Quality-management guru W. Edwards Deming considered performance appraisals one of six “deadly diseases” that afflict organizational transformation. Deming said performance appraisals leave many workers “embittered, dejected, and unfit for ‘productive’ work for many weeks after the rating.”
      For most companies, though, a performance appraisal lets managers and workers discuss their concerns and determine how to meet each other’s expectations. Here are a few suggestions:
• Be consistent. A good performance-appraisal tool will ensure that similarly situated workers are evaluated on the same criteria. Managers should follow the tool’s points rather than arbitrarily eliminating or adding sections. If they stray from defined goals and outcomes, managers leave themselves open to charges that personal feelings about individual workers cloud their judgment.
• Forget service dates. Rather than evaluating employees throughout the year on their service anniversaries, evaluate everyone at the same time. This way, supervisors are more likely to apply consistent criteria rather than making assessments on how well workers happen to be performing on their anniversaries.
• Train supervisors. Conducting an effective appraisal—like developing communication skills and learning how to motivate—should be part of a supervisor’s training. Supervisors should be taught to ask themselves a series of questions before giving a negative ranking, such as: “Does any other employee have a similar deficiency? If so, did I also give that employee a negative ranking?”
• Review appraisals. If feasible, human resources should receive a draft of all appraisals before they are finalized. HR personnel are objective observers who can look for patterns that may suggest unconscious bias. By catching such bias early, HR can help the supervisor eliminate it before it backfires on the organization.
• Ask for feedback. Another failing of appraisals is that they can be one-sided—supervisors have all the power. To counter this, ask workers to comment on their appraisals. If the worker feels the criticism is just, include those comments next to the supervisor’s; likewise if the worker feels the criticism is unfounded.
• Eliminate the anguish. Don’t avoid criticism, but make every effort to deliver it in a thoughtful, consistent, constructive way that encourages workers to strive for excellence rather than belittling them.
—Adapted from HR Magazine, and Public Personnel Management