An appraisal is the analysis of the performance of an individual, which usually includes assessment of the individual’s current and past work performance. Broadly speaking, there are two main reasons for the appraisal process. The appraisal process may be linked to a reward scheme whereby employees or managers earn some incentives, such as promotion or financial incentives if targets are met. The second is about identifying the development needs of individuals. A human services organization is devoted to providing one group of people, or several, with a service they need at a price they can afford. While some groups may make a profit from their activities, most are intended to be nonprofit. The goal of performance appraisal in these organizations is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of all employees to provide information that will help to make their performance more efficient and effective. Performance appraisal can be viewed as the process of assessing and recording staff performance for the purpose of making judgments about staff that lead to decisions. It is important for managers and leaders of the organization to know what is going on with their employees. The performance appraisal gives the employer the upper hand on what goes on throughout their organization and allows them to make sure that things are done correctly. Performance appraisal should also be viewed as a system of highly interactive processes which involve personnel at all levels in differing degrees in determining job expectations, writing job descriptions, selecting relevant appraisal criteria, developing assessment tools and procedures, and collecting interpreting, and reporting results. The type of appraisal system I would choose for a human service organization would be one that reviews its employee’s every sixty days. There are four key elements in a good performance and appraisal system:
- Set objectives - decide what you want from employees and agree these objectives with them. If appropriate, set timescales for achieving them.
- Manage performance - give your employees the tools, resources and training they need to perform well. If appropriate, set timescales for achieving objectives.
- Carry out the appraisal - monitor and assess your employees' performance, discuss those assessments with them and agree on future objectives.
- Provide rewards/remedies - consider pay awards and/or promotion based on the appraisal and decide how to tackle poor performance. However, there can be dangers as well as benefits of linking rewards to performance. The best way to go about dealing with performance appraisals is to make sure you follow certain guidelines. There are ways that having a performance can go wrong and that is if they are not performed correctly. All positions within the division should undergo a periodic review each year. During this review, the duties and responsibilities of the position should be analyzed to ensure that they match the mission and goals of the institution, division, and department. These reviews should be considered as formal evaluations and they should be performed at least twice a year. On top of the reviews the supervisors should meet with each individual staff member on a regular basis. This is just as important as the reviews because things are constantly changing throughout the work force and problems arise every now and then that need to be discussed. Sometimes it helps the employees to discuss their performance from time to time and be reminded or the behaviors that are expected and the ones Determine what each employee's job entails. You must know not only what the job description states the job is, but what the employee spends time at work doing. If this hasn't been done before, devise a questionnaire that requires listing activities, contact with participants in the program and the approximate amount of time spent on each. From this you can determine which tasks have priority. Query her supervisor about the employee's activities also. Sometimes it helps to ask participants in the program what the employee does for them and how much time is spent doing it. Set the key times when an appraisal is performed. The most common periods are at the end of the probationary period and annually or semi-annually from then on. Determine the person who is required to do each appraisal. The person mentoring the probationary period will often perform the first appraisal, and the employee's supervisor takes over for those that follow. Develop a plan for the appraisal. You could have the employee write up his perceptions of his strengths and weaknesses and have the supervisor use them as the basis for her judgments. You might have his coworkers give their judgments first. Or you could develop a set of objective standards that form the basis for the supervisor's appraisal. Establish that the employee and supervisor must discuss the performance appraisal results together for a specific amount of time. If shortcomings are identified, a written plan for overcoming them should be developed jointly. This may take such forms as training, mentoring or off-site classes. Prepare a summary of the overall strengths and weaknesses identified in the appraisal with your recommendations for reinforcing positive factors and improving weaker areas. Send this document to the director and the board of directors, as well as the employee's direct supervisors. If you identify training or other activities that would benefit most employees, you should also describe the needed training and devise a plan to provide it. Discuss the performance appraisal process with employees at all levels within the organization on a periodic basis to decide if changes are needed and get ideas about how those changes should be implemented.

REFERENCES

https://www.successfactors.com/en_us/lp/articles/employee-appraisal-systems.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_appraisal

http://www.accaglobal.com/ca/en/student/exam-support-resources/professional-exams-study-resources/p5/technical-articles/human-resource-management-and-the-appraisal-system.html