Question

In a big chain of retail stores annual performance appraisal system is used as a base for determining the
employee’s annual raise. Upper management has the authority to double the increment on an exceptional
performance. One of the problems with the appraisal system is that it is more inclined towards
subjectivity. A new sales manager joined the chain in December 2019 and annual performance appraisal
of two supervisors one from grocery section and one from the toys section was due in April 2020. Due to
lockdown in March 2020 the sales of grocery section were above targets and consequently, the supervisor
from the grocery section got double increment on the recommendation of the manager.

Keeping in view, the possible raters’ error in performance appraisal, discuss the specific error
that occurred in this scenario and how it could be handled? Justify your answer with solid arguments.

Answer 1

Answer:

The error that occurred in this scenario is that the appraisal that is being given to the supervisors is not because of their efforts or their performances. The sales have been escalated automatically because of the situation of pandemic. However, the performance appraisal system that was being designed did not consider this parameter and the supervisors were being provided with the double increment.

The above performance appraisal system needs to be redesigned so as to include various internal and external constraints and parameter that would define the performance of the employees. Manager should define various standards associated with the performance of the employees and should assign the appropriate metrics to each of the standard. Human resource department should continuously measure the performance of the employees as per the designed standards and the metrics and according to the annual score obtained by the employees, human resource department should provide incentives to them.