Performance AppraisalApplicable to Nursing

Administration Bivin Jose

Department of Psychiatric NursingMB CN, Kothamangalam

Introduction

• An important function of the managerial staffing

• Performance appraisal (PA)= staff evaluation

• It was first used during the first world war• History roots in the 20th century• It is the process of determining how the

nurse employees are performing/degrees of performance standards

Definitions

Continues…

Objectives of PA

1. To determine job competence2. To select qualified individuals for promotion

or transfer3. To establish and improve– Communication between supervisors and

subordinates– Staff performance

4. To determine – Training and developmental needs of staff– Salary standards and to award merit

Continues…

5. To discover the aspirations and talents of staff

6. To check the efficacy of staff development programmes

7. To identify unsatisfactory staff for demotion or termination

8. To aid the manager in coaching and counselling

9. To provide feedback to enhance staff development and motivate personnel towards heights of achievement

Continues..

10.To identify and remove distracters, dissatisfies and obstacles as well as ineffective behaviours

11.To identify areas of growth for employees and organizations

12.To serve as a check on hiring and recruiting practices and as validation of employment tests 

13.To provide the staff with recognition for achievement

Main Purposes of PE

• Individual Rewards (Base and Incentive)• Feedback for Sub-Ordinate (Plus and

Minus)• Recognition of Superior Performance• Documentation of Weak Performance• Personnel Decision-Making• Future Goal Commitments (Planned

Achievements)

Reasons for /importance of PA

• Compensation "Pay for Performance"• Job Performance Improvements• Feedback to Subordinates• Documentation for Decisions• Goal Setting - Later Evaluation• Promotion Decisions• Identify Training Needs• HR Planning

Principles of PA (General)

• Objectives & results of appraisal should be identified/known to all parties

• The appraisal process & tools are developed with input from all levels of employees affected by job responsibilities

• The supervisor has received education & training in the use of appraisal process & tool

• The appraisal process is valued by organization

• The appraisal process occurs consistently 

Principles of PA (Nursing)

• Assess performance in relation to behaviourally stated work goals.

• Observe a representative sample of employees’ total work activities.

• Compare supervisor’s evaluation with employee’s self-evaluation

Continues…

• Cite specific examples of satisfactory and unsatisfactory performance

• Indicate which job areas have highest priority for improvements

• Purpose of evaluation is to improve work performance and job satisfaction 

• Evaluation interview should be scheduled in proper time & environment

Who Performs the Appraisal?

• Immediate Supervisor• Higher Management• Self-Appraisals• Peers (Co-Workers)• Evaluation Teams• Customers• “360° Appraisals”

The 360º Appraisal Interview

Individual Staff

Self-Assessment

Supervisor

Other Superiors

Peers

Teams

Sub-Ordinates

Teams

Customers

Other Superiors

Characteristics of a good PA

• Based on the philosophy, purpose and objectives of the organisation

• Job description are written in such a manner that standards of job performance can be identified for each job

• The appraisal tool used is suited to the purposes for which it will be utilized and is accompanied by clear instructions for its use

Continues…

• Evaluators are trained in the use of tool 

• Plans for policing the appraisal has the full support of top management 

• Performance appraisal is considered to be fair and productive by all who participate in it 

A good PA is…

• Supported by the Administrative setup• Related to job description• stated the criteria of evaluation clearly • Applies procedures of appraisal

consistently• Performed by the person who is

trained/experienced with

Process of PA

Areas of appraisal

• Performance quality: Quantity and quality of work, neatness, orderliness, reliability, accuracy, knowledge of work execution etc..

• Mental abilities: The ability to learn, adaptability, reasoning power, judgement, memory etc

• Supervisory qualities: leadership and organizational ability, communication skill, cooperation etc.

Continues..

• Personal qualities: honesty, self-control, self-confidence, initiative, attitude towards others, team work, appearance etc...

• Capacity for further development: Intelligence, acceptance of responsibility and other features, inherent in leadership.

Tools & Techniques of Performance Appraisal

Narrative/Essay technique

• Free form review• Writes a paragraph outlining an

employee’s strengths, weaknesses, and potential.

• Write a Behavioral Statement• Strengths versus Weaknesses

• Describe Selected Traits• Evaluate Performance

Advantages & Disadvantages

• Provide an in-depth review of an employee’s performance

• Identify problem areas and areas on which to focus on further development

• Time consuming• Length and content

vary• Depends on

evaluator’s ability to write

• Narrative evaluations are difficult to compare

Rating scale

• Set of behaviours or characteristics to be rated on a scale of measurement

• Types: Numerical rating scale, lettered rating scale, graphic rating scale, descriptive graphic rating scale

• Trait rating scales: Rating a person against a set standard, which may be the job description, desired behaviours or personal traits

Job dimension scale

• Rating scale for each job classification

• Rating factors are taken from context of written job description

• Mainly focus on job requirements

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)

• A behavioral approach to performance appraisal

• Consists of a series of vertical scales, one for each important dimension of job performance.

Advantages & Disadvantages

• Reduce the amount of personal judgement needed by the rater

• Focuses on specific behaviours and allows employees to know exactly what is expected of them

• Reduces rating error

• Many scales can be purchased

• Time consuming and expensive

• Applicable only to physically observable skills not to conceptual skills

• Separate BARS are needed for each job

Example of BARS

Graphic Rating-Scale Method

• Performance appraisal whereby each employee is rated according to a scale of pre-defined characteristics that are job performance related

Behavior observation scales

• It also uses critical incidents of worker behaviour.

• Evaluator lists a number of critical incidents for each performance dimension and rates the extend to which the behaviour has been observed

• A five point scale ranging from “almost never” to “almost always” used.

Forced-Choice Method

• A trait approach to performance appraisal

• Requires the rater to choose from statements designed to distinguish between successful and unsuccessful performance

Checklists

• A series of descriptive statement in behavioural terms about the standard of nursing performance of the job expected of the individual nurse

• Supervisor has to check individual’s behaviour against a set criteria

Simple checklist

• Composed of numerous words or phrases describing various employee behaviours or traits.

• These descriptions are often clustered to represent different aspects of one dimension of behaviour such as assertiveness or inter personal skills.

• The rater is asked to check all those that describe the employee on each checklist.

Supervisor Appraisal

• Performance appraisal done by an employee’s manager and often reviewed by a manager one level higher.

Self-Appraisal

• Performance appraisal done by the employee being evaluated, generally on an appraisal form completed by the employee prior to the performance review.

Advantages & Disadvantages

• Promotes dignity and self respect

• Introspection and self awareness result in growth of person

• Employees look forward to their annual performance review in an anticipation of positive feedback

• Promotes acceptance of plans for improvement

• May rate self low to prevent disagreement with the boss

• May evaluate self high to influence the manager

• May undervalue own achievements

• May feel uncomfortable giving self high ratings

• Even mature personnel require external feedback and performance validation

Subordinate Appraisal

• Performance appraisal of a superior by an employee, which is more appropriate for developmental than for administrative purposes

Peer Appraisal

• Performance appraisal done by one’s fellow employees, generally on forms that are complied into a single profile for use in the performance interview conducted by the employee’s manager

Team Appraisal• Performance appraisal, based on

TQM concepts, that recognizes team accomplishment rather than individual performance.

Field review method

• Allows the ratings of several supervisors to be completed for the same employee

• A small group of raters is identified for each supervisory unit and each rates an employee

• A member of the administrative staff then meets with the raters and identifies areas of agreement

Critical incident technique

• Supervisor observe, collect and record specific instances of the employee carrying out responsibilities critical to the job.

• These observations are used to prepare the evaluation.

• Usually associated to healthcare related performance appraisal

Management by Objectives(Peter Drucker)

• Integrates performance and goal setting

• Frequent intervals• Record maintenance• Objective review jointly• Mutual buy-in

Advantages of MBO

• Employees Can Measure Performance

• Quantifiable Goals• Joint Effort• Employee Satisfaction in

Participation

Disadvantages of MBO

• Success Not Validates by Research Studies

• Easy to Set Unrealistic Goals• Hard to Get Full Commitment to

Process• Difficult to Define Some Goals

Appraisal Interviews

• Schedule the interview 10 to 14 days in advance.

• Provide subordinates with a “guide” to follow in planning for the interview.

• Consider which of the following approaches to use:– Tell-and-sell method– Tell-and-listen method– Problem-solving method (generally

preferable)

Tell-and-Sell Interviews

• Supervisor persuades employee to change in a prescribed way.

• Employees sees how changed behavior will be of great benefit

Tell-and-Listen Interviews

• Supervisor covers strengths/weaknesses for first half

• Solicits employee’s feelings about comments

• Deal with disagreement, non-defensively

• Negotiate future concrete objectives

The Problem Solving Interview

• Discuss strengths &weaknesses since last review

• Explore feelings of sub-ordinate• Listening, accepting &responding are essential• Stimulate growth (performance) job• Discuss problems, needs, innovations,

satisfactions & dissatisfactions since last review

• Listen & respond with goal of helping person & productivity.

Problems in Performance Appraisal

General Errors in PA

• Popularity Contest• Punitive Implications• Control Relinquishment• Stereotypes• Poor Training of Raters

Rating Errors Issues

• Error of Central Tendency– Performance-rating error in which all

employees are rated about average

• Leniency or Strictness Error– Performance-rating error in which the

appraiser tends to give employees either unusually high or unusually low ratings

Continues..

• Recency Error–Performance-rating error in which

the appraisal is based largely on the employee’s most recent behavior rather than on behavior throughout the appraisal period.

Continues..

• Similar-To-Me Error–Performance-rating error in which

an appraiser inflates the evaluation of an employee because of a mutual personal connection.

Obstacles to effective PA

• Lack of support from the management• Evaluate biases and rating errors ,which

result in unreliable and invalid ratings• Lack of clear & objective standards of

performance• Failure to communicate purposes and

result of performance appraisal to employees

• Lack of suitable appraisal tool• Failure to practice the appraisal

procedure effectively

Continues..

• Resistance on the part of evaluators because;–Demands too much of supervisors’ effort

in terms of time, paper work & periodic observation of subordinates performance

– Supervisors are reluctant to play God by judging others

– Purpose & procedures of performance appraisal is not known

– Lack skill in appraisal techniques

Overcoming these obstacles

• Appraisal should be based on standards• Employee must know the standards in

advance• Employee must know the sources of

data gathered for appraisal• Employee should have input in to

development of standards• Appraiser should be someone who has

observed employees work• Appraiser should be someone who the

employ trust and respects

References

1. Jogindra Vati (2013). Principles & practice of nursing management and administration, I ed., New Delhi, Jaypee Brothers Medical publishes (P) Ltd. Chapter 42

2. Sullivan EJ & Decker JP (2010). Effective leadership & management in nursing 6th ed., Newjersy, Pearson Prentice Hall. 278-284

3. Deepak K, Chandran S & Kumar M (2013), A comprehensive textbook on nursing management, I ed., Bangalore, Emmess Medical Publishers. 473-489