Performance Appraisal and Organizational Productivity in Nigeria: A Study of Selected Firms in Asaba, Delta State

Performance appraisal is universal, and its universality epitomizes its importance to many business organizations. Every organization, business or unit has a peculiar function it handles performance in order to encourage productivity. Ideally, performance appraisal results should undoubtedly lead to improvement in the performance of the employees who are being apprised, with overall effect on productivity. The essence of performance evaluation in any organization is to achieve productivity and, by extension, meet organizational goals. Over the years, there are many practices, tools, techniques, systems, and philosophies that aim to help organizations to gain the competitive advantage of higher performance. The empirical review showed how different scholars examined the effect of performance appraisal on employee productivity and organizational commitment in particular. Most of the studies reviewed showed a significant relationship between performance appraisal and organizational productivity and commitment but very few of the studies were carried out in Nigeria. This study therefore, examined the effect of employee performance appraisal on organizational productivity among selected firms in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to examine the effects of performance appraisal standard, performance appraisal communication, performance appraisal feedback and corrective action on organizational productivity among selected firms in Asaba, Delta State. The study adopted a survey design and one hundred and fifty-two (152) employees were purposively served with the instrument of data collection. Data were gathered from both primary and secondary sources. The questionnaire was the main research instrument used in collecting the primary data for the study. Out of the 152 questionnaires distributed, 141 valid questionnaires were retrieved for analysis. The hypotheses were tested using regression at 5% level of significance. Findings revealed that performance appraisal standard, performance appraisal communication, performance feedback and corrective action all have significant positive effects on organizational productivity among selected firms in Asaba, Delta State. The study recommends among others firms should develop a positive mindset toward performance appraisal. This way, they will be able to reap the benefit of performance appraisal rather than seeing it as witch hunting.