Evaluating performances is an operation that is periodically completed within organizations, analyzing the work balance of the employees in order to discuss with the employees the recorded progresses and the required measures to be taken in the future. Within the Romanian organizations the evaluation process of the human resources has encountered a series of particularities determined by the existing conditions in which it is completed, by the pursued targets and by the selected methods.human resources, professional performance evaluation, organisations, employee, methods and technique of performances evaluation

Ciucescu Nicoleta

Feraru Andreea

English

Research Papers in Economics

  939 
THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE 
PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCES EVALUATION 
Feraru Andreea 
University of Bacau 
Faculty of Economics 
 
Ciucescu Nicoleta 
University of Bacau 
Faculty of Economics 
 
Evaluating performances is an operation that is periodically completed within organizations, 
analyzing the work balance of the employees in order to discuss with the employees the recorded 
progresses  and  the  required  measures  to  be  taken  in  the  future.  Within  the  Romanian 
organizations  the  evaluation  process  of  the  human  resources  has  encountered  a  series  of 
particularities determined by the existing conditions in which it is completed, by the pursued 
targets and by the selected methods.   
 
Keywords:  human  resources,  professional  performance  evaluation,  organisations,  employee, 
methods and technique of performances evaluation 
 
JEL classification codes: O 15, M 12 
   
1.  Human Resources Performances Evaluation Process  
 
In a time where the technological progress has dramatically increased, the velocity with which 
the goods and services are produced and delivered has facilitated the communication between 
organisations, the most valuable factor for a more efficient function of a business remaining the 
human performance level. 
The  employees  working  under  a  performing  management  system  know  their  priorities,  their 
current  activities,  their  goals,  as  well  as  how  should  they  contribute  to  their  team  or  their 
organisation performance.  
According  to  Anton  Rotaru  and  Adriana  Prodan  “the  professional  performances  evaluation 
represent the process of establishing the way and the measurement in which the employee fulfils 
its  duties  and  responsibilities  that  come  with  the  job  description,  in  comparison  with  the 
established standards and transmission of the results to the employees”
657. 
As a result, the performance evaluation has a central role and constitutes an important element or 
a  fundamental  component  of  the  performance  management  system,  furthermore  the  means 
through which the organisational objectives develop into individual ones. From this point of 
view, the performance evaluation holds a significant number of the performance management 
system characteristics. 
Evaluating  performances  is  the  fundamental  activity  of  the  human  resources  management 
developed in order to determine the degree in which the employees of an organisation eficienty 
fulfil the assigned tasks. 
Evaluating performances is an efficient management process, in which the manager constantly 
performs a surveillance of the employees’ performance and offers a feedback.  
 
                                                       
657 Rotaru A., Prodan A., Managementul Resurselor Umane, Editura Sedcom Libris, Ia￿i, 1998. 
   940
Non-formal assessment appears when a leader chooses to. The daily work relation between a 
leader/manager  and  his/her  subordinates  offers  the  opportunity  to  make  assessments  on  the 
performances. These assessments are transmitted through non-formal means of communication 
or when examining some aspects of the work, within some operative debates or meetings. 
Formal/systematic  assessment  is  performed  when  the  contact  between  the  managers  and 
subordinate  is  formalised  and  it  has  already  been  established  a  system  of  reference  the 
employees’ performance observations and assessments of their direct leaders/managers. 
The responsibilities of evaluating performances belong to managers as well to the personnel 
department:  
Managers: 
bring up to date the way in which the performances are evaluated; 
draw up formal reports concerning the performance evaluation; 
foresee/analyse the evaluations/assessments with the employees. 
 
Personnel department staff: 
plan, maintain and bring up to date the formal system of performances evaluation; 
establish on time the report of the assessments of the employees performances; 
instruct and train the specialists who are in charge with evaluating performances. 
 
Within  Romanian  organisations,  the  main  objectives  are  achieved  through  employees’ 
performance evaluation: 
to  insure  the  agreement  between  the  demands  from  the  job  description  and  the  employee’s 
qualities (professional, abilities, attitudes); 
to stimulate the employees in order to increase the individual professional performance; 
to choose the persons for which the results of the professional activity evaluation motivate an 
adjustment of the job position into a higher one and/or an adjustment of the salary according to 
the appropriate applicable normative legislation. 
 
At the same time, the human resources performances evaluation provides: 
detection of the areas in which professional training actions of the employees are required; 
detection of the situations in which a reorientation of the employee is necessary, according to 
his/her capacity, abilities, attitude and behaviour in comparison with the job demands; 
detection  of  the  required  elements  in  order  to  select  the  staff  to  accomplish  new,  urgent  or 
important projects/documents/programmes;  
presentation to each employee the way in which his/her activity was appreciated. 
Professional  performance evaluation is  applied to  all  organisation employees,  except  the  top 
manager  in  proportion  with  the  requests  from  the  job  description,  with  the  requests  for  the 
specific  job  position,  as  well  as  with  the  professional  evaluation  criteria  according  to  the 
Personnel Professional Performances Evaluation operational procedure and established by the 
leader of the organisation. 
It is important that the evaluation to be performed regularly, systematically (usually half-yearly 
or yearly) for good results. Such a systematically evaluation does not leave out some possible 
non-formal  assessments  when  are  considered  required,  for  example  at  some  organisation  or 
employees’ events. 
Professional performance evaluation of the staff take place at a given time, which is fixed by the 
top manager of each organisation and it may take place as it follows: 
- usually once a year and has as its main goal to establish the general rank that characterises the 
activity of an employee; 
- every time it is required – when by this action some useful information may be gathered in 
order to take a decision.    941 
During  the  year,  at  each  adjustment  of  the  job  position  or  the  salary  of  an  employee  a 
professional  performance  evaluation  of  that  employee  is  performed,  according  to  the  same 
procedure. 
Staff professional performance evaluation consists in the analysis of the performance criteria, 
according to the form Professional Activity Reference (if this particular form exists within the 
organisation),  respectively  Professional  Activity  Chart,  that  leads  to  the  estimation  of  the 
employee activity results, the detection of the positive and negative qualities and to establish a 
plan to improve the future results.   
Personnel professional performance evaluation is performed in conformity with the stipulations 
of the Collective Work Contract and with the Personnel Professional Performance Evaluation 
procedure,  when  referring  to  those  organisations  that  have  implemented  a  good  quality 
management system.   
The participation of the employees is mandatory in the evaluation of their professional activity. It 
has to be mentioned the fact that the assessment of the performances evaluation, of the human 
resources in an organisation may be realised in different ways, such as:   
- the superiors may asses their subordinates; 
- the subordinates may asses their superiors; 
- the employees of the same rank evaluates one another; 
- self-evaluation; 
- external sources of evaluation. 
The evaluation of the employees by their superiors is manifested by different assessments that 
the superior makes. This type of evaluation is based on the presumption that the manager is the 
most  qualified  to  realistically,  objectively  and  correctly  evaluate  the  performances  of  each 
employee, and the “unity of command” principle underlines this approach. Within an evaluation 
system, the superiors’ assessments have to be objective and based on the present performances. 
To achieve this goal, the manager has to keep a strict record of what the employees did or did not 
performed, a record of individual performances, so not to forget certain achievements of the 
employees  during  the  time.  The  assessment  is  an  important  part  of  the  personal  file  of  the 
employee. Managers and employees have different assessment elements when dealing with the 
system of evaluating performances. The manager appreciates the system according to the way in 
which it helps to establish and communicate the performances to the employees. The employees 
appreciate the system according to:  
- the salaries and rewards are based on the evaluation; 
- the evaluation are based on the present performances; 
- the performance standards are consequently applied; 
- it is assured the double communication between the manager and the subordinate. 
The evaluation of the superiors by the subordinates is a frequent applied concept in some 
organisations from all over the world and newer in Romania. It is considered that there are two 
advantages of this type of evaluation. The first one is that, in case in which the relations superior-
subordinate  are  critical,  the  subordinate’s  evaluation  may  be  useful  to  identify  competent 
superiors.  The  second  advantage  is  that  a  system  like  this  determines  the  superiors  to  be 
responsible  towards  their  subordinates.  Nevertheless,  this  advantage  might  become  a 
disadvantage when the superior – knowing that his subordinates evaluate him/her – tries to be 
“pleasant” and conciliating. 
A  major  disadvantage  is  the  negative  reaction  of  many  superiors  to  be  evaluated  by  their 
subordinates.  The  fear  of  the  subordinates  of  retaliation  from  their  superiors  may  lead  to 
unrealistic  evaluation.  The  principles  of  the  relation  superior-subordinate  may  deteriorate  or 
distorted  by  this  type  of  evaluation.  The  problems  and  disadvantages  connected  with  the 
evaluation of the superiors by the subordinate may be eluded by moderately use of this system in 
some special situations.   942
Self-evaluation may be used in some situations. In fact, self-evaluation is an instrument of self 
development that determines every employee to identify its strong points and weaknesses and to 
establish certain tasks to improve its proficiency and work results. Self assessment produces a 
strong feedback and may be a way of increasing every employee trust in its ability to fulfil a 
certain given assignment.   
External  Evaluation  is  completed  by  groups  of  specialists,  experts  from  a  certain  field  of 
activity. The external experts are requested in special cases when higher rank persons are to be 
evaluated or to determine the potential of a person before a possible promotion. This way of 
evaluation has the disadvantage that the external experts do not know all the specific as[ects of 
the organisation and furthermore is expensive and time consuming. 
  An external, clear and useful source is considered the group of the clients, suppliers and 
consumers  of  the  organisation  products  and  services,  which  on  different  ways  may  supply 
information that enlighten the way in which the employees fulfil their duties and may influence 
the organisational performances. 
 
2. Methods and techniques of evaluating performances 
 
The necessity of evaluating the personnel or evaluating the performances in work regardless of 
the field of work, finally lead to the necessity to develop various methods and techniques of 
personnel assessment or systems of performances evaluation.  
The diversity of the evaluating methods, techniques and procedures is relatively vast, and the 
dynamics of the development has encountered an ascendant evolution. The personnel assessment 
quality or performance evaluation became higher and higher, due to the fact, as the literature in 
the field stipulates, that the quality of the information on performance greatly depends on the 
quality of the evaluating methods or systems. 
The most well-known methods that may be used in performances evaluation are: 
The  Essay  is  a  written  report  or  a  description  on  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  work, 
assessments on the ability of team work, on ways of improvement the work tasks are emitted, 
some general recommendations for the field of activity are given. The method is useful for the 
individual feedback and for the development, but it doesn’t allow the comparative evaluation of 
several employees. Being a free form of evaluation, the evaluator describes the performances of 
an employee, the essay does not require a complex printed form or a complete professional 
training for the evaluator.  
Comparison/in pairs is a more systematic method, that consists in comparing the employees, two 
by two, until the best one is chosen. The method uses only one criteria of assessment and it is 
useful for a group evaluation, but it deficient in case of individual evaluations that is compulsory 
for development. 
Forced distribution requires a comparison of every employee with the other ones, taking into 
consideration several assessment criteria, “forcing” the results to define into a curve; the given 
hypothesis is that the great majority of the subjects provide mediocre results and few provide 
weak or excellent results, the curve of the results has in the end the shape of Gauss bell curve. 
The advantage of the method is that one may be able to make an efficient assessment of the 
employee groups, as well shaped entities.  
The  checklist  method  helps  to  establish  the  assessment  criteria,  to  which  is  attached  an 
importance  coefficient,  encoded  through  percentage,  the  sum  being  100%,  and  ordering  the 
subjects, on a numeric scale, according to the obtained percentage.  The ordinal level scale is 
Likert  scale  alike  (from  1  to  5),  assimilating  grades  such  as  “unsatisfactory”  (score  1), 
“satisfactory” (scale 2), till “good” (scale 4) and “very well” (scale 5). The method is easy to use 
and  offers  a  close  connection  between  the  job  description  analysis  and  the  performance 
evaluation, that may be numerical expressed.   943 
 Critical  Events  start  from  identification  of  the  behaviours  that  lead  to  weak  or  exceptional 
results,  generated  by  the  work  environment;  it  constitutes  an  important  feedback  from  the 
employer point of view, but it is a time consuming method.  
Graphical scale method is, probably, the most exploited method, more rapid than the essays or 
critical events, the results may be quantified by quantity, more assessment criteria are taken into 
consideration, a standardisation of the scales is performed, that allows afterwards comparing a 
greater number of subjects. The scales distinguishes by three characteristics: (1.)- qualifier that 
express an affirmative response from the evaluator (“fully agree”, “agree“, “neutral”, “disagree”, 
“absolutely disagree” ); (2.)- degree of clarity of the interpretation of the answer by the evaluator; 
(3.)-  the  way  of  define  the  level  of  performance,  from  the  evaluator  point  of  view  ( 
unsatisfactory,  satisfactory,  well,  very  well).  The  only  amendment  to  the  efficiency  of  this 
evaluating method consists in the lack of clarity that appears sometimes at the scale reference.  
Evaluation Centres are a specialised system of evaluation that contains an organised way of 
completion. The system evaluates a person for 3-5 days, using a complex of methods, in an 
institutionalised enviroment. The evaluation tests, alone or in groups is monitored by a specialist 
that  completes  the  assessment  with  the  observation  results.  The  final  characterisation  is 
accompanied by recommendations that are useful in solving the problem. 
Despite the inconveniences in evaluating the employee performances, the implementation of a 
human resource performance evaluation programme must be a priority. The managers should be 
greatly  and  constantly  concerned  to  apply  the  most  effective  and  judicious  methods  of 
assessment, taking into consideration their motivational character.    
 
3.  Conclusions 
 
Top managers and middle managers form Romanian organisations are confronting with situations 
in which they have to evaluate to employee performances, a process that assesses the contribution 
of each employee, regardless its rank at a certain time. In other words, these managers should 
underline at the same time the negative aspects of the employee performance, and on the other 
hand to provide support through counselling to the employee, establishing which are the possible 
ways of improvement. Performances evaluation may lead to discover the weak points but at the 
same time the potential and the professional training requests. 
The assessment process may be used by organisation and by the employees. The organisation 
may have an evaluation on the quality of its employees and their capacity to obtain the desired 
performances. However, sometimes, the performance evaluation may produce some tensions, 
especially if it is not performed objectively.  As for the employee, he/she may get to know the 
way in which the evaluation performed by his/her superior corresponds to his/her self evaluation 
and if there is a correlation between the results of the work, the performances and the salary. 
To improve to professional performances and abilities in the majority of Romanian organisations 
it is absolutely mandatory an efficient foresight of the future evolution of the work environment, 
the human resources activities, the motivation of the employees and the continuous professional 
development of the employees.   
 
References 
 
1. Amstrong, M., Managementul resurselor umane, Editura Codecs, Bucure￿ti, 2003. 
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Wiley, New York, 2009. 
3. Harrison, R., Learning and Development, Editura CIPD, Fifth Edition, Edinburgh, 2009. 
4. Jeffrey,A.M., Strategic Human Resources Management, Editura South-Western,College Pub, 
Boston, 2008. 
5. Lukacs, E., Managementul organiza￿ional ￿i al resurselor umane, Editura AIUS, Craiova, 2005.   944
6.  Marchington  M.,  Wilkinson  A,  Human  Resource  Management  at  Work,  Editura  CIPD, 
Edinburgh, 2009. 
7. Mathis, R.,Nica, P., Rusu C., Managementul resurselor umane, Editura Economic￿, Bucure￿ti, 
1997. 
8. Nica, P., Management, Editura Sedcom Libris, Ia￿i, 2004. 
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THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCES EVALUATION

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THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCES EVALUATION

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