An Empirical Study of Employee Performance Appraisal in Selected Local Governments, Eastern-Uganda

Abstract

This study sought to establish the level of performance appraisal in selected local governments, eastern Uganda. This was mainly focused on the level of regularly reviewing of employee’s job performance and overall contribution to the local government. This was achieved through employment of largely quantitative methods using descriptive, cross-sectional and survey designs on a sample size of 336 civil servants who included CAOs, HRMs and personnel officers and Heads of Departments among others. Results revealed that Performance appraisal had remained at the routine level. It was still perceived negatively. Moreover, it was not autonomously driven by the local governments, it was more or less a requirement by the Central Government. This study recommends training of managers on how to evaluate workers based on their performance against established criteria; and Local Governments should be allowed to develop their performance appraisal system which suites their situation and provides an easy way of feedback instead of the current one.