Performance Appraisal and Its Effectiveness at Hawassa University : Concept, System and Effectiveness (concerning academic staff)

Performance appraisal system is always of imperative concern of any organization while managing its human resources. The need of performance appraisal concerning academic staff compels Universities to have systematic performance appraisal systems, in order to administer, evaluate and enhance performance. Author has undertaken Hawassa University, as a case study in the present research. Findings have shown that absence of a written policy framework on the subject, lack of self-appraisal and regular face of face feedback from Head of the Departments (HoDs) to their subordinates, lack of orientation to students' on their role in this system, too much weightage to students' evaluation and equal weightage given to all the variables in the feedback form are the potential hindering factors for performance appraisal systems of the case study University. Researcher has also explored various suggestive solutions, after discussing the potential concerns of academic staff regarding said factors. This study will not only contribute in performance appraisal research but can also be an effective study for considering potential issues and challenges while implementing performance appraisal system