Performance reviews often fail to achieve their objectives and cause problems rather than providing reliable information, according to one expert.
These procedures are often ineffective because management hesitates to discuss difficult topics, and they can be used as tools of intimidation by bad managers, expert David McCann wrote in an opinion piece in CFO magazine. Even when there is no misconduct or suspicion of such, reviews make employees and managers alike nervous, as they worry they will be judged negatively or alienate others at the business because of their own judgments.
This leads to stress for all involved, in addition to compromising the objectivity of the information reviews produce. Beyond that, the evaluation systems which are typically used are inherently subjective, so people may not be judged consistently, which makes the results misleading.
Those who favor performance reviews often do so out of a desire to make decisions based on evidence, rather than just their own personal evaluation of an individual and his or her performance. While this may be a laudable goal in many respects, the procedures used may not achieve that goal. This is particularly true, according to McCann, when a review system incorporates a limit on how many employees can receive certain grades, or similar restrictions.
Evaluating employees effectively
Typical forms and ratings do more harm than good to relationships between employees and supervisors, according to some. Problems sometimes arise when performance evaluations are tied to compensation, usually base pay or bonuses rather than employee benefits. This can sometimes be the reason why the number of workers who are allowed to receive top grades is limited, since the organization has a limited budget.
On the other hand, even those opposed to some of the methods used may favor employee performance reviews, just under a different structure. Specifically, some do advocate for a more personal process of discussion or interviewing, without any standardized forms. This may challenge objectivity, however.
With disagreements among researchers, human resource experts, managers and employees themselves, it is unclear precisely how these concerns might be resolved. In the meantime, organizations can take some measures. Ensuring that their workers are at least aware of what criteria or factors are likely to be considered during performance reviews may help to spread the perception that they can at least understand the process and that it is fair.
