The document discusses performance appraisals, including their objectives, advantages, disadvantages, criteria used, and interviews with two managers who believe appraisals can be motivational if done properly but are subjective and time-consuming. Managers evaluate employees based on criteria like job performance, initiative, and teamwork, while students are evaluated on academics, attendance, and communication skills. Overall, performance appraisals are an important tool to assess employee effectiveness but only work well if part of an effective performance management system.