Performance appraisal is a tool that is used to evaluate employees’ performance at the workplace. It generally includes qualitative and quantitative dimensions of employees’ job performance.
In this context, performance is defined as the level of work achievement. It generally represents how successfully an individual satisfies the job requirements. Performance is constantly evaluated on the basis of outcomes.
For example, a student applied great effort while preparing for exams but he received poor remarks. In such a case, the effort applied is of a high level but performance is comparatively low.
Immediate supervisors, subordinates, customers being served, computers, and even self-appraisal can evaluate the performance of an individual.
According to Mondy et al., “Performance appraisal is a system of review and evaluation of an individual’s (or team’s) performance”.
According to Gomej-Mejia et al., “Performance appraisal involves the identification, measurement, and management of human performance in organizations”.
According to DeNisi, “Performance appraisal is the system whereby an organization assigns some score to indicate the level of performance of a target person or group”.
According to Flippo, “Performance appraisal is defined as a systematic, periodic and so far as humanly possible, an impartial rating of an employee’s excellence in matters pertaining to his present job and to his potentialities for a better job”.