Performance appraisals are a hot topic in companies of today's business world. Should we use them, or should we not use them? What good do they actually do in regards to motivating the employee. Better yet, what harm can they cause? In writing this paper, I am going to present to you some of the pros and cons of a performance appraisal system. Do the positive characteristics outweigh the negative, and can we afford to venture in today's corporate business world without a performance appraisal system in place? .
Are performance appraisals an integral part of an organization's very existence, or are they nothing more than an expensive and time-consuming burden that all business" of today must put up with in order to function properly in the corporate world? According to Heathfield, "Second only to firing an employee, managers cite performance appraisals as the task they dislike the most" (2000, p. 1). Performance appraisals play a huge role in today's organizations whether it is a Texaco service station or a multi-billion dollar corporation such as Microsoft. The question is however, are they effective? Do we get what we need from them to allow us to accurately measure the work performance of our subordinates in an objective and unbiased manner? Over the course of this paper, my hope is to enlighten and educate the reader somewhat on what is actually taking place in the business world today with regards to the traditional performance appraisal system. .
Theoretically, the utilization of performance appraisals are an excellent way to conduct business, however there are some serious flaws associated with them that are worth mentioning here today. .
Lets take a look at some of the benefits that are offered by a traditional performance appraisal. First of all, the system provides employees with an opportunity to receive feedback regarding their performance, usually at least once a year and often on an interim basis during the year.
