1. A VOYAGE THROUGH PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TOOLS

2. APPRAISAL METHODS MAY INCLUDE:
Category Rating Appraisal
Comparison Appraisal
Narrative Appraisal
Special Appraisal

3. CATEGORY RATING APPRAISAL
Graphic Scale
Checklist
Forced Choice
The least complex method for appraising performance requires the appraiser to mark an employee’s level of performance on a pre-designed, designated form.
The most common category rating methods are included in this listing.

4. GRAPHIC SCALE REWARDS CONSTRAINTS
Scales are easy to use and provide a quantitative rating for each employee
CONSTRAINTS
Standards may be unclear
This is the most commonly used category rating method.
An appraiser checks the appropriate place on the scale for each task listed.
A typical example is a five-point rating scale whereas 1 is below standard, 3 is standard, and 5 is above standard.
There is typically a comments section. Whereas the appraiser can provide more detail about the employee’s performance.
A version of this appraisal method is the current Professional Staff Employee Development Evaluation tool.

5. CHECKLIST REWARDS CONSTRAINTS Easy to use
Different words or statements may be interpreted differently by each appraiser and by the employee
The appraiser is given a list of statements or words and checks the items on the list which best describes the characteristics and performance of an employee.
Sometimes the items are weighted and then tabulated to arrive at some quantifiable result or total.
An example in your handout packet is the Employee Evaluation Checklist.

6. FORCED CHOICE REWARDS CONSTRAINTS Easy to use
Constructing valid statements can be difficult
Is a variation of the checklist method in which the appraiser is required to check two of four statements; one that the employee is “most like” and one that the employee is “least like.”
The choices are a combination of positive and negative statements.
Constructing the statements can be difficult.

7. COMPARATIVE APPRAISAL
Ranking
Paired Comparison
Forced Distribution
The appraiser directly compares the performance of each employee with that of the other employees.

8. RANKING REWARDS CONSTRAINTS
Simple to use but not as simple as Graphic Scale
CONSTRAINTS
Can cause disagreements among employees and could be perceived as unfair if all employees are excellent
The appraiser lists all employees from highest to lowest, best to the poorest in performance.
This system is often limited in that the amount of the difference between the varying numbers is not typically prescribed. Therefore, there may be a little difference between employee 2 and employee 3, but a big difference between employee 19 and employee 20, for example.

9. PAIRED COMPARISON REWARDS CONSTRAINTS
More information is generated about individual employees
CONSTRAINTS
Very time involved to evaluate each pair of employees
Each of the employees is paired with every other employee and compared, one at a time, using the same scale for performance.

10. FORCED DISTRIBUTION REWARDS CONSTRAINTS
Distribution forces a predetermined number of employees into each group
CONSTRAINTS
The appraisal results will depend on the adequacy of your original choice of cutoff points
Employees are rated and placed at different percentage points along a bell-shaped curve.
The survey may be divided into five sections
with 10% of the employees will fall into the poor section while 10% of the employees will fall into the excellent section.

11. NARRATIVE APPRAISAL Essay Critical Incidents Field Review
These appraisal methods will have the appraiser submit written narrative performance appraisals.

12. ESSAY REWARDS CONSTRAINTS
Lots of supervisory input and dialogue could occur
CONSTRAINTS
Supervisor’s writing ability
Could be difficult to quantify behavior
The appraiser writes a short essay describing the performance of each employee during the rating period.
The appraiser may be given several topic areas for comment such as quality of work, quantity of work.

13. CRITICAL INCIDENTS REWARDS CONSTRAINTS Lots of documentation
Forces supervisors to evaluate on an on-going basis
CONSTRAINTS
Time consuming
A record of employee actions is kept in addition to actual ratings.
Both positive and negative actions are recorded for the entire rating period.
The narrative is written then around the critical incidents for the rating period.

14. FIELD REVIEW REWARDS CONSTRAINTS Third-party intervention
Time consuming
The supervisor/manager as well as HR professional cooperate in doing the rating.
The HR professional interviews the supervisor and takes notes concerning the performance of each employee.
After the interview, the notes are compiled by the HR department and comparison ratings are arrived at for each employee.
Ratings are then submitted to the supervisor for approval or changes.

15. SPECIAL APPRAISAL Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)
Behavior Observation Scale (BOS)
360-Degree Feedback
These special appraisals try to overcome some of the difficulties associated with the appraisal of employees.

16. BEHAVIORALLY ANCHORED RATING SCALE (BARS)
REWARDS
Behavioral anchors are often very accurate
Works best in situations where many employees perform the same tasks
CONSTRAINTS
Often very difficult to develop and maintain
Used to combat the problems of category rating by describing examples of desirable and undesirable behavior.
Examples are then measured against a scale of performance levels.
Clearly indicate the behavior associated with each level of performance.
Different BARS must be developed for every different job category.

17. Behavior Observation Scale (BOS)
Rewards
Add evaluation of the frequency of the behavior
Constraints
Often very difficult to develop
Is a variation of the BARS
BOS also assesses the frequency of the behavior

18. 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK REWARDS CONSTRAINTS
Input is gathered from a variety of sources
Process recognizes the complexity of management and the value of all
CONSTRAINTS
Often is used for training and development goals, not for pay increases
Concept of upward feedback.
Performance info is collected from all those around the employee - supervisors, subordinates, peer, and internal and external customers.

19. APPRAISAL METHODS MAY INCLUDE:
Category Rating Appraisal
Comparative Appraisal
Narrative Appraisal
Special Appraisal

20. AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE APPRAISAL IS INTENDED TO DO
IS ESSENTIAL!