Challenges

In present day organisations, the twin principles of motivating employees are common at all levels: acknowledge unique contributions and alleviate personal concerns that impact professional performance. To get the best out of people, the CEOs should:

 Create a culture of excellence that motivates employees at all levels.  Match organisational objectives with individual aspirations.  Equip people with requisite skills to discharge their duties well.  Clear growth paths for talented employees.

 Provide new challenges to rejuvenate flattening corners.  Empower employees to take decisions without fear of failing.  Encourage teamwork and team spirit and open communication.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

8. The ... error occurs when one aspect of the subordinate's performance affects the rater's evaluation of other performance dimensions.

9. In present day organisations, the ... principles of motivating employees are common at all levels.

10. In ... effect the rater gives greater weightage to recent occurrences than earlier performance.

11. The rating form ... ignore important aspects of job performance. 12. The rating scale may be quite vague and ... .

13. The raters may not have sufficient time to carry out ... systematically and conduct thorough feedback sessions.

14. ... is a mental picture that an individual holds about a person because of that person's sex, age, religion, caste, etc.

15. ... includes activities to ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner.

Notes



Case Study

_{Policies and Performance Appraisal}

K

alyani Electronics Corporation Ltd, recently diversified its activities and started producing computers. It employed personnel at the lower level and middle level. It has received several applications for the post of Commercial Manager – Computer Division. It could not decide upon the suitability of the candidate to the position, but did find that Mr. Prakash is more qualified for the position than other candidates. The Corporation has created a new post below the cadre of General Manager i.e., Joint General Manager and asked Mr. Prakash to join the Corporation as Joint General Manager. Mr. Prakash agreed to it viewing that he will be considered for General Manager's position based on his performance. Mr. Anand, the Deputy General Manager of the Corporation and one of the candidates for General Manager's position was annoyed with the management's practice. But, he wanted to show his performance record to the management at the next appraisal meeting. The management of the Corporation asked Mr. Sastry, General Manager of Televisions Division to be the General Manager in-charge of Computer Division for some time, until a new General Manager is appointed. Mr. Sastry wanted to switch over to Computer Division in view of the prospects, prestige and recognition of the position among the top management of the Corporation. He viewed this assignment as a chance to prove his performance.

The Corporation has the system of appraisal of the superior's performance by the subordinates. The performance of the Deputy General Manager, Joint General Manager and General Manager has to be appraised by the same group of the subordinates. Mr. Anand and Mr. Sastry know very well about the system and its operation, whereas Mr. Prakash is a stranger to the system as well as its modus operandi. Mr. Sastry and Mr. Anand were competing with each other in convincing their subordinates about their performance and used all sorts of techniques for pleasing them like promising them a wage hike, transfers to the job of their interest, promotion, etc. However, these two officers functioned in collaboration with a view to pull down Mr. Prakash. They openly told their subordinates that a stranger should not occupy the 'chair'. They created several groups among employees like pro-Anand's group, pro-Sastry's group, Anti-Prakash and Sastry group, Anti-Anand and Prakash group.

Mr. Prakash has been watching the proceedings calmly and keeping the top management in touch with all these developments. However, Mr. Prakash has been quite work-conscious and top management found his performance under such a political atmosphere to be satisfactory. Prakash's pleasing manners and way of maintaining human relations with different levels of employees did, however, prevent the emergence of an anti-Prakash wave in the company. But in view of the political atmosphere within the company, there is no strong pro-Prakash's group either.

Management administered the performance appraisal technique and the subordinates appraised the performance of all these three managers. In the end, surprisingly, the workers assigned the following overall scores. Prakash: 560 points, Sastry: 420 points; and Anand: 260 points.

Questions

1. How do you evaluate the worker's appraisal in this case?

2. Do you suggest any techniques to avert politics creeping into the process of performance appraisal by subordinates? Or do you suggest the measure of dispensing with such appraisal systems?

Notes

8.6 Summary

 Performance management system is a process for setting goals and monitoring progress toward achieving those goals. It is just like other system where achieved results are continually measured and compared with the desired goals or outputs.

 Planning means setting performance expectations and goals for groups and individuals to channel their efforts toward achieving organizational objectives. Performance appraised systems are designed to improve performance, they broadly cover three areas: define performance, facilitate performance and encourage performance. The post appraisal interview is an essential part of the performance appraisal system. It also gives the opportunity to the employee to explain his views about the ratings, standards, rating methods, internal and external causes for low level of performance.

8.7 Keywords

Assessment Centre: It is an appraisal technique that relies on multiple types of evaluation and multiple raters.

Behaviourally Anchored Ratios Scale: It is an absolute assessment technique wherein critical incidents are identified and a range of performance possibilities (from poor to good) are described for each dimension.

Central Tendency: The reluctance to use the extremes of a rating scale and to thereby fail to adequately differentiate employees being rated.

Checklist: Performance appraisal tool that uses a lot of statements or words that are checked by raters.

Contrast Error: Tendency to rate people relative to other people rather than to performance standards.

Halo Effect: Bias which occurs when the rater's personal opinion of a specific trait of employee influences the rater's overall assessment of performance.

Performance Appraisal: A systematic and objective way of evaluating both work related behaviour and potential of employees.

Performance Management System: It is a process for setting goals and monitoring progress toward achieving those goals.

Planning: Planning means setting performance expectations and goals for groups and individuals to channel their efforts toward achieving organizational objectives.

Rater Bias: Error that occurs when a rater's values or prejudices distort the rating.

Rating Scale: A method which requires the rater to provide a subjective performance evaluation along a scale from low to high.

8.8 Review Questions

1. "Some of the so-called modern industries still follow traditional techniques of performance appraisal". Do you agree? If yes, defend your argument with reasoning.

2. Think of a time when someone gave you counselling in an inappropriate manner. Given what you read in this chapter, how could you have reacted to improve the usefulness of the feedback?

Notes _{3. "Performance appraisal is not merely for appraisal but is for accomplishment and} improvement of performance". Discuss.

4. Discuss the appropriateness of performance management system in present time. 5. Being an HR manager how would you develop a performance plan.

6. Describe in detail the process of performance appraisal.

7. Discuss the merits and demerits of critical incident technique and graphic rating scales. 8. Why does current thinking indicate that appraisal for training should be conducted

separately from appraisal for promotion?

9. To what extent can appraisal problems be minimised through computerisation and by taking adequate precautions?

10. Explain the post appraisal interview problem between the superior and the subordinate. 11. Evaluate the significance of performance appraisal in an educational institution. How

would you make it more effective?

12. "Performance appraisal is not merely for appraisal but is for accomplishment and improvement of performance". Discuss.

13. Distinguish performance appraisal from potential appraisal.

14. What are the three methods of appraisal? Which method would you prefer as an employee? As a manager? Why?

Answers: Self Assessment

1. (iii) 2. (ii) 3. T 4. F 5. T 6. T 7. F 8. Halo 9. twin 10. Regency 11. may 12. unclear 13. appraisals 14. Stereotyping 15. Performance management

8.9 Further Readings

Books _{Aswathapa, K. (2008), Human Resource Management, 5th ed., Tata McGraw Hill.} Dipak Kumar Bhattacharyya, Human Resource Management, Excel Books.

French, W.L. (1990), Human Resource Management, 4th ed., Houghton Miffin, Boston. H.J. Bernardin, Human Resource Management, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 2004. Ivancevich, J. M. (2008), Human Resource Management, Tata McGraw Hill.

Notes Madhurima Lall and Sakina Qasim Zaidi, Human Resource Management, Excel

Books.

Rao P.S. (2008), Essentials of Human Resource Management and Industrial. Relations, Text cases and Games, Himalaya Publication.

Online links _{www.performancemanagementguide.com/}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_appraisal http://www.performance-appraisal.com/intro.htm

Notes

_{Unit 9: Job Evaluation}

CONTENTS Objectives Introduction

9.1 Objectives of Job Evaluation

9.2 Principles of Job Evaluation Programme 9.3 Advantages of Job Evaluation

9.4 Job Evaluation Process 9.5 Methods of Job Evaluation

9.5.1 Non-analytical Methods 9.5.2 Analytical Method 9.6 Criticisms for Job Evaluation

9.7 Summary

9.8 Keywords 9.9 Review Questions 9.10 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Define the term Job evaluation  Discuss objectives of job evaluation

 State the principles of job evaluation programme  Explain the Process of job evaluation

 Analyze the methods of job evaluation

Introduction

Job evaluation is the output provided by job analysis. Job analysis describes the duties of a job, authority relationships, skills, required, conditions of work and additional relevant information. Job evaluation, on the other hand, uses the information in job analysis to evaluate each job-valuing its components and ascertaining relative job worth. It involves a formal and systematic comparison of jobs in order to determine the worth of one job relative to another, so that the wage or salary can be fixed. So it is a process by which jobs in an organization are appraised.

ILO defines job evaluation as an attempt to determine and compare demands which the normal performance of a particular job makes on normal workers without taking into account the individual abilities or performance of the workers concerned.

Kimball and Kimball define job evaluation as "an effort to determine the relative value of every job in a plant to determine what the fair basic wage for such a job should be".

Notes Job evaluation is the process of analyzing and assessing the various jobs systematically to

ascertain their relative worth in an organization. Jobs are evaluated on the basis of their content and are placed in the order of importance. Inn this way, a job hierarchy is established in the organization, the purpose being fixation of satisfactory wage differential among various jobs. It is the job that is ranked and not the holders.

It is the quantitative measurement of relative job worth for the purpose of establishing consistent wage rate differential by objective means. The relative worth of a job means relative value produced. The variables which are assumed to be related to value produced are such factors as responsibility, skill, effort and working conditions.

Did u know? _{The major purpose of job evaluation is to establish internal equity between}

various jobs.

In document HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (Page 141-147)