Performance Appraisal - Management by Objectives

Once an employee has been selected, trained and embarked on his duties, it is time for performance appraisal. What is performance appraisal? Why do companies need to take up this task?

According to Heyel, “it is the process of evaluating the performance and qualifications of the employees in terms of job requirements, for administrative purposes such as placement, selection and promotions, to provide financial rewards and other actions which require differential treatment among the members of a group as distinguished from actions affecting all members equally”.

This concept dates back to the First World War and was then called “Merit rating programme”. Over a period of time, this concept has been through an ocean of change. The areas of evaluation have also changed.

Importance and objectives: Performance appraisals have been considered to be the most significant and indispensable tool for the management as it,

• Provides useful information for decision making in areas of promotion and merit rating and compensation reviews.
• Links information gathering and decision making process, which are the basis for judging the effectiveness of personnel subfunctions such as recruiting, selecting and compensation.
• Helps pinpoint areas of concerns in the primary systems like marketing, finance and production.
• Enhances understanding for training and counselling needs.
  

Methods of performance appraisal

There are several methods for evaluating performance. Management by objectives is the most popular one.

Management by objectives is primarily to change the behaviour and attitude towards getting an activity or assignment completed in a manner that it is beneficial for the organisation. Management by objectives is a result-oriented process. In this system, emphasis is on results and goals rather than a prescribed method.

For instance, the number of quality articles to be churned out in a week, at a publishing house is, let’s say, five. This is the goal of the organisation. This goal has to be set in coordination with the writers. The emphasis here again would be on accomplishing this task flawlessly over the week rather than the setting of a method to accomplish the same. You are giving them a free hand to decide as to how they want to work in order to accomplish target. This gives the employee both responsibility as well as authority to do a job. The employees are now responsible for its success and failure and it is their baby. It is a VERY SMART MANAGEMENT TOOL where the employee is involved in the decision making process.

The fives magic sutras

The mystery of management of objectives has the following basic steps.

Set organisational goals. This envisages that organisational goals and business strategies are expressed clearly, concisely and accurately. They are periodically reviewed. They should be challenging enough to motivate the employee. Clear and attainable goals help channel energies towards desired behaviour and let the employee know the basis on which he will be rewarded.

Joint goal setting. This step establishes short-term goals, which are performance oriented, between the management and the employee. The responsibilities are clarified to the employees through organisational charts and job description. The goals decided by the employee need to complement the goals of the management. They also need to be flexible to accommodate new ideas without losing individual responsibilities. Moreover they should be easily quantifiable. For example,

To prepare, process and transfer to the office superintended, all account payable vouchers within three working days from the receipt of the voucher.

To hold weekly meetings with all employee.To use program evaluation and review technique (pert) for all new plant layouts.

Performance reviews. This step suggests frequent performance review between the manager and the employees. During the initial stages the meetings be held once a month and later could be quarterly. For maximum benefit these meetings should be scheduled for more than once a year.

Set check posts: Establishment of major check posts to measure progress. This is merely to check that the employee surges towards his premeditated goal without any disruptions. These check levels should be higher in the initial stages and then gradually reduce. This demands that the manager should be on constant alert and exercise sound judgment.

Feedback: The employees who receive frequent feedback about their performance are highly motivated than those who do not. However, one has to ensure that the feedback is relevant and specific. This helps the employee and the manager understand where they stand.

The five-sutra process of management by objectives ensures that the manager and the employee define and establish goals and objectives for an employee to be achieved within a prescribed period of time. The employee is to be supervised and evaluated, periodically. To this extent, a frequent feedback and superior-employee interaction model must be evolved.

Ref: TheManageMentor

Performance Appraisal - Management by Objectives

Once an employee has been selected, trained and embarked on his duties, it is time for performance appraisal. What is performance appraisal? Why do companies need to take up this task?

According to Heyel, “it is the process of evaluating the performance and qualifications of the employees in terms of job requirements, for administrative purposes such as placement, selection and promotions, to provide financial rewards and other actions which require differential treatment among the members of a group as distinguished from actions affecting all members equally”.

This concept dates back to the First World War and was then called “Merit rating programme”. Over a period of time, this concept has been through an ocean of change. The areas of evaluation have also changed.

Importance and objectives: Performance appraisals have been considered to be the most significant and indispensable tool for the management as it,

1. Provides useful information for decision making in areas of promotion and merit rating and compensation reviews.
2. Links information gathering and decision making process, which are the basis for judging the effectiveness of personnel subfunctions such as recruiting, selecting and compensation.
3. Helps pinpoint areas of concerns in the primary systems like marketing, finance and production.
4. Enhances understanding for training and counselling needs.
   

Methods of performance appraisal

There are several methods for evaluating performance. Management by objectives is the most popular one.

Management by objectives is primarily to change the behaviour and attitude towards getting an activity or assignment completed in a manner that it is beneficial for the organisation. Management by objectives is a result-oriented process. In this system, emphasis is on results and goals rather than a prescribed method.

For instance, the number of quality articles to be churned out in a week, at a publishing house is, let’s say, five. This is the goal of the organisation. This goal has to be set in coordination with the writers. The emphasis here again would be on accomplishing this task flawlessly over the week rather than the setting of a method to accomplish the same. You are giving them a free hand to decide as to how they want to work in order to accomplish target. This gives the employee both responsibility as well as authority to do a job. The employees are now responsible for its success and failure and it is their baby. It is a VERY SMART MANAGEMENT TOOL where the employee is involved in the decision making process.

The fives magic sutras

The mystery of management of objectives has the following basic steps.

Set organisational goals. This envisages that organisational goals and business strategies are expressed clearly, concisely and accurately. They are periodically reviewed. They should be challenging enough to motivate the employee. Clear and attainable goals help channel energies towards desired behaviour and let the employee know the basis on which he will be rewarded.

Joint goal setting. This step establishes short-term goals, which are performance oriented, between the management and the employee. The responsibilities are clarified to the employees through organisational charts and job description. The goals decided by the employee need to complement the goals of the management. They also need to be flexible to accommodate new ideas without losing individual responsibilities. Moreover they should be easily quantifiable. For example,

To prepare, process and transfer to the office superintended, all account payable vouchers within three working days from the receipt of the voucher.

To hold weekly meetings with all employee.To use program evaluation and review technique (pert) for all new plant layouts.

Performance reviews. This step suggests frequent performance review between the manager and the employees. During the initial stages the meetings be held once a month and later could be quarterly. For maximum benefit these meetings should be scheduled for more than once a year.

Set check posts: Establishment of major check posts to measure progress. This is merely to check that the employee surges towards his premeditated goal without any disruptions. These check levels should be higher in the initial stages and then gradually reduce. This demands that the manager should be on constant alert and exercise sound judgment.

Feedback: The employees who receive frequent feedback about their performance are highly motivated than those who do not. However, one has to ensure that the feedback is relevant and specific. This helps the employee and the manager understand where they stand.

The five-sutra process of management by objectives ensures that the manager and the employee define and establish goals and objectives for an employee to be achieved within a prescribed period of time. The employee is to be supervised and evaluated, periodically. To this extent, a frequent feedback and superior-employee interaction model must be evolved.

Reference: TheManageMentor

Worthy Disabilities!-Recruitment and Retention

Disability has no bearing on individual competence and talent , hence exploring this latent talent pool can make the difference between corporate success and failure...

Key learnings:

• Disability recruitment is an effective talent- recruiting strategy. The threats of dwindling performance or escalating costs are irrelevant
• Reverse recruiting is a logical step towards disability recruitment and hence recruiters have to make a deliberate attempt at it.

Talent is oblivious to caste, creed, gender or state of physical well-being. Hence, it is omnipresent. Because it is not in the traditional "pool" can deprive organisations of the huge talent lying in seemingly less promising pockets.

The disabled section of the worker population represents one such pocket of talent that rarely attracts the attention of talent- seekers. Most talent managers do not even consider the disabled population of workers as a potential source of talent. Therefore a very significant chunk of talent remains underutilised. Increasing evidence on the subject indicates that people with disabilities can be as effective as their physically fit colleagues. Disabilities are extremely job-specific and do not hold universal relevance.

In defence

The case of Northrop Grumman, a Los Angeles-based defence contractor, demonstrates how organisations can benefit from the disabled. Northrop, like other companies did not have a disability recruitment programme . The initiative took off when Karen Stang, an employee at Northrop, recommended a friend's son for a job. His gesture to help a friend's son injured in war proved to be a milestone for the company's employer proposition. The company appreciated Stang's concern and launched "Operation Impact". The initiative was aimed at employing war -wounded soldiers as the company catered catered to the clothing needs of the armed forces. From its initial placement agenda for disabled soldiers, Operation Impact has expanded its horizon and is now seeking disabled workers from all quarters. This has served both the philanthropic as well as the business needs of the organisation.

Northrop Grumman has set an example for other corporates to follow. Stalwarts like General Electric Co and Raytheon Co. have incorporated disability recruitment in corporate recrfuiting strategy. According to Mathew Ross, the human resources chief at XL4 Software Solutions, organisations are on a constant lookout for new and unexplored talent pools. And the disabled segment of worker population remains fairly unexposed . Thus, organisations have to broaden their horizon and take a more open view of bolstering their staff by integrating the unfortunate but extremely talented pool of disabled workers.

It is rather astonishing to see that even the world's most progressive economy. the US, reports an unemployment rate as high as 65 percent among its disabled population. This apart, a survey of employers across the globe revealed that only two percent of the surveyed population mentioned "disabled population" in the category of groups pertaining to the "equal opportunity" rights. The level of awareness and empathy is rather dismal. Therefore organisations have to work towards clearing the misconceptions that people hold about the disabled and treat them like any other source of talent.

A corporate treasure

A survey of employers employing a significant chunk of disabled worker population has shown that the performance output of these workers is the same or better than that of their physically fit colleagues. The issue of inferior performance is a mere hallucination Apart from performance concerns, a few employers also believe that accommodating workers with disabilities can prove to be more expensive for employers. The cost factor, experts say. is a mindset since it does not in effect cost much to accommodate employee disabilities. Employees with disabilities seldom need assistance at the work place. It is only in the case of certain exceptional disabilities or work requirements that call for special provisions on the part of the employer. Hence, both cost and performance concerns hold little relevance in the context of disability recruitment.

For organisations that are pursuing the cause of disability recruitment the concept of "reverse recruitment" is becoming increasingly popular. The term underscores the need to work backwards on the job-talent graph. Typically recruiting managers have a job in mind with a clear set of skills and competencies that are specific to the given job . This job sketch is then used to recruit talent . However in the case of disability recruitment, the job and skills take a backseat and recruiting managers look for a job based on the skills available to them. While the concept of reverse recruiting makes the job more challenging for recruiters as the pressure to recruit "a given skill set " is huge , the task is not as daunting as it sounds. Recruiters need to educate themselves about the need to integrate the disabled worker population into the mainstream and work towards achieving the same.

Disability recruitment needs concerted and well-intended effort on the part of employers. The task is gravely challenging and therefore may be self-limiting in case of small organisations. However, seeking external help from consultants can prove to be a profitable proposition for organisations seeking talent.

Ref: TheManageMentor.

Aligning Talent Development with Organizational Objectives

One of the primary goals of most talent development programs is to ensure alignment with the overall goals and objectives of the organization. Although every organization is different, there are some simple ways of accomplishing this.

The first step is to understand senior management’s expectations. CEOs are focused on results, and laser-focused on the short list of things for which their board of directors holds them accountable. Therefore, one method for ensuring alignment of development is to identify exactly what factors the CEO is being measured and rewarded on, and then concentrate talent-development efforts in those areas. For example, if the CEO is measured and rewarded for increasing customer satisfaction, then talent development must demonstrate how improving customer service skills immediately impacts service ratings, and what each percentage point increase represents to the bottom line. If the CEO is rewarded for increasing sales revenue, then talent development must demonstrate how improving skills in the sales area dramatically increase overall sales. The impact can be demonstrated by using a control group to show how the talent development program makes an economic difference.

Some other ways to align talent development with corporate objectives include:

• Spending the development budget in direct proportion to priorities identified and ranked as most critical by senior managers
• Developing programs that are made available on a fee-for-service basis
• Identifying key business units and divisions in the organization and allocating more resources to those with the highest business impact
• Developing special programs for high-impact jobs and key positions

Improving performance in areas that are off the CEO’s radar screen does little to improve the image and perceived value of talent development. However, it’s important to remember how frequently that radar screen can change. Organizational objectives shift almost as often as the business world changes. That said, it’s not enough to align development with corporate goals once a year. Ensuring alignment is a continuous process that requires at least one midyear review and adjustment point.

Talent development must remain agile and capable of providing just-in-time services as corporate needs change.

Aligning Human Resources and Business

Attracting the best and brightest employees, developing them and retaining them is a challenge for any organization. The role of the Human Resources function has changed dramatically over the past few decades and will become increasingly more strategic in nature in the future. With the changing landscape of Human Resources management in the years to come, strategic planning will be the key for HR to meet those needs and to succeed.

It seems that finally CEO’s are willing to give HR Managers a significant role in strategic decisions. To gain a stake as “Strategic Partners”, HR professionals should focus on two major issues- Return & Growth. Hr professionals can create economic value from these sources:

Employee turnover and retention
Revenue Vs Employee Costs
Expenditure on the HR function and related activities

These three factors relate to three important HR goals:

Attracting, developing and retaining staff
Aligning, engaging, measuring and rewarding performance
Controlling or reducing HR costs

HR related measures for growth needs to be handled with care and should be tailored to the organizations' goals. HR measures should be devised keeping in mind increase in performance & profitability. Following can be attributed as growth related HR measures:

Leadership Development
Increased employee engagement
Diversity in work force
Work-Life balance