The connection between performance appraisal and performance management is that performance appraisals are the most common tool used for performance management. Performance management requires accurate tools to measure and monitor the performance of employees. Performance appraisals allow managers to evaluate performance thoroughly, while also providing the employee with goals and objectives to increase future performance. This appraisal is then passed to human resource (HR) professionals for performance management.
Purpose of performance management includes ensuring that employees are working toward a common goal, have a clear understanding of job expectations, and receive regular performance feedback. It also provides advice for improvement and usually provides rewards for good performance. The most common tool for performance management is performance appraisals since they allow HR to achieve most of their objectives in performance management. Having a performance appraisal and performance management program go hand-in-hand for most organizations since it is one of the most effective methods of achieving performance goals.
Designed by HR professionals, performance appraisals maximize the business’s efforts in performance management. They are generally passed on to the frontline managers to evaluate their own teams. Appraisals are an effective performance management tool because they force management to have open dialog with their employees about performance, development and expectations. Some companies use more progressive types of performance appraisals, such as those conducted by coworkers or the employees themselves. They type of appraisal used by the organization depends on the goals it wants to achieve, but performance appraisals carried out by management is the most common method.
Good performance appraisals are conducted on a regular basis, such as quarterly, semi-annually or yearly. Questions in the appraisal should be objective by requiring the responses to be backed up quantitatively in order to remove management bias. They allow room for management to specify goals and objectives for the employee’s to work on before the next scheduled appraisal. The appraisal should also evaluate the employee’s ability to reach previous goals and objectives that were set at the last appraisal meeting. Employees should know in advance what rewards could be expected at different levels of performance so that there are no surprises.
By having appraisals be fair, objective and goal-oriented, a business is able to better support its performance management objectives. Other tools, such as having a balanced scorecard, may also be required to monitor and improve performance appraisals. Regardless of the tools used to implement an appraisal, it is important that a performance appraisal is continuously evaluated and adjusted to make sure it is an accurate tool for measuring and evaluating employee performance. There is only a strong connection between a performance appraisal and performance management if the performance appraisal is designed and carried out appropriately.
