I-O Psychology

I-O Psychology
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Abstract
Performance appraisals are relevant in any work setting to assess the performance of the employees and to ensure that an organization is operating in the right direction. They do not function to eliminate staff but rather focus on how they can be supported to improve their output. As per the analysis, the common challenges associated with performance appraisals include errors and biases. Biases occur as a result of favoritism or fear. The errors in the systems can either be intentional or unintentional. This makes it necessary to structure appraisal forms which assist the raters to accurately observe and record information and avoid potential errors. The analysis includes an article that highlights one of the factors that results in issues in the appraisals. The factor entails the lack of differentiation among peers during peer evaluation. The idea is that most of the employees tend to rate each other positively and hence making the evaluation useless or lose its value.
Key Words: performance appraisals, bias, errors
I-O Psychology
Performance appraisal entails evaluating the performance of employees basing on a subjective perspective. It is one of the major responsibilities of the human resource department that allows a company to evaluate the progress of the members of staff and identifying the needs of the employees and the areas of improvement (Adepoju et al., 2017). Performance appraisals are viewed as relevant when it comes to ensuring that an organization aligns with its objectives and goals.

They also ensure that employees are performing as expected (Truxillo et al., 2015). The analysis puts into view issues associated with performance appraisals and an article’s view regarding the factors that bring about issues when carrying out performance evaluations.
Two issues associated with performance appraisals include the biases and errors related to employee ratings (Truxillo et al., 2015). On rating, the view is that there might exist a mismatch between the rated performance and the actual performance of the employees. This also puts into view bias whereby managers may integrate personal agendas when evaluating the performance of the members of staff. A good example is positively rating an employee due to the fear of avoiding confrontation. On errors, it is important to note that they can either be intentional or unintentional. The unintentional errors occur as a result of limitations when it comes to information-processing. This makes it essential to develop appraisal forms which assist the raters to accurately observe and record information in addition to avoiding potential errors. For the intentional errors, it is advised for the need for motivating the raters for them to focus on rating accurately. Other issues associated with errors include regency errors where raters may forget the events that occurred at the beginning of an assessment due to the long duration, liking and similarity where rating may be affected by the friendship that exists between managers and members of staff and the halo effect whereby the impression of an employee by a rater may control the whole process (Truxillo et al., 2015).
Topic A
The common problems associated with performance appraisals include errors and biases from raters. The article, “Peer Appraisals: Differentiation of Individual Performance on Group Tasks” by Drexler, Beehr, and Stetz (2001), addresses one new concept that results in problems in performance appraisals. It involves peers being hesitant to differentiate among other members of staff in assessing their performance. The hesitation is viewed to affect the rating concerning accuracy and validity in addition to making it difficult to improve productivity. The problem may influence peers to positively rate each other and include similar distinction concerning performance which may differ from the actual performances (Drexler et al., 2001). The lack of differentiation, in this case, disregards the significance of the ratings as per the findings of a performance appraisal system.
References
Adepoju, O., afunso, Z., & Lawal, A. (2017). Influence of Performance Appraisal on Quality of Service Delivery: A case of Primary Health Care Facilities, Southwestern Nigeria. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 19(03), 73-81. Doi: 10.9790/487x-1903037381
Drexler, J. A., Beehr, T. A., & Stetz, T. A. (2001). Peer Appraisals: Differentiation of Individual Performance on Group Tasks. Human Resource Management, 40(4), 333-345.
Truxillo, D.M., Bauer, T.N. & Erdogan, B. (2015). Psychology and Work: Perspectives on Industrial and Organizational Psychology. New York: Routledge.