Examining Performance Evaluations
By Nam Nocbus
Points of concern with the manufacturing plant’s current evaluation form are many including
the fact that the evaluation fails to focus on the engineer’s actual effectiveness and efficiency in
task performance and his significant contributions to the company, no consideration has been
given to the fact that the engineer has been on the receiving end of practical jokes from coworkers who resent him, and lastly the evaluation focuses on personal characteristics
(friendliness, workspace neatness, and attitude) which can be very subjective in ranking. The
current performance evaluation only considers the employees impact on internal customers.
The most commonly used criteria for an employee’s performance appraisal includes individual
task outcomes, behaviors and traits. Task outcomes examine a combination of an individual’s
effectiveness and efficiency in doing core job tasks and expectations. Behaviors include such
actions as promptness, one’s leadership style, sales calls made, sick days used, etc. Traits
include such areas as attitude, dependability, experience and confidence levels. Traits are
considered the weakest criteria because it is furthest away from job performance (
(Placeholder1)p556, Individual task outcomes are generally considered most important in
evaluating employees, however some jobs are difficult to measure a direct outcome. Employee
behaviors will have greater value for performance appraisals. Traits have a relatively low value
in comparison with the others as they are furthest removed from the actual job performance.
The perspective gained in a 360 review (the inclusion of supervisors peers and subordinates in
the evaluation process) can be very beneficial to the development of any employee by
examining various facets of performance from different perspectives. Quite naturally it is
expected that the supervisor will evaluate the performance of an individual employee. This...