Appraisal scales that measure performance outcomes and job results

The major deficiency with most common graphic performance-appraisal scales is their emphasis on retrospective evaluation and documentation, rather than on communication and education. So charges author Roger Plachy, management consultant, who advocates instead the use of the Performance Outcome Appraisal Scale (POAS) or the Jobs Results Appraisal Scale (JRAS). The focus of the POAS is away from the employee and toward behavior outcomes so as to minimize personal defensive reactions and to emphasize a performance standard or level of management expectation for the job responsibility or dimension. A conceptual difference separates POAS from other rating scales--that is, it is based on the belief that although the product of the procedure is a job plan and performance appraisal, the nature of the process is communication. The emphasis is not on judging behavior, but on teaching employees to think in terms of which job performance outcomes are really important to the organization. The JRAS is identical to the POAS in structure, but it starts with the desired job results as defined in the job description, rather than with performance outcomes.