Performance Appraisal, Objective Indices

Industrial and organizational psychologists (and organizational managers) are interested in knowing how well employees perform their jobs. Such information can help make administrative decisions about employees (e.g., promotions, terminations), provide feedback to employees to help them improve their performance, and evaluate human resource procedures such as selection and training. There are two general types of indices that provide information about employee performance. Subjective (or judgmental) indices are based on evaluations or judgments of others concerning employee effectiveness. Objective indices are measures of performance that are countable, or directly observable, and comparable for different employees.