Evaluating Performance Evaluations

Today's class really got me thinking about how my organization uses performance reviews. What I like about our environment is that feedback is constantly expected. Instead of making it one formal sit down, we constantly give it throughout each shift. I think this creates a really unique environment because its much less awkward to ask someone to sit down and talk about how they are doing. It also is important that there is meaning to the physical performance review sheets. We use them in deciding who will work playoffs especially when it comes down to the important games. That's one of the traits I noticed today that I think is important in a performance review. I don't necessarily agree with firing a certain number or percentage of your lowest ranking employees but I think that if you're going to take the time to do a performance review, it should have meaning for both the employer and employee. Something I may look to add would be to justify scores that are not 3's because I know I tend to give out more 4's and 5's than I probably should. We had these on our peer reviews and I thought this was really effective in stopping people from inflating scores. I am curious if there are any alternatives out there as opposed to the traditional methods. I know there are many people that argue that performance evaluations overall are extremely ineffective and may not really be benefiting us at all. Maybe they are, but what is the alternative? Doing nothing at all?