An evaluation of the annual performance appraisal system at the National institute of public administration.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the annual performance appraisal system (APAS) at the National Institute of Public Administration. Literature review indicated that although there is significant research on the use of performance appraisal in the Zambian corporate world and public sector, there is little literature on employee perceptions of performance appraisal at the National Institute of Public Administration.
The quantitative survey research design was chosen for this study. Both primary and secondary data were collected. The study targeted 140 employees from the National Institute of Public Administration. The sample size for this study was 60 employees of the National institute of Public Administration. The participants for this study were selected by stratified random sampling technique. The researcher used a questionnaire as a data collection instrument. When collecting data, permission was obtained from top management of the institution under study. To analyse the data collected from the questionnaires, the researcher used SPSS version 22.0.
The findings of this study have shown that the Performance Appraisal system in the Institution does contain many of the important elements that make the system effective, but these elements are intermittent and not present in every appraisal that is carried out. Further, the findings show that according to the employees, Performance Appraisal is not as effective as it should be. The system is a worthwhile tool quite alright; it motivates staff and helps them improve their performance.
With poor results from the research in terms of how the appraisal developed the employees being appraised and how it enhanced performance, the researcher recommends that management should ensure the system is redesigned to help develop employees, from identifying training needs, providing coaching and giving more accurate, constructive feedback.