Performance management is an essential process of communication in any organization. The constant communication between a supervisor and the employees is a way of achieving its strategic objectives. Human Resource faculty plays a major role in the performance management process by designing and implementing performance appraisals. It is upon the human resource team to ensure that the appraisal process is simple and takes the least time. HR members provides follow-ups on every responsibility assigned to every employee. The HR team creates a system where the employees’ overall achievements can be assessed by supervisors concerning their crucial responsibility areas that align with the strategic plan (DeNisi & Murphy, 2017). The HR team also explains to the supervisors and employees how the system works and makes sure that employees understand the organizational goals. The HR team can ensure the process aligns with the strategic plan by giving employees continual on-the-job feedback, encouraging them, and rewarding those who do their jobs well.
Different appraisal systems are used by management during the performance management process. One of them is the trait evaluation approach which is a method of assessing employees based on specific traits that an employee exhibits in relation to the job. It focuses on personal characteristics. For example, dressing code, punctuality when reporting to work, dedication to the job, communication ability, cooperation, dependability, helpfulness, and flexibility are traits that supervisors can assess in an employee. Supervisors assess the observable characteristics like the ones mentioned above, but that are associated with the job.
Another appraisal system is behavioral-based which focuses on how often an employee displays the desired behaviors. This approach addresses problems from the roots, based on leading signals instead of waiting for the problem to occur. Examples of the behaviors assessed are friendliness to customers, trust and mutual respect for colleagues obeying company rules, effective communication, and creativity. The third appraisal system is result-based which is an approach to tracking performance based on the employees’ ongoing or completed tasks. It focuses on the measurable contributions that an employee makes to the organization. For example, a lawyer winning a case and earning his/her law firm a certain amount of money. The supervisors can then rank the lawyer’s performance on the cases they win the firm at the end of the evaluation process.
The best-suited appraisal system for customer service employees in Maersk Customer Care is behavior-based. Observable skills are essential in customer service occupations. Supervisors focus on observing how their customer service agents use the desired skills like greeting customers with a smile or being polite when serving customers. Maersk Customer Care managers may use direct observation or video reviews in this method. However, it is best to observe employees frequently to get great results for behavior-based evaluation measures. Managers also need to discuss these measures with the employees before any evaluation and review the observations often. This appraisal method based on employees’ behavior enables Maersk Customer Care to know the quality of service their employees provide to customers. The company also gets to adjust service training programs from the results they receive after evaluation to align with the organization’s primary goal – customer satisfaction.
Performance rating scales are used in organizations by the management to indicate an employee’s performance level at the end of the evaluation process. They provide quantitative assessment and enable the management to differentiate between employees. The graphical rating scale appraisal method involves listing out traits or behaviors that are important for effective performance and rating each employee against these traits (DeNisi & Murphy, 2017). This method enables the management to quantify the behaviors exhibited by its employees. A letter rating scale involves assigning grades (from A to F) to employee results to quantify performance. However, a numerical rating scale involves giving quantitative symbolization to an attribute, for instance, anchoring specific employee behaviors such as good customer relations to numerical ratings from 1-5 to show a difference in attribute among the employees.
In conclusion, performance management process is important to every organization, during which the HR team works together with other members of the organization towards achieving organizational goals. The three appraisal systems, trait-based, behavioral-based, and result-based, apply distinctly in different organizations depending on the employees’ job type. In some cases, supervisors may opt to use all three appraisal systems on every employee to get maximum evaluation results.
Reference
DeNisi, A. S., & Murphy, K. R. (2017). Performance appraisal and performance management: 100 years of progress? Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 421-433.