The department responsible for employee development may choose to stay clear of this problem, but its training and education work will suffer as long as the appraisal system is inadequate. If nothing else, a trainer or educator should informally help those who are working on the performance appraisal system so that they might develop an equitable, systemic program that encourages growth rather than eliciting defensiveness. Optimally, the development department will be involved directly in the design and successful implementation of this system. Without violating confidentiality or mixing roles, members of this department can incorporate results from these appraisals in the assessment of program needs for the organization and in counseling employees regarding future developmental plans.
Ultimately, performance appraisal itself is not very important. The benefits to be derived from performance appraisal are to be found in the actions that are taken by the employee and the organization in response to the information contained in this appraisal. These actions are more likely to ensue and are more likely to lead to effective outcomes if this appraisal is appreciative in nature and if it is directly linked to the other appreciative strategies described in this series of essays. Such partnerships inevitably will more fully liberate the human capital that often lays dormant in 21st Century organizations.
i Alan L. Patz, “Performance Appraisal: Useful but Still Resisted,” Harvard Business Review, 1975, 53, 74-80.
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