Major Dialogues in Performance Appraisal

Major Dialogues in

Performance Appraisal

Felicia O. Chukwuneke PhD.

Copyright © 2022 by Felicia O. Chukwuneke PhD.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/01/2022

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CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Dialogue 1Let’s Talk Performance Appraisal

Dialogue 2Strategic Linkages in Performance Management System

Dialogue 3The Man in the Process

Dialogue 4Personal Challenges, Work Assumptions, and Expectations

Dialogue 5The Performance Appraisal: Key Issues

Dialogue 6The Concerns of Appraisers

Dialogue 7The Performance Appraisal Cycle

Dialogue 8The Performance Appraisal Planning Process

Dialogue 9Planning for Reward Actions, Career Decisions, and Incentive Actions

Dialogue 10Performance Appraisal Interview Process: Limiting Factors

Dialogue 11Classify the Appraisal Interview Methods

Dialogue 12Selecting the Performance Appraisal Approach

Dialogue 13The Performance Appraisal Interview Tools

Dialogue 14The Performance Appraisal Design Platform

Dialogue 15Documenting Performance Appraisal Feedback

Dialogue 16Assessing the Quality of Performance Appraisal Feedback

Dialogue 17The Reward and Incentive Scheme: Policy Issues and Practices

Dialogue 18Empowering the Performance Management System: The Policy Tonics

Dialogue 19Coaching as a Strategy for Enhancing the Quality of Performance

Dialogue 20Performance Appraisal, A Lifelong Art

References

Preface

Major Dialogues in Performance Appraisal is a book that employees in every work organization need. It is a collection of my experiences and life stories in my world of work. My knowledge and practical experiences in employee development and the experiences of various other professionals, spanning over three decades, produced this work. I have put in print the knowledge that I shared in seminars, and workshops with several trainers and managers of organizations in Nigeria.

In the development of the structure of this book, I visualized the whole teaching on performance appraisal as a big conversation that is broken up into various dialogues. Each dialogue tends to focus on a theme that will stimulate the creativity of the leaders in the art of developing and sharpening the skills of employees through appraisals. It also encourages the employees to evolve personal strategies that will empower self-development and drive them to the hearts of their leaders, and internal and external customers.

In the writing of this book, I considered the various structural and technological changes that are taking place in the world of work today. Even outside the workplace, the quality of human capital in the labor market is constantly evolving by the day.

Major Dialogues in Performance Appraisal is a must-read for practitioners and employees in all levels of organizations. This is especially true for African enterprises and organizations with lower levels of technological advancement in personnel appraisal processes.

I expect the readers to have fun with the book. I encourage trainers to make copies of the class exercises in the book and use them during teamwork or at employee development meetings. This book has lots of useful information. Do not put it away in the beautiful bookshelves of corporate executives. Keep it handy for ease of reference during team meetings, training sessions, and performance appraisal sessions.

Acknowledgments

I wish to acknowledge the contributions of fellow professionals in Lagos Business School, Nigeria, who provided the opportunity for me to test my ideas while leading training sessions in performance appraisal. Lagos Business School, currently the Pan African University, provided me the opportunity to teach performance appraisal and other related themes to practitioners in various industries in Nigeria. Specifically, I acknowledge the openness and opportunities provided to me by Prof. Franca Ovadje and Prof. Chantel Epie.

I also wish to express my sincere gratitude to all the organizations that gave me the opportunity to practice as an employee and by awarding consultancy and training contracts to my firm, Career Research & Dev. Services Ltd. I will always remain grateful to such organizations like United Bank for Africa Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Chevron Nigeria Ltd, Lagos Business School, Tantalizers, Lead Way Assurance Nigeria Ltd, Niger Insurance Plc, Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund, National Assembly Services Commission, National Assembly services, and numerous others.

I also wish to acknowledge the staff of Career Research & Dev. Services Ltd., my family members, and friends for the encouragement and support in the development, writing, and typing of this work. Finally, all errors in the book, in the form of typographical errors, omissions, etc., are solely my responsibility, and I humbly plead for the indulgence of my readers.

Introduction

Working at a job is like living a life. Performance appraisal is about working and living. As long as there is life and work, appraisal of performance will always be there. Appraisal of performance goes on all the time, in different settings, at different times, and for different reasons, adopting different methods and styles for different people.

This book captures this orientation in its content. Because of the importance of performance appraisal, it is not surprising that so many books and pamphlets now exist on the subject. Many authors have excellent books that provide pragmatic solutions that ginger employers and employees into bringing dramatic positive changes into the process of performance appraisal in the workplace. However, I believe that many of these books tend to fall short in two major areas. They fail to establish the fact that appraisal is a process that goes on from the cradle to the grave. They are not exceptional experiences for just the workplace. Secondly, performance appraisal exercises or activities go on all the time and throughout life. There is a need to identify and focus on those personal skills that empower individual workers to intentionally impact the quality of continuous performance. Therefore, being an exceptional performer requires modifications in the behavior of the employee and reorientation toward the concept of lifelong performance appraisal. This also calls attention to the process of appraising performance on the part of employers, consultants, and trainers. The actual improvement of performance by employees in all works of life requires persistence and, mostly, practice, practice, and practice.

Dialogue 1

Let’s Talk Performance Appraisal

Hey! Where did it all start? Over time, in my career as a practitioner in employee learning and development, I come to see employees in all work settings demonstrate serious concerns over performance appraisal. Employees talk about their individual experiences in performance appraisal as if it is a newly found concept or practice. In many of such discussions, they fail to see how they can intentionally transform their individual appraisal outcome. The story is always about how the organization or the managers oppress them through emotional conspiracies and blackmail or through marginalization by denying them access to resources, such as attending training programs in the Bahamas. The employees fail to realize that at times these leaders need help to effectively help the employees.

I also had the opportunity to listen to the teachings of various respected colleagues on the subject and came to realize that there is definitely a break in communication somewhere. The trainers, the facilitators, and the learners appear so engrossed with learning so many high-sounding terminologies associated with the measurement of job performance that they seemed to have lost touch with the fact that the issues associated with employee learning, promotion, appraising, and measurement of performance are as old as man and that the practice of these concepts goes on throughout life. In other words, the practice of performance appraisal has been and will remain part of man’s daily experience.

Unfortunately, appreciating this practice and the concepts of performance appraisal as part of typical normal life seems so difficult. An employee in a typical work situation sees performance appraisal as distant and far removed from his normal daily life. The experience is often seen as an annual event for promotion purposes.

Ironically, the same employee in his various life roles get involved in activities and practices that revolve around the evaluation and appraisal of individuals or group. He handles appraisal of performance effortlessly in daily activities, but when he comes into the office setting, the emotional dynamics change. This similar activity becomes stressful.

In trying to find an explanation for this rather confusing situation, I ask, Why do appraisers talk about performance appraisal as if it’s only done in the office? I use this question during the warm-up phase in presentations.

Some of the popular answers have always been that

•trainers are required to work with approved content in the curriculum of the program. The trainer must focus on strengthening the identified key performance criteria in the work situation;

•employees are trained to improve their work performance;

•the investment of the organization is aimed at enhancing productivity;

•the impact of the investment in training must be evident to confirm that the training was worthwhile.

Yes, the trainer recognizes all the issues related to adult learning, such as inclusiveness, individual differences, and unique characteristics of the adult worker, but they have to focus on delivering the required skills and improving the skill base of the workers, and this effort must show in performance appraisal. This is the reason why the focus is on measuring job performance as it is. Therefore, trainers focus on the changes required to be made at work settings during training.

When organizations are set up to make profits or to impact the lives of people, the changes in productivity have to be clearly itemized, recorded, made visible, and recognized. Success is based on how well these successes are achieved. This is the reality. So performance appraisal in work settings will continue to attract so much emotion, hype, and stress for the appraiser and appraisee.

What makes the employees so apprehensive of performance appraisal in the work situation while championing the practice of appraisal in other life settings like in community meetings, church groups, and similar groups?

This question is also closely related to the first one, but now the trainers in the class are in an alternate position as employees, not just trainers.

•The reasons are obvious. Good performance at work translates to upliftment in status, higher income, and greater recognition as an expert. Therefore, the employees are apprehensive and highly stressed because the result of the formal performance appraisal translates directly to tangible and intangible benefits, which are visible and recognizable. A higher income could lead to buying a car, house, or taking the family on a holiday. Recognition in the office and higher job status mean a lot to an employee. It could lead to supervising other employees, being respected, and maybe additional perks in the workplace. So in anticipation of these positive life changes, most employees, irrespective of the level, would normally be worked up during appraisal season.

Yes, an adult may have worked in various other job roles and settings. He may have effectively operated as a father, uncle, chairman, treasurer in many organizations, communities, and groups, even before going into paid employment. None of these other roles and responsibilities are quite like the experiences of operating in formal work settings. The expectations from the organization and that of fellow workers differ. With the organization, the expectations are usually highest, clearly well defined, and linked to levels of accountability for all operators. While operating in informal work settings, maintaining cordial, friendly, trusting and long-lasting relationships matter so much more than measurable performance indices. In fact, the existence of such informal organizations depends on the continued familial relationship. Productivity measurement may never be the focus of the operation. Ensuring that employees in formal work settings are strictly monitored for compliance to set rules, policies, and meeting targets may not be thoroughly followed.

These differences in the content and perception of work, in the quality of the contribution of employees to productivity, and in the level of accountability to quality performance clearly show the differences between working in formal and informal work settings.

I think that the core differences are in the perception of performance appraisal as a concept, impact on the individual, and the process of managing it. Informal performance appraisal tends to be integrated or embedded with these factors. They include total acceptance of the learner, appreciation of the level of operation of the learner, willingness to support the growth of the learner at any level, empathy, friendship, willingness to establish a more intimate and lasting relationship, informal identification of criteria of assessment, informal benchmarks, and evaluation, informal reviews, usually from supervisors, informal settings at home, churches, community groups. On the other hand, the core factors in formal appraisal include identification of clearly defined targets; identification of criteria of assessment; well-defined and properly documented policies and procedures; reviews from users and supervisors; training at various levels to ensure compliance; clarity of issues; accountability on all issues; checks and balances at various levels of the process. In considering the activities involved in formal and informal performance appraisal, we note that more documentation is used in formal appraisal in work settings.

What Is the Difference Between Evaluation and Appraisal?

Both concepts involve the process of close monitoring of performance and documenting the changes in the development of an employee. When a learner goes through training or any form of skills building, the facilitator or trainer utilizes critical criteria to identify which areas of the development program are receiving the required impact. The act of monitoring and documenting the changes in performance comprise evaluation. This process can also be referred to as appraisal. I use these terms interchangeably in this discourse.

Performance appraisal, therefore, is an ongoing experience in life and starts quite early in life. Let us imagine a mother with a baby of about two months old on her lap, the mother closely observing the baby and recording the performance of the baby.

She closely observes the mood of the baby and records in her memory when the baby needs attention, food, or water. As the days go by, she begins to predict more accurately what the baby requires at each given time and differentiates demands for attention of various kinds. The mother encourages the baby to demonstrate repeatedly some of those behavioral traits she considers acceptable and suitable. She shows acceptance by smiling or fondling the baby or in any other creative way she considers appropriate. Conversely, the mother shows disapproval when the baby does certain things which the mother considers unacceptable. She does this by shaking her head from side to side or performing a particular action which the baby will learn over time to associate with disapproval of some sort. As the child grows older, the mother and child continue building relationships and developing other methods of communicating approvals and disapprovals.

This observation is a common occurrence. In my opinion, it adequately describes the two important concepts of evaluation and performance appraisal. Mothers continuously evaluate the quality of the performance of babies by benchmarking what the baby does at each given point in time against what the baby should be doing at that age, basing her judgment on hindsight. A mother knows the performance criteria against which to appraise her baby’s performance. Parents do this evaluation and appraising all through their lives. They hold different criteria for different age groups and different gender. Their expectations differ for different age groups and different sexes. At the same time, parents are always comparing the performance of their children with other children of the same age group belonging to known families. This practice is similar to the appraisal of peer groups, which is practiced in various organizations.

Comparison of individual performance in one family with that of another of the same age grade in another family is similar to what we refer to as benchmarking performance. As parents make these comparisons, they communicate their assessment of values and acceptance of what they see to the members of the family. Other children in the family get to learn what values to build upon through the conversations and communication in the family. The quality of communication in the family to a large extent determines how motivating it would be for the development of the children, especially as regards behavior modification and performance appraisal.

In performance appraisal, at whatever level and setting, there seems to be a similarity in process. The supervisor’s role appears to be closely related to that of the parents described above. The job families or classified work groups with distinguishing work skills in the organizations can be compared or related to the families as we know them in society.

Comparatively, in a typical classroom situation, whether at the primary level or higher education level, a series of measurements and evaluations of performances go on a daily basis. Learning remains continuous with a series of evaluations of performances at various levels of educational development until the end of a given educational career. The teacher works with a specific curriculum for a given period. The selected methods of evaluation of the lesson contents are designed for each academic level. Teachers continuously identify criteria for monitoring, measuring, and evaluating learners’ progress while following through with the agreed processes for teaching to the end.

Learners are usually informed of all the requirements for excelling in their chosen discipline. The methods adopted in teaching and communicating in the classroom situations impact the quality of performance of the learners or students as the case may be. Several forms of methodologies of teaching and evaluation selected by teachers are aimed at improving the quality of relationship, engagement, and communication between teachers and learners to ensure maximum impact.

In a family environment, however, parents do not normally have to find special ways of reaching their children or communicating with them unless there is a fundamental problem. Conversely, in schools and work settings, teachers, facilitators, and leaders are continuously seeking ways