Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

CONDUCT PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS
criterion deficiency. In addition, firms need to decide on the relative importance of these
three sets of behaviors (Rotundo and Sackett, 2002 ). To what extent does a fi rm value
OCBs in relation to task performance? To what extent are CWBs explicitly discouraged
or penalized? A firm’s values are useful here because they signal to the employees the preferred
actions and behaviors, and they make clear how employees should perform their
jobs. Examples of such values include acting with integrity, and producing quality products
(or providing quality services) in an environment that respects diversity and teamwork.
Hence, the first step in obtaining accurate performance information is to defi ne job
performance in line with a firm’s strategy and values and to communicate this information
to all stakeholders. The focus in this chapter is on a fi rm’ s subordinates.
Observe and record performance frequently
Ideally, managers form impressions about their employees based on the behaviors or outputs
they observe. If someone asks you for your opinion about a movie, it is diffi cult to
give an answer if you have not seen or heard the movie. Likewise, it should be diffi cult
to give your appraisal of an individual if you have not observed a representative sample
of the person’s performance behaviors or outputs. Unfortunately, there are competing
demands on managers ’ time. Their span of control is often quite large. Remote work is
becoming increasingly common making it increasingly difficult for managers to obtain adequate
performance samples for each employee. Thus, it becomes even more important for
managers to adopt a mindset of observing performance whenever the opportunities arise.
Criterion contamination occurs when information other than performance is refl ected
in the performance appraisal. Raters ’ impressions about employee performance are frequently
influenced by their biases (e.g. halo error). Raters ’ general beliefs and assumptions
about an employee, their likeability for the individual, and stereotypes about an employee
based on age, race and gender can contaminate a performance appraisal (Latham and
Mann, 2006 ). Continuously observing and recording performance behaviors can reduce
the extent to which these biases infl uence a rating.
Rating accuracy is affected by the delay between when an employee ’s behavior is
observed and when performance is actually rated (DeNisi and Peters, 1996 ). Performance
information is often acquired on an ad hoc basis, and in contexts not necessarily related to
performance evaluation. Keeping track of this information and documenting is as important
as frequent observations of an employee. Fortunately, there are tools that can help
managers organize performance information in a manner that makes it more accessible.
Performance categories help managers organize and structure their observations (Foti and
Lord, 1987 ). Examples of performance categories can include the three broad groups of
behaviors mentioned earlier (i.e. task performance, OCB, and CWB) as well as a firm ’ s
values (e.g. honesty). These category schemes can aid recognition and be recalled by managers
when they observe an employee.
Raters who keep performance logs or diaries of critical incidents and events organized by a
person can store and recall performance information more effectively and provide more accurate
ratings ( DeNisi, Robbins, and Cafferty, 1989 ). Only the pertinent information pertaining
to who, what, where, when, and why needs to be recorded. There are numerous electronic
means available to managers that can make this process easier (e.g. handheld devices).
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