Performance Appraisal Essay Example for Free

Performance Appraisal Essay A performance appraisal is a systematic and periodic process that assesses an individual employee’s job performance and productivity in relation to certain pre-established criteria and organizational objectives. Historically, performance Appraisal has been conducted annually (long-cycle appraisals), however many companies are moving towards shorter cycles (every six months, every quarter), and some have been moving into short-cycle (weekly, bi-weekly) appraisals. PA is often included in performance management systems. PA helps the subordinate answer two key questions; first, What are your expectations of me? second, How am I doing to meet your expectations? Performance management systems are employed â€Å"to manage and align all of an organizations resources in order to achieve highest possible performance. How performance is managed in an organization determines to a large extent the success or failure of the organization. Therefore, improving PA for everyone should be among the highest priorities of contemporary organizations. A central reason for the utilization of performance appraisals is performance improvement initially at the level of the individual employee, and ultimately at the level of the organization. Other fundamental reasons include â€Å"as a basis for employment decisions (e. g. promotions, terminations, transfers), as criteria in research (e. g. test validation), to aid with communication to establish personal objectives for training programs, for transmission of objective feedback for personal development as a means of documentation to aid in keeping track of decisions and legal requirements and in wage and salary administration. Additionally, PAs can aid in the formulation of job criteria and selection of individuals â€Å"who are best suited to perform the required organizational tasks†. A PA can be part of guiding and monitoring employee career development. PAs can also be used to aid in work motivation through the use of reward systems. The latest mantra being followed by organizations across the world being – get paid according to what you contribute – the focus of the organizations is turning to performance management and specifically to individual performance. If the process of performance appraisals is formal and properly structured, it helps the employees to clearly understand their roles and responsibilities and give direction to the individual’s performance. Potential benefits  PAs can benefit an organization’s effectiveness. One way is PAs can often lead to giving individual workers feedback about their job performance. From this may spawn several potential benefits such as the individual workers becoming more productivity. Other potential benefits include: * Facilitation of communication: communication in organizations is considered an essential function of worker motivation. It has been proposed that feedback from PAs aid in minimizing employees’ perceptions of uncertainty. Fundamentally, feedback and management-employee communication can serve as a guide in job performance. Enhancement of employee focus through promoting trust: behaviors, thoughts, or issues may distract employees from their work, and trust issues may be among these distracting factors. Such factors that consume psychological energy can lower job performance and cause workers to lose sight of organizational goals. Properly constructed and utilized PAs have the ability to lower distracting factors and encourage trust within the organization. * Goal setting and desired performance: PAs provide room for discussion in the collaboration of these individual and organizational goals. Collaboration can also be advantageous by resulting in employee acceptance and satisfaction of appraisal results. * Performance improvement: well constructed PAs can be valuable tools for communication with employees as pertaining to how their job performance stands with organizational expectations. â€Å"At the organizational level, numerous studies have reported positive relationships between human resource management (HRM) practices and performance improvement at both the individual and organizational levels. Determination of training needs: PAs can especially be instrumental for identifying training needs of new employees. Finally, PAs can help in the establishment and supervision of employees’ career goals. Potential complications Despite all the potential advantages of formal performance appraisals (PAs), there are also potential drawbacks they are: * Detrimental to quality improvement: it has been proposed that the use of PA systems in organizations adversely affect or ganizations’ pursuits of quality performance. It is believed by some scholars and practitioners that the use of PAs is more than unnecessary if there is total quality management. * Negative perceptions: â€Å"Quite often, individuals have negative perceptions of PAs†. Receiving or the anticipation of receiving a PA can be uncomfortable and distressful and potentially cause â€Å"tension between supervisors and subordinates†. If the person being appraised does not trust their employer, appraiser or believe that they will benefit from the process it may become a tick box exercise. Errors: PAs should provide accurate and relevant ratings of an employee’s performance as compared to pre-established criteria/goals Nevertheless, supervisors will sometimes rate employees more favorably than that of their true performance in order to please the employees and avoid conflict. * Legal issues: when PAs are not carried out appropriately, legal issues could result that place the organization at risk. PAs are used in organi zational disciplinary programs as well as for promotional decisions within the organization. The improper application and utilization of PAs can affect employees negatively and lead to legal action against the organization. The most significant reasons of using Performance appraisal are: * Making payroll and compensation decisions * Training and development needs * Identifying the gaps in desired and actual performance and its cause * Deciding future goals and course of action * Promotions, demotions and transfers * Other purposes (including job analysis and providing superior support, assistance and counseling) Human resource management performance management Human resource management (HRM) conducts performance management. Performance management systems consist of the activities and processes embraced by an organization in anticipation of improving employee performance, and therefore, organizational performance. Consequently, performance management is conducted at the organizational level and the individual level. At the organizational level, performance management oversees organizational performance and compares present performance with organizational performance goals. The achievement of these organizational performance goals depends on the performance of the individual organizational members. Therefore, easuring individual employee performance can prove to be a valuable performance management process for the purposes of HRM and for the organization. Many researchers would argue that â€Å"performance appraisal is one of the most important processes in Human Resource Management†. Methods of collecting data There are three main methods used to collect performance appraisal (PA) data they are Objective production The objective production method consists of direct, but limited, measures such as sales figures, production numbers, the electronic performance monitoring of data entry workers, etc. 6] The measures used to appraise performance would depend on the job and its duties. Personnel The personnel method is the recording of withdrawal behaviors (i. e. absenteeism, accidents). Most organizations consider unexcused absences to be indicators of poor job performance, even with all other factors being equal; however, this is subject to criterion deficiency. The quantity of an employee’s absences does not reflect how dedicated he/she may be to the job and its duties. Especially for blue-collar jobs, accidents can often be a useful indicator of poor job performance, but this is also subject to criterion contamination because situational factors also contribute to accidents. Judgmental evaluation Judgmental evaluation appears to be a collection of methods, and as such, could be considered a methodology. Judgmental evaluations are the most commonly used with a large variety of evaluation methods The main methods used in judgmental performance appraisal are: * Graphic Rating Scale: Graphic rating scales are the most commonly used system in PA. On several different factors, subordinates are judged on how much of that factor or trait they possess. Typically, the raters use a 5- or 7-point scale; however, there are as many as 20-point scales. * Employee-Comparison Methods: rather than subordinates being judged against pre-established criteria, they are compared with one another. This method eliminates central tendency and errors. The rank-order method has raters ranking subordinates from â€Å"best† to â€Å"worst†, but how truly good or bad one is on a performance dimension would be unknown. The paired-comparison method requires the rater to select the two best subordinates out of a group on each dimension then rank individuals according to the number of times each subordinate was selected as one of the best. * Behavioral Checklists and Scales: behaviors are more definite than traits. The critical incidents method concerns â€Å"specific behaviors indicative of good or bad job performance†. Supervisors record behaviors of what they judge to be job performance relevant, and they keep a running tally of good and bad behaviors. Performance appraisal interviews The performance appraisal (PA) interview is typically the final step of the appraisal process. The interview is held between the subordinate and supervisor. The PA interview can be considered of great significance to an organization’s PA system. It is most advantageous when both the superior and subordinate participate in the interview discussion and establish goals together. Three factors consistently contribute to effective PA interviews: the supervisor’s knowledge of the subordinate’s job and performance in it, the supervisor’s support of the subordinate, and a welcoming of the subordinate’s participation.

Significance of Dying and Death in To Build a Fire :: Build Fire Essays

Significance of â€Å"Dying† and â€Å"Death† in "To Build a Fire" The significance of the words "dying and death" in Jack London's 1910 novel, "To Build a Fire" continuously expresses the man's dwindling warmth and bad luck in his journey along the Yukon trail to meet "the boys" at camp. London associates dying with the man's diminishing ability to stay warm in the frigid Alaskan climate. The main characters predicament slowly worsens one level at a time finally resulting in death. The narrator informs the reader "the man" lacks personal experience travelling in the Yukon terrain. The old-timer warned the man about the harsh realities of the Klondike. The confident main character thinks of the old-timer at Sulphur Creek as "womanish." Along the trail, "the man" falls into a hidden spring and attempts to build a fire to dry his socks and warm himself. With his wet feet quickly growing numb, he realizes he has only one chance to successfully build a fire or face the harsh realities of the Yukon at one-hundred nine degrees below freezing. Falling snow from a tree blots out the fire and the character realizes "he had just heard his own sentence of death." Jack London introduces death to the reader in this scene. The man realizes "a second fire must be built without fail." The man's mind begins to run wild with thoughts of insecurity and death when the second fire fails. He recollects the story of a man who kills a steer to stay warm and envisions himself killing his dog and crawling into the carcass to warm up so he can build a fire to save himself. London writes, "a certain fear of death, dull and oppressive, came to him." As the man slowly freezes, he realizes he is in serious trouble and can no longer make excuses for himself. Acknowledging he "would never get to the camp and would soon be stiff and dead," he tries to clear this morbid thought from his mind by running down the trail in a last ditch effort to pump blood through his extremities. The climax of the story describes "the man" picturing "his body completely frozen on the trail." He falls into the snow thinking, "he is bound to freeze anyway and freezing was not as bad as people thought. There were a lot worse ways to die." The man drowsed off into "the most comfortable and

New York Incineration Case Study

The way in which New York City (NYC) manages its waste is dominantly based upon landfill. Though this is not the best solution is sparks controversy throughout Staten Island where the waste is ‘dumped' as many claim. Why is this so? NYC has a problem with managing its waste as NYC alone creates 26,000 tons of waste per day half of which is commercial and the remainder is residential. Nevertheless, private companies collect commercial waste leaving residential waste to NYC's department of Sanitation. The sole destination for 13,000tons of residential waste is the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island. The highest mound is 180feet high, twenty inches higher than the statue of liberty! The Fresh Kills Landfill site on the Western side of The Staten Island is the -only- landfill site that remains open. It has served NYC for over half a century it was due to close on the 31st December 2001. It received 12-14,000 tons of solid household waste per day, by a barge from four other boroughs. The key problem with it is that it only has 5% of the city's population and on top of that it is the smallest place. Though not everything about Staten Island is a negative; this could be because the garbage industry provides economic development, jobs and increased spending power follow. To operate the landfill site requires 500 employees whose jobs range from crane and tractor operators to chemists and geologists. Although the daily volume of waste is high there has been a decrease in waste; it has fallen from 21,200tons per day in 1986 to 13,000tons per day in 1995. You can read also Costco Case Study Fresh Kills Landfill site attempts every precaution to ensure that it is environmentally friendly. It does it by following these simple steps: > Monitoring System – Allows checks to be made of the build-up of the landfill gas, as well as the effects of operation on ground and surface water supplies. And landfill slope stability is examined regularly. > Litter Prevention – The barges are covered with nets during transport, while booms contain litter around the waters of the landfill site. Fences around the perimeter of the operation have the same effect on the island. > Landscaping – Ecologists are working to introduce native plant varieties tolerant of the conditions in an attempt to establish the area as a wildlife habitat. > Leachate Treatment Plant – To prevent percolating rainwater from becoming contaminated the plant removes pollutants prior to the water being returned to the waterways. > Construction Debris Recycling Area – Processes 750tons per day of debris, e.g. concrete, asphalt and soil. Steel is extracted from the process and sold for recycling. The product is used to construct the roads throughout the landfill site. > Composting Facility – Garden waste is collected and turned into compost. It is used in the landscaping process around the site. It is also made available to the public free of charge. > Landfill Gas Recovery – Consisting of primarily methane and carbon dioxide, landfill gas is collected and customized at the facility onsite. The methane is purified into pipeline quality gas, which is then sold to a local company. Nevertheless space is limited and a two decade estimate has been put on the Fresh Kills site meaning that a more long-term approach to wasted handling will have to be in effect. Managing waste in the future In spite of predictions in 1996 that the Fresh Kills Landfill site could operate for another two decades, Mayor Guiliani announced the closure of the site in 2001. He proposed that there had to be a new approach in dealing with the City's waste, and he publicised the creation of a task force on the Fresh Kills closure. Five recommendations were put forward: * Increasing Recycling * Promoting waste reduction * Encouraging waste prevention * Refusing the exportation of waste elsewhere * Supporting education about waste and recycling Now there is a recycling drive throughout the City which now means that every household is part of the Curbside Program, where waste for recycling is collected from the roadside. A contracted was negotiated with Visy Paper (NY) Inc., who constructed and now operates a $150million recycled paper mill on Staten Island. It is the largest manufacturing project in NYC in 50years. It employed 1,000people during construction and now has a labour force of 115. Also, NYC's mayor has pledged to not build or renovate any incinerators in the city. But then again, there are still problems because what is proposed of the commercial waste which accounts for the other half? After 2001, it will be recycling waste prevention and waste reduction schemes as good as they all may be, is it really probable that they will be able to ‘absorb' 13,000tons of waste on a daily basis? One person who is not convinced is the state Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge. Garbage Importers & Exporters The state of Virginia is a number two importer after Pennsylvania, with NYC accounting for 60% of Virginia's imports. A survey by Virginia Commonwealth University found that 87% of people were keen to limit garbage imports with only 9% opposing. Mainly the ones opposing argued that there would be a loss of revenue and would hurt communities where garbage is a big business. With imports totalling 4million tons per year there is hardly†¦

Roles Of Policing Executives Using The Mintzberg Model Of...

When it comes to the Department of Justice, there are four agencies and each have major functions within them that hold great responsibility. The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) have purposes and various weaknesses in relations to one another. There are major roles of policing executives using the Mintzberg model of chief executive officers. There are certain keys that are important toward a chief executive officer’s success. There are two legislative enactments that are effective when it comes to helping combat terrorism. There are problems when determining the actual numbers of hate crimes and what makes hate crimes different from other crimes. Department of Justice has four agencies that have major functions within them that hold great responsibility. These four agencies consist of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the United States Marshals Service (USMS). There are three major roles that the FBI has. The first role is to use counterterrorism, which neutralize any terroristic acts and dismantling any terroristic networking systems. Secondly, there is counterintelligence that prevents any investigations on intelligence activities that occur on U.S soil. Lastly, there is foreign espionage which is spying on the government especially in regards to military, and economics (Peak, 2014 p.265). The FBI analyzesShow MoreRelatedExploring Corporate Strategy - Case164366 Words   |  658 PagesECS8C_C01.qxd 22/10/2007 11:54 Page 597 CASE STUDIES ECS8C_C01.qxd 22/10/2007 11:54 Page 598 ECS8C_C01.qxd 22/10/2007 11:54 Page 599 Guide to using the case studies The main text of this book includes 87 short illustrations and 15 case examples which have been chosen to enlarge speciï ¬ c issues in the text and/or provide practical examples of how business and public sector organisations are managing strategic issues. The case studies which follow allow theRead MoreBackground Inditex, One of the Worlds Largest Fashion Distributors, Has Eight Major Sales Formats - Zara, Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home Y Kiddys Class- with 3.147 Stores in 70100262 Words   |  402 Pagesthe course of my PhD. If it had not been for you, well lets face it I would have finished this thing a lot sooner, but you fill my heart with laughter and my days with love and I am grateful for every moment. Beatrice Kogg Lund, January 2009 Executive summary Background and purpose of the thesis The issues that stakeholders today are bringing to the corporate agenda are diverse indeed, ranging from issues pertaining to environmental sustainability, human rights, workers’ health and safety, community