Managers and Performance Evaluation: Challenges and Best Practices
This paper examines the widespread resentment toward performance evaluations among both managers and employees, exploring the underlying causes such as inadequate preparation, poor training, and inaccurate appraisal methods. It identifies the key traits that distinguish effective managers from those who struggle with the evaluation process, drawing on research from organizational behavior and human resources literature. The paper also outlines the essential elements of a successful performance review, including year-round preparation, regular informal feedback, and constructive dialogue. A sample evaluation form covering both manager-led assessment and employee self-evaluation is provided, demonstrating how a well-designed process can foster trust, communication, and meaningful workplace improvement.
- Introduction: Framing performance evaluation as necessary but widely resented
- Understanding the Resentment: Research-backed reasons managers and employees resist evaluations
- Effective Management and the Opposite: Traits distinguishing effective managers from struggling ones
- Successful Employee Evaluations: Key Elements: Best practices for preparing and conducting productive reviews
- Evaluation Form: Sample two-part manager and self-evaluation form
- Conclusion: Commitment to preparation as path to effective evaluations
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What makes this paper effective
- Balances multiple stakeholder perspectives — drawing on both employee and manager viewpoints to present a rounded analysis of why performance evaluations fail in practice.
- Moves logically from diagnosis (why evaluations are resented) to prescription (what effective evaluations look like), giving the paper a clear problem-solution structure.
- Grounds claims in cited research and direct quotations from practitioners, lending credibility to what could otherwise read as opinion.
- Provides a practical deliverable — the sample evaluation form — that bridges theory and application, making the paper immediately useful.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper consistently uses third-party sources to validate each claim before extending the argument. Rather than asserting that managers lack training, for example, it quotes an employee's firsthand account, then generalizes outward. This evidence-first pattern is a reliable technique for undergraduate business writing and keeps assertions grounded throughout.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction that frames the problem and previews all four major moves. It then devotes one section each to the causes of resentment, the traits of effective versus ineffective managers, and the elements of a successful evaluation. A final practical section presents a two-part sample form covering managerial assessment and employee self-evaluation, followed by a brief conclusion that reinforces the paper's central argument.
Introduction
The fact that so many managers dislike performance evaluation is as old and common as human nature itself. Performance evaluation is disliked by so many because it requires that one take a long, hard look at oneself and engage in the process of problem-solving and making changes. Finding solutions and implementing changes are two of the most difficult challenges human beings face, because doing so forces them to dig deep and engage in a process that doesn't always have the clearest steps and that may or may not be successful. However, performance evaluations are necessary because they compel leaders in the workplace to make necessary changes and to find solutions for problems that undermine the growth, development, and success of the company. Regardless of a manager's discomfort, performance evaluations conducted at regular intervals are crucial to the success of any organization.
This paper examines the reasons connected to managerial resentment toward performance evaluation and what the research indicates about this trend. It also explores why there is such marked dislike for performance evaluations and what the research can illuminate about this resentment. In addition, the paper examines the key traits of effective managers, along with the traits of managers who tend to struggle with performance evaluations. Finally, it discusses the key elements of a successful evaluation process and offers a sample evaluation form and method.
Understanding the Resentment
Research demonstrates that part of the animosity connected to performance evaluations revolves around misguided intent. "Unfortunately, performance reviews don't always live up to their intent. In fact, one in five employees believe their bosses don't even think about the appraisal until they're in the room" (Pozin, 2014). If this belief is widespread within the workplace, performance reviews will not effectively motivate employees or help people pursue larger goals or meaningful changes. Research also demonstrates that HR leaders have serious problems with these yearly or bi-yearly evaluations: "45 percent don't think they are an accurate appraisal for employees' work. This may be because performance reviews often end up focusing on negative traits of performance metrics rather than positive ones. It's no wonder 30 percent of performance reviews ended up in decreased employee performance" (Pozin, 2014). This data sheds light on what may be the ultimate fallibility of performance reviews: they don't accurately evaluate employee performance. People in the workplace find them untrustworthy and, in some cases, believe they should be discarded entirely.
When employees and managers are asked about performance evaluations and why the dislike is so mutual, interesting and provocative reasons emerge. Employees repeatedly state that they don't believe their manager knows them or their work very well. As one employee observed, "I have worked at many jobs where I would rarely be on the same shifts as my managers. How can you assess an employee when you cannot directly observe their behaviours and performance? As an employee, I did not have a platform where I could log in every task I did on my shift" (Fong, 2015). This situation is very common in the workplace and unfortunately creates an environment in which staff members cannot help but be closed off to feedback from managers.
Another reason that employees and managers cite for resisting performance evaluations is that many managers don't know how to conduct such evaluations properly, because they lack the necessary training. For many managers, a performance evaluation is simply a form that needs to be completed in order to satisfy their supervisors. Managers need better training and better support on how to deal with the wide variety of issues that tend to arise during performance evaluations, including the emotional reactions of employees. What many leaders don't understand is that performance evaluations can create negative experiences between managers and staff — and these experiences can sour their relationships permanently. Employees have spoken out about the danger and damage that can occur when managers are not properly trained and begin to conflate the evaluation of performance with the person being assessed. "Managers go on a tangent when they do not know how to conduct a proper performance appraisal. They start to evaluate the employees' characteristics and behaviours, instead of their work performance" (Fong, 2015). Managers need proper training regarding the necessity of professional distance and objectivity, and the importance of keeping an employee's personality separate from the evaluation itself.
Other managers explain that while they understand it is their responsibility to be appropriately prepared to assess twenty or so employees, they often don't have adequate time to do so. Managers need to be aware of when each individual employee's performance dips or soars and to stay abreast of all relevant changes (Kamat, 2017). Still other managers express dislike of giving negative feedback — a reaction so common it is nearly universal. This discomfort is connected to a lack of proper training: when managers are properly trained, they understand that negative feedback is necessary for improvement and that many employees genuinely want to grow and improve. Managers need to recognize that giving negative feedback doesn't make them the proverbial "bad guy"; rather, it means they are helping the members of their team become better professionals.
Effective Management and the Opposite
While nearly everyone can probably spot an effective manager in the workplace, it is more difficult to articulate the specific qualities that define one. Truly well-rounded managers — those who bring an infectious enthusiasm to their work and who make decisions with empathy and consideration for both their workers and the broader organizational picture — are rare. But they don't have to be. With proper vision and training, excellent managers can be developed.
Perhaps one of the most important traits of effective managers is that they have a genuine affinity for the company, as well as its values and culture. "Good managers are great leaders and high achievers, but the best managers? They like unique qualities about the company that might turn others off. They become invested in not only the company but the culture therein" (Hogan, 2016). The best managers are therefore those who can sustain focus on how to improve the company and how it can continue to develop and evolve in a competitive marketplace. Another quality of effective managers — one that is practically contagious — is that they truly love their jobs and thus infuse the workplace with an enormous amount of positivity. "Managers who have a good attitude during the workday don't complain about projects that need to get done. They look for solutions to finish them before the deadline. According to Gallup, 51 percent of managers have mentally checked out from their job and their company" (Hogan, 2016). Managers who are genuinely excited about their work work harder and effortlessly inspire greatness in those around them, benefiting the entire organization.
Another crucial quality of great managers is their ability to maintain sustained focus. Sustained focus has been linked time and again to exceptional success, and it is particularly important for managers, who must prioritize accordingly and handle several projects simultaneously, ensuring that everything is completed on deadline and that clients are satisfied. As Bhavin Parikh, founder of Magoosh Inc., asserted: "Lack of focus is the reason many small companies fail. The best managers solve that problem through ruthless prioritization. They identify the three most impactful projects from a list of ten and focus their team on those three. They help keep their employees' proverbial plates just the right amount of full" (Hogan, 2016). These qualities help to ensure that managers not only lead with excellence but also bring that same excellence to the performance evaluation process.
Managers who struggle with the performance evaluation process tend to be those who do not prepare adequately and who resist identifying any negative qualities in their staff members. Some managers are also simply unapproachable, which means that when performance evaluation season arrives, the very process causes employees considerable anxiety. Good managers should never be unapproachable: "if you are unapproachable, either because you're always in and out of meetings or travelling a lot, they naturally fear performance appraisals because of the absolute lack of interaction. Since there's no professional rapport, it is but natural for them as well as you to be a little worked up" (Kamat, 2017).
Conclusion
In conclusion, performance evaluations are often the Achilles' heel of so many organizations and are frequently connected to why more companies aren't thriving — but they don't have to be. Once managers make the commitment to preparing for these assessments throughout the year, they will be positioned to excel at conducting them, ensuring that they are both productive and constructive. The goal of performance evaluations is to give employees legitimate, actionable feedback that they can use to improve and to make a greater and more meaningful contribution to the workplace.
References
Fong, W. P. (2015, April 24). 7 reasons why I hate performance appraisals. 7Geese.
Hogan, M. (2016, January 26). The seven qualities that make great managers so effective. Forbes.
Kamat, S. (2017, March 1). 5 reasons why some managers dread performance appraisals. HuffPost.
McCarthy, D. (2015, July 3). 3 reasons we hate performance reviews and 3 ways to improve them. The Balance Careers.
Pozin, I. (2014, December 10). Why everyone hates performance reviews and how to fix them. Forbes.
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