Performance Appraisal

Mrs. X is an RN who has been employed in your hospital for ten years. She is a middle aged woman supporting a large family and it is common knowledge that she moonlights at a nursing home on her days off. Her work is generally of high quality; but in reviewing her past performance appraisals you notice that in the last four years at each evaluation she has been rated unsatisfactory for being on duty promptly; as well as for not attending staff development programs. Since you are the new unit manager, you would like to be able to improve Ms. Lee’s performance in these two areas.

Discuss this with your partner, Mrs. X

Dr. S.J. NALINIReader

Faculty of Nursing, Sri Ramachandra University

PERFORMANCE – 2 Elements

MOTIVATION ABILITY

the ability to get individuals to do what you want them to do, when and how you want it done

MOTIVATION

FIND THE RIGHT REWARDSIN ORDER TO MOTIVATE

OTHERS!

PersonalEconomicCreative

MOTIVATION Understanding how others work.

Some internal or external force to move human beings to continuous high levels of productivity.

Have an effect on outcomes such as performance, turnover, and absenteeism

COMPREHENSIVE APPRAISAL SYSTEM

Determine ability required Match ability of job and employee Improve employee’s abilities

(staff development) Enhance employee’s motivation (reward system)

A simplified model of job performance

MOTIVATION• Benefits• Job design• Leadership style• Recruitment and

selection• Employee

goals/needs/ abilities

ABILITY• Responsibilities• Education –

Basic/ advanced• CNE• Skills/abilities

EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE•Daily performance•Attendance•Punctuality•Adherence toPolicies/procedures•Absence of incidents/ errors/accidents•Honesty •Trustworthiness

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Systematic, standardized evaluation

of an employee by the supervisor, aimed at judging the value of the employee’s work contribution, quality of work, and potential for advancement

PERFORMANCE APPRAISALDefinition

• The process of interaction, written documentation, formal interview and follow up that occurs between managers and their employees in order to give feedback, make decisions and cover fair employment practice law

- Eleanor J Sullivan

PERFORMANCE APPRAISALDefinition

• Is a periodic formal evaluation of how well the nurse has performed her duties during a specified period

- Ann Mariner

GOAL OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL?

To improve performance Letting employee “know where they stand” Giving performance feedback - strongest

nonfinancial reward!

Purposes

Determine job competence Enhance staff development Discover employee’s aspirations Recognize accomplishments Improve communications Aid in manager’s coaching and counseling Determine training and developmental needs Make inventories of talents Select for advancement of salary Identify unsatisfactory employees

Is your appraisal system nondiscriminatory?

Be in writing and carried out at least once in a yearShare with employeeOpportunity to respond in writingAppeal the resultsOpportunity for observationMaintenance of Anecdotal reports/critical incidentsTraining of evaluatorsFocus on employee behavior and results rather on personal traits or characteristics

Evaluation Philosophy

ABSOLUTE JUDGEMENT: Based on reasonable and acceptable

standards set by the organization

COMPARATIVE JUDGEMENT: Employees are compared with each other

Errors in evaluation

▲ Halo error▲ Horns error▲ Contrast error▲ Leniency error▲ Recency error

Guidelines for Performance Criteria Realistic

Measurable and verifiable

Practical

Relevant

Non Discriminating

Stable

Time bound

Written

PERFORMANCEAPPRAISAL PROCESS

Step 1Assess institutional and personal needs and set goals

Step 2Establish objectives and time frame

Step 3Assess progress

Step 4Evaluate progress

Performance Appraisal Mechanisms

• Personal• Peer• Managerial evaluation

– Evaluative• Making decisions/rewards (past performance)

– Judgmental or developmental• Role as counselor, areas of improvement• Identifying resources available

FORMAL AND INFORMAL PROCESS

• Informal - day-to-day– Coaching - approach to developing people– Ongoing, face-to-face collaboration

• Formal– Written documentation– Formal appraisal interview with follow-up

• Work is measured against some standard for the purposes of determining the level of quality of job performance

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT TOOLS

Anecdotal NotesChecklistsRating ScaleNumericalGraphicDescriptiveFrequency rating scale

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT TOOLS

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)/ Behavioral expectation scales (BES) Behavioral Observation scales (BOS) Ranking - Paired comparison : N(N-1)/2 Management by objectives

Management by Objectives Review the mission and group objectives List major job responsibilities Determine expected levels of accomplishment Meet manager to establish priorities Develop plans for the accomplishment of the

objectives Annual review – comparison of actual results

with expected levels of accomplishment

Advantages of MBO - staff Works on participative management Based on characteristics of a specific person and

job Control and emphasis over future Awareness of the standards of judgment, goals,

priorities and deadlines Understanding about progress Stimulates higher individual performance / morale

Advantages of MBO - managerReservoir of personnel data and performance informationBasis for promotion/ compensationRelationship with staff as coachDirects work activities towards organization goalsFacilitates planningObjective appraisal criteriaReduces role conflict

Limitations of MBODifficult of implementNeeds teaching and reinforcementManager responsible for assessing results and not activities

directed towards resultsSome nurses do not want to be involved in setting goalsOnly lip serviceStresses on results but not on methods to achieve themFrustration when higher goals are setNeglects qualitative factorsNo comparative data for promotion/ salary increase

Key concept:Clients, peers and superiors are

always evaluating a nurse’s performance!

Who is a peer?

• A peer is a person of the same profession, grade or setting.

Peer review• A process whereby a group of practicing

registered nurses evaluate the quality of another RN’s professional performance

Ann Mariner

• A process by which other employees assess and judge the performance of professional peers against predetermined standards

- Eleanor J Sullivan

• An organised effort where people critically appraise, systematically assess, monitor, make judgements, determine their strengths and weakness and review the quality of their practice, to provide evidence to use as the basis of recommendations by obtaining the opinion of their peers.

• Offers staff an opportunity to both give and receive support, and to network across the site involved.

Peer evaluation processReview of employee’s self evaluation formReference letters, committee work, special projects, additional education, contributions to nursingPerformance evaluation by managerReview of past performance, care plans and chartingAssessments, observation of the nurseInterviews with her patientsSummary of findingsPresentation of findings and recommendations to the nurse

Advantages & Limitations

Advantages: Accountability and responsibility for

nursing performance.

Limitations: Threatening and time consuming Risk of rating candidates too high or too

low

Appraisal interview

Tell and sell Tell and listen Problem solving Goal setting

Appraisal interview style

• Purposes of evaluation• Manager’s philosophy of management• Institutional guidelines

Key behaviors for an appraisal interview

Put the employee at ease Atmosphere creation Clearly state the purpose of the interview Go through the ratings one by one with the employee Draw out the employee’s reactions to the ratings Decide on specific ways in which performance areas can be strengthened Set a follow up date Express confidence in the employee.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL OUTCOMES

• improve performance• improve communication• reinforce positive behavior• method to communicate/correct• provide basis for regards/basis for motivation• provide basis for termination if necessary• identify learning needs and develop personnel