Performance Appraisal Used in Higher Education

Performance Appraisal Used in Higher Education
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Performance Appraisal Used in Higher Education
Introduction
Individuals are the lifeblood of universities as well as colleges. If there are no staff, faculty, students, and administrators, a university or a college cannot exist. Because of the importance of people in any institution of higher learning, it is imperative to have a broad understanding on the manner in which all parties are doing their work and to determine if assigned they are meeting their assigned roles. When it comes to institutions of higher learning, the stereotypical concepts of performance, evaluation as well as appraisal are in most cases applied to learners. Questions are raised regarding how learners are adjusting to their new homes as well as their performance when it comes to academics (Sukirno & Siengthai, 2011). Professional examinations and grade point averages help when measuring the academic success of learners while graduation and retention rates help to determine how they adjust to their new environment. This paper highlights components that are available in a given performance appraisal. It also explains if changes are necessary for the form, in addition to underscoring negative consequences of adding elements that are absent.
The table in the attachment
Basic employee information √Accountabilities, objectives, and standards ×Competencies and indicators √Major achievements and contributions ×Developmental achievements √Developmental needs, plans, and goals √Stakeholder input ×Employee comments ×Approvals ×The constituents of an evaluation form are crucial since they are the ones that determine how effective the form would be.

First and foremost, the given appraisal form has a segment for basic staff info which is something normal in an appraisal form. The second part is the Job Success Factors which the aspects are taken into consideration when carrying out an evaluation. They include important responsibilities as well as essential competencies of employees. The competencies, in this case, are those that are common to professional’s job standards. They are crucial when evaluating an employee as it gives a clear picture of what he/she is capable of doing.
Another component found in this appraisal is the section containing goals for the last appraisal period. This, like the competencies, are important in ascertaining if the goals were met or not. It can give a depiction of whether the set goals are going to be satisfied or not. In the same section are the goals for the coming appraisal period as well as the professional development plan. The goals for the future evaluation period play a pivotal role in putting individuals on the track. Every employee will be working while knowing what their targets are. A professional development plan, on the other hand, should be included in the appraisal form since it gives a room for entering actions undertaken by support or management that are aimed to alleviate the employees. This, in many organizations including institutions of higher learning, comprises job mastery, career growth, or actions performed to correct performance.
While the given performance appraisal appears to have all that is required, other central factors have been left out. Messick (2013) established that an exhaustive performance appraisal is the one that has components that can be put into three categories: systems, design as well as maintenance. From this simple explanation, it is evident that the given performance appraisal lacks some features. Each component highlighted above has other several factors. The elements found in the system design section needs a purpose that is vital when conducting performance appraisal. This will help all employees to have an understanding of the reasons why performance evaluation is performed. The particular objective will enable the administration to choose the performance criteria that is in line with the goals of the organization. This raises the motivation of the administrators when carrying out the evaluations property.
A component which can be added to the appraisal is to incorporate a mechanism in which both employees, as well as managers, can make some input in the area of development, design, and criteria choices. Doing so can boost the ownership and acceptance of the system by staff members which in turn can raise the system’s effectiveness. Without the involvement of this stakeholder’s, the evaluation system risks losing the credibility as well as the support of the users. This, in turn, can affect their ownership. Forrester (2011) pointed out that the involvement of workers is crucial for raising job-related anatomy, and this is a requirement for the growth of employee. Another component which can be added is performance planning which comprises job descriptions.
Despite the benefits that can come with the changes that have been proposed above, many challenges are encountered. The higher institutions of learning come with complicated laws as well as regulations coming from different sources such as statutes, federal constitutions, and administrative rules. The external environment is another thing that hinders with such changes. Apart from these factors are others such as institutional culture. These, unlike the above factors, influence staffing practices. To gain a greater understanding of staffing in institutions, the situations or culture should be comprehended from the circumstances from which the meaning is achieved.
 

References
Forrester, G. (2011). Retrieved 24 February 2018, from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0892020610383902
Sukirno, D. S., & Siengthai, S. (2011). Does participative decision making affect lecturer performance in higher education?. International Journal of Educational Management, 25(5), 494-508.
Messick, S. J. (Ed.). (2013). Assessment in higher education: Issues of access, quality, student development and public policy. Routledge.