APPLICATION OF DIGITTAL TECHNOLOGIES IN PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Trakia Journal of Sciences, Vol. 19, Suppl. 1, pp 117-121, 2021 Copyright © 2021 Trakia University Available online at: http://www.uni-sz.bg ISSN 1313-3551 (online) doi:10.15547/tjs.2021.s.01.016 APPLICATION OF DIGITTAL TECHNOLOGIES IN PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL M. Geshkov* Industrial Business Department, UNWE-Sofia, Bulgaria ABSTRACT Performance appraisal is one of the most important parts in human resource management. Perormance appraisals are used when taking impornat decisions regarding employee’s work conditions, including promotions, termination, and rewards. Developmental uses of appraisal, which are geared toward improving employees’ performance and strengthening their job skills, include providing feedback, counseling employees on effective work behaviors, and offering them training and other learning opportunities. If done effectively, performance appraisal can be the key to developing employees and improving their performance. How do modern digital technologies apply to the process of performance appraisal? To answer this question is the purpose of our report. It will be organized as follows: Introduction, Chapter I – Measuring Performance, Chapter II - Application of Modern Digital Technologies in Conducting Performance Appraisal, Conclusion. Key words: enterprise, human resources management, labor market, peer review JEL: J81, M15, M13 INTRODUCTION Generally, performance appraisals are used by employers to assess employees and take important decisions regarding employee’s work conditions, including promotions, termination, and rewards as well as for developmental purposes. As a result of performance assessment, employees receive valuable directions, including feedbacks, counseling on effective work behaviors, training offering, and other learning opportunities to enhance their job skills and further their careers. If done effectively, performance appraisal can be the key to employees improving at their job and specialty development (1). _______________________________________ Correspondence to: Marin Geshkov, Industrial Business Department, UNWE-Sofia, Bulgaria, Address: Borovo, bl. 222B, entr. D, apt.115, Sofia 1680, Bulgaria, Phone: 359 893850746, e-mail: How digital technologies could be applied to enable an effective performance management process? Our study is trying to answer this question. MEASURING PERFORMANCE Employers use different grades to assess certain employee performance. The grades vary from excellent to poor. It is often difficult to quantify an employee's performance in its entirety. For example, creativity is a worker’s quality that is hard to be measured. Employers need a different set of criteria to measure certain worker’s skills. There are two key appraisal systems used by employers: relative judgment and absolute judgment. With a relative judgment approach, the employer assesses an employee's performance next to the performance of their peers. Providing a rank order of workers from best to worst is an example of a relative approach (1). Another type of relative judgment format defines employees Trakia Journal of Sciences, Vol. 19, Suppl. 1, 2021 117 into groups, such as top third, middle third, and lowest third. The main advantage of the relative rating systems is that it enables the employers to differentiate among their workers. Without such a system, many supervisors are inclined to rate everyone the same, which destroys the appraisal system’s value (1). Appraisal Instruments Trait appraisal instruments The supervisor uses trait appraisal instruments whenever he needs to make judgments about traits, features of a worker's character that tend to be consistent and enduring. Trait-based rating scales are used to assess four important traits, namely decisiveness, reliability, energy, and loyalty. Although some organizations use trait ratings, it is fair to say that there is a certain degree of subjectivism in this type of appraisal instrument. This subjectivism could lead to a deterioration of appraisal results due to conscious or unconscious bias. Other than that, trait appraisal instruments are less defensible in court due to their ambiguous nature (1). Behavioral appraisal instruments Behavioral appraisal instruments focus on assessing a worker’s behaviors (for example: works well with coworkers, comes to meetings on time). In other words, compared to trait appraisal instruments, which assess certain traits of the employees, behavioral appraisal instruments offer an answer to the question of whether an employee does or does not exhibit certain behavior. Behavioral appraisal instruments emphasize the value rather than the frequency of specific behaviors that could occur. Probably the best-known behavioral scale is the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS). Evaluating the worker’s behavior during an assessment period, based on the behavioral criteria provided by the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS), the supervisor comes with an assessment decision (2). Measurement Tools The direct source of performance appraisal is the supervisor director. However, it is often the case that other parties take part in the performance appraisal process as well. Such parties could be self, peers, subordinates, and even customers (1). 118 GESHKOV M. Self-review In this type of review, the worker assesses himself. He evaluates his skills, abilities, and achievements based on a certain scale. In some cases, there might be a substantial difference in opinion between a supervisor and an employee regarding one or another area of the employee’s evaluation. Communication and possibly investigation are warranted in such a case (1). Peer review In a peer review, workers at the same level of the organization rate one another. In many organizations, the peer-review process takes the better part of a performance appraisal. Subordinate review process In a subordinate review, workers evaluate their supervisors. In addition to feedback from within the organization, companies are increasingly looking to customers as a valuable source of appraisal (1) Customers review In addition to feedback from within the organization, companies are increasingly looking to customers as a valuable source of appraisal. It could be a case where workers exhibit only those behaviors that are likable to their managers while ignoring behaviors that are critical to customer satisfaction. Supervisors may have limited information or a limited perspective, whereas internal and external customers often have a wider focus or greater experience with more parts of the business. Therefore in many cases, customers' reviews might be valuable for an organization as well as for rating employees (1). 360° feedback The combination of peer, subordinate, selfreview, and sometimes customer appraisal, is termed 360° feedback. A 360° system can offer a well-rounded picture of an employee’s performance, one that is difficult to ignore or discount, because it comes from multiple perspective (...truncated)