The evaluation form focuses on the employee’s social life more than his performance in the workplace. This is not called for since it is common to find employees who interact well with others yet they are underperformers. The issue of how well one interacts with others cannot be overlooked, it is important since the success of any company is dependent on how the employees interact, however, the performance and skillfulness of the employees are the most outstanding aspects in the success of the company.
In any company, different employees are assigned different tasks; it is therefore up to individual employees to perfect their areas. Interaction at work places cannot be used to gauge how proficient a worker is, some workers have very good social skills but they are underperformers, this does not add meaningful value to the company in terms of economic development. This does not however mean that one’s interaction with others should not be considered, the point is, we should not overemphasize on social skills to the extent that we overlook one’s skills.
The second point of concern in the current evaluation form is neatness at place of work. This aspect puts into consideration how the engineer’s office desk is arranged. It has been noted that the engineer does not organize his desk well since there are always piles of paper and memos on his desk. Lopez (2008) is of the view that it is important to consider such things as neatness at work place since disorder implies that one cannot get anything done because it is hard to find anything.
This does not however mean places of work ought to be characterized with total order; this is because total order calls for a lot of time hence one may end up spending more time organizing instead of working. Lopez further advocates for employees to be “optionally messy”, this implies that employees should not spend most of their time cleaning their desk as if that is the only task assigned. The disorganization nature of the engineer is an area that has raised concern even though he is an expert hence the low rating.
The engineer’s attitude is another issue that has been considered in the current evaluation form. A positive attitude in the work place is very important regardless of whether one owns a business or is employed (Lopez, 2008). Research has shown that one can enjoy his or her work more and achieve the set goals efficiently if he or she has positive attitude. The manager has noticed that the engineer is never in good books with other workers.
This is because he is arrogant and he considers himself superior due to the knowledge he possess. Perception is often reality hence the manager cannot assume that the poor relationship between the engineer and other employees is unjustifiable. There has to be something that the engineer does and other employees are not happy about it. It is evident that the manager discovers that the engineer is egotistical about his expertise at work place and that his (engineer) attitude towards other employees is bad.
Performance evaluation should consider all aspects of the employee that affect performance evaluation. Such aspects should include job skills, personality and the behavior of the employee. This means that there should be a 360 degree evaluation (Lopez, 2008).
Common sets of criteria in the evaluation process
The use of common sets of criteria in the evaluation helps to establish how well equipped one is in a given aspect within the working environment. For instance, if the manager was to conduct the evaluation by considering the professionalism of the engineer, then he would rate him highly since he has demonstrated that he is well equipped in that area. On the other hand, the manager chose to chiefly focus on the interpersonal relationship that exists between the subject and his co-workers. The idea of evaluating an individual by considering one area is also called for since it ensures that this aspect is studied critically. This therefore means that the outcomes of the evaluation process are likely to be accurate since the evaluator mainly focused on one area.
Given that the criteria used to evaluate the performance is done to the same subject, it becomes possible to expose other relevant factors that may not have been obvious prior to the evaluation process. For instance, in attempting to find out why the subject does not interact with other workers well, the evaluator may discover that the subject does not get along well with his close friends or relatives. This is a good starting point that may help to build hypothesis that may in the end led to correct conclusions. In addition, the use of common sets of criteria in the evaluation saves time since it only entails looking at only specific aspect.
Criteria for performance evaluation
Performance evaluation should look at the expertise of employees in terms of quality, quantity, time and cost. These factors will shed some light on how well an employee can coordinate work in the workplace and at the same time bring about meaningful progress effectively. As Lopez (2008) notes, performance evaluation should look into detail on how well an employee can perform tasks rather than merely looking at how well he or she can interact with other employees. This does not however mean that this aspect should be disregarded as earlier noted.
It would be important to consider the motive of the engineer at the work place. Answers to Questions like; why does he behave the way he does? What motivates him? What is his motive if any? Is his working experience pleasant here? Why does he have a negative attitude towards other employees? Should be sought. Answers to these questions would be helpful since they would help in ensuring that the character of the engineer is analyzed totally.
Disclosing the motives of employees at the work places can do wonders since this would help establish what the employee thinks about the working environment and co-workers. This would further help in linking the behavior of the employee and his or her motive at the work place. The motive of the engineer would also be helpful in establishing the motivational factors such as the need to feel superior to others and wanting to be regarded highly.
The mode of evaluation should also consider competencies in terms of behavior and how the set objectives are obtained. This means that the criteria for evaluation should not only consider how well one undertakes the roles assigned, rather, the behavior of the employee in the process of undertaking the roles should be also considered. Lopez (2008) states that competence should consider all the factors that have led to the successful completion of an undertaking.
If the means used to complete a task are illegal or socially unacceptable, then the undertaker’s competence should be questioned. The evaluation form should therefore apply a criterion that focuses on the performance by looking at other factors that have enhanced the completion of the tasks. The evaluator should seek to find answers to questions like; does the engineer’s behavior affect others? How does he attain his goals? How can his competence be graded? Is it in terms of good interpersonal relations, good performance or both?
When an evaluator concentrates on social skills, then he looks at how well a person interacts with other employees. Good interaction skills are important since they ensure that employees live in harmony. This way, the manager does not have a hard time coordinating the activities within the company; on the other hand, employees learn to respect each other. Workers are able to appreciate each other regardless of the position each one of them holds.
If an evaluator was to concentrate on how well employees perform the tasks assigned, then this will establish which employees are good performers in as far as work is concerned. This enables the management to establish who among the employees can help in improving the company’s mode of operation. According to Lopez (2008), the two evaluation criteria should be merged, she further notes that performance should be based on how well work gets done by individual employees.
Merits and demerits of involving other parties in the evaluation process
The evaluation process should include supervisors, peers, and subordinates. There are two main reasons for this. First, this helps to avoid bias. The evaluator may develop negative attitude towards an employee for no apparent reason. Today, one’s physical appearance has been used as a basis for judging. Good looking people may be judged positively while those that appear ‘ugly’ may be judged unfairly. When a second party is involved in the process, the evaluator may fear making such assumptions or may fear judging the person by looking at how good looking they are.
Secondly, third parties such as peers can give some vital information that can be used in the evaluation process. It is important to note that the people that we interact with normally know us better. These people can therefore provide our personal details hence making the work of the evaluator easier. Their presence in the evaluation process will also ensure that the supervisors evaluate an individual following the set criterion.
The inclusion of supervisors, peers, and subordinates in the evaluation process can also bear negative effects. First, people who know you may provide biased information in that they may exaggerate the details. These people may give details that may make the person to appear good while the reverse may be true. This will make the evaluator to provide faulty ratings. This will compromise the results since we may not establish facts from lies. Lopez (2008) notes that peers, subordinates and supervisors may be unwilling to bring out negative attributes of an employee; this makes it hard to establish facts.
Second, this group of individuals may not give any relevant information. This may sound absurd but it can be true in some cases. In some instances, this group may not provide important details that can be used in the evaluation process. Details on how good you have been since they met you or how good natured you are may not be relevant in this case. This is because these persons are talking from their point of view without considering negative aspects in you. Hence this may not necessarily tell us about how the subject treats other people outside this bracket. Lopez (2008) notes that we tend to treat those that we love in a special way. Bearing this in mind, it is hard to assume that the information provided by such people about our character is true.
Performance evaluation methods
To determine the best method for the evaluation process, the management should consider aspects like the number of people undertaking the task, size of the organization and the benefits that will result from investing in tools to be used in the evaluation process. The available resources are important in determining the rating method to be applied. The best method that can give accurate rating is expensive. The three common employee evaluation methods are graphic rating scale, global rating scale and the essay method (Lopez, 2008).
Graphic rating scales consider factors such as substandard, above average, exceptional, satisfactory, and below expectation. Below is an example of this type of rating.
Global rating refers to that rating that is accepted internationally to evaluate an employee. This method is effective to the employer and may be useful when it comes to decision making processes particularly those related to paying bonuses. The table below shows an example of a global rating scale.
The essay method applies where the evaluator writes a report to describe the potentialities and weaknesses of the employee as well as make recommendations. This method permits the evaluator to expose the employee’s unique traits, chance of promotion and special skills. The method covers aspects like expertise when it comes to job performance, quality of work and team work.
One aspect that is common among the three methods is that all of them rate the employee’s performances qualitatively (Lopez, 2008). Even though the graphic rating scale may sometimes use numbers to rate the performance, qualitative methods are the most commonly used. The qualitative methods describe how well or how poor the employees perform at the place of work using words.
The three rating scales are different in that the mode in which the evaluation process is undertaken differs. While the graphic rating scales considers individual areas of evaluation such as productivity, global rating considers the overall performance of the employees. The essay method on the other hand differs from the other method because it allows the evaluator to describe the performance of the employee in terms of strengths and weaknesses as well as make recommendations.
The mode of evaluation in the case in question can be improved if the following factors were taken into consideration;
- Consider competency in terms of behavior and performance at the work place.
- Introduce an outside party to assist in the evaluation process.
- Avoid bias i.e. avoid looking at the good side only apply the critical incident method.
- Facilitating communication between the employee and the manager.
Three common errors that impact the accuracy of evaluation process are overemphasis on one aspect of the employees life be it social life or professionalism, this means that one aspect is overlooked when one concentrates on the other aspect. Secondly, when an evaluator fails to consult others, he or she may not collect enough information about the subject; this may provide insufficient information since the evaluator may not have enough time to gather much information. Thirdly, the evaluator may judge the person according to how he or she views the person or according to what others say about the person. This may provide bias results since the evaluator does not gather first hand information.
Evaluation methods that only consider personal characteristics and how one relates with co-workers can be more effective if other aspects were incorporated. The evaluation method in question can be better if the plant manager stopped concentrating on the social life of an individual only, rather, it would be better if the evaluation considered how well one performs the tasks assigned. This will ensure that workers have a balanced working environment where work and social life do not conflict.
It is also important to note that it is not wise to evaluate only one person when it comes to social life. This is because the person is interacting with other people who impact him or her negatively or positively. This means that the evaluation process should also cover employees but more attention should remain on the main subject. This helps establish why people within the company behave the way they do towards the subject and vice versa.
Reference
Lopez, I. G. (2008). Performance Evaluation: Proven Approaches for Improving Program and Organizational Performance. California: John Wiley and Sons.