Appraisal Management Report

Question: Discuss about the Appraisal Management Report. Answer: Introduction: Wellton NHS trust is a medium sized trust based in the Northern Part of England. As part of its responsibility, the trust board sets up the direction of the trust which is led by the Chief Executive Officer. Three departments in the trust; the Medical, Clinical Support and Surgery are all led by the director of services. In the year 2013, the Trust came up with a new performance related pay criteria for its employees, this was part of the trust Agenda for change. Before these changes, employees would automatically receive annual salary increments until the time they would reach the top pay point with regard to their job description. However, the change that was introduced meant that employees would move to the next pay scale depending on how they performed individually. This means that to move to the next pay rate, the individual employee would have to demonstrate that they have reached the required level of performance and delivery and that they were very competent with the knowledge and skills required for the role. Some of the areas in which employees are assessed includes but not limited to; communication skills, personal development, and people development, safety, health and security, quality, diversity and equality. This means that employees need to meet these levels in order to reach the next payment level. Performance Appraisal Issues Soon after implementation of the new way of appraising employees, the management realized performance problems in the departments. For example, there were overbooking of appointments leading to overrunning of clinics. In this regard, patients became frustrated leading to the cancellation of 10% of patient appointments. The top management also received formal complaints from customers as well as informal complaints which were recorded according to the trust complaints policy. In the recent past, Roberts, (2003, 89-98.) affirms that organisation where usually concerned about the orientation and development of their employees. This called for a better way to assess and encourage performance in the organisations. However, modern organisations are now following new ways of working and ensuring that employees perform tasks assigned to them. This enables the organization to stick to their strategic mission and vision(Caramella, 2016). To fulfil this concept of technological revolution in ma nagement, organisations have also realized that there is a lot of importance in performance management (Daley, 2010). Jain Jain, (2014) adds that most organisations have also come to learn the importance of performance appraisal and it has been incorporated in many multinational companies. This is because most of them have implemented systems for performance appraisal with the aim of enhancing productivity in their organization and that of their employees. There are several areas that the importance of performance management measure has been put in place. It is also important that organisations present a true and fair view of the performance appraisal systems to gain the trust of their employees, ensure they remain loyal to the organization and experience job satisfaction(Luo, 2005). These are the main areas of success for any organization. With regard to rational performance measurement, management of any organization will get a lot of employee loyalty. This report thus reviews the effectiveness of the appraisal policy a later provides recommendations for the same. The extent to which performance appraisals might improve the organization For a big organization like the NHS, they will use the knowledge and skills framework (KSF) document to provide the details of the requirements from the employee. This will support the individual in proper learning and reviewing the progress of the holder of that post. The NHS has a standard document thus that will be used to identify the rights of employee to particular benefit with regard to how he or she is able to perform in the organization. The KSF framework contains several bands which will be used to assess employee performance and guide the employer against exploiting employees. In this regard, the work performance appraisal framework is guided. With regard to the report from HR partner Susan Bell observations, it is important for managers to be aware of the importance of appraising their employees from time to time. This will affect their loyalty to work, increase levels of job satisfaction and has a great effect on the growth and success of the organization. This means that as organisations document activities, communicate and describe the job to the employee, they need to be more concerned. About the above issue, it was noticed that changes in job performance led to the negative impact of the job satisfaction and motivation. This was because of the new approaches to performance appraisal that was in introduced(Roberts, 2003). In the end, it led to demoralized employees who lost their loyalty to the organization thus affecting the organizations strategic objectives. The human resource officials also used the performance appraisal technique to determine salary increment for employees in the coming year. They, however, did not factor in another issue that could be used to rate reasons for increment or non-increment as much as performance appraisal can be used to encourage good results for the organization, it can also be used in identifying poor performance, some of which may not necessarily come from the employees but the management of the organization itself. The management needs to remove these hurdles to enable employees to achieve set objectives and aims. Performance appraisal systems can also be used by the organization to identify employees who need some form of guidance and counselling to improve the work performance(Compton, et al., 2014). This is because most organisations believe that performance appraisal is the only good tool that can motivate employees to increase their performance and adhere to the organisation's strategic objectives. Characteristics of Effective and Ineffective Appraisal design An effective performance appraisal design should be able to factor in the following characteristics, failure to which it becomes ineffective and loses the strategic objectives of the organization: Should set working standards: The first characteristics of effective performance appraisal is that it should be able to set appraisal standards. By doing so, employers should be given particular targets in which they are to focus on so that their performance will be measured according to these standards. Communicate organization expectations: The organisations also needs to communicate the said standards to employees the type of standards they expect from employees. This will involve conducting in house training so that employees can know ways that they will be able to achieve this benchmark. It is also important the employees are well aware of standards of performance at all levels and how to meet them(Jain Jain, 2014). This is one of the areas that Wellton NHS Trust might have failed to cover as they implemented the new system of performance appraisal. By educating employees on the required standards, and their main responsibilities on the job they will work according to what is expected of them. Standards also need to be communicated to employees at the beginning of the year so that they know what they should do in future. Measure employee performance: soon after the new standards of appraisal have been communicated to employees, the next step would be to measure the performance of each employee according to the criteria chosen by the Human Resources department. This can be one of the most challenging time for the person evaluating employees. According to Oh Lewis, (2009), measuring of employee performance will go on throughout the year as it deals with the comparison of employee targets from one season to the other. The performance will also be measured in terms of having been able to meet desired results in the organization on ways managers and supervisors make their work operational in all ways. It is very important in this regard that personal grudge does not affect the outcome of the processes or create employee and management conflict. Compare performance and benchmarks: the next step will be for the manager to compare the rate of performance and benchmarks. In this regard, the organization will need to deal with a yardstick and compare each task with the targets that were set. Here the management needs to agree with the supervisor on how this will be measured. While conducting employee performance Caramella, (2016) adds, the management will measure how employees at the trust have been able to achieve organizations goals. It will also highlight some of the employees weakness to know how they can be able to improve in the coming pear. The above four are some of the most important factors in performance appraisal systems. Evaluation: this is the last step and is always done in the last month of the year. This step is most important as it deals with the milestones that compare how each task was done and its achievement. At this, the supervisor will present a report of each employee showing how the employee was able to achieve set targets and the types of divergence that were witnessed in the process. The management will meet to discuss the said benchmarks and decide on whether the employee qualifies for an appraisal or not. In this regard, the employee will also be communicated to, regarding set targets and his achievements. Abdolmohammadi, et al., (2003) adds that this is important as it will be a form of motivation for the employee to perform much better in the coming financial year. Decision Making: this is the last step of the performance appraisal processes. The decisions will be made with regard to the results and should be designed in a manner that it will encourage the employee to improve in areas of weakness, suggest steps like training for those who lag behind. Actions should be corrective and not punitive and promote employee management relationship. Evaluation of components in a High Performance work system The first component of high performance work system is the increased opportunity for employees to participate in decision making processes and be considered as one of the main areas of high performance work systems. Roberts, (2003) adds that this component allows employees to decide on what will affect their immediate environment as in the end this will affect the whole organization. According to integration theory, employee participation is very important as it makes the employee feel appreciated, empowered and motivated to the organization. This is important in establishing a committed workforce. The second component looks at the concept of training. Pesta, et al., (2005) has the idea that when employees are constantly trained they gain the necessary skills specifically customized to meet the objectives of the organization. It is also a greater opportunity for employees to assume the next position in the organization since they become more empowered to do so. Cross-training employees in different skills ensure that employees can take on new roles in the organization. The third component looks at the concept of incentives: While the above elements prepare the employee to take on the task. However, if employees are not given incentives for performing well, then there will be low performance levels, this is why it becomes important for organisations to generate a system of appraisal. Incentives can be in different forms like profit sharing plans, bonuses, pay raises and other employee welfare options like paid holiday, group lunches etc. Integrating appraisal with other management tools and techniques According to Roberts, (2003), performance appraisal should always be viewed as a management process and not creating new standards for the organization. This is because performance appraisal systems provide employees with the opportunity tin improve and improve the effectiveness of the organization. The performance appraisal systems can be used to address the organizations strategic objectives. It discusses the expected outcomes of the organisations and ways in which they can get there. According to the integrated staffing theory, there are two functions that go with performance appraisal; one is the evaluation of staff to the requirements of the job and staff development to improve performance. This means that development of staff and performance appraisal are related. The second area is the performance appraisal helps improve organization culture(Davis, et al., 2016). It looks at the design of work, employee organization and relationships within the organization and the management. Conclusion In conclusion, the Wellton NHS Trust should continue implementing the new performance appraisal systems. However, some of the areas that need improvement in the new system is communication and reporting. They need to find ways to communicate with employees on the new system and report to them about their current performances. Evaluation should be done in regard to set targets. Performance management is thus important in improving the speed at which people do their job. It enable organisations to note areas of improvement and employees are a also able to benefit from training and other personal development skills. According to various models, performance management shows that employees are well taken care of by making even the most hardened employee feel better. It is important for that the KSF framework is well implemented so that it can allow for changes in the way work is done as well as ensuring that employees do not feel mistreated. The KSF guideline thus is an important framework when it comes to performance appraisal, this is because the guideline is very standard and discusses various relationships that the employee and the management of the organization will encounter on the way. The Wellton NHS Trust need to come up with new mechanisms on how they will implement the framework. There should also be clear communication between the management and the employee, this will enable him keep track of his personal development in terms of his career. The employees will be able to know their weaknesses and improve in future to increase their compensation for good work. 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