A Study of Employee Performance Appraisal Practices in Selected Hospitals of North India

This paper presents a further exploration of the quest for accurate and effective performance appraisals. Performance appraisal is predominantly used as a device to measure the standards set by the management of its employees. The process of performance appraisal, however, often fails to live up to the expectations. There is a huge difference between expectations and experience because the employee motivation is not considered while designing the appraisal system. At the same time, organisational context is also overlooked. The purpose of this research was to study the performance appraisal experiences and expectations from the employee's point of view. This study examines the performance appraisal literature published in the academic area, and then examines the current status of performance appraisal in healthcare sector in North India. Qualitative as well as quantitative research methods are used in this study. Results show overall dissatisfaction about performance appraisal practices in the health care sector among employees. The conclusion of the research is that, there is a need for a completely new system containing elements and tools for organisational development and personal development in the appraisal system, to optimize the value of appraisals for the organisation. Suggestions are given for overcoming the lacunas in the system. The research would be useful for designing effective performance appraisal systems in healthcare companies.