Attention models based on bottom-up input

Performance evaluation serves various purposes in organizations. Your management uses evaluation for general human resource decisions.

Evaluation provides input into such important decisions as promotions transfer and terminations. It also identifies training and development needs

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performance because evaluation can be used as a criterion against which selection and development programmes are validated. Evaluation also serves

the purpose of providing feedback to you on how the organization views your performance. Decisions on reward allocation for example who gets the next pay increase and other rewards are frequently determined by performance evaluation.

Exercises:

1. Evaluate organizational and employee responsibilities?

3.6.1 What Should Management Evaluate?

The criterion which management chooses to evaluate when appraising workers / employees performance will have a major influence on what employees do. Among the most popular set of criteria are: individual task

outcomes, behaviour and traits.

a. Individual Task outcomes.

This is when management or the organization evaluates the outcomes or outputs of your tasks.

b. Behaviour.

Although it is difficult to identify specific outcome that can be directly attributable from the actions of individual employees, the performance of the group may be readily evaluated with the contribution of each worker.

c. Traits. This is the weakest set of criteria but it is still widely used organizations because other criteria are far removed from the actual performance of the job itself.

3.6.2 Who Should Evaluate An Employee’s Performance?

- - - - -

immediate supervisor peer

self evaluation

immediate subordinate

the competence approach: 360 degree evaluation

All of these evaluation strategies afford management the opportunity to

generally rely on feedback from co-workers, parents, society and subordinate.

It also affords the organization the chance to give more sense of participation in the review process and gain more accurate reading of your performance.

3.6.3 Methods Of Performance Evaluation

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An an employee, there are specific methods and techniques for evaluating performance that you will learn in this section.

a. Written Essays:

This is the simplest method of evaluation which involves writing a narrative describing your strengths and weakness, past performance, potentials as an employee, and suggestions for the improvement of the

organization.

b. Critical Incidents: Here, the evaluator’s attention is focused on those behaviours that are key in making the difference between executing a job

effectively and executing it ineffectively.

c. Graphic Rating Scales: This is an evaluation method whereby the evaluator rates performance factors on an incremental scale. For example,

a set of performance factors, such as quantity and quality of work, depth

of knowledge cooperation, loyalty, attendance list and rates each on incremental scale.

d. Behaviour Anchored Rating Scales.

This method combines major elements from critical incidents and graphic rating scale approaches. The appraiser rates the employee based on items along a continuum, but the points are examples of actual behaviour on the given job rather than general description or traits

e. Multiperson Comparison.

This is a relative rather than an absolute measuring device in which an evaluator rates the performance of individuals against the performance of others. There are a number of comparison methods among which, we will discuss the two most popular. These are:

i. Group order Ranking: this is an evaluation method that places

employees into a particular classification such as quality.

ii. Individual Ranking: This is an evaluation method that compares each employee with every other employee and rates each other as

either superior or the weaker measure of the two based on the

achievement of the employee, the supervisor allots scores.

3.6.4 Potential Problems

A number of potential errors can creep into the process of evaluation when an

organization seeks to make performance evaluation process free from personal biases, prejudice, and idiosyncracies. Some of these are:

a. Single criterion.

This is when, instead of a combination of criteria, the evaluator uses one criterion to assess the performance of an employee.

b. Linency Error.

This is the tendency to evaluate a set of employee too high (positive) or too low (negative).

c. Halo Error.

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This is the tendency for an evaluator to allow the assessment of an individual on one trait to influence his/her evaluation of that person on

the other traits.

d. Similarity Error.

This is when an evaluator rates other people by giving special consideration to those qualities that they perceive in themselves or giving

special consideration when rating others to those qualities that the evaluator perceives in himself or herself.

e. Low Differentiation.

This is the situation when the pattern of evaluation remains the same in spite of an evaluator’s social differentiation or evaluator’s style of rating behaviour.

f. Forcing Information to march non-performance criteria.

This is when evaluation is based on factors (e.g seniority) other than performance

3.6.5 Ways Of Overcoming The Problems

a. Use multiple Criteria. In evaluation a combination of criteria instead of a single criterion should be used. The more complex the job, the more criteria that will be needed to evaluate.

b. Emphasis Behaviour Rather than Traits. Behaviour is a more reliable factor for evaluation than traits. Such traits as loyalty, initiative and courage may not?

c. Document Performance Behaviour in a Diary. The evaluator may anticipate the process of evaluation by keeping a diary of specific critical

incidents for each employee. Evaluation tends to be more accurate this way.

d. Use Multiple Evaluators. As the number of evaluators increases the probability of attaining more accurate information also increases because

the average scores of the evaluators will form the basis of evaluation.

e. Evaluation selectively. The evaluators should evaluate only in those areas in which they have some selective expertise.

f. Train evaluators. There is no alternative to good evaluators. To make this possible, there must be room for training of evaluators so that accurate rates can be obtained.

g. Provide Employees with due process. Employees should have the awareness of the parameters for evaluation. This is possible if the following are upheld.

i. Individual workers are provided with adequate notice of what is expected of them.

ii. All relevant evidence in any violation is aired in a fair hearing so that affected individuals can respond appropriately.

EDU 831 PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

iii. The final decision should be based on the evidence and should be free from bias.

3.6.6 Providing Performance Feedback

Employees should have a way of knowing their rating so as to counter their often erroneous over-evaluation of themselves.

3.6.7 Human Resource Development And Project Management

One of the most important factors affecting the success of a project is its

human resources. From experience, you would have discovered that no

matter how viable a project is, if there are no skilled personnel, the

implementation of the project will be difficult if not outrightly impossible. As such, as we have seen, it is essential to make provision for the development of human resources on appraising a project. This is true both for where there is scarcity of skilled people as it is for where there is relatively availability of

the required personnel because people are dynamic and are changing constantly as they acquire new experiences. It must be pointed out that the

development is not just once but on going.

4.0 Conclusion

An organization human resources policies and practices represent important

forces for shaping employee’s behaviour and attitude. Human resource development form the central part of management because no matter how

viable a project proposal is unless there are well trained personnel the project will not likely be executed properly and successfully.

5.0 Summary

In this unit, we have dealt human resource development and its implication for educational projects. Human resources policies and practices have been

established in the course of our discussion. We have also seen that job specification and description are important documents for guiding the selection process. We have also seen that for successful project development

and completion in education there must be continuous management development.