1. Leadership roles:

i. Use the appraisal process to motivate employees and promote growth.

ii. Uses appropriate techniques to reduce the anxiety inherent in the appraisal process.

iii. Involves employees in all aspects of performance appraisal.

iv. Is self aware of own biases and prejudices

v. Develops employee trust by being honest and fair when evaluating performance.

vi. Encourages the peer review process among professional staff.

vii. Uses appraisal interviews to facilitate two way communication

viii. Provides ongoing support to employees attempting to correct performance deficiencies

ix. Uses coaching techniques that promote employee growth in work performance.

x. Individualizes performance goals and the appraisal interview as needed to meet the unique needs of a culturally diverse staff.

2. Management Functions:

i. Uses a formalized system of performance appraisal

ii. Gathers data for performance appraisals that are fair and objective.

iii Uses the appraisal process to determine staff education and training needs.

iv. Bases performance appraisal on documented standards.

v. Is as objective as possible in performance appraisal.

vi. Maintains appropriate documentation of the appraisal process.

vii. Follows up on identified performance deficiencies.

viii. Conducts the appraisal interview in a manner that promotes a positive outcome.

ix. Provides frequent informal feedback on work performance.

3. Integrating leadership roles and management functions in conducting performance appraisals:

Performance appraisal is the major responsibility in the controlling functions of management. It is not easy. Gather data from many sources. The result of appraisal should provide the manager with information for meeting training and educational needs of employees. Integrating the control phase of management process provides an opportunity for sharing, communicating and growing. Self awareness leads to fairness and honesty in evaluating performance, which increase trust and team spirit. Use day to day coaching techniques to reduce anxiety, establish relationship of mutual goal setting , facilitate growth and increase organizational productivity.

Attribution theory and appraisal:

Originated by Fritz Heider and refined by Harold Kelly and others

Attribution is the process by which people interpret and assign causes for their won and other’s behaviour. Seeking to understand and diagnose the behaviour the manager makes a causalattribution(tentative explanation) . Then the manager tries to predict and control(influence) future employee behaviours as a product of attribution. E.g. ability and effort are personal attributes; luck task difficulty as situational attributions.

Conclusion: Nurse managers are responsible for securing the common purposes of the total enterprise, but they also are responsible for maintaining the climate in which nursing personnel can obtain job satisfaction. A number of factors influence a successful and effective performance appraisal system. They are

1. There is compatibility between criteria for individual evaluation and organizational goals

2. The appraisal applies directly to the performance standards and objectives expected of the worker.

3. Behavioural expectations have been developed or mutuallyaggreed on by the nurse appraiser and the individual being evaluated.

4. The nurse appraiser understands the appraisal process and uses the procedure effectively.

5. Each individual is rated by his or her immediate supervisor

6. The performance appraisal concentrates on strengths and notes weaknesses in the individual to improve performance

7. The appraisal process encourages feedback from nursing members regarding their performance, needs and interests

8. Provision is made for initiating preventive and corrective actions and for making adjustments to improve the worker’s performance

It’s a difficult procedure but can be made easier by following above guidelines.