Ethical Issues In Performance Evaluation

Ethical issue in planning the evaluation which is the evaluation questions become so
diffuse, or so complex or so multiple that the evaluation is not doable. Besides, the evaluation is
under-funded and some stakeholder perspectives are excluded.
Ethical issue in doing the evaluation which is the evaluation is dumbed down by an
advocacy of weak measures or low standards and the information is withheld, distorted, or
hidden .Moreover, the evaluation information is used as ammunition by one stakeholder against
other stakeholders, the promises of confidentiality to stakeholders are breached and the
evaluation itself entails inherent ethical issue because of its explicitly moral content.
There are also several ethical issue introduced by the evaluator which is there are
personal or financial interest in the evaluation, lack of knowledge or skill in technique or
method, lack of cultural sensitivity, lack of respect for local cultures and values, ideological
positions that predetermine the evaluation outcome, propensity to deliver positive evaluations to
increase job security ,making promises evaluators cannot deliver on and lastly, making decisions
without consultation with appropriate stakeholders.
In addition, another ethical issue in performance evaluation is during giving the balancing
feedback to the employees. Some bosses are afraid to say anything that might hurt an employee's
feelings. They offer an employee too much positive feedback and not enough negative feedback.
They don't want to inflate what employees believe about their own work performance. Praise
what employees do very well and correct areas of weakness that require improvement. Giving
balanced feedback even on a written performance evaluation presents the employee with a better
idea of where she stands and how she can do better.
Another ethical issue is about considering the discretion. Some managers have much
discretion in choosing what tasks to measure in each employee's job. Look at the evaluation of
multiple employees who perform the same job or multiple employees on the same level in the
pay scale. See if we're judging them against different criteria. We might find that we are holding
people to different standards, making it too easy for our favorite workers to achieve good ratings
and more difficult for our not so favorite workers to achieve the same level of ratings.

Next, the ethical issue is about gauging rater error. Look at how we use performance
appraisal documents and employee observation checklists. For example, we could be one of
several supervisors who observe employees and assign ratings at different points throughout the
year. If each supervisor uses the evaluation tool in his own way, there will be a higher degree of
inter-rater error, or variation among ratings. Go to the necessary training and ensure we're using
evaluation tools according to their designs. The goal is to have each employee's average
performance represent the average of evaluations conducted uniformly every time, which makes
the whole process fairer.
Lastly, the issue is about keeping it confidential. Employees trust their managers and HR
departments to keep information collected about them confidential. Secure all records that we
create regarding employee performance, ensuring that other employees cannot easily access them
in our absence. If we leave evaluation documents out where people can read them, we are
compromising the privacy of affected employees and showing a lapse in managerial discretion.