Giving effective feedback is one of the most important functions a manager does. One way to do this is through conducting a performance appraisal. A performance appraisal is a systematic evaluation of an individual employee's strengths and weaknesses. It is a process by which performance is assessed and compared to pre-determined organizational standards. Ensure your performance appraisal is fair and productive by identifying potential biases and working around them.
Instructions
1. Refuse to allow personality conflicts to cloud your judgment when assessing an employee's performance. Personality conflict between a manager and an employee causes the manager to inaccurately assess an employee's contributions to an organization.
2. Resist comparing the skills and contributions of one employee to another or it results in an unfair assessment of the employees. Instead, use a pre-determined organizational standard to assess performance.
3. Beware of the "Halo or Horn" effect. This bias rests on the assumption that because an employee was good at one thing, she has to be good at something else. This also works in reverse. Just because an employee ruined one project, don't automatically assume she will always ruin all projects.
4. Assess an employee's performance after a pre-determined amount of time. A first-impression performance appraisal isn't enough time to make an assessment. It has the potential to be skewed either positively or negatively.
5. Recognize your own tendencies when appraising people. A central tendency results in the inclination to rank everyone average. Leniency results in the tendency to rank most employees above average, focusing on positive attributes and ignoring the negative.
6. Acknowledge the tendency to rate an employee's performance based on recent behavior rather than on past performance. If an employee has a spotless record except for a recent mistake, don't forget all of the good he has done.
7. Avoid political bias. This happens when non-performance related issues cloud the judgment of a performance appraiser such as religious beliefs or lifestyle choices.
