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Performance Evaluations Feedback Recognition Incompetence

	My granddaughter has been on her current job for over a year and has been doing an excellent job. Before her review, her manager gave her a booklet about her duties and asked her to rate herself. She gave herself all 4’s, the highest rating, except for a 3 on one item because some of the duties were not part of her job. At the review session, her manager accepted the 3 and dropped some of her 4’s to 3’s, saying it would not be right for them to be a perfect score. What do you think of this evaluation, and what do you think about deductions for unassigned duties?
	Regardless of your granddaughter’s ratings in any booklet, she is perfect in your book, and that’s a great reflection on both of you. It is not uncommon today to find self-evaluations as part of the performance appraisal process. They can help clarify the criteria on which an employee is evaluated, give the employee a chance to truly think about his or her performance, help a manager learn more about an employee’s accomplishments, and set the stage for productive interaction in the evaluation session. However, it is the manager who ultimately determines the final ratings. Importantly, these ratings should be based on clear, specific, and fair performance measures. If an employee deserves perfect ratings, then it would not be right to give that employee anything less. And further, an employee’s ratings should not be impacted by responsibilities that are not part of his or her job. It appears that your granddaughter’s manager is the one who has not earned a 4.

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