8 Performance Appraisal Methods You Should Be Aware Of: Graphic Rating Scale

8 performance appraisal methods
you should be aware of

Performance appraisals form an essential part of the HR department as they
provide important and useful information for the assessment of employee’s
skill, knowledge, ability and overall job performance. These appraisals are not
only used to eliminate behavior and productivity issues, but also to motivate
employees to contribute more. There are many methods that organisations
can implement depending on their preference as most have their specific
advantages as well as limitations. Let us have a look at some of them in more
detail.
Graphic Rating scale:

A graphic rating scale lists the traits each employee should have and rates
workers on a numbered scale for each trait. The scores are meant to separate
employees into tiers of performers, which can play a role in determining
promotions and salary adjustments. The method is easy to understand and
quite user friendly. It allows behaviors to be quantified making appraisal
system much easier.
However, the scale has disadvantages that make it difficult to use as an
effective management tool. Even with intense training, some evaluators will be
too strict. Some will be too lenient, and others may find it hard to screen out
their personal agendas. Although it is good at identifying the best and poorest
of employees, it does not help while differentiating between the average
employees.
Analyse performance of employees working on Project A from April to
June 2017
Essay Performance Appraisal method:

Essay Appraisal is a traditional form of Appraisal also known as “Free Form
method.” It involves a description of the performance of an employee by his
superior which needs to be based on facts and often includes examples to
support the information. Under this method, the rater is asked to express the
strengths and weaknesses of the employee’s behavior.
This technique is normally used with a combination of the graphic rating scale
because the rater can present the scale in more detail by also giving an
explanation for his rating. While preparing the essay on the employee, the
rater also needs to consider job knowledge, understanding of the company’s
policies and objectives, relations with peers, ability to plan and organize,
attitude and perception of employee in general.
The Essay evaluation method is a non-quantitative technique and highly
subjective. While it provides a good deal of information about the employee, it
takes a lot of time of the appraiser which is not always feasible.
Attribute Discussion / Comments
1 Does the employee pay attention to detail?
2 Does the employee work well with the team?
3 Is the employee capable of taking initiative?
Checklist Scale:
Under this method, checklist of statements of traits of employee in the form of
Yes or No based questions is prepared. If the rater believes strongly that the
employee possesses a particular listed trait, he checks the item; otherwise, he
leaves the item blank. Here the rater only does the reporting or checking and
the HR department does the actal evaluation. Although it does not allow
detailed analysis of the performance.

Yes No
Gives complete attention to detail
Has complete knowledge of the product
Works well with the team
Takes initiative
Has creative approach to solving problems

Critical Incidents:
In this method, the manager prepares lists of statements of very effective and
ineffective behavior of an employee. These critical incidents or events
represent the outstanding or poor behavior of employees on the job. The
manager maintains logs on each employee, whereby he periodically records
critical incidents of the workers behavior. At the end of the rating period, these
recorded critical incidents are used in the evaluation of the workers’
performance. It provides an objective basis for conducting a thorough
discussion of an employee’s performance.
Although this method avoids recency bias, there is a tendency for managers
to focus more on the negative incidents than otherwise.
Work Standards Approach:
In this technique, management establishes the goals openly and sets targets
against realistic output standards. These standards are incorporated into the
organizational performance appraisal system. Thus each employee has a
clear understanding of their duties and knows well what is expected of them.
Performance appraisal and interview comments are related to these duties.
This makes the appraisal process objective and more accurate. It works best
in long-term situations which is recommended as it considers performances
during that time.
However, it is difficult to compare individual ratings because standards for
work may differ from job to job and from employee to employee. It does not
allow for reasonable deviations.
Ranking Appraisal:
Here manager compares an employee to other similar employees, rather than
to a standard measurement for the purpose of assessing their worth. The
employees are ranked from the highest to the lowest or from the best to the
worst. The problem here is that it does not tell that how much better or worse
one is than another. Also it cannot be used for large number of employees.
Attention to detail
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Poor Average Excellent
Initiative
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Knowledge
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

MBOs
MBO (management by objectives) methods of performance appraisal are
results-oriented. That is, they seek to measure employee performance by
examining the extent to which predetermined work objectives have been met.
Usually the objectives are established jointly by the supervisor and
subordinate. Once an objective is agreed, the employee is usually expected to
self-audit; that is, to identify the skills needed to achieve the objective.
Typically they do not rely on others to locate and specify their strengths and
weaknesses. They are expected to monitor their own development and
progress. The MBO method concentrates on actual outcomes
What makes MBOs efficient is the ability to set SMART Goals i.e. set goals
that are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant and Time-bound.
BARS:
The problem of judgmental performance evaluation inherent in the traditional
methods of performance evaluation led to some organisations to go for
objective evaluation by developing a technique known as “Behaviourally
Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)” around 1960s. This method of performance
appraisal is considered better than the traditional ones because it provides
advantages like a more accurate gauge, clearer standards, better feedback,
and consistency in evaluation.
The BARS method is designed to bring the benefits of both qualitative and
quantitative data to the employee appraisal process. It compares an
individual’s performance against specific examples of behaviour that are
anchored to numerical ratings.
Although even this methods has its limitations as it is often accused of being
subject to unreliability and leniency error.
Performance appraisal is already being considered a necessary evil. Thus
companies need to be careful while selecting out of these appraisal methods.
The method should be able to provide value to the company as well as the
employees and managers.

8 Performance Appraisal Methods You Should Be Aware Of: Graphic Rating Scale

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

8 Performance Appraisal Methods You Should Be Aware Of: Graphic Rating Scale

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

8 Performance Appraisal Methods You Should Be Aware Of: Graphic Rating Scale

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

8 performance appraisal methods

you should be aware of

Graphic Rating scale:

Essay Performance Appraisal method:

1 Does the employee pay attention to detail?

2 Does the employee work well with the team?

3 Is the employee capable of taking initiative?

Gives complete attention to detail

Has complete knowledge of the product

Works well with the team

Has creative approach to solving problems

Poor Average Excellent

Poor Average Excellent

Poor Average Excellent

You might also like