Workers have been encouraged to desist from perceiving Performance Appraisal as a punishment tool, but a performance enhancement mechanism.
Managers and supervisors, particularly Human Resource Managers also need to stop fueling that perception by using performance appraisal as a measure to punish workers.
Mr Nicholas Sarpong Kumankoma, Head of Administration and Human Resource Department of the Church of Pentecost, Ghana, indicates that the purpose of Performance Appraisal Systems is not to punish workers for their actions or inaction.
His admonishing comes in the wake of increasing apprehension among workers towards performance appraisal, amidst complaints about appraisal systems being used to penalise workers who do not have good working relations with their managers.
In an interaction with ADR Daily in Accra, Mr Sarpong-Kumankoma said the situation where appraisal is used against workers defeats the objective of performance appraisal.
According to him, the essence of performance appraisal is to assess performance with the aim of improving output and productivity.
The performance appraisal, he said should enable managers to identify the inadequacies of workers as well as challenges facing their performance to develop and implement interventions for performance improvement.
As practised by his Department, he said after challenges have been identified during the appraisal session, issues bothering on logistics are addressed while those that relate to inadequate skills are addressed through the conduct of training programmes for the affected staff.
The appraisal, he noted, should be characterised by a discussion between the supervisor and the subordinate for a consensus on the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
In that way, there would be a clear understanding between the supervisor or the manager and the employee on the scores assigned to the KPIs, he said.
By: Nii Adotey/adrdaily.com
