Managerial Problems with
the Performance Review Process
Most employees do not look forward to performance reviews neither do managers like to give them. But in today's companies, performance reviews are a necessary tool. They are used to promote employees, to compensate for jobs well done, and most of all, to allow for the employee to know how well they perform. Due to poor performance reviews, many employees are terminated each year. Many of these terminations are contributed to poor decision making on the part of the manager performing the review.
The first problem associated with managers is that the standards for which the employee must meet are not clear and concise. The employee should understand exactly what is expected when hired. Many times this is not the case. Inadequate training and unclear expectations leave employees with a lot of uncertainty regarding what is expected. Expectations should be clearly stated and there must be adequate job training. Employees should be able to repeat these standards and be expected to follow them. The standards should be written down to allow for the employee to sign and receive a copy stating exactly what was expected and that the employee understood what was expected. This signed document can always be used later if disciplining the employee is necessary for failure to comply.
The second issue is primacy error. (Ostrow, 2006). Primacy error occurs when the manager's opinion of someone from the beginning never changes regardless if the employee shows improvement. This is allowing first impressions by the manager to make decisions regarding an employee's performance review. Managers need to allow for the perfor ...