Avoiding Common Errors in Performance Appraisals- Insights for Supervisors Evaluating Clerical Employees

Avoiding Common Errors in Performance Appraisals- Insights for Supervisors Evaluating Clerical Employees

Many errors characterize job performance appraisal exercises. The mistakes mostly originate from the person conducting the appraisal exercise. It is impossible to alleviate the errors fully, but awareness about them significantly improves the appraisal process. A common error during the job appraisal exercise is the usage of varying standards. HR personnel often use ambiguous criteria or subject candidates to subjective weightings (Mathis et al., 2016). HR managers should avoid subjecting employees performing the same or similar jobs to different standards.

Moreover, HR personnel tend to make primacy and recency errors. Recency errors occur when a rater/manager gives weight to the latest activities/tasks when rating the employee (Mathis et al., 2016). For instance, it is wrong to rate a support staff employee based on calls made during the latest week prior to the appraisal exercise. On the other hand, primacy errors refer to basing an employee’s performance on the latest information (Mathis et al., 2016). Focusing solely on recent events to appraise employees largely gives a false reflection of their productivity.

Another common error during performance appraisal is rater bias. Such bias happens when a rater’s values or prejudices alter the exercise (Lunenburg, 2012). The bias may be intentional or subconscious. For instance, a rater’s dislike of certain ethnicities may skew the appraisal exercise. Other factors such as appearance, age, sex, and sexuality, among others, influence a rater’s decision process. The error can be corrected by higher-level managers reviewing the entire appraisal infrastructure.

Managers need to understand that job appraisal is crucial to attaining organizational goals. Therefore, the primary objective of a performance appraisal exercise should be to improve employees’ competencies. Managers should also use the exercise to ease the managerial role. In essence, managers need to be objective and view performance appraisal as a way to improve organizational performance. With such an approach, appraisal errors will be avoided.

References

Lunenburg, F. C. (2012). Performance appraisal: Methods and rating errors. International journal of scholarly academic intellectual diversity, 14(1), 1-9.

Mathis, R. L., Jackson, J. H., Valentine, S. R., & Meglich, P. (2016). Human resource management. Cengage Learning.

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After completing the module readings, you will think about what you have read and pull upon any HR experience you may have. Then, in your own words, write one or two paragraphs answering the following question:

Avoiding Common Errors in Performance Appraisals- Insights for Supervisors Evaluating Clerical Employees

Suppose you are a supervisor; what errors might you make when preparing a performance appraisal on a clerical employee? How might you avoid those errors? Title your post 5-2 Performance Appraisals.