so destructive, why do organizations perpetuate them and
what will replace the annual performance appraisal? For the first question, Tevye said it best, “tradition”. Performance reviews
pervade our culture. Quarterly corporate
profit reports, annual reports or public school performance, and consumer product
reports abound as a means of determining who’s on top and what's on bottom. Share price, teacher bonuses, and product
sales are swayed by performance reviews.
As
for what might replace the manager-employee performance review, possibilities
include more of a continuous coaching, feedback approaches coupled with a
pre-review to set expectations, and a personal career development plan. But isn’t this occurring already? From the examples above, in many
organizations the once a year, one-sided annual review is still more or less
the norm. It is also clear that many
managers are not equipped to deal with good or bad employee performance. Ignoring both levels of performance will only
serve to extinguish the desired performance and reinforce unacceptable
outcomes.
How
can employers expect to attach and retain their best talent, if those individuals
have no clue as to the value they bring to an organization, what growth opportunities
abound, and where that value will take them?
Hi
ReplyDeleteTks very much for post:
I like it and hope that you continue posting.
Let me show other source that may be good for community.
Source: Annual performance review sample
Best rgs
David