The benefits of staff evaluation include improving job performance and providing feedback for the personal development of staff regardless of whether they are young and in paid positions of responsibility for the first time or have been a professional for thirty years. Since evaluation is so important in the personnel process,mid-year or formative evaluations as well as end-of-the-year,or summative, evaluations are frequently used.
The formalities of personnel evaluations are up to the organization, but generally staff personnel files are kept that provide documented evidence of the performance of staff. Staff performance evaluations are generally based on a combination of the goals and objectives as found in the job descriptions and on the performance outcomes that result from doing the assigned jobs. Ideally, the evaluation should consist of an examination of the relationship between the criteria as stated in the job description and the performance of the staff member.Thus, a well-written, accurate job description is the basis for an individual staff evaluation. The staff member ought to know from the very beginning the criteria upon which she or he will be evaluated. The staff member must also receive feedback concerning the judgment that is made by the evaluator. The feedback to staff ideally occurs on an everyday informal basis, as well as during the formal process that is scheduled as part of a yearly performace appraisal.
Personnel evaluation is often called performance appraisal or performance evaluation. Most administration textbooks go into detail about this form of evaluation, but we would like to provide a bit of background so that the principles