Performance appraisal (PA) is used to evaluate an employee's personality, performance, and potential. It involves establishing performance standards, measuring actual performance against those standards, providing feedback, and potentially taking corrective actions. PA provides benefits like improved performance, identification of training needs, and improved communication. Methods of PA include essays, checklists, rating scales, rankings, and 360-degree feedback from supervisors, peers, reports, customers, and self-evaluations. Key uses of PA include performance improvement, compensation adjustments, and identifying training and development needs.