With the assistance of this guide, now in its tenth edition, every manager can effectively appraise employee performance. Contains over 2000 professionally written phrases which will clearly describe job performance. Spiral.

REVIEW

New to management? Have to give a performance review and you don't know how to approach it? This book will get you there. "Effective Phrases for Performance Appraisals: A Guide to Successful Evaluations" by James E. Neal isn't the snappiest book you'll read, and it is not the best value.

It is alphabetically organized by main topic terms, from 'accuracy,' ' achievement' and 'administration' to 'versatility,' 'vision' and 'writing ability.'

You'll find 25,000 phrases under 58 such topics. For 'accuracy' there are 24 phrases, like "expects perfection" and "meets precise standards."

The drawback is twofold: the layout wastes space, and the content is easily found in other, more substantive books. It could easily be reduced to a 50 pages booklet.

There are guidelines for appraisals spread across several short appendices.

Useful for the new supervisor, or as a refresher for an experienced middle manager, but not the best of its field. Try The Complete Idiot's Guide to Performance Appraisals (The Complete Idiot's Guide) by Adele Margrave instead. You'll get more bang for the buck.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com