EVALUATING WORK PERFORMANCE

Instructor Overview

Much of I-O psychology deals with issues of measurement and evaluation. Appraising the performance of employees receives a great deal of attention from I-O psychologists. Performance evaluations tend to be a process that neither employees nor managers enjoy. Although I-O psychologists don’t necessarily make the process fun, they design systems to make the process as fair and efficient as possible.

This module is designed to discuss why performance needs to be evaluated and how it is done. Materials include overheads for a 15-minute lecture and an exercise for students that should take approximately 15 minutes. The exercise provides an introduction to the steps necessary to create Behaviorally-Anchored Ratings Scales (BARS). BARS are just one type of performance appraisal instrument.

Evaluating Work Performance References

Borman, W.C., White, L.A., Pulakos, E.D., & Oppler, S.H. (1991). Models of supervisory job performance ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 863-872.

Cardy R. L., & Dobbins, G. H. (1994). Performance appraisal: Alternative perspectives. Cincinnati: South-Western.

Hedge, J. W. & Borman, W. C. (1995). Changing conceptions and practices in performance appraisal. In A. Howard (Ed.), The changing nature of work (pp. 451-482). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

London, M. (1997). Job Feedback: Giving, Seeking, And Using Feedback For Performance Improvement. Mahwah, N.J.:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Murphy, K. R., & Cleveland, J. N. (1995). Understanding performance appraisal: Social, Organizational and Goal-based Perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Suggested Films and Videotapes

Effective Performance Appraisals. (Crisp Publications ISBN# 1-56052-284-4)

This 20-minute video illustrates how to plan for a performance appraisal session, conduct a positive meeting, and follow up on results.

Performance Appraisal: The Human Dynamics. (McGraw-Hill Training Systems)

This 25-minute video illustrates the importance of open communications in the performance appraisal process.