{"id":9194,"date":"2021-09-27T16:00:25","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T20:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/?post_type=epsi_ressources&p=9194"},"modified":"2022-06-09T13:11:30","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T17:11:30","slug":"part-2-performance-management-appraisal","status":"publish","type":"epsi_ressources","link":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/en\/ressources\/part-2-performance-management-appraisal\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 2: Performance Management Appraisal"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the previous article of this series<\/a>, we saw that performance management is essential to any individual, team, and organization, as it allows to objectively measure work performance and productivity. We also presented a traditional evaluation model<\/a> that can be used as a performance management evaluation grid.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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So Now What?<\/h4>\r\n

So now that you\u2019ve seen what a performance management appraisal might look like, you\u2019ve probably realized that it\u2019s like the report cards we used to get as kids. Report cards usually brought on two possible types of reactions: either excitement (because you were good in school) or anxiety (because you struggled in school and might get punished if you got a D in history, for example). Parent-teacher night and report card season were never meant to destroy a child\u2019s ability and knock them down if they struggled in school; rather, they were meant to track a child\u2019s progress, to identify what they excelled at and to pinpoint where they struggled. It was through report cards that teachers could help tailor some of their teaching strategies to help a child who struggled with math, for example, and help them understand how to problem-solve. It was also through report cards that teachers could have a frank conversation with parents and suggest some strategies that they could use at home to help bolster a child so that their struggles didn\u2019t appear too daunting.<\/p>\r\n

Performance management appraisals should be viewed in the same way, as a report card, or a roadmap that identifies both an employee\u2019s strengths and areas for improvement. Performance appraisals should very rarely be one-sided or polarized. In other words, if a performance management appraisal is focused solely on the areas for improvement, chances are it is not a true reflection of the employee\u2019s contribution to the organization and that there may be an underlying cause for the negative appraisal. The opposite is also true: if a performance management appraisal is only positive with very little identified areas for improvement, it is likely that the review is also biased. A biased appraisal, whether positive or negative, will have consequences on an employee and their employer. This said, a negative appraisal will yield more difficulties with employee motivation, engagement, productivity, and long-term commitment and loyalty to the organization.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Roles and Responsibilities<\/h4>\r\n

When considering performance management appraisals, each member of an organization has specific roles and responsibilities. While employees<\/strong> are responsible for actively participating in the organization\u2019s performance management appraisal program and must meet their work objectives and expected results, managers <\/strong>and human resources advisors <\/strong>or talent management advisors <\/strong>have a heavier burden to bear.<\/p>\r\n

Managers have a responsibility, not only to the organization, but also to the employees who report to them. The manager’s list of responsibilities<\/a>\u00a0can be daunting at times, but it is essential to remind managers that conducting a performance management appraisal is a privilege<\/strong> and not a right<\/strong>; as such, appraisals should always be carried out ethically, ensuring that an objective and impartial lens is used. Because managers are humans dealing with humans, it will be necessary for them to take a pulse check and see if their appraisal measures what it is meant to measure: that is an employee\u2019s work performance<\/em> and not necessarily an employee\u2019s personality<\/em>. In my line of work, I have all too often read performance appraisals that focused on employees\u2019 perceived<\/em> personality flaws <\/em>and not their actual contribution to the work environment itself. Very often these personality flaws were exaggerated and somehow gave managers a justification to negatively assess their employees. Therefore, it is key to have a sound framework established when providing a performance management appraisal, including perhaps a blind review. In the scientific community, a blind review is considered \u201can evaluation of a manuscript to assess its suitability for publication or of a grant proposal to assess its suitability for funding, as performed by a person who does not know the identity of the author or proposer\u201d (American Psychological Association, 2020). By extension, a blind review of a performance management appraisal should be carried out to ensure that the assessment is fair, objective, and does not include perceived personality flaws<\/em>, but rather proper\/improper behaviours and approaches to work along with an employee\u2019s work performance and achieved results. The blind reviewer should never know the identity of the manager, nor that of the employee to avoid being biased. Training should also be provided to blind reviewers to help them decipher any areas in the performance management assessment that may appear to assess personality rather than work performance.<\/p>\r\n

Human resources or talent management advisors, on the other hand, have an even greater list of responsibilities<\/a> than managers as they generally oversee the performance management assessment program and<\/em> policy. In other words, they are the gatekeepers and must ensure that managers conduct their assessments fairly and objectively and have guidance and support to implement their team or department’s performance and talent management programs. In addition to administering and establishing the terms of reference or framework for the performance management appraisal program within their organization, they must also determine with the head of the human resources department the criteria required to implement any professional or talent development plans.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Conclusion<\/h4>\r\n

Much more could be said about performance management appraisals, including the consequences that could result from an unfair or biased assessment. In a unionized work environment, especially, performance management appraisals that are used to unjustly punish an employee where a manager\u2019s abuse of power or authority can be detected could lead to grievances and at worst, legal ramifications. Abuses of power and authority are also an insidious form of psychological harassment and employees subjected to this form of harm could have legal recourse to not only ensure that the assessment is properly completed, but also to obtain a form of compensation. If this were to happen, it could be very well costly for an employer, not only from a financial point of view, but also from a reputational point of view, which could also have an impact on employee engagement and, ipso facto<\/em>, on the overall productivity of the organization. Therefore, it is incumbent upon any manager to ask themselves if they have any misgivings or ill-feelings towards their employees before <\/em>starting a performance management assessment and to use any mitigating measures necessary to ensure that they are carrying out their review objectively. When in doubt, it is a best practice to secure the assistance of a neutral third-party individual and\/or guidance from a human resource advisor and have a do\u2019s and don\u2019ts cheat sheet<\/a> to consult regularly. By doing so, managers hold themselves and their organization accountable and provide the best possible appraisal that will ultimately help an employee improve \u2013 not destroy them. Besides, in our world of fantasy and superheroes, isn\u2019t it more advantageous to have a workforce full of Bruce Banner instead of Hulk? I would like to think so.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the previous article of this series, we saw that performance management is essential to any individual, team, and organization, as it allows to objectively measure work performance and productivity. We also presented a traditional evaluation model that can be used as a performance management evaluation grid.\u00a0 So Now What? So now that you\u2019ve seen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9242,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"%%title%% %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%% Resources","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":null,"_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"epsi_ressources_tax":[108],"epsi_solutions_types":[],"class_list":["post-9194","epsi_ressources","type-epsi_ressources","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","epsi_ressources_tax-engage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/epsi_ressources\/9194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/epsi_ressources"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/epsi_ressources"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/epsi_ressources\/9194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"epsi_ressources_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/epsi_ressources_tax?post=9194"},{"taxonomy":"epsi_solutions_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epsi-inc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/epsi_solutions_types?post=9194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}