ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the problems of ambiguity in a system, shows how appraisal can realign a person with their role, and offers common sense advice on conducting an interview. An appraisal system attempts to ensure some continuity of purpose by checking the validity of individual goals in terms of organisation goals. Possibly the best way to understand the purposes associated with appraisal systems are to ask why an organisation would have a formal system. Perhaps one of the most fruitful returns which an appraisal system can give is to regularly realign people with their jobs. Two skills are essential to the appraisal interview: being able to give feedback and being able to elicit facts and feelings. The outcome of an appraisal interview should be: an assessment of performance, an assessment of priorities, an assessment of barriers to performance, and an agreed plan of action for the future.
