FITNESS REPORTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00780R000900120001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 4, 1965
• Content Type: MF

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Mr. Vance:
I don't recall a response to my
memorandum to you dated 4 May 1965 regarding
fitness report instructions. Perhaps it is just as
well. A new notice is being prepared now for the
Director's signature calling attention to the
importance of fitness reports and the serious
responsibility of supervisors regarding their
proper preparation. That notice also refers to
Form 45i and the regulation governing fitness
reports.
If you think we need nothing more on
this, let's file the memorandum and forget it.
J
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STAT
Mr.
Have you ever
heard anything from Bill
STAT
0
on this subject?
Miriam 7/27/65
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G I S 7
F r L -
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4 MAY 1965
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M e Form Z4144
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EO-DD/S:VRT:nfa (3 May 65)
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DD/S Stab, ject (Registry)
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8 February 1965
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MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Support
SUBJECT : Fitness Reports for Supervisors
1. Headquarters Notice published 4 December 1963 and
signed by the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, brought to the
attention of all personnel the requirement that employees with super-
visory responsibility must be rated on their ability to supervise. In
addition, the DDCI pointed out that "cost consciousness" and effective-
ness in the "use of personnel, space, equipment and funds" are among
the managerial and supervisory responsibilities which are listed for
consideration in the preparation of fitness reports.
2. Headquarters Notic I specified that an evaluation of
supervisory performance and cost consciousness is mandatory for
all employees who have responsibilities for managing Agency assets.
If an evaluation of these factors is not applicable, the fitness report
will so state.
3. The 1964 spring and summer meetings for all supervisory
personnel were a reflection of the increasing Agency awareness of
individual supervisory and management skills. The purpose of this
memorandum is to serve as a reminder of the continuing need for
attention to these factors in the completion of fitness reports for
GS-14's and above. Your assistance is requested in passing along
this reminder to those who will evaluate the performances of the
employees listed on the attached roster.
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Emmett D. Echols
s~ GROUP I
S-E-C-R-E-T Excluded from automatic
downgrading and
declassification
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4 December 1963
COST CONSCIOUSNESS
1. Agency regulations specify that all employees with supervisory
responsibilities must'be rated on their ability to supervise. "Cost consciousness"
and effectiveness in the "use of personnel, space, equipment, and funds" are
among the managerial and supervisory responsibilities which are listed for
consideration in the preparation of Fitness Reports.
2. Effective immediately, evaluation of these factors is mandatory
for all employees who have responsibilities for managing Agency assets. Each Fitness Report shall include an evaluation of the employee's effective-
ness in performing his duties with maximum economy or an explanation of
why such evaluation is not applicable.
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Marshall S. Carter
Lieutenant General, USA
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
GROUP I
Excludod from automatic
downgrading and
declassification
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This Notice Expires 1 September 1964
10 October 19b3
1. Several important steps have been taken recently to improve
our fitness reporting system. We have emphasized particularly the
timely submission of Fitness Reports and compliance with the technical
instructions for the preparation of these reports. These actions and the
establishment of controls in the various components to monitor the system
have produced encouraging results. With a few exceptions, Fitness Reports
are now being prepared properly and are submitted when due.
2. Much still remains to be done to strengthen our fitness reporting
system. We need to improve the quality and objectivity of our Fitness Reports
and to bring about a higher degree of uniformity in the application of the rating
standards provided in the Fitness Report form. This is not an easy task, but
the problems associated with it can be lessened if supervisors adopt some
common approaches and understandings with respect to the standards used
in evaluating employee performance. To help achieve this objective, the
attached "Fitness Report Guide" has been prepared for the use of supervisors
and all officials having fitness reporting responsibilities.
A.IUJ
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MARSHALL S. CARTER
Lieutenant General, USA .
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
GROUP 1
Excluded from automatic
downgrading and
declassification
DISTRIBUTION: AB
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10 October 1963
1. GENERAL
a. A Fitness Report records the opinion of a supervisor about the work
performance of a subordinate. The report is only one element in the
general evaluations which are constantly being made of employees. It
is most important, however, to ensure that the evaluations in each
Fitness Report are realistic and as meaningful as possible. Carefully
prepared reports are extremely valuable for consideration in connection
with the development of career plans for an individual and the review
of personnel actions affecting him. On the other hand, Fitness Reports
which do not objectively reflect the individual's performance may lead to
personnel actions which are detrimental to him, to the supervisor, and
to the Agency.
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b. Policy and procedural guidance concerni;lg the reparation and submis-
sion of Fitness Reports is provided in and the instructions 25X1
contained in Form 451, "Directions for Completing Form 4+5, Fitness
Report . "
c. This Guide is designed to assist supervisors and reviewing officials
in the application of rating standards provided in the Fitness Report
form and to emphasize the significance of their narrative comments in
the report. Observance of these guidelines should bring about more
consistency in the use and interpretation of our adjective ratings and
should result in providing management and the individual being rated with
valid and useful information concerning the supervisor's opinions of the
individual's work performance.
2. PERFORMANCE RATINGS
a. ADJECTIVE RATINGS
To be valid for personnel management purposes, adjective ratings on
Fitness Reports must be applied so that they will:
(1) Reflect reasonable uniformity in the interpretation and applica-
tion of rating standards; and
(2) Make meaningful distinctions among employees performing work of
similar nature and grade so that the more effective members of
the group can be differentiated from the less effective.
Attachment 1
1 GROUP I
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10 October.1963
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PERSONNEL
Two general types of standards are available to guide supervisors in
translating their evaluative judgments into adjective ratings:
(1) Standards oriented to the manner in which an employee has met
the specific requirements of his particular assignment. Such
standards involve the appraisal of performance either in relation
to established measures of behavior and productivity or in terms
of the supervisor's less formalized conception of the way the
particular job should be done.
(2) Standards oriented toward the competitive comparison of an in-
dividual with other members of his group. The application of
these standards involves the appraisal of performance either in,
relation to the particular past experience of.the supervisor in
observing other comparable individuals under similar circumstances,
or in relation to the supervisor's concept of normal performance the manner in which an "average" member of the group would have
performed under similar circumstances.
c. RATING THE PERFORMANCE OF SPECIFIC DUTIES
(1) Either of the two types of standards described above might be
.selected to rate an employee's effectiveness in performing the
specific duties of his job. The two standards afford different
vantage points from which the supervisor can approach the rating
process. Evaluations which tend to be based on specific require-
ments for the job will be more meaningful in circumstances where
the demands of specific positions and the interrelationships
between positions are clearly defined and generally understood.
Competitive evaluations will be more meaningful in situations
where the work requirements and relationships among jobs are
less stable.
(2) In no one of the Agency's major components are work requirements
either so well established and stable or so unstable and vague as
to warrant the adoption of one standard to the exclusion of the
other. The choice is generally best left to the supervisor since
he is most familiar with the realities of a given work situation.
The supervisor, however, must be mindful that ratings on specific
duties must be descriptive of performance in relation to the actual
demands. of the position. In every case, the validity of a Fitness
Report is determined by the thoughtful, unbiased assessment that
attends its preparation.
Attachment 1
2
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10 October 3
(1) An overall performance rating does much more than describe
effectiveness in carrying out specific duties. It takes into
account everything about an employee that influences his
effectiveness on his job. It also evaluates the relative quality
of his work so that overall ratings can be used to identify
employees whose performance has been of the highest quality as
well as those who have performed least effectively. It is there-
fore appropriate to require that competitive standards be used in
determining overall performance ratings, and henceforth this will
be the practice throughout the Agency.
(2) A spot check of Fitness Reports submitted in 1962 indicates that
many supervisors in our Agency are not now applying competitive
standards in rating overall performance. Our system provides for
this purpose five adjectives, ranging from "WEAK" to "OUTSTANDING",
so that proper distinctions can be made among employees based on
the relative effectiveness of their work. Yet of the reports
checked - and they applied to several very large competitive
groups - over 85% employed only 2 of the 5 adjective ratings. The
validity of such ratings is obviously open to question and their
usefulness in connection with a number of important managerial
decisions is sharply limited.
(3) No one can prescribe the proportion of ratings within a particular
competitive group that should carry a given adjective. Groups will
vary by size, grade, type of work, and other circumstances. Never-
theless, it is clear that if Fitness Reports are to produce the
meaningful distinctions among employees that our rating system re-
quires in supporting a aide range of managerial decisions, we must
have conscientious attention to competitive standards and reasonable
uniformity in their application. On this latter point, it should be
observed that in practice "PROFICIENT" has come to represent the
"average" on..our rating scale; it is therefore appropriate to adopt
it as such in order to promote uniformity in the interpretation of
our adjective ratings.
3. NARRATIVE COMENTS
a. The importance of full, meaningful comments in the narrative section of
the Fitness Report cannot be overemphasized. If reports are to serve
their purpose as one of the tools used in the selection, assignment,
promotion, and management of personnel, they must not only contain per-
formance ratings but must also provide.clear, descriptive comments about
employees so that management will have as much information as possible
from this source.
Attachment 1
3 GROUP I
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b. It is to the narrative section of Fitness Reports that we look for a
description of the employee and the details of his performance - his
strengths and weaknesses, his training and development needs, his
imagination and creative abilities, his supervisory skills, his writing
and language facilities, his intellectual and social talents, and
information on the manifold other qualities, traits, and personal
circumstances we need for the proper management of his career. No
single report will contain all these elements of information; but, if
comments on an employee are consistently well done and meet the standards
of quality and integrity for which we are striving, then the accumulation
of ratings and comments over a period of several years will provide a
solid basis on which to make sound management decisions.
1.0 October 1963
li.. COMMENTS BY REVIEWING OFFICIAL
a. The reviewing official makes at least two important contributions to
a Fitness Report. He increases its objectivity by balancing his own
evaluation of the employee, utilizing a broader frame of reference,
.against that of the supervisor. He also increases its usefulness by
supplying additional comments and observations about the employee.
b. Reviewing officials should comment on every Fitness Report and more
fully on those containing high or low ratings. They must also carry
out effectively their responsibility for assuring greater consistency
in the interpretation and application of rating standards by supervisors
under their jurisdiction.
c. Our objective in the preparation of Fitness Reports is to make each
report a comprehensive record of the performance by the employee of the
duties assigned. him during the rating period and to provide an appraisal
of his future usefulness. Each report is important but it is the
accumulation of reports over the years that provides the meaningful
body of information about each employee so necessary in his career
management. We look to supervisors for most of this information. We
look primarily to the reviewing officials to assure that the information
is provided and conforms to Agency rating standards.
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