Employee Evaluation And Goal Setting

Employee Evaluation and Goal Setting Name Institution Affiliation Employee Evaluation and Goal Setting Most companies evaluate the performance of their employees on regular basis but mostly at the end of the year. A supervisor or a senior level manager is usually tasked with the responsibility of assessing the performance of the employees based on their job descriptions and performance contracts. These performance evaluations keep the employees on their toes and remind them to always perform their duties as expected or even exceed the expectations set. Most companies also use the information from the evaluations to make important employment decisions such as promotions, salary increments and layoffs. In addition, the performance appraisals are used to identify employee short and long term goals which include identifying their interests and development needs. As a result a proper performance evaluation will review an employee’s knowledge and abilities on the position they currently hold and identify ways to grow the employees. The paper intends to examine the employee evaluation approaches and specifically the 360 degrees approach, the overall employee evaluation process and goal setting after completion of the evaluation. 360 Degree Approach The approach involves an employee receiving anonymous and confidential feedback from people they work with. These may include his/her managers, peers and subordinates who complete an online feedback form with questions regarding the employee’s workplace competencies. The questions are measured on a rating scale. For example, one may be asked “on a scale of one to ten how does John relate with other employees?” In addition, the raters are often asked to provide comments to support their answers. Most companies use the 360 degree approach to understand its employee’s strengths and weaknesses. The approach is also used as a development tool by junior employees by helping them identify and focus on ways to grow into managerial roles. Basically, the 360 degree approach measures behaviors and competencies, provides feedback on how an employees is perceived by others, examines skills such as planning and goal setting and focuses on areas such as teamwork and leadership effectiveness. However, critiques have argued that it is not the ideal employee performance approach. Kampkktter mentions in an article “using a 360 degree approach for performance appraisal is a common practice but not always a good idea” (Kampkktter, 2014). This is because it focuses primarily on behaviors and competencies as opposed to job description and performance objectives and contract. Employee Evaluation Process Most companies task the employee’s line manager or supervisor to conduct the evaluation process considering their close working relationship and because they understand the employees better. The performance review cycle varies from one individual to another but mostly depends on the time and individual was hired and when the previous year performance evaluation was completed (Kampkktter, 2014). The managers formulate perfo...