Performance Appraisal Security Management

Q1. Discuss specific reasons why personnel appraisals serve the interests of the organization. Even in the most technologically-driven organizations, personnel appraisals are critical for ensuring high levels of quality control. Humans are still the primary operators of technology, and without good people at the helm, appropriate security protocols will not be enforced. People need to know on a regular basis how they are performing and usually desire feedback.

Ideally, this feedback should combine both positive and negative input, since simply focusing on the negative can be disheartening from the employee’s point-of-view. Also, another function of performance appraisals is to communicate to employees the degree to which the organization takes a vested interest in their development. That is why, according to McCrie (2016), “In well-structured organizations, all employees deserve appraisals” (p.160). Performance appraisals are something employees deserve, to support their progress and to show that the organization does not regard them as disposable.

Appraisals also allow employees to provide input about what they would like to see the company improve upon in terms of its support, customer relations, and how it engages in recruitment and development of employees. This can be an important way for the company to solicit valuable information regarding issues such as recruitment of disenfranchised groups and better ways to take a multicultural approach to engage with customers. Without stimulating dialogue between employees and managers, the company will not grow. Q2.

How can top-down appraisals be designed to make judgments that are less likely to be biased by autocratic behavior? Most performance appraisals are top-down in nature, “that is, a supervisor appraises his or her subordinates,” and are justified by the notion that the more experienced individual in a position of leadership should be the one to offer the final judgement on an employee’s performance (McCrie, 2016, p.161).

Incorporating some element of bottom-up behavior, such as allowing employees to provide input about their experience at the company, is useful to counteract what can be an excessively autocratic approach to the reviewing process. Taking in input from customers and peers, even if the final “grader” is that of an upper-level manager can counteract to some degree the autocratic nature of many such reviews. Finally, having concrete objectives by which to measure performance can be useful to ensure that the reviews are not entirely subjective in quality. Q3.

What accounts for the popularity and resiliency of MBO? Management by Objectives (MBO) remains popular in part for the reason cited above, that it prevents highly subjective performance appraisals and ensures that employees are evaluated by uniform, predetermined standards. It ensure employees are also evaluated by the same standards within their particular organizational niche, and that these standards do not and will not randomly shift between one appraisal and another.

Employees have a better idea of how they will be graded, and are more likely to view such evaluations as fair as a result. Perceptions of fairness are likely to enhance retention and also ensure greater consistency in the approach of different employees, even if one should succeed another. Organizations value consistency in general, and this accounts for the resiliency of MBO as well.

There are many standardized employee grading methods for organizations using MBO, and it is far easier for employers to use a tested method rather than developing one in-house, particularly for smaller companies. Finally, should employees object to any decision or allege discrimination, the wide acceptance of MBO and the paper trail which utilizing it leaves, also enables companies to demonstrate that any employee actions were justified in a relatively objective fashion.

Additional Questions “Performance appraisals are something employees deserve, to support their progress and to show that the organization does not regard them as disposable.” Does this really matter if you are a union employee and will receive the standard pay increase and benefits as is stated in the union contract? Yes. Even union represented-employees still wish and need to develop their capabilities for future employment.

Even if a union represented employee is currently receiving standardized pay and benefit increases, the employee may wish to work elsewhere at some point in his or her career. The performance guidance may prove to be invaluable in terms of improving the employee’s competitiveness in the marketplace. Even if the employee choses to remain, a good employee will still wish to perform in a satisfactory fashion. The company should proceed with the expectation that a good worker will wish to improve as a worker, rather than assuming.