Performance Appraisal: Is it needed in human resources certification?

For you to get a human resources certification, you have to undergo PHR or SPHR certification classes.  Usually, candidates are required to have an extensive experience with human resource responsibilities since most of the topics included in the course relate to actual human resource tasks.  One of these tasks is the use of performance appraisals for employees.

Performance appraisals have been a part of human resource objectives on majority of the companies in the 1950s.  This was developed under the Management by Objective (MBO) philosophy.  It gives employees numerical targets that are aligned with the organizations objectives.  Usually, performance appraisals are done on an annual basis but it can be done twice or more in a year.  To provide meaningful appraisals, a HR practitioner must be as accurate as possible targeting the right objectives.  That is why most companies prefer to have someone who is PHR or SPHR certified doing such appraisals.

Over the years, numerous companies questioned MBO, and in the 1980s they decided to completely drop MBO, but most companies maintained the performance appraisals.  Most of the companies retained the practice out of tradition, or not having a better alternative to it.  But the practice earned the distrust of employees across the board, saying that the appraisal was manipulated and sometimes insulted the work of an employee.

A common alternative that experts suggest is to replace the appraisal with a once a year review of not just the employees performance but also the actual work situation of the employee.  Instead of making a report and discussing met or unmet targets, HR practitioners should have an unrushed three to four hour session with an employee discussing work at a personal level.  Of course, a person with human resources certification is still the most valuable asset for this job, as the PHR test also evaluates your ability to empathize and work with your employees on a personal level.