Definitions

• Performance Appraisal– Systematic description of job relevant

strengths and weaknesses within and between employees and groups.

• Performance appraisal should accurately describe job performance behavior (not effectiveness)

Types of Evaluation Data• Objective (Quantitative) Production Information

– Dollar Volume of Sales

– Number of Passing Yards

• Personnel Data– Absenteeism

– Turnover

– Accidents

• Subjective (Judgmental) Data– Ratings of performance

Errors in Performance Ratings

• Three types of error– Halo errors

– Leniency errors• negative - “hard grader”• positive - “easy grader”

– Central tendency errors

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Bad Average Excellent

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Bad Average Excellent

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Bad Average Excellent

Uses for PA Information• Development

– Identifies training needs– Helps employees do their jobs better

• Research– Appraisals can serve as criteria for test validation– Appraisals can serve as predictors for promotion

• Administrative– Assigns people to the work they do best– Maintains fairness in personnel decisions

Legal Issues

• Properties of a legally sound appraisal system– Barrett & Kernan (1987)

• Based on job analysis• Focuses on behaviors as opposed to traits• Evaluators are trained to use the system• Results are reviewed with employee• Appeal mechanisms are available to employees• Evaluations are documented• Poor performers receive corrective guidance

Performance Appraisal Methods

• Relative (employee) comparisons

– Order employees in terms of overall performance

• rank order

• alteration ranking

• paired comparisons

• forced distributions

Forced Distributions

• The rater must normally distribute performance ratings across employees

• Controls leniency, severity, and central tendency biases

• Employees at bottom may not be “bad” performers

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Forced Distributions (Example)

0 1 2 3 4 5

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Bad

Number of employees

Utility of Relative Comparisons

• Advantages– Helpful in making personnel decisions– Effectively control:

• leniency/severity and central tendency errors

• Disadvantages– Employees compared on a global “suitability”

criterion– Halo error is obscured not eliminated– Difficult to compare rankings across work groups

Performance Appraisal Methods

• Using Absolute Standards

– Behavioral Checklists and Scales

• Critical Incidents

• Weighted Checklist

• Behavioral Observation Scale

• Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)

Exercise: Evaluate Your Boss

• Think of your boss and the things he or she does at work

• On a blank piece of paper, choose one or two dimensions of work performance from the following list:– Training others– Planning work for others – Assigning tasks to others – Scheduling people – Observing others’ work

Exercise: Evaluate Your Boss

• Next, for each area/dimension you have chosen, write three sentences– Sentence A: Give an example of very poor

performance in this area– Sentence B: Give an example of acceptable

performance in this area– Sentence C: Give an example of excellent

performance in this area

• Make a rating scale from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to sentence A, 3 to sentence B, and 5 to sentence C

Example: Scheduling People

1 - “Often forgets to tell people when he has made changes to the shift schedule.”

2 -

3 - “Gives people a choice of shifts, whenever possible.”

4 -

5 - “Plans shifts so that no one person always ends up working the bad shift.”

Exercise: Make your rating

• Using your example statements as a guide, make a rating of your boss on the scale you designed.

• In actual work settings, I/O psychologists would spend much time and effort with workers and supervisors to make sure that:– All of the performance areas made sense for the job

being rated– All of the example statements fit the areas– All of the scale values were fair

Rater Training

• Can minimize error

– leniency/severity and central tendency

• Can be used to “calibrate” ratings

– provide all raters with common points of reference

Performance Feedback• Identify tasks performed of the job • Develop performance standards • Train raters • Communicate frequently • Evaluate own performance first• Encourage subordinate preparation/participation• Evaluate performance (not personality)• Provide specific, behavioral, constructive criticism• Be an active listener• Set mutually agreeable goals• Make rewards contingent on performance

Evaluating Work Performance

• Suggestions

– Identify tasks performed of the job

– Develop performance standards

– Develop job-relevant evaluation system

– Train supervisors to:

• observe/evaluate performance accurately

• focus on only job-relevant issues

• deliver feedback effectively

• coach poor performers

– Study why and how rating errors happen

Conclusions• Performance evaluation is an important issue

both for companies and for workers

• With careful design and appropriate use, performance evaluations can support productivity and fair allocation of rewards

• Industrial-organizational psychologists specialize in making sure that performance evaluations are designed correctly

Prepared by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology - SIOP © 1998