The appraisal methods used in organizations are of different types. One is top-down, which is prepared by a direct supervisor. The review given as a result of this approach is very effective. 

Managers can answer or ask any question to the employee. They can suggest what steps an employee should take for improvement in their performance. There is also a person from human resource present at the time of review.

The next is the matrix employee evaluations where all managers are included at the time of review. All the managers rate every single employee by allocating scores. It is best for firms where large number of managers manage a team. 

The most popular method is 360 degree feedback, which involves employee appraisal not only by managers but human resources as well. These include colleagues, subordinates, supervisors, and mentors. The results are kept confidential. Customers and suppliers can also be included in the review. 

Peer-to-peer evaluation is done by the workers of same level.  An advantage of this method is that sometimes an employee's complaint is that a manager cannot understand the difficulties they have to face. On the other hand there is also one negative side that peers do not give fair ratings because of competition or proximity.

Last are self assessment employee evaluations. Staff do their own appraisal and then a comparison is made between the review given by evaluator and the worker. Moreover, employees also come to know about the areas of improvement where they need training. It is not that easy to do self assessment as it seems. 

No doubt, all of these assessment methods give true results but 360 degree feedback assessment is the most effective.

See our Overview of our 360 Performance Review Templates from our Software tool.