The employees working in private organization are worried about their career and future and look forward to their get feedback of their performance as the financial and non financial benefits are associated with it. Most of the organizations performance appraisal is done once in year, but some fast growing companies does it twice in a year also. In the companies where it not done or irregularly done the managers lose their control on their staff and fail to keep their team motivated and influences productivity.

Hence, the appraisal should be done with lot of care and sincerity or it can become a simple routine mechanical process and gradually loose its importance.

Few guidelines for managers to make the effective appraisals of employees
Helping managers and their subordinates to focus on priorities within their jobs is the first step to managing performance.

Organizations aspiring towards high performance cultures are strong on:

.Clarity about objectives and goals.
.Continuous assessment of performance and feedback
.Recognition for performance
.Improvement of individual performance
.Personal development of the employee

Objectives

.Do not have too many objectives
.Objective should include:
-Individual performance improvement
-Personal development

Benefits

Organizational benefits will include:
.Deeper understanding of the job
.Greater focus on real needs of the business
.Improved communication

The first stage in any system of performance appraisal must be to identify and understand:
.The job objective
.The Key Result Areas

This must be achieved before setting job goals of any sort. Many managers take it for granted that the objective of a job is obvious and clearly understood, a risky assumption. Clarifying the job also clarifies the context for Kay Result Areas and goal setting.

Key Result Areas:
.Identify the vital elements of the job
.Contribute to effectiveness - by helping us ' to do the right things'
.Focus on results rather than activities

Manager and subordinate should together identify all the Key Result Areas
.Agreeing the job objective establishes WHY a job is done
.Identifying Key Result Areas establishes WHAT has to be done
.Goal or objective setting further establishes WHAT has to be done and begins to look also at HOW

This goal setting focuses attention on the important targets to be achieved within each Key Result Area. This helps employee to see clearly what they should be focusing on, in the period ahead.

Goal setting is a joint exercise carried out between the reviewer and the employee being reviewed; goals are not simply handed over to the employees. The whole thrust of goals oriented performance management system will die if managers do not fully involve their subordinates in this goal setting exercise. Following goal setting, both parties should be clear about what is expected of the job incumbent. These goals can then be the basis on which performance will be assessed at the end of the review period

GOAL SETTING

.Specific and measurable
.Achievable
.Challenging and stretching
.Jointly agreed

Goals are the criteria by which performance will be evaluated. Agreed goals become the standards performance. The performance of individuals should be reviewed against the goals which you set earlier in the process. This ensures that performance will be evaluated against the criteria for success within a particular job. Find out, before you begin, whether any external issues or events have affected the likelihood of the goals being achieved.

Feedback should be given as close as possible to the event, rather than withheld for future occasion.
This achieves maximum benefit in situations where:

.Changes is required in event of poor performance
.Positive reinforcement is required for good performance

Such continuous feedback will ensure that there are no surprises at the end of the review period.

.Must be a continuous process
.Regular reviewing of performance motivates employees
.Reduce emphasis on forms
.Review performance against goals
.Encourage self-assessment
.Value the feedback process
.Assess performance against goals
.Be specific about what helped/hindered goal attainment
.Prepare an overall plan for the various components of the discussion
.Be specific about how you will involve the employee
.Prepare employees by coaching them to greater openness
.Visualize the state of mind you wish the employee to be in at the end of the discussion and plan accordingly
.Do not over-emphasize negatives.
.Plan to separate in time as much as possible the performance discussion and the salary review discussion.

Managers often shoot themselves in the foot by not honouring commitments that they give during appraisal discussions. If managers give a commitment on personal development or any other issue during the course of the appraisal, it is imperative that they ensure this is honoured in full. Failure to do so seriously affects the personal relationship between reviewer and reviewee and, in addition, has negative kick-backs for the organization.

Successful appraisal systems are about sharing thoughts concerning performance. They are not about filling in forms. However, it is helpful to keep some limited notes and this can be done either on a blank page or on simple forms.
The appraise should be given the opportunity to review any written record and comment on it.

This can be as simple as making a diary note to come back to issues that require a later response within a specific time period. With such planning, you should get to the following review having completed all the items you had undertaken in the previous one.

.Full involvement of employee
.Get employee view of performance
.Active listening
.Promote individual development
.Honouring of commitments
.Agree future goals
.No discussion of salary
.Keep record of the discussion
.Follow - up

A successfully operated system of performance appraisal is of benefit to both individuals and the organizations they work for.

.Organizations intent on achieving success need to create a culture that will value achievement; an appraisal or review system that is results oriented helps to create and maintain such a culture

.Achievement of success in running such a system demands commitment and hard work by the management team

.Reviewing performance is a core system within management

.It brings about individual performance improvement and development of the individual

.The focus of the system must be on the real needs of the business and the individual's job

.For effectiveness, managers must concentrate on Key Result Areas

.Goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, stretching and jointly agreed

.Review of performance must be continuous, with regular feedback throughout the year

.Self - assessment of performance must be encouraged

.Detailed preparation by both parties is essential before the performance discussion

.Performance discussions are tow-way communication processes

.Keep the performance discussion separate in time from any review of salary

A successfully operated system of performance appraisal is of benefit to both individuals and the organization they work for. Its success will create a new culture. But it requires commitment by the managers and involvement of top management.