Performance measurement is the method to gather employee information, which is collected by the appraisals, and to check if it the employee performance is in line with the goals of the organization. Another aim that performance measurement serves is that of development of the employee. As when an employee has some weakness it can be easily be determined by this evaluation process, which the management can help the employee to overcome their flaws. A firm should have an efficient performance measurement system to enhance productivity of its employees.
The rating method and the goal setting method are some of the ways of measuring the performance criteria. The rating method uses information from behavior and trait basis, the employees are rated on these precise characteristics such as job knowledge, innovativeness, relation with co workers, quality of work etc. While the goal setting method emphasizes on the achievements of objectives, in this method goals are set at the beginning by the employee and the boss. Performance is evaluated on the basis of how far these objectives have been accomplished. Behavior based measures are better evaluators of performance then the trait based ones.
Traits that are liked with good performance sometimes fail to provide desired results. Hence behavior based measures should be used to review performance. For instance, how a person deals with his coworker or how efficient a person is to complete his work on time is more reliable for evaluation purpose rather than if the person has traits of good interpersonal skills and conspicuousness. Ongoing feedback has become a necessity in the dynamic organizations that we now have. As feedback on a yearly, semiannually or quarterly basis provides delayed feedback and is insufficient in the present era.
Continuous feedback gives employees multiple chances to discuss the negative aspects of the employee’s performance and the weaknesses that exist. As the employees are evaluated regularly there is less chance for the employees to make such major blunders as they are corrected by the supervisors on a timely basis. Such efficient evaluations enable the organization to move towards the road to prosperity and be ahead of tits competitors. The feedback should be on a two way basis so not only do supervisors evaluate the performance of the employees but the employees should also be given a chance to comment about their supervisors.
This increases the coordination of the management and the employees and motivates and assists them to perform better in the future. Self assessments have also been proved to be handy in the evaluation process. It is basically a process where employees judge themselves and the information obtained is used for the purpose of performance evaluation. This not only serves to provide handy information to ease the job of the evaluator but also enhances the motivational level of the employees. Using multiple raters where a lot of supervisor judge an employee helps in increasing the accuracy of the appraisal process.
For instance if there are 8 supervisors, of them 7 say that an employee is performing excellent while one comments that, that employee is not doing well. Then we should analyze the reason associated for the supervisor for saying that and try to eliminate those shortcomings from the employee through proper training and providing the employee with suitable guidelines. In today’s dynamic organizational 360 degree appraisal should be introduced by organizations to attain the most timely and accurate appraisals.
In the 360 degree approach performance feedback is gathered from supervisor, co workers, and customers and their responses are used to judge the employee. This manner of appraisal will not only increase the accuracy, as a lot of opinions will aid in providing a fair and realistic view. Furthermore the management should provide opportunities to train the evaluators as this saves them from being indulged in certain biases and error. When appraisers practice monitoring and ranking people in workshops this train them to be better appraisers.
It is significant for an organization to train its appraisers as “a poor appraisal is worst than no appraisal” as poor appraisals de motivates and decreases the efficiency of the employee. Additionally the pay raises should be separated from the performance appraisals as when pay and performance are liked and discussed with employee. The employees focus on concentrating more on pay rather than performance. The employees should also be recognized for their good performance in terms of rewords. The rewards can range from a “thank you” to a luxurious vacation.
Performance measurement eradicates the fear of performance evaluations from the minds of the employees as they are evaluated on a daily basis so now they aren’t afraid of being evaluated. Also, competitive advantage can be attained as performance measurement enhances the productivity of the entire organization. Furthermore as the employees and supervisors frequently communicate on performance they are more inclined to work together to achieve goals. Moreover as the feedbacks are continuous the management is quickly able to diagnose the problem and take actions to stop the problem in a timely manner.