Abstract
A policy evaluation was conducted on the United States Air Force Officer Evaluation System (OES). The OES was recently introduced to United States Air Force and is a new system. The evaluation consisted of archival analysis and a survey of officers and civilian OES users assigned to four military bases. The evaluation focused on four aspects of performance appraisal systems: performance standards, the evaluation process, the feedback process, and rater error. This study found the OES an improvement over the system previously used by the Air Force because of the addition of feedback to the system and a reduction in rater error due to system design. The study also found three problem areas. First, approximately half of the supervisors are not providing adequate feedback. Second, a lack of supervisor training on the system resulted in uncertainty about performance requirements. Third, OES users are unclear of the role each OES component plays in the overall system. Supervisor training is as the primary method for correcting these deficiencies recommended by the study. During a one day seminar, the supervisors are trained on the Officer Evaluation System requirements, rating error problems, and the fundamentals of accurate feedback. The objective of the seminar is to increase supervisor awareness of Officer Evaluation System requirements and the difficulties associated with providing accurate feedback and ratings. Upon completion of the seminar, the supervisor then reviews with the worker the Officer Evaluation System requirements and the supervisor's expectations.