Performance Management

Managers can do a variety of things to enhance employee motivation and performance, including designing jobs, promoting empowerment, considering alternative work arrangements, and setting goals. The core of performance management is the actual measurement of the performance of an individual or group.

Performance appraisal is the process by which someone evaluates an employee’s work behaviors. Performance management comprises the processes and activities involved in performance appraisals. Performance appraisal may serve many purposes.

Employee appraisals are common in every type of organization, but how they are performed may vary. Many issues must be considered in determining how to conduct an appraisal. Three of the most important issues are who does the appraisals, how often they are done, and how performance is measured.

Comparative methods are more difficult to use than the individual methods, are unfamiliar to many managers, and may require sophisticated development procedures and a computerized analytical system to extract usable information.