Question:
Provide a rationale for your choice of the performance appraisal instrument. Analyze the advantages of the instrument.Analyze the disadvantages of the instrument.
Answer:
Introduction
Performance appraisal is an impartial, periodic and systemic rating of the employees’ excellence in his/her current job in order to determine if there is a deviation from the set standards (Aggarwal & Thakur, 2013). The performance appraisal follows specific processes in order to rate the employees that include: the setting of the standards, measurement of the performance, comparing the performance with the set standards, detection of variation, initiating corrective action if there is variation. The performance appraisal can take the traditional methods for appraisal and modern methods. According to Aggarwal & Thakur (2013), the tradition methods mostly rate the employees on the basis of personal traits and include forced distribution, checklist, forced choice methods, critical incident method, linear or graphic rating scale, confidential report, essay report among others. Aggarwal & Thakur (2013) argues that the modern methods of performance appraisal are Management by objective, assessment centers, cost accounting method, behaviourally anchored rating scale and 360 degrees feedback method.
Discussion
The 360 degrees feedback method is a method of rating the employees’ performance or work-related behavior by use of different sources of information. The employee performance is rated by multiple ratters that include supervisors, peers, subordinate staff and the customers, suppliers and other stakeholders (Espinilla, de Andrés & Martínez, 2013). A questionnaire is filled by the ratters in order to allocate the employee ratings pertaining to his/her performance.
The rationale for performance appraisal using the 360-degree feedback method is that the result obtained will serve several purposes that related to the employees and the organization. According to Espinilla, de Andrés & Martínez (2013) the purposes of 360-degree appraisal includes helping the employees to identify their areas of weakness as each employee has his/her weakness. The second purpose is that the results help to determine the need for development and training of the employees. The results are also important in providing a career path to the employees who the company recognizes to have the potential. Career development may be provided to the employees by the company hence making the employee acquire a stable and successful career. The results are vital as they can be used in determining whether an employee should be promoted as they help to recognize the employees who deserve promotions. The employees are also able to take the corrective action in order to avoid the undesired results hence motivate superior performance. The results can also assist in determining the employees who deserve salary increment and reward as performing employees deserve better pay and rewards. The employer- employee relationship is enhanced as it results to open communication between the employer and the employee. Validate the efficiency of the Human resource management functions like rewarding, selection, recruitment and employee training. Serve in deciding for termination and retention of the employees, the employees with constant poor reports with no growth may be terminated while the performing ones are retained.
The 360-degree feedback appraisal has several advantages. Provide the employee with a broader perspective on how the other employees perceive him/her. The senior management can also be evaluated by this method hence provide them with the awareness of the areas that they need to improve (Hosain, 2016). The information of the employee is more valid as it is sourced from different people. It helps the employ to improve their productivity to avoid negative comments from the reviewers.
The 360-degree feedback appraisal has several disadvantages. The first one is that it is time-consuming and complex in administration due to huge paperwork. It is sometimes difficult to receive an honest and a frank opinion because of the level of interpersonal relationship between employees. High deviations in ratings from the multiple ratters may make the analysis of an employee performance difficult. Lack of enough reviewers especially in small organizations may jeopardize the process (Hosain, 2016). The 360-degree feedback requires feedback from more than 6 reviewers representing different departments in an organization.
The 360-degree feedback appraisal can be supported by the ADDIE method when there is a need for training the employees. The 360-degree feedback can act as the assessment tool for the need of training of the employees if the employee portrays weaknesses in certain areas. The identification of the performance gap by the 360-degree feedback could help in designing and develop an appropriate training program for the employee and finally evaluating whether the training was effective by the use of 360-degree feedback. According to Lu, Cheng & Chan (2016) the 360-degree feedback is important in ADDIE model when a training need is noted. The ADDIE model will identify, develop, implement and finally evaluate the training to determine whether it is effective.
Conclusion
The employees’ performance should constantly be evaluated in order to determine deviation from the set standards. The appropriate technique should be used for employee performance appraisal. The employees who have a major weakness should undergo training and ADDIE model should be used in designing, developing, implementation and evaluation of the training.
References
Aggarwal, A., & Thakur, G. S. M. (2013). Techniques of performance appraisal-a review. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT) ISSN, 2249-8958.
Espinilla, M., de Andrés, R., Martínez, F. J., & Martínez, L. (2013). A 360-degree performance appraisal model dealing with heterogeneous information and dependent criteria. Information Sciences, 222, 459-471.
Hosain, M. S. (2016). 360 Degree Feedback as a Technique of Performance Appraisal: Does it Really Work?. Available at SSRN.
Lu, S. C., Cheng, Y. C., & Chan, P. T. (2016). Using ADDIE Model to Develop a Nursing Information System Training Program for New Graduate Nurse. Studies in health technology and informatics, 225, 969.
