For a company to prosper, evaluation of employees and the companies’ objective must be highly noted. Appraisal refers to the evaluation of the employee in the Company; for this to be effective, the appraisal process must be well structured to incorporate all the subordinates and managers involved. There are several methods of appraisal but the best method to implement depends on the organizational setting and the required feedback.
In this light, the 360 degrees Multi-directional Appraisal can be considered to be the best option because it involves almost all the departmental levels in an organization. The process refers to incorporating several sources of data hence providing a wide margin to base the organizational success in relation to the labor force. The 360-degree appraising method involves several steps: the first step includes the development of scope for choice, which should be containing independent views.
The disadvantages of the 360 appraisal system are mostly related to employees’ evaluations. However, the system is highly recommended for organizational developmental activities. The disadvantages of the system involve its inability to measure the competence of individual employees and also its related psychometric qualities. In addition, According to the JP Morgan scheme, constructive commentary and anonymity should be avoided since results to suggestive results hence deviating from the intended process. The main importance of the 360 appraisal process is to ensure open and constructive dialogues.
Therefore there should be a clear indication that the intention is not in destruction and punishment of some of the employees, but it intended to formulate and impose developmental features. The process also includes a checklist that ensures that the manager approves the process and the subordinates know of the process and are ready to comply with the end results of the appraisal process.
Since the 360-degree appraisal process involves several people in an organization, there should incorporate well-structured steps in carrying it out. An example is a case study of a 360-degree system run at Shell. The case study showed that the 360-degree system did not measure competence as originally designed; in addition, it had other shortcomings related to psychometric qualities. The new system brought some changes in the organization that was not also effective.
The Human Resource manager needs to evaluate the employee and generally the whole Company to be able to incorporate the needs of both the employees and the organization. Each employee is expected to carry an appraisal using fellow colleagues, but the risk is that about 35 percent of those giving their assessments change their position to be either developmental or evaluative. The first step involved in this process is the evaluation of the competence required for the particular position; the colleagues used to help in appraising should develop a list of descriptions that relate to the particular job, this helps in determining if the individual being appraised follows his work specifications. In doing this, the Shell employees formed a questionnaire that helped in showing the willingness of the officers to change their opinions, how constructive are their opinions and the reasoning that backed their opinions.
In the appraisal process, a rating scale is necessary; the human resource manager of the Company developed a rating scale in relation to how useful a particular employee was to the Company and also considering the results attained from the 360-degree system conducted using the Company’s employees, where an employee was appraised by colleagues. The scale prepare by the Human resource manager included numbers that represent what level the employee was rated.
The numbers include one to five. With the help of the employee rating numbers, he selected which employee would be the subject of feedback in relation to their capabilities, in addition to selecting the members to be involved with the feedback process. The human resource and the selected team relate the job specifications with the qualities of a specific employee. This narrows the feedback system and becomes more precise. All the feedback providers are expected to table their views and suggestions; by doing this, the qualities of each employee are understood better since some of the team feedback providers are also employees. The contribution of the managers in the feedback process assists in understanding the new objectives of the branch company and also honors the conclusions that will be achieved.
After the feedback providers have completed the survey, the Human Resource manager collects all the reports and arranges them in confidential reports for each employee that was being rated. He should also brief all the feedback subjects on how the reports should be interpreted, how they can achieve more feedback, and the action plan.
It’s also the duty of the Human Resource manager and the potential coaches to prepare an action plan, schedule regular sessions on how to communicate the action plans offering the necessary advice.
In conclusion, the 360-degree appraisal method involves several steps. As we have seen in the Shell example, the most crucial step involves the feedback. Feedback is highly useful proved to be a very efficient tool in appraisal through it not applied by several companies. The reason for its scarcity is a lack of knowledge on how the process is carried out, time-consuming, fear of feedback subjects and results, and finally, skepticism as to whether feedback is wiling to change behavior.
References
Richard R Spencer & Ghausi MS (2003). Introduction to electronic circuit design Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, Rules of Play. MIT Press. 2004. ISBN 0-262-24045-9.
Fleming M., & Levie, W.H. (1993). Instructional message design: Principles from the behavioral and cognitive sciences Second Edition JP Morgan Incorporating Peer Review In Appraisal.