We all appraise performance. We give ourselves feedback every day. We also harbor opinions about our co-workers abilities and achievements. Some of the opinions are correct, some are plain wrong and most are probably a little bit right and a little bit wrong. Regardless, we harbor those opinions and sometimes act on them.

Most organizations seek a more systematic way of appraising performance. They acknowledge that a haphazard, judgmental mechanism of the sort we describe in the first paragraph will result in damage to our ability to make intelligent personnel decisions and certainly not leave supervisors with the ability to help coach staff to better performance. Unfortunately, too often organizations that choose to create a performance appraisal system conceive of the task as the construction of a form to fill out. Success is measured by the percentage of forms that arrive in the Human Resource Management Office "on time."

This course will provide participants with an opportunity to learn how to construct an appraisal system that will provide information which is worth recording and which will avoid the medical maxim, "First, do no harm." The course will address a wide range of choices:

A mission based system requiring supervisory feedback;
A self-appraisal variant;
A 360 appraisal process;
An assessment center format.

In addition, the instructor will identify issues related to "pay-for-performance" as it related to the appraisal process.

I. Introduction of Program and Participants.

II. Stages in the Performance Appraisal Process.

• short lecture
• class discussion

III. Origins of Excellent Performance.

• short lecture
• small group discussion
• class discussion

IV. Defining Performance: Sources of Definition.

• small group discussion
• class discussion

V. Defining Performance: Writing Competencies.

• short lecture
• small group discussion
• class discussion

VI. Measuring Performance vs. Judging Performance.

• short lecture
• class discussion

VII. Techniques to Avoid Errors in Measurement: 360 Appraisals and Assessment Centers.

• short lecture
• small group discussion
• class discussion

VIII. Creating Appraisal Forms.

• small group discussion
• class discussion

IX. Giving Feedback During the Appraisal Process.

• small group discussion
• role plays
• class discussion

X. Case Study: Assessing the Quality of an Appraisal System.

• individual activity
• small group discussion
• class discussion

XI. Summary and Evaluation.