Whether it is done annually as in most organizations or done as quarterly/Monthly reviews in few organizations, this is one area in HR regarding which most employees are aware of and have a opinion of their own - Performance Appraisals
Unless there are clear targets and a perfect measurement system to track them, there is always an element of subjectivity in appraisals which is the case with most white collar jobs.
Research from multiple sources has shown that people generally tend to have high opinion about their abilities and when given an option to rate themselves would generally self rate as above average or superior performers even though in reality they may not be as good as they thought them to be.
With this information known, how prudent it would be to have an option for self appraisal which some companies have as part of performance appraisal and which normally is executed before the supervisor gives his/her ratings.The rationale for such a practice
is that , it would give supervisor information on what exactly employee thinks of his work abilities and can be part of performance discussion which happen as part of performance appraisal or while sharing the final rating. This makes sense because as a cultural trait,Indians generally do not voice their opinions in front of superiors and hence self ratings would give managers a sense of what their reportees think of themselves
But on the flip side, when an employee receives a rating lower than what he/she has rated as part of self appraisal, it would have a serious blow on self-esteem of such employees which then has a linkage to engagement level and turn over intentions for the employee to just name a few areas.With Normalization & bell curves being the norm of the day, where only a fixed percentage of employees can be given top ratings, there would definetely be cases where a self rated star performer might end up being an average performer thus having a serious impact on his self esteem and can then develop hatredness towards the person responsible for giving such a rating and suspicion towards the system
so would doing away with self ratings be a suitable alternative?
There are organizations where self rating is not part of Performance appraisals and the overall system seems to be working perfectly fine.But on closer look, one can see that in such organizations there is an element of participatory appraisal system where performance discussions are encouraged and a strong redressal system in case if some one feels their performance ratings are lower than what they deserved are very much in place. If not, then it is nothing but a top down approach with employees having little say in system which affect them and will sooner or later have repurcusions to the organization in terms of increased turn over, lower productivity levels and negative attitude towards about work or organization.
So in conclusion, I would suggest that whether through self ratings or other mode,open discussion should be encouraged such that justice & fairness is felt by
employee which would increase his/her confidence in the system. If organization choose to have self rating, they need to have frequent performance discussions,apart from
annual appraisal where candid feedback on the performance of the employee will keep him realistic about his/her abilities.
Unless there are clear targets and a perfect measurement system to track them, there is always an element of subjectivity in appraisals which is the case with most white collar jobs.
Research from multiple sources has shown that people generally tend to have high opinion about their abilities and when given an option to rate themselves would generally self rate as above average or superior performers even though in reality they may not be as good as they thought them to be.
With this information known, how prudent it would be to have an option for self appraisal which some companies have as part of performance appraisal and which normally is executed before the supervisor gives his/her ratings.The rationale for such a practice
is that , it would give supervisor information on what exactly employee thinks of his work abilities and can be part of performance discussion which happen as part of performance appraisal or while sharing the final rating. This makes sense because as a cultural trait,Indians generally do not voice their opinions in front of superiors and hence self ratings would give managers a sense of what their reportees think of themselves
But on the flip side, when an employee receives a rating lower than what he/she has rated as part of self appraisal, it would have a serious blow on self-esteem of such employees which then has a linkage to engagement level and turn over intentions for the employee to just name a few areas.With Normalization & bell curves being the norm of the day, where only a fixed percentage of employees can be given top ratings, there would definetely be cases where a self rated star performer might end up being an average performer thus having a serious impact on his self esteem and can then develop hatredness towards the person responsible for giving such a rating and suspicion towards the system
so would doing away with self ratings be a suitable alternative?
There are organizations where self rating is not part of Performance appraisals and the overall system seems to be working perfectly fine.But on closer look, one can see that in such organizations there is an element of participatory appraisal system where performance discussions are encouraged and a strong redressal system in case if some one feels their performance ratings are lower than what they deserved are very much in place. If not, then it is nothing but a top down approach with employees having little say in system which affect them and will sooner or later have repurcusions to the organization in terms of increased turn over, lower productivity levels and negative attitude towards about work or organization.
So in conclusion, I would suggest that whether through self ratings or other mode,open discussion should be encouraged such that justice & fairness is felt by
employee which would increase his/her confidence in the system. If organization choose to have self rating, they need to have frequent performance discussions,apart from
annual appraisal where candid feedback on the performance of the employee will keep him realistic about his/her abilities.
