Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 13, 2012 Letters
Dear Editor,
Nowrang Persaud’s Letter (K.N. March 28th 2012) followed by Geralda Dennison’s (K.N. March 29, 2012) both on the subject “Employee Performance Appraisal” attracted my attention and they have caused me to revisit this very subject on which I did some research, taught and published on (June 26, 1980) when I resided in Ontario, Canada.
Both gentlepersons are to be commended for highlighting with factual clarity some of the obligatory responsibilities of managers and supervisors within the work environment and should encourage a good and timely discourse here in Guyana.
Please permit this seventy-four year-old executive retiree to share with your readership a few definitions which I feel should be introduced in today’s parlance before presenting my (1980) publication
First of all appraisals apply to real-estate and to motor vehicles, etc. Evaluations however, apply to human workers. Performance evaluation is therefore more appropriate for in excess of twenty-five years I have been a Canadian licensed real estate agent who moonlighted in the real-estate boom (1980-1990) especially in Toronto; so appraisals in the workplace should be avoided forthwith.
Secondly, that I wore the title Chief Executive Officer of an institution we refer to as (G.P.H.C) without a medical degree or nurse/midwife training implies that I provide healthcare to patients. The position I held was more appropriately Chief Health Service Officer whereby I commanded all services and all healthcare workers within the G.P.H.C.
Thirdly, in a letter published in (S.N 01/07/2001) I declared that “Time-frame given to hospital by Inspectors is absurd” because the quality of care, hospital standards, rules, regulations, patient/staff relationship and strategic plans, cannot be inspected. The appropriate measure is “Accredited”, a practice that was introduced since the late sixties/early seventies.
Fourthly, a Personnel Manager is really a Human Service Officer.
Fifthly “Customers Complaint Department” should be an enclosed area the door on which should proclaim “Client Relation Office — Welcome”
Sixthly, “Quality Assurance” should be renamed “Total Quality Management”.
Finally, should we not admit that hospitals are hotels for clients in need of secondary and tertiary health care?
Now here is my abridged publication (1980) “Personnel Evaluation — a Must”
It is my experience that many managers and supervisors approach performance evaluation with a degree of hesitancy because they view it as an unnerving and sometimes unpleasant test of their managerial skills.
Some find it an exercise in futility, claiming that weaknesses are pointed out to their subordinates on an on-going basis and that for them it is a matter of routine to reward a job well done. So there is no point in waiting six months or a year to tell an employee of his/her performance levels.
Others see evaluations as a means of isolating for upgrading specific staff members who are measured against their peers since merit went out the door with the advent of unions whose collective agreement package includes progressive wage increases for all grades, on specific dates, and all permanent employee flaws must be documented in writing and also discussed and signed by the employee.
Evaluations are used by some as a disciplinary procedure bearing in mind recent local arbitration settlements where it is emphasized that an employee who has never been apprised of expected standards could not reasonably be measured against those standards.
Further, it is held that it is incumbent on the managers and supervisor to systematically provide skills training for the employee — especially a long term employee — to improve upon identified weaknesses. Some of us use evaluations to boost sagging morale. This exercise will consist mainly of praise and exhortations to do even better. Others even say that with current economic restraints morale boosting is the last carrot they can offer employees.
There are those who would use evaluations to arrest declining discipline and to correct flagrant breaches of rules and regulations.
A few managers and supervisors use them to demonstrate power or to force employees to change specific attitudes or work habits, or to encourage further education.
The listed reasons for which I have indicated we use evaluations are by no means complete. Whatever our approach, I am sure for many of us evaluations are somewhat challenging and we would sometimes wish someone else do them. Many of us never get around to doing them and often neglect the subsequent reviews. In many institutions, either through vacillation or inexperience, evaluations have never been implemented. Some managers and supervisors are even afraid relationships will drastically alter after evaluating employees.
To my mind, the purpose of performance evaluations is that given established and specific standards, given measurable statements on what is acceptable and what is unacceptable, employees are regularly measured against those standards and statements of acceptability.
In the process, performance weaknesses are highlighted, strengths are amplified, counselling is offered and expected improvement is emphasized within a given time frame.
In the final analysis, we must all recognize that no evaluation form or process is perfect. Those that are tailor made for our respective institution must be constantly reviewed and updated, preferably by a panel of senior managers.
It must be clearly understood by all, evaluations are desirable and must be put to work for a specific purpose, and they should apply equally to all department employees and should be subject to annual or biannual review.
With measurable standards in place and with practice, we as managers and supervisors could quickly come to view evaluations as necessary and healthy nutrients for the growth of all employees, including ourselves. For those who have not yet started, there is no better time than to Do It Now, for apart from the inevitable rewards in terms of improved performance levels, subordinates will always know what is expected of them and how they measure up to those expectations.
George L Munroe
Executive Member
Canadian College of Health Service Executives
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
Apr 19, 2024
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