ABSTRACT
Organizations frequently use once- or twice-a-year evaluations as the means to measure performance. However, performance measurement and evaluation serve different purposes, and one should not be substituted for the other. Performance measurement is the ongoing collection and analysis of performance information that helps employees understand how they are progressing against expectations. Its purpose is performance improvement. Principles for effective measurement include measuring objective and subjective performance as directly as possible, using multiple sources of data, ensuring measurement is feasible and sustainable, and acknowledging and mitigating the potential for error. Performance evaluation is a backward-looking assessment of performance usually to make a judgment about the individual being evaluated. Most organizations evaluate performance using self and manager assessments or a traditional performance review or appraisal form; however, these approaches often produce inaccurate information. This chapter discusses the differences between performance measurement and evaluation in detail and describes how to do both effectively.
