For a long time now, managers have measured employee performance by use of very general and vague descriptions like excellent, above average, good, fair, satisfactory, and many more. In the US at around 1964, rights activists movements started pushing for the adoption of more objective methods of employee performance evaluation (De Koning, 2004).
This then led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act 1966 and formation of the Equal Employment opportunity Commission (1970) which amounted demands that workers evaluations be based on objective, systematic and defensible measurements.
The afore-mentioned developments led to adoption of several performance evaluation methods some of which are still in use in modern organizations. Having been appointed a team leader in a health division and have been requested to carry out performance evaluations, I will choose the management by objectives (MBO) method, as the most suitable tool for this task.
Besides MBO method, several other methods can be used to evaluate data. First, you can evaluate performance through trait rating, which rates employees based on specific traits. To evaluate by trait rating you need to make a list of the desired abilities and qualities such as, ability to solve problems, mutual respect, level of participation in a team and many more.
These traits can then be rated on a 1-10 scale, which will give more standardized, and objective results. This method is advantageous because its results can easily be compared throughout the entire organization. However, its critics posit that it is too vague since it is based on personality rather than behavior.
Secondly, you can rate employees based on how well they perform compared to each other. This method is referred to as peer ranking. This method helps in the identification of good or poor performers. This on the other hand could a rouse jealousy and cause rivalry among team members greatly affecting teamwork.
Thirdly, evaluation can be carried out by use of multisource feedback criteria, which is also called 360 feedback criteria. This method relies on a group of workers to evaluate each other and the group as a whole. This method is advantageous as it includes attributes, which are fairy long and therefore can give a more detailed result. However, it is complex as it presents several parameters for analysis and evaluation.
Finally yet importantly, is management by objectives method which, I had indicated, would be the most appropriated approach for performance evaluation in a s the head of my local health organization division. I prefer this method because it is based on measurable goals and standards.
Since this is a health organization, the one of the major concern would to evaluate the skills and specializations of each of the team members. Then these skills would form a basis for reward and duty allocations. In an instance where some members do not posses the required skills then it will be set that, they endeavor to acquire them by undergoing training.
In addition, I will enlist the organization’s top goals and policies to set standards against which performance evaluations shall be based. The set and agreed objectives shall then be communicated to the group and shall be the bench for individual performance analysis. This method according to Erven (2006) can be very effective if the standards and goals set are accurate, realistic, and achievable.
References
De Koning, G. (2004). Evaluating Employee Performance: The limitations of subjective Manager evaluation and multisource feedback. Gallup Management Journal. Retrieved from: <https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/13891/evaluating-employee-performance-part.aspx>
Erven, B. (2006). Evaluating Performance and providing feedback to employees. Web.