232 Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations
an employee failed to submit an assignment by its deadline or submitted
inaccurate and incomplete reports are examples of unacceptable perfor-
mance that should be recorded. By documenting performance throughout
the evaluation cycle, raters are able to provide specifi c feedback and minimize
their susceptibility to committing rating errors.
It is important that employees receive feedback throughout the
evaluation cycle, not only when it is time to review the formal evaluation.
Employees who receive feedback from their raters on a regular basis know
how well they are performing their jobs and what improvements might be
needed. Poor performers should be receiving feedback on what they can
do to improve their performance, and excellent employees should receive
positive recognition for performing well. For many employees, positive
reinforcement is a powerful motivator that encourages them to sustain
excellent performance.
Prior to completing the formal evaluation instrument, raters should
retrieve the employee performance logs for inclusion in the evaluation. Rat-
ers should be required to justify each rating they give with explicit examples.
This corroborates the job relatedness of the evaluation and diffuses allega-
tions of unfairness, prejudice, favoritism, and so on. For employees who must
improve their performance, supervisors should recommend some potential
strategies for employee development. Raters should provide clear, descriptive,
job - related, constructive, frequent, timely, and realistic feedback.Evaluation Review
It is not enough for raters to complete performance appraisal instruments;
they must also review the evaluation with their employees. Employees
should play a critical role in the process. They should be given advance
notice when the review is scheduled so that they too can prepare. Employees
should be encouraged to bring to the review any documentation they feel
is relevant, such as letters of commendation or records of accomplished
objectives of which their raters may not be aware. Some raters ask their
employees to complete a self - evaluation, including relevant documenta-
tion, prior to the scheduled review. This puts employees at ease, making
them feel that they are part of the process, not just its victim. By asking
employees to complete self - evaluations, raters can elicit input from employ-
ees about how they rated themselves and why, what accomplishments
they are most proud of, and in what areas they believe performance
improvement is needed.