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By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide to Human Resources since 2000

Develop a Performance Management System

Friday March 14, 2008

This week, I did my third recent interview about performance management. I found myself raising all of the issues that influenced my philosophical direction with the topic of performance appraisals. Universally disliked by many managers who don't like sitting in numeric judgment annually over a staff person's work, performance appraisals are avoided. This causes the job of the Human Resources staff to become policing. I can think of a lot of better uses for my time. How about you?

So can managers who fear giving a staff person a less than stellar appraisal because of the hit the employee's morale may take. Plus, managers depend on employee contribution of discretionary energy; a poor performance appraisal interferes with forward motion. And, in most companies, the appraisal is tied directly to raises. A less positive performance appraisal will impact an employee's bank account all year long. This is known as employee motivation - not. What do I recommend instead? I've had the opportunity to work with six clients to install a performance management system. You'll want to understand the differences.

Performance Management, Not Performance Appraisal

Image © Steve Cole / Getty Images

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