Performance

An organization is said to be effective when it achieves the expected output as by the management. An effective organization earns profit for investors, offers satisfactory service to clients and has a potential for growth and development. Organizations are able to survive turbulent times due to their adaptability to change. The management which provides good leadership experiences employee retention and the workers are more productive than one with a demoralized workforce.

According to BTEC proposal on Factors Contributing To Effective Workforce (2007, 2) the Department for Trade and Industry in the UK highlights aspects that facilitate organizational performance. An organization has to facilitate training and continuous learning for employees, the organization has contingency methods of operation that is different situations are handled by the different appropriate ways. An organization has to engage the input of its employees in the decision making. The employees being a valuable asset should be motivated for maximum input.

British and Technical Educational Council (bized. co. uk. ) observes that managers should take cognizance of the different values and beliefs held by employees. There should be no discrimination on gender, race or religious beliefs but equal treatment for employees and recognition of the diversity of views and opinions Effectiveness is only achieved when the organizational goals and targets are harmonized. An organization achieves its objectives when all elements are working in unison and in the desired course.

A manager should identify strategies to take an organization to its target position in the market from its current situation. Any manager in the 21st century will be expected to be more proactive than reactive. The modern organizational work is management teams with defined targets and time frame. The matrix environment calls for employees who can work in different work teams and demand multiple skills. Managers are expected to hire the best candidates with the right attitudes to match organizational expectations on a job.

The manager’s focus on human resources management is due to the fact that workers individually and collectively determine the attainment of goals. Disputes that usually arise in an organization due to the competitive use of resources should be settled quickly. The manager should provide an open forum for employees to voice their concerns which facilitate communication at the work place. Modern business environment is rapidly changing due to international competition and readily available information on the internet.

The developments in information technology have led to need for flexible managers at the modern workplaces. The organization should continuously improve the quality of commodities. Further an organization will gain a competitive edge by efficiently and effectively utilizing its resources. Major areas that have a significant bearing on organizational performance are the human resource and personnel development departments. The employees should be well trained and competent to handle consumers changing tastes and cut-throat competition in the product market.

The training of employees has been viewed by HR practitioners as an investment to develop and accumulate intellectual capacity. Armstrong (2000, 3) observes that targets, strategies and plans for an organization should strive to increase knowledge, skills and expertise of its employees. It has been observed that where employees are involved in policy formulation, their input elicits employee’s commitment and motivation which ensures productivity. Managers should inculcate integrity and trust which facilitates quicker settlement of disputes and problems at the work place.

Training and development is viewed in two aspects which are hard and soft human resource management. Hard aspects of personnel management looks at the employees’ involvement at the work place as an investment which is expected to add value to the business. This means that employees are hired on economical rationale. (bized. co. uk). Hard HRM is a business oriented view and focuses on quantitative aspects of the employees. Soft HRM aspects emphasize on the motivational, leadership and relational aspects of employees.

Soft HRM views employees as mean as opposed to mere objects in the attainment of goals. The employees are viewed as a valuable investment and their skills and commitment gives an organization a competitive advantage over its rival companies in an industry. The aspirations and interests of the management and employees are harmonized to ensure mutual benefit in the attainment of both organizational and individual goals. The erection of “Chinese Walls” around individuals should be discouraged at the job place. Since it hinders communication and delays the making of decisions.

Workers should have access to their supervisors and managers. A research conducted by Linda Bilmes, Peter Strueven and Konrad Wetzker at the Boston Consulting Group found four major areas that determine an organization’s success. The human resource think tank B. C. G using workers’ scored card viewed recruitment, assessment of performance, training and an intrapreneurial culture to be very important determinants of organizational performance. The study involved peer comparisons of over two hundred firms in Germany and America.

Entrepreneurial culture is the creation of an investing and entrepreneurial norm in an organization. Blimes formulated an eight point proposal for the effective attainment of organizational goals and objectives. The senior management should be committed to employee’s empowerment and on the job learning. The business environment should be assessed to identify needs and develop a workforce development program. The employees should be flexible and the firms must be versatile to meet the changing business needs. An individual’s personal and career progress should be factor in the training process.

There should be providing security of jobs at an organization. The remuneration should be linked to elicit loyalty and retain competent employees. Modern organizations will require major decisions to be made by the shop floor workers and employees who serve the customers. Organizations need prompt execution of orders to avoid losing goodwill when customers are dissatisfied with service. Information overload due to developments in information and communication technology will demand decentralization of power and authority in an organization.

The managers will need to encourage an entrepreneurial culture to motivate employees in the achievement of both organizational and personal objectives. The performance of employees should be considered on the remuneration scheme. Special skills and attributes like creativity, personal drive and development and team spirit should also be acknowledged and rewarded. The junior staff targets and goals should be set in together with the overall organizational goals and objectives. The matching of goals and intentions will facilitate clear focus of the wholesome organization efforts.

The cascading hierarchy found in organizations should consider the special training and development needs of different segments in the organization. The organization should ensure that remuneration and motivation meets expectations of the individual and his family’s . Only organization that are committed to training and development of staff will develop multi-skilled employees. Armstrong (2000, 13) argues that business growth strategies can only be achieved with a workforce with multiple skills to handle and cope with a rapidly changing business environment.

Since mid 1980s a number of solutions have been formulated to solve the organizational dysfunctions. Gordon (2008) noted that a major target for organizations has been to achieve maximum output, efficiency in production, best quality at minimum usage of the resources in terms of time, effort and money. A few of the new concepts include Just in Time (JIT) production, working in teams, human resource management (HRM) and customer care management. An organization dealing with voluminous products should adopt JIT technique in the management of its inventories.

Just in Time technique minimizes wastages involved from the order of new supplies and eventual sale of the goods. JIT is advantageous in that only needed stock is held business premises. Materials are only ordered where demand exists. Capital is economically invested and not tied to slow moving stocks, saves on rent for warehousing and workers are engaged productively in items that bring revenue to the organization Another trend is the adoption of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the production process.

Gordon 2008 observed that TQM method ensures that manufactured products are consistent over time and meet the required standards. Implementation of TQM will ensure that only initial products are examined for any faults and deviations from standards. This ensures efficient utilization of resources by an organization. TQM offers certainty for the investors who lend monies in the organization. The global financial market has high risks and investors demand prudent management of their investments and clear repayments of the loans.

Accountability and integrity are achieved by Total Quality Management practice in manufacturing industries. TQM and JIT methods in an organization help to ensure quality services to customer, cut costs of operation and faster solution of management problems. Major yardsticks for the quality in TQM are the application of universal standards, profession standards and standards for a sector and customers who are satisfied. Financial problems are the major causes of failure of organizations. Bad investment and operation decisions have resulted in huge losses for firms and final liquidation of companies.

An investigation in the official receiver (OR) reports under the companies act (1985) in the UK reveals major causes of closure of business. (Bezelga, & Brandon (1991, 3) At the operational level organizational failure has been caused by inadequate skills and expertise, improper supervision of staff, debt problems, inaccuracies in costs and estimates and poor managerial accounting on projects The reliance on a few major supplies, change in competitor’s behavior, dependency of few clients, reduced demand for products and overcapitalization in associate companies have caused the corporate failure at strategic levels.

Differences aid disputes among the senior manger, health problems and high salaries for executives have bee identified problems at management level which hinder organizational performance. Major problems plaguing firms operating in technologically oriented industries areas have been found be caused by the usage of inferior materials, dysfunctional plant and lack of experienced manpower to achieve the expected output The collapse of a number of publicly quoted corporations in the US due to mismanagement has led to the rethinking on the importance of values and ethics in business.

The collapse of Enron, Arthur Anderson and World Com which were large corporations has significant impact on the US regulatory authority’s competency in the mismanagement of investor’s funds . This had lead to changes in accounting principles and strict compliance to the FASB guidelines by the accountants and auditors. Ethics borders on morality and the integrity of employees to stick to the defined rules and regulations. An organization can only steer its resources to achieve desired objects when all participants effectively perform their share of the responsibility.

Frauds and omission in accounts makes planning difficult. With time the window dressing of accounts weather and a company incurs actual losses. Window dressing involves disclosure of financial statements in a better position than they actually are. Integrity calls for employees to do the right things as per code of conduct. An organization can function as a whole only when all participants are open and truthful in their duties. A worker who practices integrity does what he say in other words there is matching of speech and behavior.

The employers should not allow personal ambitions and desires to override the organizational goal. Personal and organizational goals are simultaneously achieved when managers have their principles and standards geared to realization of growth and profitability objectives of an organization. There is certainty and predictability in behavior for organizations that have employee who observe ethical standards. An employee who has integrity listens carefully to different view point and amicably resolves any diverging opinions.

Employees are expected to comply with the business norms and values to avoid conflicts. Ethical considerations demand that a person inculcates appropriate principles that meet the business requirements. This ensures that an individual meets the obligations of various stakeholders in an organization. The mission statement of an organization should link the conduct of the institution with the objectives and goals. This provides a unification of efforts and thoughts of all person involved in ensuring targets are attained.

Another recent trade in the corporate world is the involvement in corporate social responsibility ventures. These are voluntary efforts by organizations to ensure sustainable environment. The organizations involved in CSR activities project a better image to the investors and civil rights organizations. Over $2. 15 billion was invested in CSR by US firms in 2003. This ventures show corporations as civil citizens with rights and obligations. An organization should ensure that all financial, strategic operation and personnel areas are in harmony and directed to attainment of organizational goals.

A balance score card is a valuable measure that ensures all aspects of a business are unison. The aspirations and values of an organization should be reflected in the mission and vision statements. A clear business plan helps to transform the mission of an organization into actual outcome. A balanced score card helps to elicit the employees’ support. Prudent management is necessary for a firm to survive turbulent economic times. Niven (2006, 92) observes that an organization should inculcate good principles and values to guide the evaluation of alternative when making decisions.

Values are principles and priceless beliefs at workplace. A balanced score card helps gauge the achievement of organizational goals. It further shows the relevance of values and harmonizing the organization and personal goals. A clear vision helps to transform the business plan, strategy and values to the final successful outcome. A vision captures the final position of an organization and helps to motivate employees. A vision helps the work force to focus on the elements that they can influence on the implementation of a strategy.

A well defined vision will clarify the firm’s direction and coordinate efforts of all interested parties. A score card captures the desired skill and competencies for employees to create desire value in the later years of a firm’s existence. Niven (2006, 93) further observes that a score card helps to identify trends and changes in consumer behaviors which is an important aspect of a forward looking organization. Many corporations in America and Western Europe have developed a code of ethics to guide the corporate world.

A code of ethics clarifies areas of special concern like use of confidential information, economic crimes for civil servants and clarity on the private use of business assets. )Corporations in the recent times have decided to include a report on ethics at annual general meetings (AGMs) when other financial statements are analyzed . A code of ethics helps to foster fair treatment of workers and competitors. Ethic standards ensure economical and effective use of corporate assets and avoid prosecution of employees for breach of law since the role expectations for an employee are clearly outlined.

A company that adopts code of ethics is said to have a good corporate image as observed by Kaptein and Wempe (2002, 22) Adherence to a code of ethics by organization ensures the interaction of different stakeholders is clearly defined. Customers when perceived as valuable partners by corporations are motivated to do business with these organizations. This means increment of a company’s bottom-line profits. Kaptein and Wempe (2002, 23) notes that ethics are established in organizations to ensure that firms are responsible for their actions besides making of profits in the society.

Research has found that necessary legislation to regulate behavior of corporation takes long to be enacted and business ethics provide appropriate sanctions in the absence of law. Ethics provide an ad hoc mechanism to continuously guide activities of the employees and the management. In conclusion only firms that adjust their strategic plans to the changing business environment will survive and grow. References Armstrong, M. 2000, Strategic Human Resource Management: A Guide to Action Kogan Page Publishers, pp 3-5 Bezelga, A & Brandon P. S. 1991 Management, Quality and Economics in Building: Taylor & Francis, Lisbon,, pp 9-12.

Brown, M. T, 2005 Corporate Integrity: Rethinking Organizational Ethics and Leadership Cambridge University Press, pp5-11 BTEC Travel and Tourism . 2007, Factors Contributing To Effective Workforce Last visited on 20th November 2008. Available at http://www. bized. co. uk/educators/16-19/tourism/working/presentation/effective1. ppt Kaptein. , M. & Wempe J . 2002, The Balanced Company: A Theory of Corporate Integrity Oxford University Press, pp 22-23. Niven, P. R. 2006 Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step: Maximizing Performance and Maintaining Results , For Dummies, pp 92-94.

A team charter is a document that is written by a team. It defines the purpose of the team, the way the team will work and the outcomes expected by the team (Why Team Charters Matter, 2010). It serves as direction guidelines that the team members, team leader and stakeholders establish at the beginning of the project. It’s created to understand the abilities of the contributing members and how the team will operate within the boundaries established. Every individual has a style in which they learn and how they interact as in a team. These individual characteristics are intrinsic to ones personality and therefore they are hard to manipulate.

However the strength and weaknesses of every individual in a team can be guided and administered using a team charter (Katzenback, J. R. & Smith, D. K. , 1993). Differences within a team can be used as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. The team charter should be used to try to improve the team’s performance by assigning different tasks to different individuals based on their abilities and skills, motivated every team member, applying the teams objectives, ground rules and by avoiding potential barriers that can affect the achievement of goals (Dumaine, B.

, 1994). The charter identifies a team sponsor or a person outside the group that can provide direction and support for the group. Many teams fail since they do not have a person they can go to when they get stuck or encounter obstacles. By using the team charter, sponsors can communicate their support and interest for the group. The charter also provides the assurance that someone is watching their back and hence increases confidence in the team (Bales, R. F. , 1950).

Most alignments in groups concern belief, expectations, purpose and attitude as well as priorities and practices. Coming to agreement on such issues may take a lot of time and resources. In order to become a high performance team, an agreement must be achieved. The team charter should be used to build such an alignment. The teams should be allowed to deal with the core aspects of the team, including goals, purpose and measure of success (Cox, P. L. , College, C. , & Bobrowski, P. E. , 2000).

The conversations surrounding roles and responsibilities, critical success factors, risks, working together and the their enumeration in the team charter helps the members of the team to understand each other, build a unique team identity, and make a team that is aligned in depth and breath. This would mean that the team would be in a position to define things similarly, talk about the roles they play in the team, name the same goals, have the same priorities, share the same values, and more importantly agree on how things will be done (Dumaine, B. , 1994).

A charter outlines roles and interactions, therefore members can concentrate on their tasks without pausing to discuss issues already in the charter. The charter therefore is used to address roles and responsibilities if confronted with a dynamic environment. Teams fail to reach performance potential due to process loses associated with different perspectives concerning appropriate actions and poor communication (Steiner, 1972). In this regard, the team charter should provide the team with a template that will guide interaction and minimize misunderstanding and confusion.

The team charter is used to provide agreement and clarity. They provide more than just overall direction to the team. The charter provides a chance for the team to build agreements on how they make decisions, how often they meet and other logistic issue (Using a Team Charter, 2010). They help to structure and ensure an effective planning process. Team charters helps to make sure that teams plan successfully before moving forward. The amount of time spent on planning is repaid during the lifetime of the team both in time saved, frustrations avoided and conflicts avoided.

The roles of each member in the team are clearly defined within the charter. It identifies the team leader the expectations of the team members and the expertise every member should provide. It also defines the boundaries and scope. Often teams do not know what’s inside their control and what is expected of them. A chartering process helps the teams to understand what their boundaries are, what their limitations are and what part of the problem they are responsible for (Katzenback, J. R. & Smith, D. K. , 1993). The team charter name and logo can be used by the team as a symbol of unity.

It gives the team a personality, puts the members in the right frame of mind and reinforces the members’ feelings. It’s a symbol that the team can fall back to and remind the members what they are all about. It gives the members the experience of being a team and a symbol they can be proud of. The charter is used to ensure that people show up in meeting set by the group. It’s a resource for resolving group problems (Steiner, 1972). It sets boundaries, outlines the expectation of members of the group and gives the team a base to work from.

It provides goals upfront so that every member knows what is expected of them. It provides support and a structural mechanism for aiding in team performance. In most cases, teams take time to establish behavioral norms needed for effective performance. In most cases many group norms emerge from individual group members who come into the group with expectations from other workgroups. The charter therefore is used by the team instructors as some sought of a vehicle to “jumpstart” the process and send signals about some central key values required for effective performance (Cox, P.

L. , College, C. , & Bobrowski, P. E. , 2000). It helps to increase attendance and decrease lateness at group meetings. It can also be used to increase communication between group members through participation at group meetings. The charter is used to decrease social loafing and helps in managing conflict effectively between the members when it arises (Gersick, C. J. G. , 1988). It’s used to identify strengths and weaknesses between members and hence increase the quality of group assignments.

A charter is used to make sure that everyone understands the difference between working as a team and competition (working individually against each other) and that collaboration is the name of the game. It also introduces the importance of operating in a learning culture (Using a Team Charter, 2010). Gersick, C. J. G. (1988). Time and transition in work teams: Toward a new model of group development. Academy of Management Journal, 31, 1, 9-41. Dumaine, B. (1994). The trouble with teams. Fortune, Sept. 5, 86-92. Steiner, I. D. (1972).

Group process and productivity. New York: Academic Press. Katzenback, J. R. & Smith, D. K. (1993). The discipline of teams. Harvard Business Review, March/April. Bales, R. F. (1950). Interaction process analysis: A method for the study of Small groups. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cox, P. L. , College, C. , & Bobrowski, P. E. (2000). The team charter Assignment: Improving the effectiveness of classroom teams. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 1, 92. Using a Team Charter, 2010; http://www. papercamp. com/report-paper. php? id=2725

The Trivalor Holding, is a Portuguese group created more than 50 years ago by a Portuguese business man, having started with two companies in the Business Services segment, and evolving over time, securing a position as the biggest services group in Portugal, owning today 16 companies and employing at times over 11. 000 workers. The areas covered by the group are, social and public food services, emission and management of services tickets, commercialization and logistics of food products, industrial cleanings, uman and robotic security, transport of values, vending machines and archive management.

The main clients of the state are public administration, local city councils, hospitals, schools, and defense forces as well as prisons. Historically, the group, has always had an “employer friendly” policy, and is known for the fact of never having lay-­? off one single worker following a “Japanese” style management. The majority of the technical and administrative workforce has worked there since the beginning of the company and there is a unity feeling that can be easily perceived amongst the workers. Nevertheless, from my point of iew, due to its size and age, it has created over the time some habits that fail to evolve from a top-­? down to a integrative style management where workers are part of everyday decisions, fact which after reading this paper I believe could be substantially ameliorated contributing for an efficiency breakthrough needed by us to remain competitive. 2 Status Quo In an evolving business environment such as the one we live in nowadays, where there is a clear tendency of companies in the first world countries to walk towards a service driven economy, human resources are one if not the most important assets that a firm can have.

This should not be ignored or by any means devalued by top management, that in order to retain its best individuals within the firm, must adapt, motivate and commit to people in all levels of work. In current times, polls show a high-­? growing discontentment of people towards their professional careers. For this, workers lack motivation, not feeling aligned with the company goals, ultimately seeing the organization they work for as the “enemy”, facts that are responsible for the loss of Billions of dollars every year. Amongst the main reasons for this dissatisfaction, Pfeffer stresses out, issues like Company Trust, or in ther words how does the employee perceives to what degree the statements, relations and promises from the company are feasible and fulfilled in the future, Job Security, the prospects of maintaining their job position in the long term as well as the dependence on externalities such as economic downturns and crisis, or industry distresses.

Work-­Family relation, which is commonly perceived as a distributive issue, meaning that a person which is good in the family-­? relations must necessary lack of commitment to their job, and finally Poor Job conditions and environment, when people don’t feel comfortable with the workplace s well as their professional relations. Historically, the firms that have soon understood this, and practice a high commitment tactics towards all its stakeholders, were able to profit on long periods of success, and ultimately guarantee financial wealth. Taking Advantage of an Integrative Management style As our company has been in the services and utilities business for decades, from my point of view, we have gained the habit of taking a more accommodated approach in the relation with our employees, failing sometimes to take advantages from some high commitment tactics, many of which could be put in practice with little pending and effort.

Our group policy has been since the beginning to offer a work for life, offering a secure position as long as the co-­? workers comply with what it is requested from them, what accordingly to Pfeffer and proven by our success of transforming a small company in the biggest group in the country inside our industry paid-­? off in the long-­? term. Nevertheless, I believe it is important to express that from my analysis of the article that you as CEO asked me to read we are still lacking off on issues like training and skill development, as our R&D expenditure has been practically none over the last couple of ears. 3 I believe that by continuously training and investing in our co-­? workers, through coaching programs, team building days, and more corporate events, more than just gaining the advantages of what they will learn and apply to our daily operations, we can make them getting involved with their work tasks what will bring a substantial increase in their performance. Nowadays I believe our relationship between employees is above average but there is still a big power-­? distance within Trivalor.

This comes hand-­? in-­? hands with the decentralization of our daily decisions, which I believe some of these have the potential f being made from bottom-­? up rather than following our historical rigid and traditional top-­? down hierarchy model as in many cases it is the workers down the hierarchy chain have best knowledge of some the operational processes. Studies suggest that workers that feel their importance to the organization, and that are trusted with a great deal of information, tend to feel more involved, making better-­? informed decisions about operational facts. Further, from an organizational behavior point of view, people tend to be concerned with affiliation within a group and the fact of feeling that they are part of something has lso a very positive effect in their performance.

People do worry about their work relationships and about the other worker’s opinions on themselves. Reciprocity should be a central concept to bear in mind, defended by Pfeffer when managing the relations between an organization and its co-­? workers. To me, even searching in common sense, my empirical experiences suggest that people work better under devotion than obligation, and workers often tend to be much more pro-­? active giving valuable and balanced input and new ideas when they feel a inner rush to please their superiors and the organization, rather than working n a fear oriented regime, where individuals respond by impulses. Deepened by further research I must underline my belief that by uniting all the above factors, would constitute an important milestone in the process of achieving what Professor Michael Beer identified as the three main goals in the quest for success in management.

First, Performance Alignment1, the designing of a winning strategy to achieve long-­? term goals, (by training and coaching our employees). Second, a Psychological Alignment, providing to our co-­? workers a mindset that fosters meaning of their task, challenging work, a pleasant work environment and the capacity to make a difference (through offering more autonomy, respect, and conditions) and finally Capacity for Learning Change, by making everyone from the lowest level to senior places feel like part of something-our company.

1 High Commitment

High Performance: How to Build A Resilient Organization for Sustained Advantage, Michael Beer Hardcover, August 2009

4 Implementation

Challenges Analyzing our company, it is not hard to spot some of our pitfalls when it comes to high performance management tactics.

When reading the points described above you might end up asking yourself, if this analysis is not just resenting facts of good sense, and that the position defended by Pfeffer is obvious. But if this is true, why do we then fail to implement the suggested changes in our organization? The first reason that can come up to your head is cost. As I am aware, mainly due to externalities like the 2008 downturn crisis our group has been trying to cut costs, mainly changing processes (specially logistics) into a lean management style, and betting on credit recuperation, although opting always by not laying-­? off co-­? workers.

This might seem stressful time to propose these kinds of structural changes to the shareholder, as we have een feeling pressure from upstream to retain costs. Nevertheless I would argue that even in the medium term, the results will be felt, and by implementing some of these changes would have a positive effect on our employees trust, representing a boost in the recuperation from last year hard times. Further, as our macro-­? economic situation in Portugal is very unsure at the time, as our government is struggling to approve its deficit budget with the European Union, I believe that these measures could consolidate our firm’s image that no matter what, we keep our dynamic capabilities and do not stagnate our processes even in times of economic downturn. This, not to mention the confidence passed to our co-­? workers that currently face a confidence crisis triggered by the media alarmism. We must not fall in the trap of following our competitor’s measures in order to secure our market position.

Also I believe that by having a single shareholder we are in a privileged position, as if we are able to expose and adopt these tactics, we do not suffer pressures from other shareholders that could eventually feel they are being putted second after the employees. Concluding, my last point resides on our company being a pioneer when it comes to rewarding ethods. It was in fact the first group in the country to implement the “American reward system”, knowledge acquired by our Shareholder in the beginning of his life still as a manager working in the U. S. Our system relies on meritocracy, and even at the lowest levels, let’s take for example a cook in one of our hospital canteen, can make up to 20% of her base salary if there is a compliance and dedication to schedules, attendance and customer satisfaction. Nevertheless, I believe that in addition to this, there could be offered an extra remuneration to the team as a whole including the cooks, the responsible of the canteen

How to Use Performance Appraisals to Motivate Employees By Ken Lloyd from Performance Appraisals and Phrases For Dummies Motivation is the process that energizes employees and propels them to pursue their goals. Well-designed and well-executed performance appraisals have a strong motivational impact. Appraisals have the power to motivate employees because they provide a number of interconnected benefits: They demonstrate the need for improvement. If employees don’t have a clear understanding of how they’ve been performing, they can’t be motivated to make any improvements. They meet higher-level psychological needs.

Researchers continue to find that recognition is one of the most powerful forms of motivation for large numbers of employees. Although you can find numerous possible sources of recognition on the job, performance appraisals are an opportunity for employees to receive formal, significant, and enduring recognition from their manager. They build a sense of personal value. When managers take the time and effort to carefully review, analyze, document, and discuss performance with employees, the underlying message to the employees is that they’re important and valuable, and this alone is quite rewarding, whether the feedback is positive or not.

They enhance personal development. Performance evaluations are motivational for employees who are looking to enhance their personal learning, growth, and development. Appraisals are a highly valuable source of information, insights, and tools necessary for such progress. Performance appraisals are similarly motivational for employees whose needs are centered on achievement, goal attainment, and sensing personal effectiveness, respect, and trust. They turn employees around. When employees are performing poorly, performance appraisals can provide the wakeup call that they need to get refocused and reenergized.

With performance appraisal, however, the purpose of the session is not strictly disciplinary, so the employee is more likely to walk in with a more receptive and open mind. As a result, your comments regarding an employee’s questionable performance have an excellent chance of being heard and generating action as a result. They increase satisfaction. When performance appraisals meet the employees’ needs in such areas as gaining recognition, sensing achievement and competence, experiencing growth, and meeting objectives, they’re also contributing to the employees’ job satisfaction, and this is one of the most important elements at work today.

When employees are satisfied, some of the most visible indicators are reduced turnover, absenteeism, and tardiness. On the flip side, when employees are subjected to a shoddy or even nonexistent performance appraisal system, the opportunities to fulfill these higher-level employee needs are substantially reduced. How to Use Performance Appraisals to Motivate Employees By Ken Lloyd from Performance Appraisals and Phrases For Dummies http://www. dummies. com/how-to/content/how-to-use-performance-appraisals-to-motivate-empl. html

PRODUCT FLOW ALONG SUPPLY CHAIN: SOURCING IN CHINA vs. HONG KONG They are many aspects involved making a decision on which styles to source from China and which styles to source from Hong Kong. The differences between the producing the products in China and Hong Kong are: * ORDER SIZES: The minimum production quantity for a style in China is 1200 units while in Hong Kong it is 600 units. Thus Hong Kong factory can produce smaller order quantities effectively, thus enabling the company’s to increase the range of products it offered and manage the inventory risk.

Reason: This difference in production abilities is mainly due to the high skilled labor coupled with shorter production lines in Hong Kong compared to the low skilled and long production lines in China * LABOUR The workers in Hong Kong worked about 50% faster compared to the workers in China. As a result the parka line in Hong Kong requires only 10 workers to complete all the operations whereas the parka line in China require up to 40 workers. This resulted in the longer production lines.

In spite of the high quality of workers in Hong Kong, the unemployment rate in the country is very low and most of the younger workers prefer office jobs. Hence it is difficult to acquire labor in Hong Kong. Reason: The differences in the efficiency might be due to the variances in the trainings given to the workers in China and Hong Kong. The workers in Hong Kong were more cross functional and were trained to work in broader range of jobs compared to the Chinese workers. * TOTAL COST The overall cost of production is lower in China as compared to Hong Kong.

Though there is a definite cost advantage, there are strict quota restrictions by the U. S government on shipping goods from China when compared to Hong Kong. Reason: The lower production costs in China can be mostly attributed to the low wage rates compared to the wage rates paid in Hong Kong. The workers are paid $0. 16 per hour in China compared to $3. 84 per hour paid in Hong Kong. * QUALITY Another main difference between sourcing in China and Hong Kong is the quality of the products. The quality and reliability of the products from China is relatives low when compared to Hong Kong.

Reason: The difference in quality could mainly be attributed to the labor skill and efficiency in both the regions. The workers in Hong Kong have the capability to ramp up the production faster and thus they had the shorter production lines. Longer production lines in China led to the greater imbalances both in the quality and time required in manufacturing the product. Recommendation Based on our analysis we found the order quantity for each of the 10 parkas. A detailed order quantity for each of the 10 parkas is given in appendix 3. Steps for calculating order quantity: For Obermeyer we have Cu = $27 and Co = $9 from this we calculate CSL for Obermeyer = . 75. This means that there is 25% probability for a stock out applicable for each of the 10 parkas. * We used two standard deviations for the normal distribution of demand. * By using the formula Q=Z. S. D+mean for 25% stock out the overall quantity to be ordered is calculated to be 26412. * Since we need to order 10,000 units the summation of order quantity of all the 10 parkas is equal to 10,000. * We assume that the demand for each of the 10 parkas will be in same proposition.

Using this we calculate for Z; Z=1. 06. * Using the z value, mean and standard deviation we calculate the order quantity for each of the 10 parkas. (See appendix 3) * Also total expected profit for 10 parkas is approximately $2. 3 Million and average left over quantity is 69 units per parka. APPENDIX 1) Cost analysis at different stages of production. OBERSPORT|  | | | cost if made in hongkong | $60. 08 | | | cost if made in China | $51. 92 | | | weighted average cost | $56. 00 | | | | | | | Greig Shell fabric | $9. 00 | | | Finishing of Shell fabric | $3. 90 | | |

Finished lining fabric| $3. 90 | | | Insulation | $4. 80 | | | Zippers | $3. 60 | | | Thread| $0. 60 | | | Logo,Patches etc | $3. 00 | | | Snaps| $0. 90 | | | Dyeing of snaps | $0. 30 | | | | $30. 00 | | | | | | | Agent fee|  | | | Hong Kong | 3. 49| | | China| 2. 98| | | |  | | | Labor cost per unit |  | | | China| 0. 78| | | Hong Kong| 10| | | | | | | Tranportation cost (weighted average ) | Quantity| charge/unit| total| Ocean | 160000| 1. 4| 224000| Air | 40000| 5| 200000| weighted average | 200000| | 424000| weighted average/unit|  |  | $2. 12 | Appendix 2 Appendix 3

Summary

Nordstrom is one of the oldest retail companies in the United States. It started from 1901 in Seattle and has been grown to a powerful retailer in national area. Selling high quality products is the most important method for Nordstrom to collect its revenue. At the same time, Nordstrom also offers credits and debts to customers by his banks. In this case, we are trying to analysis Nordstrom’s financial statements and calculate few simple ratios to approach the performance of this company.

The main point in our analysis is to figure out how Nordstrom is using its operating assets to get returning.

a). ROE is used to measure the net profit in a period as a percentage of shareholder’s equity. In other word, ROE means how much net income we can get by using shareholders’ investment. ROE is more important than net income in dollar terms because ROE is a ratio. Ratio allowed analysts to compare companies’ performance over the period. In fact, the ratio can also help us compare companies in a different size or different industry. Net income in dollar terms is not widely used because this method is limited by companies’ different situations.

b). ROE and RONA are both useful methods to determine a company’s performance. However, ROE and RONA measure a company’s performance in a different way. ROE considers entire company’s income, expenses and gain/loss of a company’s profit; RONA only consider a company’s net profit from operating activities. On the other hand, ROE calculates all returns which come from shareholder’s building of equity; RONA only calculates the operating assets and liabilities which don’t include the financing activities. The non-operating portion of ROE represents is that a company captures profit from financing activities and investing activities (both of them are not operating activities).

c). Marginal tax rate means a rate of tax that one company needs to pay on its next dollar of taxable income. Marginal tax rate will affect company’s future economic decisions because this tax rate is related to the economic situation. So, companies not only need to consider federal income tax but also need to consider state income tax. Tax shield is the tax reduction, which is created by items that are allowed to take deduction from tax income.

For instance, interest on debt is tax-deductible, taking on debt makes tax shield. Tax shield is an important method to saving cash flow and it is a significant part of companies’ business valuation (Wikipedia, 2012).

d). (in millions)

| Fiscal 2009| Fiscal 2008| Fiscal 2007| Operating assets| 6,579| 5,661| 5,600| Operating liabilities| 2,394| 1,938| 1,988| Net operating assets| 4,185| 3,723| 3,612|

e). 2009 NOPAT= 441 + [(138? (1- 38. 5%)] = 526 2008 NOPAT= 401 + [(131? (1-38. 5%)] =482

The dollar amount of Nordstrom’s tax shield from nonoperation activities in fiscal 2009 is $53 ( $ 138 x 38. 5 % ).

f). 009 RNOA = $526 /[($4,185 + $3,723)/2] = $526 / $3,954 = 13. 3% 2008 RNOA = $482 /[($3,723 + $3,612)/2] = $482 / $3,668 = 13. 1%

g). RNOA is improved over the two years. In order to understand the increase, we can examine NOPM and NOAT. NOPM is 6. 1 % ( $ 526 / $ 8, 627) in 2009 and 5. 6 % ( $ 482 / 8, 573) in 2008. NOPM analyzes the amount of net operating profit after tax for each dollar that is been earned by sales. The increase in NOPM may be seen a small increase but if the volume of the sales is considered, the increase would have huge impact on a increase in net income. NOAT is 2. 18 % ($ 8, 627 / 3,954) in 2009 and 2. 4 % ($ 8, 573 / 3, 688) in 2008. The decrease in NOAT shows that the company is less efficient and effective in terms of generating sales by use of assets. To conclude, it could be said that the company achieved better probability by a worse use of operating assets. However, the stance of the company is good and becoming better if we emphasize the increase in RNOA over the two years.

h). 2009 ROE = $441 /[($1,572+ $1,210)/2] = 31. 7 % Non operating return: ROE – RNOA = 31. 7 % – 13. 3 % = 18. 4 % 2008 ROE = $401 /[($1, 210 + $ 1,115)/2] = 34. 5 % Non operating return: ROE – RNOA = 34. 5 % – 13. 1 % = 21. 4 % The ROE is decreased from 34. % to 31. 7 % over the two years.

The difference between ROE and RNOA shows that there is non-operating return. Non-operating returns shows the effect of debt to finance operating assets. Moreover, it shows that Nordstrom uses liabilities or debt to increase operating assets and earnings. Nordstrom uses debt and the cost of the debt is less than the earnings, therefore it is beneficial for the company.

i). Net non-operating obligations 2007: $261+ $2,236 = $2,497 2008: $275+$24+$$2,214 = $2,513 2009: $356+2,257= $2,613 FLEV 2009: [($2,613+$2,513)/2]/$1,390 = 1. 84 2008: [$2,523+$2,497)/2]/$1,163 = 2. 15 It shows that Nordstrom has $1. 4 of non-operating liabilities for every dollar of shareholder’s equity. The company has less financial leverage compare to year 2008. Additionally, the company does not have non-operating assets; FLEV measure can be used as company’s debt-to-equity ratio too. Spread 2009: 13. 3% – ($85/$2,563) = 10. 0% 2008: 13. 1% – ($81/$2,505) = 9. 9% Nordstrom’s RNOA earned 13. 3% and 13. 1% in 2008 and 2009, while the company paying only 3. 3% and 3. 2% for its debt. Therefore, it means that the company operating return exceeds the cost of borrowing. Non-operating return 2009: 1. 84 x 10. 0% = 18. 4% 2008: 2. 15 x 9. 9% 21. 3%

j). Nordstrom| TJX| Return on equity| 31. 7%| 48. 3%| RNOA| 13. 3%| 38. 3%| NOPM| 6. 1%| 6. 1%| NOAT| 2. 1%| 6. 28%| Non operating return| 18. 4%| 10. 1%| FLEV| 1. 84| 0. 29| Spread| 10. 0%| 34. 9%|

The ROE of Nordstrom is 31. 7% and TJX 48. 3% show that both of the companies are very profitable. The companies are very different than each other in terms of strategies. Nordstrom mostly uses leverage in order to increase the returns; on the other hand, TJX uses mostly stockholders equity and less leverage. Both of the companies have the same NOPM at 6. 1% that states that both companies make 6. 1 cents after tax for every dollar of sale.

Furthermore, TJX has better operating asset turnover (NOAT) than Nordstrom, which shows that TJX is converting its operating assets to cash three times faster than Nordstrom. RNOA is calculated by multiplying NOAT and NOPM that is 13. 3 % for Nordstrom and 38. 4 % for TJX. The non-operating return is different for companies. The numbers are 18. 4 % for Nordstrom and 10. 1 % for TJX. The numbers show that Nordstrom has more leverage than TJX. Nordstrom’s FLEV is much higher than TJX which shows that TJX has less obligations and leverage than Nordstrom with regarding to equity. TJX’s spread is 3 times higher than Nordstrom.

Although both companies have relatively close non-operating expenses to non-operating obligations number ( cost of debt ), the difference in Spread is related to RNOA numbers. Additionally, TJX does not have many obligations, which lead to low non-operating return.

k). In order to improve RNOA in 2010, the company can improve its NOPM or its NOAT. Nordstrom managements have to improve their sales and reduce the expenses so as to improve NOPM. Decreasing the amount of operating assets such as long-term fixed assets can increase NOAT. Additionally, they can try some ways to collect account receivable quickly, sell inventories quickly nd sell some property or equipment. In terms of liabilities, Nordstrom managements can defer to pay bill in account payable and income tax liabilities. These methods may improve Nordstrom’s RNOA. Conclusion Nordstrom Inc. ’s RNOA ratio shows that the company’s financial performance in 2009 is slightly better than in 2008. More specifically, the RNOA is increased from 13. 3% to 13. 1 % over the two years but its ROE is decreased. The difference between ROE and RNOA shows that there is non-operating return. Non-operating returns shows the effect of debt to finance operating assets.

Moreover, it shows that Nordstrom uses liabilities or debt to increase operating assets and earnings. Nordstrom uses debt and the cost of the debt is less than the earnings, therefore it is beneficial for the company. Based on the data from balance sheet, on the other hand, the managements utilized more liabilities in 2009 than 2008 to increase the returns.. That means Nordstrom’s managers did good jobs in financial performance in 2009. However, compared with others more successful companies in the same industry, such as TJX, Nordstrom managements should try others effective methods to improve their returns.

A Dissertation presented in part consideration for the degree of “MA MANAGEMENT” ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank my supervisor, Nick Bacon for his invaluable advice and guidance throughout the project. I would like to thank all the participants who participated in my research. I would like to thank my family and friends for their guidance and encouragement throughout the project, without which the project would have been impossible. ABSTRACT This dissertation seeks to present the effectiveness of the appraisal system of a Multi national company in India. Hence, the performance appraisal system of this company was studied. The study also explains how performance appraisal systems have encouraged employee development in the organization considered. The study explores the importance of performance appraisal in the organization.

It explores how organizations have to be organized and systematic in their approach, so that they can extract the exact performance from their employees which can help them, to create a balance between performance and achieving organizational objectives. This paper, explains how performance appraisal helps in evaluating and assessing the employees on a common ground and helps to establish training and development program which helps the employee to grow in the organization. It also helps, to understand how performance appraisal helps in other personnel decisions like promotion, salary increments etc.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the effectiveness of performance appraisals in Multi national company and its effect on the employees and the organization. This paper, explains how performance evaluation helps in assessing, evaluating and appraising employees performance in the organization as well as rewarding employees and providing them with the necessary training and development. It tries to explain, how it motivates employees when goal setting theory is applied in order to perform better in the organization.

The, study basically highlights the impact of performance appraisal on the employees and on the organization. The key purpose of performance management in organizations is that it helps in; measuring the effectiveness of performance in the organization also, it helps in identifying training needs and largely promotes motivation towards work. But, how exactly does performance appraisal help in running the organization? Every organization has a set of objectives and functions and the main task is to accomplish the desired objectives and functions.

This can only be achieved, if the employees know their duties well. Employees form an important asset of the company, therefore they should be provided with a proper package, remuneration and good training and development. All these facilities will only help the employee to be, highly motivated towards their work and would help in producing the right output i. e. performance. Performance appraisal is used all over the world. Many organizations use 6 performance appraisal in order to develop a clearer picture of their organization.

The performance appraisal process allows an organization to measure and evaluate an individual employee’s behavior and accomplishments over a specific period of time (DeVries et al. , 1981). In recent years the attention towards performance appraisal has increased rapidly, due to its important potential implications ,relating to fair employment practices and the because of increasing concerns about employee productivity in the organization. (Pearce and Porter,1996 ) What ultimately lies is the end product which is performance which has to proper, therefore, in order to achieve that, the employees should be utilized to the full extent.

Organizations have to be organized and systematic in their approach, so that they can extract the exact performance from their employees which can help them, to create a balance between performance and organizational objectives. Performance Appraisal : Overview The most basic purpose of performance appraisal is to provide information to the employees about their job and the amount of effort and behavior expected from them. Performance appraisal (PA) systems aim to help, develop individuals, improve organizational performance and to develop the basis from which builds a baseline for planning for the future.

Generally PA includes the following main purposes:

1.  Creation of a shared vision of the organization’s objectives, occasionally through a mission statement communicated to all employees.
2.  Setting of individual performance targets relating to the operating unit’s target within the overall organization.
3.  A formal review of progress towards these targets, and/or the identification of training needs.
4.  The PA system assessed regularly to evaluate its effectiveness for overall organizational performance. (Coates,1994)

7 McEvoy and Cascio(1990) suggested that employees should be told their duties i. . they should be told what is expected from them plus effective orientation towards effective performance. As a result, the intention is to provide employees with an adequate understanding about their job, and encourage employees to work towards their organizational goals. When objectives are set for the employees it becomes simpler for them to attain the desired task. Performance can be obtained, when a desired goal is given. Locke’s ( 1968) Goal setting theory emphasizes the importance of conscious goal levels as determinants of employee performance.

Goal setting theory is summarized as follows- a. hard goals produce a higher level of performance than easy goals, b. some specific hard goals produce higher level of output; c. behavioral intentions regulate choice behavior. How widespread is performance appraisal? Performance appraisal is widely used in many Western countries. In US the percentage of organizations using performance appraisal increased from 89 percent to 94 percent from 1970s to 1980s. (Locher and Teel,1988) Similarly, in UK the use of formal performance appraisal system has rapidly increased. Armstrong and Baron,1998) Appraisal is particularly prominent in some big industrial sectors in the UK, such as financial services. Cully et al (1998) add that performance appraisal has developed from an initial application to the middle managers and professional occupations and is now frequently applied to non-managers and professionals. 8 Performance appraisal is also used in non-western countries like China, India, Hong Kong and Japan. Objective of the study: The aim of this study is to explore the operation and effects of performance appraisal in Multi national company.

It will assess whether the appraisal process creates a positive response or negative response from employees and assess the subsequent impact on employee attitudes and behaviors. The appraisal process studied is that of a Multi national company in India. The appraisal system of this company was designed to improve employee productivity. The findings, suggests that the performance appraisal system is important in the Multi national company among employees and the organization. The study also explains how performance appraisal systems have encouraged employee development in the organization considered.

An over view of the existing literature relevant to this topic is considered in the following chapter. Over view of the chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction: A brief introduction about the purpose of the research is given. A brief overview of performance appraisal is presented. Then the research objective is mentioned. Then a brief description about the remaining chapters is given. Chapter 2 : Literature review: Chapter 2 comprises of Literature review. It starts with the history of performance appraisal system.

It explains how performance appraisal system was evolved in the industry and what its current importance in the industry is. The chapter then, explains 9 the various concepts relevant to the subject. The purpose and perception of appraisal system is explained. This is followed by the process of performance appraisal. The literature review was designed to explain the main motive of the research, therefore accordingly the relevant literatures pertaining to the research was only considered.

Chapter 3 : Research methods Chapter 3 comprises of research method adopted in the.

This chapter gives an overview of the research and the research objective. It then explains the purpose of qualitative research adopted in the research. It then highlights the relationship between the study and the research method adopted. The majority of the chapter explains how the data was collected for the research and the process of data analysis. Chapter 4 : Analysis of Data Chapter 4 comprises of the Analysis section. This section gives a brief introduction to the parameters on which the employees are tested in the organization and the scale on which they are judged are explained.

This chapter then explains the findings of the research. This section broadly explains the reaction of the employees, of the appraisal system of their company. Chapter 5 : Conclusion Chapter 5 concludes the research by stating briefly the findings of the research and sums up the whole research. The conclusion also suggests recommendations for fur 10 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW: This chapter gives a review on the literature of performance appraisal. It explores areas from the time performance appraisal was evolved till the current rating scale in the industry. How was performance appraisal evolved?

Evolution of performance appraisal. The formal performance appraisal system has a short but considerable historical background. Grint (1993 ) traces evidence of performance appraisal system in the third-century Chinese practice. In this context, “Imperial Raters” were employed by emperors of the Wei dynasty to rate the performance of the official family members. (Wiese and Buckley, 1998 ) Performance appraisal was seen in the industry in early 1800. In UK, Randell (1994) identified its use in Robert Owen’s use of “silent monitors” in the cotton mills of Scotland.

Here, the Silent monitors were blocks of wood with different colors painted on each visible side and it was hung above each employee’s work station. At the end of the day, the block was turned so that a particular color, representing a grade (rating) of the employee’s performance, was facing the aisle for everyone to see. (Weise and Buckley, 1998) Anecdotal evidence indicates that this practice had a facilitating influence on subsequent behavior. 11 In US the trend of performance was started in1813 in the US War department. Here , an Army General submitted an evaluation of each of his men.

Using a global rating, with descriptions of his men such as “a good-natured man” or “a knave despised by all” (Bellows and Estep, 1954,Weise and Buckley,1998). One impetus of development of performance appraisals in United States was traced in salesman selection by industrial psychologists at Carnegie- Mellon University (Scott et al. , 1941), who used trait psychology to develop a ‘man-to-man’ rating system. Historically, performance appraisals have been used for administrative purposes, such as retention, discharge, promotion, and salary administration decisions (DeVries et al. 1981; Murphy and Cleveland, 1995; Patten, 1977) as cited in Weise and Buckley (1998) By the early 1950s, 61 per cent of organizations regularly used performance appraisals, compared with only 15 per cent immediately after World War II (Spriegel, 1962,Weise and Buckley,1998). The primary tool was the trait-rating system, which focuses on past actions, using a standard, numerical scoring system to appraise people on the basis of a previously established set of dimensions (DeVries et al. , 1981). The main tool, used under here was rait rating system. But, there were a lot of inconsistencies found in it, as the manager had to take up the role of a judge and not a leader. This laid to the development of new systems based on management by objectives. Peter Drucker first proposed the concept of Management by objective in 1954. Mcgreror then used it in the appraisal process in the year 1957. He suggested that, employees should be appraised on the basis of short-term goals, rather than traits, which are jointly set by the employee and the manager. (Weise and Buckley,1998).

This method was very advantageous as, this lead to a transformation of a managers role from being a judge to a helper. It also shows that, employee 12 productivity ultimately leads to performance. Thirdly, it shifts the orientation towards future actions instead of past behaviors (DeVries et al. , 1981; Patten, 1977) However, when employees performance was measured on the basis of units, then MBO was ineffective. This lead to new development in the appraisal process , where the employee was evaluated on the basis of ‘behaviour based rating’.

The first tool, to focus on behaviors was the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS), designed by Smith and Kendall (1963) Therefore, it is seen that PA system has come a long way for the betterment of the organization and the employees. New development of PA was useful at every stage. Today, performance appraisals are expected to serve a number of purposes simultaneously. When discussing the uses of performance appraisal, it is important to distinguish between organizational goals, rater goals, and ratee goals. (Weise and Buckley,1998)

Thus, Performance appraisals today should be used as a vital tool to identify the work potential of an employee, instead of choosing the best individual in the organization. Performance appraisal goals needs to become more inclusive – goals which are beneficial to both individual and organization. For example, instead of just assisting an organization make decisions concerning an individual, performance appraisals should be used to help an individual make personal decisions regarding his/her current performance and provide strategies for future development. (Weise and Buckley,1998)

Performance appraisal is regarded widely as a necessary attribute of management, part of an over-riding value set of efficiency, of being seen to succeed, to perform and to control. (Barlow,1989) Performance management forms a baseline for setting the objectives and helps in giving a clear picture to employees and clearly explains, what is expected from them. Therefore, the question that arises is, whether performance appraisal system is meant only for completing the organizations objectives? Yes, performance appraisal does that ,but at the same time it gives training and development to employees, proper pay package 3 and right remuneration packages which help in motivating the employees to produce the right output i. e. performance. Performance appraisal is a unique and significant managerial tool used to motivate and control workforce. Linkage of Human resource management and Performance appraisal: Human resource forms an indispensable part of the organization. Hence, it is very important to examine the role of appraisal in the effective and efficient utilization of this resource. (Cummings and Swab, pg 56) Fig : 1. The process of Human utilization PERFORMANCE HUMAN ABILITIES AND ENERGIES

PROCESSING AND CONVERSION of HUMAN ENERGIES According to Bratton and Gold,(2003:7),” Human resource management (HRM) is a strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasizes that leveraging peoples capabilities is critical to achieving competitive advantage, this being achieved through a distinctive set of integrated employment policies, programs 14 and practices. ” HRM forms a core in understanding people’s behavior towards their colleagues as well as their companies. The model laid down by Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna (1984) of HRM gives a clear picture of the HRM process. Bratton and Gold,2003) Fig 2. HRM Process Selection: Performance Human resource development Appraisal Rewards In this modelSelection: Selecting the right candidate who would fulfill the organisational goals and objectives Performance: The output of employee’s abilities which add value to the organization Human resource development: Providing the necessary training session, this would help the employees to possess the relevant knowledge and skill to perform better in the organization. Due to this the employees would improve individual skills as well as advance in the organization. 15

Appraisal: Appraisal which depends largely upon the employees capability to perform would then show the employee’s competencies and talent. The modern human resource system may be divided into four parts acquisition of human resources(recruitment and selection),training and development ,motivation and compensation. Performance appraisal is involved in all four parts and serves to tie them together by providing feedback information for all of the other parts. ( Latham and wexley,1977 : griffin:604) Performance appraisal therefore is known as the powerful tool for managing human resources. Forbrum and Laud,1983) Therefore, an HRM process forms an important element in the organizational structure. HRM department knows the objectives and function well of the organization. Therefore, it knows what kind of people the company needs and recruits in that way. It provides adequate training session to employees so that they know their tasks, well in advance and act accordingly, it helps in encouraging and motivating employees and sees to it that, the employees do their duties well. When the employees know their task well, they would obviously perform well.

But, still HRM has to do another important task is to check whether the performance of the employees is as per the standards or not. This is where a formal appraisal system comes into picture. Therefore, Huber,(1980) rightly puts it that in the context of human resource management, formal appraisal serve three purposes: 1. Evaluation, 2. development and 3. Employee protection. Richard & Johnson (2004) suggest that organizations need to match HR framework and practices up to holistically corporate strategy in order to achieve superior performance in the organization. 6 WHY is PA necessary? Earlier, PA did not exist in the organization. Then why did the need of performance appraisal arise? Why was it necessary to include performance appraisal system in an organization? Cant a organization run efficiently if there is no PA system ? Wiese and Buckley (1998 ) gave an answer to this. They said that, a formal performance appraisal system serves as an asset in conducting formal decision process within the organization . It also helps employees, in developing their career and increasing their commitment towards their organization.

Murphy and Cleveland (1995) add that it is always advantageous to use a formal appraisal system in the organization. Performance appraisal provides information that is relevant for many personnel decisions, like increments in salaries, it introduces scope for promotion, transfers, and training and development programs, as well as for employee development and performance feedback (Jacobs, Kafry, & Zedeck,1980) Huber(1980) is also of the same opinion that millions of public and private employees have their performance appraised in order to determine salary, promotions, tenure, layoffs and development potential.

Purpose of performance appraisal: The most known purpose of performance appraisal is to improve performance of individuals. Performance appraisal has basically two important purposes, from an organizational point of view: 1. The maintenance of organizational control and 2. the measurement of the efficiency with which the organizations human resources are being utilized. (Cummings and Shwab. 1973 pg. 55) But ,there are also a variety of other declared purposes and desired benefits for appraisal, including: Improving 17 otivation and morale of the employees, clarifying the expectations and reducing the ambiguity about performance, determining rewards, identifying training and development opportunities, improving communication, selecting people for promotion, managing career growths, counseling, discipline, planning remedial actions and setting goals and targets. (Bratton and Gold,2003:284, Bowles and Coates,1993). However, according to Armstrong and Baron, there is rise in more harder and judgmental forms of performance appraisal than softer and developmental approaches.

Therefore there has been a shift in performance appraisal away from using it for career planning and identifying future potential and increased use of it for improving current performance and allocating rewards. (Redman and Wilkinson,2001: pg. 60) Performance appraisal can be used as an effective tool to improve employees’ job performance by identifying strengths and weaknesses of the employees and determining how their strengths can be best utilized within the organization and overcome weakness over the period of time. The next question that comes into mind is that who gets more out of the appraisal process the organization or the employees?

Who obtains more gain out of it? Both, i. e the organization and employees or any one of them. The following studies give us an explicit understanding of the different purposes of performance appraisal in the organizational context and highlights the different key features of performance appraisal. It also helps us to know who benefits from the appraisal system. Mcgregor (1972) in his paper, “An uneasy look at performance appraisal” said that formal performance appraisal plans are designed to meet three needs, one of the organization and one two for the individual: The following are his ideas about PA. 8 Firstly, PA provides systematic verdict to back up salary increases, promotions, transfers, demotions or terminations. Secondly, PA forms a means of telling subordinate how he is doing, how his performance is towards the organization and suggesting the changes in his behavior, attitudes, skills or job knowledge improvements ,they let him know “where he stands” with the boss. Thirdly, PA is increasingly being used as a basis for coaching and counseling of the individual by the superior.

Similarly, Murphy and Cleveland (1995) studied how performance appraisal is used in organization. They compared ‘between individual’ and ‘within-individual’ performances. The ‘between individual’ performances was able to provide information to make decisions regarding promotion, retention and salary issues. The ‘within individual’ performances was useful in identifying the training and development needs which includes performance feedback, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of employees as well as determining transfers.

Another use of performance appraisal was found out through this study was that of ‘ system maintenance’ which was used to identify the organizational goals and objectives, to analyze the organizational training needs and to improve the personnel planning system of the organization. Finally, documentation purposes are to meet the legal requirements by documenting personnel decisions and conducting validation research on the performance appraisal tools.

Bowles and Coates (1993) conducted a postal survey of 250 West Midland companies in June 1992, where the organizations were asked questions pertaining to the use of Performance management in the organization. These questions included the perceived function of PA in the management of work, its strengths and weaknesses, the role of 19 commitment in the management of work. Through their survey they found out that PA was beneficial in the following ways: 1. PA was beneficial in developing the communication between employer and employee, 2.

It was useful in defining performance expectations and 3. Identification of training needs. An important study in the field of employee’s performance appraisal program was conducted by Redman et al (2000) on National Health Service Trust hospital (UK). In this study, they explained the effectiveness of performance appraisal in public sector. Their research was mainly to check in what context does performance appraisal hold an upper hand in proving its worth in the public sector. The results however were pretty surprising.

The results obtained showed that performance appraisal was considered as ‘organizational virus’. Nelson (2000) adds that PA largely helps the employee to have a focused and fixed approach towards the target goal. He elaborates that appraisal system acts like a boosting factor for the employee to do his job well. It recognizes the employee’s capabilities in order to achieve the given objective and function. It also helps in knowing the shortcomings of the employees and acts like an important element, for career development and planning.

Perception of PA in organization It revolves if PA gives a positive impact or a negative impact to the employees. It shows whether the employees get motivated to perform better, if they receive a good feedback or do they get de-motivated and loose interest in their job. So far, we have 20 come across the purpose, uses of PA in the organization, but the perception i. e. the understanding of PA is not taken into consideration in most cases which is important for the employee as well as the organization.

If the employees don’t recognize this, then they would suffer unnecessarily in the organization the reason being that, an employee has a certain level of expectation from his company when he joins it; he expects sum kind of growth from it, also the organization expects a lot from him. But, a negative feedback of performance would largely hamper him mentally and make him loose his interest in his job. There would be change in his attitude, which would be problematic for him as well as the organization. He would be de motivated to achieve the organizational objectives.

Many employees have a kind of view that, their promotion or salary increments largely depends on their performance. Employees therefore are in a dilemma and consider this situation as ‘survival of the fittest’ . They know for a fact that, their performance is only taken into consideration at the end of the day, and in order to grow in the company they need to be pro active towards their work. The feedback the employee receives from his superior, may simply describe the level of performance achieved. (Evans,1986) Hence, it is important for the managers to conduct the appraisal process properly.

Employees can only accept criticism if it is useful and relevant to them. Managers should know how to provide information regarding improvement in performance and how to present criticism as well. Managers feel that whenever they have to provide a negative feedback, the employee is most likely be dejected and de-motivated. Meyer et. al (1965) carried out a study in General Electric Company where certain points relating to performance feedback was highlighted. In this study, 92 appraises were appraised by their managers on two 21 occasions over two weeks.

The study was carried out by questionnaires, interviews and observation. The first interview, included performance and salary and the second performance and improvement. It was observed, that there was a lot criticism pointed out by the managers, which lead to defensive behavior of the employee. The conclusions from this study were that- Criticism leads to create a negative impact on the motivation and performance of the employees. Interviews designed to improve performance should not at the same time weigh salary and promotion issues. Participation by the employee in goal setting helps to produce favorable results.

After this study, there were many studies which reflect upon employee’s performance issues due to negative feedback. Ilgen et. al (1979) add that the appraisal has to be fair. Employees who believe that the appraisal system is under any kind of bias and misunderstanding between them and the managers are, most likely to be dissatisfied by their work and can also leave their jobs. The extent to which employees are able to accept feedback will vary to a considerable degree between employees and managers will need to be able to cope with such variations .

That is ,they will need to ‘know’ their people as individuals, and this itself will be a reflection of the development of managers. ( Bratton and Gold,2000,p. 286) One possible reason for the widespread dissatisfaction with performance appraisal in organization is that the systems used by organizations do not help them or their employees meet the desired goals. ( Murphy and Cleveland. ) It has been shown that individuals are motivated to seek feedback (if it is seen as a valuable resource) to reduce uncertainty and to provide information relevant to self evaluations (Ashford, 1986). 22 How is PA conducted?

Performance appraisal system should not merely be a checklist of ‘do’s and don’ts ‘,it should provide a wider perspective to the employees. Performance appraisal has to be designed in such a way that, both, the employee and the organization can obtain fruitful results from it. A performance appraisal system should be made in such a way that the organization can ensure proper accomplishment of goals; at the same time the employee can expect clear and concise work expectations. Knowing what is expected from them is the first step in helping one cope better with the stress usually associated with lack of clear divisions. Baker,1984) To make performance appraisal effective,our criteria need to be present. These are? Employees should be actively involved in the evaluation and development process ? Bosses need to enter performance appraisals with the constructive and helpful attitude. ? ? Realistic goals must be mutually set. Bosses must be aware,and have knowledge of the employee’s job and performance. (Baker,1984) Cole (1988) presented the following appraisal process framework. This framework explains how the appraisal process is carried out.

First, the appraisal form is completed by the manager and the employee then a formal interview is explained where a job improvement plan is established which gives three outcomes action agreed, promotion or transfer or salary review. 23 FIG. 3 PA PROCESS APPRAISAL FORM COMPLETED INTERVIEW CONDUCTED JOB IMPROVEMENT PLAN ACTION AGREED PROMOTION OR TRANSFER SALARY REVIEW 24 APPRAISAL METHODS: Management by Objective: Management by objective (MBO) was introduced by Peter Drucker in 1954 which changed a managers role from being a judge to a helper.

Management by objective is an approach where employees are evaluated by how well they accomplish their tasks and objectives which are important to be critical in the successful completion of their job. MBO is a process, which converts organizational objectives into individual objectives. It helps in goal setting, planning, self review and performance review. In goal setting, the organizational objectives are used as guidelines through which the individual objectives are set up. Goals are set up between the managers and the employees, which become the standards against which the employee’s results will be evaluated.

MBO is used in planning process ie making the action plan for carrying out the assigned goals. It includes identifying the proper activities necessary to accomplish the objectives. Self-control is another important step in MBO, where a systematic monitoring of performance is done by the individuals so that they get a clearer picture of their performance. (Rudman,2003) says that it is crucial to have very precise and well defined objectives, this will eradicate scenarios whereby the appraiser have to appraise performance based on unclear objectives which will in turn will affect motivation.

The advantage of MBO lie in its result oriented emphasis. It assists the management for planning and control functions and is considered as a result oriented approach for performance appraisal ,because employees would know exactly what is expected of them and how they will be evaluated and how their evaluation will be based on their success in achieving their goal. MBO clearly defines an employee’s goals and objectives to be achieved in the organization. 25 Although management by objectives has many positive features, its limitations need to be understood.

The primary issue that needs to be addressed by the organization is the high level of management commitment and time required to reorient the thinking of employees (Patten, 1977,Weise and Buckey,1998). Graphic Rating Scale (GRS) GRS is considered as the most popular and oldest of the appraisal systems. GRS is used mainly in evaluating performance based on quantity and quality of work. In this the rating of an employee is done on some specific areas only. The rater has to mark the employee on the basis of certain scale which best describes the employees performance in the organization.

GRS helps in analyzing employees on a quantitative scale and can help to compare and contrast the employee’s behavior on this scale. There is greater standardization of items so comparability with other individuals in diverse job categories is possible. (Henderson, 1984, p. 175) BARS and BOS : Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) was introduced by Smith and Kendall. BARS development is a long and arduous process, involving many steps and many people. From this process, performance dimensions are more clearly defined and are based on more observable behaviors. Weise and Buckley,1998) This system received special attention in the field of performance appraisal. This method was useful in analyzing the performance on the basis of behavior. BARS, clearly highlights the 26 definite, observable and measurable behaviors done in the job. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale was greatly accepted because it made use of specific behaviors which is derived for each job and which would produce relatively reliable and error-free ratings. Behavior observation scales were then introduced which were intended to improve BARS. (Latham and Wexley, 1977)

Motivation and Goal setting theory Performance appraisal process and its outcome can affect an employee’s motivation. Employee’s performance is seen as most directly as a consequence of the employee’s ability and his motivation to perform. (Cummings and Swabs, 1973, pp. 46) In Organisational context, the performance is evaluated by examining the employee’s abilities and capabilities to achieve the desired objectives. Behaviour Maintenance Model The BMM presented by Cummings and Swabs attempted to show how people become motivated to perform effectively in the organization.

This model shows the importance of outcomes in the motivational process. 27 Fig 4 Behavior Maintenance Model SATISFACTION GOAL ATTAINMENT MOTIVATION GOAL ASPIRATIONS In the framework, Goal aspirations lead to goal attainment and motivation. When goal aspirations leads to goal attainment which when achieved by the employee give a sense of job satisfaction him. When an employee is satisfied then he ultimately becomes motivated to work more efficiently in the organization. Evans(1986) also presented a model of motivation in which a goal ie a starting point is set up by the supervisor or the individual and it is then accepted by them.

This goal largely influences the employee’s persistence, attention effort and the approach or the strategy which he adopts to complete the goal. These factors and the constraints of performance determine the actual performance. When this task has been accomplished then this actual performance is compared with the original 28 Fig 5 Evans Model of Motivation Goal set and goal accepted Effort Constraints on performance Attention Persistence Strategy Ability Performance Comparison with goals Feedback

Locke( 1968) introduced the Goal setting theory whereby the employee gets motivated to work for his organization when he has a goal to achieve. Locke’s Goal setting theory is summarized as follows- a. hard goals produce a higher level of performance than easy goals, b. some specific hard goals produce higher level of output; c. behavioral intentions regulate choice behavior. Feedback Feedback about the effectiveness of an individual’s behavior has long been recognized as essential for learning and for motivation in performance-oriented organizations. Ilgen et al 1979) Feedback is considered as an important tool in performance appraisal 29 process. Feedback can be a useful tool for development, especially if it is specific and behaviorally oriented, as well as both problem-oriented and solution-oriented (Murphy and Cleveland, 1995) One of the basic purposes of formal appraisal process is the provision of clear and performance based feedback to employees. ( Carroll and Scheiner,1982) Some organizations use feedback as a development tool ,while in some organizations it is used for merit evaluation and compensation adjustment. McEvoy and Buller,1987; London ,Wohlers and Gallagher,1990) Feedback is very essential for the employees because it forms a baseline for the employees which help them to get a review of their past performance and chance to improve their skills for the future. (Ashford,1986) says that when feedback is considered as a valuable resource, then only the individuals feel motivated to seek it, which helps in reducing uncertainty and provides information relevant to self evaluations. There is also evidence that performance feedback (if given appropriately) can lead to substantial improvements in future performance (Guzzo et al. 1985; Kopelman, 1986; Landy et al. , 1982) 360 degree performance appraisal: 360 Degree appraisal is used to describe a comprehensive nature of feedback which is received by an individual through everyone in the job. It is also referred to as ‘multisource feedback’ or ‘multi-rater feedback'(Kettley,1997) adds that when an individual receives feedback from different sources of the organization, including peers, subordinate staff ,customers and themselves, i. e. When a feedback is received from ‘all-round’ a job, then the process is known as 360 degree appraisal or feedback. 0 Nearly all the Fortune 300 companies are adopting 360 degree appraisal process. (London and Smither, 1995). The demand of 360 degree, in UK is increasing rapidly. (Handy et al, 1996, Geake et. al, 1998) There hasn’t been a lot of empirical evidence on the 360 degree appraisal system. (Fletcher and Baldry 1999 : pg63) say that-‘The actual amount of empirical evidence on the impact of 360 degree feedback is disappointingly small considering its extent of its use; widespread adoption seems to have reflected faith rather than proven validity’.

Even though 360 degree, is not widespread enough it is been used for a lot of purposes. Research has shown that 360 degree is used for the following purposes(Fletcher and Bailey 2003) state that 360 degree feedback gives a great scope to commend and criticize on their sub ordinates performance. It also helps in building up the competency of the organizations framework and objective. It aids in increasing self awareness as self-assessment corresponds to subordinates perception. Summary of literature review. Performance appraisal was evolved in the third century in China in the Wei dynasty. Weise and Buckley, 1998) PA was seen in industry in the early 1800. In UK, Randell (1994) observed it in Robert Owens ‘silent monitors’. In US, an Army General introduced it in for evaluation of his army men. Earlier, PA was used only for administrative administration. The linkage of human resource management and performance appraisal is shown in the research. Huber (1980) rightly puts it that in the context of human resource purposes like retention, discharges, promotion and salary 31 management, formal appraisal serves three main purposes: 1. Evaluation, 2. development and 3.

Employee protection Richard & Johnson (2004) also suggest in this context that organizations need to match up with the HR framework, objectives and practices up to holistically corporate strategy in order to achieve superior performance in the organization. The research explained why a formal performance appraisal was necessary in the organization. PA gives an employee a proper understanding of his duties and tasks towards his organization. It helps the organization to evaluate employees on a common ground and gives scope for retention, salary decisions, promotions, training and development programs etc. Jacobs, Kafry & Zedeck,1980 ) Studies by McGregor, Murphy et al, Bowles and Coates etc explained the various purposes of performance appraisal. About 61% of organization adopted Performance appraisal by 1950. Performance appraisal developed on the basis of objectives and goal function, thus MBO was evolved. MBO was helpful in setting up goals, which became the standard against which the employee’s performance was compared. However, MBO was ineffective performance was measured in units. Therefore, behaviorally monitored performance review was introduced.

Thus, Behaviorally Anchored Rating System (BARS) was introduced. BARS was designed by Smith and Kendall in 1963. BARS was found to give more accurate rating of performance. Behavior observation scales were then introduced which were intended to improve BARS. (Latham and Wexley, 1977) It was seen that performance appraisal can be used as a motivational tool. The Behavior Maintenance Model presented by Cummings and Swab in 1973, which explained how people become motivated to perform effectively in the organization. 32

Similarly, Evans (1986) also presented a model which explained how individual and manager decide a goal and how this goal largely influences the individual’s persistence, attention and the strategy he/she adopts to complete the goal. These factors determine his actual performance. When the individual’s tasks are achieved then this actual performance is compared with the original goal. Locke(1968) introduced the Goal setting theory which emphasizes the importance of conscious goal levels as determinants of actual performance. Goal setting theory is summarized as follows- a. ard goals produce a higher level of performance than easy goals, b. some specific hard goals produce higher level of output; c. behavioral intentions regulate choice behavior. Feedback is another important element in the field of performance appraisal. the feedback which an individual receives is the report of the performance achieved by him/her. 360 degree feedback was introduced which refers to feedback received by an individual through everyone in the organization. 360 degree feedback includes feedback from peers ,sub-ordinates and customers.

It is also known as ‘multi-source feedback’. 33 Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHOD This section would help understand and explain the reasons behind the choice of the methodology I have adapted for this research The choosing of research methodology depends on the nature of study topic (Creswell, 1994 ). Research objective The research objective was to understand the effectiveness of an appraisal process on the employees. The main purpose of this dissertation was, to study the employees ability to perform well in the industry and to check the impact of performance feedback over their job.

Research methods. Quantitative Vs Qualitative. Denzin and Lincoln ( 2000 ) say that, Qualitative research generates the socially constructed nature of reality, the intimate relationship between the researcher and what is studied, and the situational constraints that shape inquiry. They seek answers to questions that stress how social experience is created and given meaning. In constrant, quantitative studies emphasize the measurement and analysis of casual relationships between variables, and not processes. (pg 8) 4 Qualitative research thus has a humanistic element to it, whereas Quantitative research is grounded in mathematical and statistical knowledge. (Gephart,2004) Qualitative research is a representation of peoples mind and, it is interpretative and highly inductive. (Van Maanen, 1998) Another interesting difference between the two methods is, that quantitative techniques require the researcher to produce and verify hypothesis and reduce entities into simple variables for the benefit of understanding and generalizing.

Also, it assumes that all occurrences are independent events that have no connection to the surrounding environment. On the other hand, qualitative research attempts to prove and understand phenomena rather than explaining the cause and effect relationship. Further, it believes that all occurrences are linked in some way to the surrounding environment. (Easterby smith et al,2002) Why qualitative? The goal of qualitative research is to understand the research topic more explicitly, from the perspective of the interviewee, and to understand how and why they have arrived at this perspective. Gephart, 2004) adds that, qualitative research methodology largely depends on recounting, understanding and explaining complex or interrelated phenomena, namely, the methodology is to understand multi-dimensional, dynamic picture of a subject of study. Qualitative research method was ideal for this project, because it gave a deeper understanding of the, given theories and helped in obtaining an edge in knowing the concepts well. As the data obtained through qualitative is the interviewees own responses, it helps in gaining a broader perspective about the topic.

The exact responses pertaining to the literature review helps in linking the data well. 35 Research Tactics The tactics used for data collection for the research are classified as follows: Primary data: The research deals with the reaction of the employees after being appraised. Hence , it was necessary to conduct the research through semi structured interviews. Cooper and Schindler (2001) suggest in this context , that if the research is an exploratory study, use of interviews is more appropriated for the researcher to understand and get an in depth view of the topic being explored.

Design of interview question . : The interview questions were designed, keeping in mind the research objective. Eight questions were designed in accordance with the literature review. The interview questions were categorized into four parts. The first part, reflected the employees basic experience with performance appraisal. The second part, focused on the training aspect of the organization, which forms an important part of the appraisal process. The third part, focused on the direct implications of the appraisal process on the employee’s life.

The last part was designed to reflect answers relating to motivation and better performance in the organization. The questions designed were open-ended because ,it could give the employee the chance to elaborate his given situation. Easterby-Smith, et al. , (2002) state that, investigators conduct qualitative interview to understand ‘how individuals construct the reality of their situation formed from the complex personal framework … in order to help explain and predict events in their world’. 36 When was the research done? The research was done in mid July to mid August.

Data analysis: For the data collected in this research through interviews, a framework given by Bryman and Bell(2003) was used. The framework is known as Theoretical sampling which is explained as follows. Theoretical Sampling: It is a process of data collection for generating theory where the researcher collects and analyzes data and decides what data to collect next and where to find it, in order to develop his theory as it emerges (Bryman and Bell, 2003. Thus, data was collected from various sources until there was a theoretical saturation.

The same content leads to descriptive content analysis which is discussed in detail in the next section (Bryman and Bell, 2003, p. 330). Figure – Theoretical sampling 37 Secondary research This has been provided through the available research and various reports. This was done by accessing the library and books, journals, market reports and internet extensively. Limitations: Limitations of qualitative research. : The big problem with qualitative data is how to condense highly complex and context-bound information into a format which tells a story in a way that is fully convinced to the eader. “(Cassell and Symon, 2004) Qualitative research methods are descriptive. Also ,they are subjective in nature which always leads to a kind of research bias. Sometimes, the interviewees were not willing to open up much, towards 38 some question. This would either lead to incomplete information or incorrect information. Another important limitation was time constraint. Due to time constraint, the researcher was not able to take many interviews. Summary of Research methods: The research method was done keeping the research objective in mind.

The research method adopted for this research was Qualitative research method. Qualitative research method helps to understand multi-dimensional, dynamic picture of a subject of study. The research tactics adopted for the research were done in the form of primary data source and secondary data source. Primary data was obtained in the form of structured interviews. The questions designed for these interviews were open ended. The secondary data was obtained in the form of reports, books, journals etc. A theoretical sampling method of Bryman and Bell (2003) was adopted for data analysis method. 9 CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS OF DATA: This section is divided into two partsPart A describes the parameters on which the performance appraisal process is designed in the organisation. The parameters helped the researcher to understand the effectiveness of performance appraisal in the organization. Part B describes the analysis of data. The analysis of data explained in detail the respondent’s views about the appraisal system PART A : COMPANY INFORMATION; Following is brief description of the various parameters adopted by the company in order to conduct the formal appraisal system.

The appraisal system is conducted twice every year. First, in June and the other in January . The performance appraisal system in the company is conducted on the basis of 5 parameters. 1. Business Acumen 2. People Leadership 3. Effective Communication 4. Execution 5. Customer Centricity Business Acumen: 1. Business Acumen refers to the ability of the employees to conduct quick and accurate decisions pertaining to the business strategies. Performance appraisal considers Business Acumen as an important tool in analysing the individual’s business related activities in the organisation. 40 . People Leadership : People leadership refers to the employees ability to show leadership skills. It also shows whether the employee is able to motivate employees, helps in building up morale of his subordinates. He acts with empathy and ensures better coordination in his team. The company considers this as an important parameter because it helps in knowing the leadership skill of the employee. 3. Effective Communication: Communication is an integral part of every organization. The employee should be having good communication skills. He/she should be able to communicate at all levels. . Execution: Execution is the process where the employee should be able to execute the given task in a specific period of time. Under this parameter, the employee’s efficiency and potentiality is considered. His/her prompt reaction to any situation is considered. This parameter also tests an employee’s capability to handle work load under pressure. 5. Customer centricity : ‘Customer is the King’ . This parameter focuses on the employees way of handling customers. It checks the employee’s promptness in handling the customer and his/her ability to make the customer satisfied.

The above parameters are calculated with the help of the following 3 point rating chart. 41 3= Outstanding The employee understands his job very well. Performance is exceptionally good and much higher than the standard set up. Clearly understands the key objectives and goals of the organization and achieves them in time. Efficient and prompt. 2= Meet expectations Performance meets the required expectation. May exceed expectations in areas like communication and customer centricity. Good understanding of objectives and goals. = Needs Improvement Performance doesn’t meet the expectation and lacks consistency. Lack of understanding of key objectives and goals. Requires additional training and development sessions. PART B : .ANALYSIS OF DATA The analysis of data was done on the basis of the responses obtained through the interview process. The analysis is done by the respondent’s views over the performance appraisal process present in the company. 42 A total of 6 respondents agreed to participate in the research. The interview was designed, taking into consideration the research questions.

The interview considered four main aspects, which are as followsA. Performance appraisal process B. Training and development C. Feedback D. Impact of performance appraisal A. Performance appraisal process. The questions designed under this section were to understand the performance appraisal process in the organisation. This would give the researcher, a clearer picture of the organisational PA process by presenting exact views of the interviewees. Questions under this section: Q 1) Do think it is necessary to have a formal appraisal process in the organisation?

Q 2. ) What are your views about the appraisal system in your organization? Responses : Q. 1 ) Do think it is necessary to have a formal appraisal process in the organisation? Yes. We have a formal appraisal process twice a year in June and January where my manager shares the feedback on the goals defined to achieve by the end of given period. ( Respondent no. 1) 43 Yes, it is necessary to conduct a formal appraisal process. It gives a clearer understanding of our objectives and functions and makes us more competent to achieve our goals. ( Respondent No. 2) Yes.

I have gone through a formal appraisal process about 10 times since 2002. I feel it an essential part of the organization. We, the employees , know our duties well in the organization ,we know what is expected from us and our target goals are laid down for the coming period. ( Respondent no. 4) Q 2. ) What are your views about the appraisal system in your organization? The appraisal system is very comprehensive as it focuses our accomplishment summary, strengths/growths, improvement and development needs and plans, Training needs and other certifications and potentially career interests.

It also rates employees based on people leadership, effective communication and customer centricity. ( Respondent No. 1) I think it’s important to have formal appraisal system. It not only helps you achieve your long-term goals but also helps you understand where you stand in comparison to your colleagues. There will be lot of other hard working people in organization, who will be working towards the same goal or same position that you want, so this process gives you a more clear path, vision as to what you can do differently that will set you apart from other employees.

It generates a healthy competition. (Respondent no. 2) 44 The Appraisal System in my organization is well-organized, both from the Performance Capturing viewpoint as well as from the Review and setting up the goals and expectations of an individual. ( Respondent no. 5) It was seen from the above responses that, the employee were generally happy about the current PA process, because it was designed to help them grow and develop in the organisation. It provided them with the necessary guidance to improve their performance and other key skills in the job.

The employees stated that it lead to healthy competition amongst the employees. B. Training and Development The second part of the interview focused on the training skills obtained through the appraisal process. The questions were designed to understand if the organization really requires training and development program and whether it is useful for them to grow in the organisation. Questions asked- Q. 1) Do you think a formal appraisal process should include training and development programs? Why? 45 Q. 2. ) How did the training and development program of the appraisal process help you?

Were you satisfied with it? Q. 1)Do you think a formal appraisal process should include training and development programs? Why? Responses to Q1. Yes, an appraisal process should possess training and development processes, because it helps an individual to work on his/her improvement areas which could be addressed by training in appropriate soft or technical skill-set. For example If an individual lacks delegation of work to its peer sub ordinates, then he can be recommended for ‘Delegation of Authority’ training which would enable him to understand the concept and delegate responsibility. Respondent 1) Yes, it’s important to have training and development programs part of appraisal process. It’s important for every employee to understand how the appraisal process works and how are they evaluated. They should be given training so that process is very transparent for them and they understand everything. Also once the appraisal is done and employees have given their improvement areas, it’s important to conduct different development programs to help them work on their improvement areas. (Respondent 4) 46 Yes. The formal appraisal process should include the training and development programs.

The main objective of an appraisal process is to showcase where an individual stands from the performance and organization expectations point of view, and what are his development needs and GnOs (Goals and Objectives) for the upcoming year. The Trainings and Development programs help and individual to enhance his abilities and acquire the required skills to meet the expectations/goals set for him by the organization/management and also help his to grow in the organization. (Respondent 3) Q. 2. ) How did the training and development program of the appraisal process help you? Were you satisfied with it?

Answers to Q2. The training and development needs were fulfilled in some areas unlikely in certain areas like leadership it was not fulfilled based on project, location and time priorities. It’s a very costlier affair to organize training onsite and hence had to do a lot of self learning and receiving coaching feedback from assigned coaches. (Respondent 2) Yes, I was satisfied with the training and development programs as it helped me to work on my improvement areas. After going through different training and development programs, my Leadership and People management skills improved a lot.

This in turn helped me to manage my team more efficiently, by understanding there needs, by motivating them and helping them to achieve their individual goals. This helped us to meet our targets set by the organization and also gave production benefit to the Customer. (Respondent 5) 47 I have attended various programs/training in my career till date. They have always helped me to enhance my abilities and skills . For example, the Six Sigma Green Belt Training and the LEAN Quality Trainings have given me a vision to think about Quality in every task we do and thus improvise the performance.

The Coaching Manager and Leadership trainings have helped me to emerge as a better colleague, Team Lead and a mentors to my peers and subordinates. I have been pretty satisfied with these training and would look forward to the opportunities to attend more of them. (Respondent 3) The overall response in this context, was pretty positive. The employees thought that training and development formed an important element in the process. However, one respondent highlighted a different point where training and development was not provided.

The training guidelines helped them to understand their organizational objectives and functions well. All the respondents were satisfied with the training and development program because it helped them to enhance their skills in the job. C. Feedback: The questions designed under this section helped to obtain the immediate reaction of the appraisal system. This was required in understanding how the employees feedback is in the organization. These are the following questions: 48 Q 1. What is your immediate response after being appraised? Q. 2.

Was your performance discussed in detail? Were any improvements suggested? Q 1. What is your immediate response after being appraised? The responses obtained were as followed: Its always to good to know your strengths and your improvement areas. It provides platform to work on areas for the coming period. (Respondent 2) After appraisal I know what are my strong areas, which sets me apart from others and I have to keep working on that. It also helped me to identify my improvement areas, which I have to focus so that I can grow in the Organization and achieve my goal (respondent 3)

This depends upon how the discussion goes along with my managers and appraisers.