Why Self-Appraisals are conducted in Organizations?

Every December is a time when every employee expects to be recognized, appreciated, duly rewarded both monetarily and emotionally as part of the team, corporate, organization, workplace and lot more.  The swing between job hopping and loyalty is there in any organization and industry.  Some matured Performance Appraisal Processes include the first step as Self-Appraisal.

Now the question arises on, Is Self-Appraisals necessary?  Because no individual will ever portray themselves as Not Competent, or Not Professional enough for recognition.

The second major questions is, Do the Self-Appraised Information really taken into consideration during the final evaluation of the performance by the Manager/ HR and the Organization?   90% of the answers would an implicit NO, though 90% would not dare to acknowledge it explicitly.  Then why this process?

I as a professional see top 4 reasons why Self-Appraisal becomes important and vital in one's evaluation cycle/ process/ progress or what ever you may call

1.  It is a process to have "Supporting DATA".   Statistics on how many hours I worked, how many project hours I executed, how many successes or failures on Variances in terms of Cost, Scope and Time have I achieved, how many blue flags/ appreciations I have received from clients?   , How many Red flags or Escalations I was reason for., How many people I mentored, how many trainings I attended, How much did I do my tasks successfully on a day to day basis and what impact did I have on the teams I worked. What value additions did I bring in to the Company.   This is one way of tracking the whole year of work.  Keeping data accurately, if subjected to Audit, will have references either in personal repository or a share point.
Valid information in terms of accurate data makes not just employees life easy, but those of Managers too.

2. Accountability:   You are accountable for the tasks entrusted to you...How much ever trivial they may be to the Organization, they would still be a large portion of your individual performance. 

3. Yardstick ..This may show as similar to Supporting Data...But one big difference is in the first one you have a the required statistics to support your judgement of your performance.   In this factor, your manager will have required information to support your growth in comparison to your colleagues in the most competitive and logistically controlled environment.   Here the yardstick, is how was your were important and unique when compared to others... The proof of a point that you deserve the best have to stand out.

4. Self Understanding, Satisfaction and Sustainability....I am very much fond of this point no 4.  To me where I stand in my own terms of assessment is more important than what my managers assess me.  Basically, this gives me required motivations, a inner satisfaction of job well done, fruitfully balanced my time between professional aspirations and personal commitments,  and this motivates me to train myself more on the areas I identify as growth possible, and share expertise in the areas where I proved extraordinary.   To me this is within the line of control.....irrespective of the ratings/bonus/appraisals made within the 'Out of Control' parameters which are influenced by lot of other factors than my own performance.   My manager's limitations, Organizations overall profits and budget allocations,  peer pressure, competition, customer feedback and so many 360 degree views are surely not in my control...but my performance is well within my boundaries and I can make it 100%.  

So to me Self-Appraisal is the most important aspect of career, to revisit where I stand in my Corporate Ladder and how fast can I reach my next steps and what I need to do to achieve them.  These describe my goals as a Professional irrespective of any influential factors that I have limited control. 

If every employee realises this fact in his or her best interest, I am sure Organizations will never fail in its collective objectives.

So, please do not blame your managers if something goes wrong, try to be balanced, and look at the flip side of the process to identify where you need to improve.  If all goes well, then, Go ahead and Celebrate!!!  I wish the second one to one and all!