HRD-APPRAISAL

A Project Management Assignment

Submitted by
Panchi Changkakoty BTB/09/3026
Prachi BTB/09/3027
Group Number - 12
Section B (B.tech Biotechnology)
2009-2013

INDEX

Human Resource Development- Definition

HRD Appraisals
Purpose served by appraising
Essentials of good appraising system
Difference between Traditional and Modern approach to appraisals
Techniques and Methods of Appraisals
Case study
Case study solution
References

Human Resource Development

Definition:
Human Resources Development (HRD) as a theory is a framework for the expansion
of human capital within an organization through the development of both the organization
and the individual to achieve performance improvement.
Michael Jucious: HRD is that field of management which deals with planning, organising &
controlling the functions of procuring, developing, maintaining and utilising a labour force
such that organisational & individual goals are fulfilled
Human Resource Development is the integrated use of training, organization, and career
development efforts to improve individual, group and organizational effectiveness. HRD
develops the key competencies that enable individuals in organizations to perform current
and future jobs through planned learning activities.
HRD practitioners and academia focus on HRD as a process. HRD as a process occurs within
organizations and encapsulates: 1) Training and Development (TD), that is, the development
of human expertise for the purpose of improving performance, and
2) Organization Development (OD), that is, empowering the organization to take advantage
of its human resource capital.

HRD Appraisals

The general definition of appraisal is that it is the classification of someone or something

with respect to its worth. And as mentioned in the description of HRD, performance is a key
factor and hence its appraisal must be carried out .
Performance Appraisals is the assessment of individuals performance in a systematic way. It
is a developmental tool used for all round development of the employee and the organization.
The performance is measured against such factors as job knowledge, quality and quantity of
output, initiative, leadership abilities, supervision, dependability, co-operation, judgment,
versatility and health. Assessment should be confined to past as well as potential performance
also. Although in day-to-day work, supervisors continually appraise their subordinates, the daily appraisal
lacks summation and objectivity. To overcome these deficiencies most organisations opt for periodic
appraisals through the process of Performance Appraisal, either annually or semi annually.

Who Should Appraise

Performance appraisal is essentially a command function; hence it should be carried out by
line managers. HR managers should only be involved only in coordination of the activity.
Traditionally appraisal is carried out by one or more superiors in the line channel; however
they may also be carried out by peers, subordinates or even by the employee himself. In
certain cases clients/customers are also involved in the process of appraisal.

What Should be Appraised

Every organisation has to decide upon the aspects to be appraised. Generally, the aspects to
be apprised are determined on the basis of job expectation and established a plan for
improvement. The aspects to be appraised may be in the form of personal
attributes/characteristics of the employee, his contribution to organisational objectives like

production, savings in terms of cost, return on capital etc. The aspects to be covered in
appraisal may vary with the purpose of appraisal and type and level of employees.

Some important points to be kept in mind while carrying out appraisals are:

Frequency of appraisal must satisfy the purpose for which they are being made.

Special appraisals must be made at the end of employees probationary period or at

the time of his promotion.

More frequent appraisal may be required for new employees.

In the case of an unsatisfactory rating the subsequent appraisal is generally carried out
earlier than usual to assess whether the employee has improved.

Purpose Served by Performance Appraisal

1.

Identifies personal attributes or characteristics of each employee. (elaborate)

2.

Helps to assess performance of each employee and their contribution to the organisation

during the concerned period.

3. Identifies strengths and weaknesses of employees and assists in formulation of appropriate
programs for their training and development
4.

Serves as a feedback to the employees. It lets the employees know whether his

performance meets the standard expected from them and what improvements are desired.
5.

Establishes an effective monitoring system in the organisation whereby the superiors and

executives are required to be more observant of their subordinates because they will be
required to periodically fill in the appraisal forms and would be called upon to justify
appraisals made by them.

6.

Serves as a tool to identify potential in employees for promotion to higher position or for

transfer to another more suitable job.

7.

Enables evaluation of policies adopted for recruitment, selection and placement as well

as the policies adopted for training and development.

8.

Leads to maintenance of permanent records of attributes, characteristics and performance

of all employees, thereby avoiding subjective judgment by based only on personal knowledge
at the time of taking important decisions.

Essentials of a Good Appraisal System

1.

It should be simple i.e. easy to understand and should not be very long and time

consuming. It should not be excessively verbose or use ambiguous terms and phrases.
2. The system must be explained to and accepted by employees at all levels. All employees
must be convinced that the system essential for their own betterment and in overall
organisational interest.
3. There are various methods of Performance Appraisal. A method that works well for one
company may not work for another. An organisation must adopt the method which conforms
to their requirements and is most suitable considering the organisations structure and
operations.
4. There can not be one common Appraisal Form for all level of employees. Separate
forms should be used for different levels of employees.

Each form should be prepared

keeping in mind specific requirements of that particular level.

5. The appraisal method adopted should be both valid and reliable. Validity of appraisal
method is the degree to which it is truly indicative of the intrinsic attributes and
characteristics as well as the standard of performance of each employee. Reliability of the
appraisal method is the consistency with which the appraisals are made, either by different

appraisers or by the same appraiser. Performance of an employee may vary from time to time
but his basic intrinsic attributes and characteristics cannot change.
6. Appraisal should be based on performance of the employee only during the period of
review, i.e. without any consideration of his past performance.
7. The appraisal must clearly bring out whether the employee is fit for promotion, the jobs
or positions in which he can be suitably employed and also recommendations for training that
the employee is required to be provided.
8. The system must be just and equitable. It should duly protect rights and interests of the
organisation as well as of the individual employees.
9. To prevent subjective reporting and vindictiveness every employee must be appraised by
at least two or more persons.
10. All negative/adverse remarks must be conveyed to the employees and he should be
provided an opportunity to represent against the same. A formal procedure must be
established to process any such representations.
11. The appraisal system must be periodically evaluated, reviewed and modified to retain its
validity, reliability and effectiveness.

Difference between Traditional and Modern (Systems)

approach to Appraisals

Categories

Traditional Appraisails

Modern, System Appraisals

Guiding Values

Individualistic, Control

Systematic, Developmental,

oriented,

Problem Solving

Leadership Styles

Documentary
Directional and evaluative

Facilitating, Coaching

Frequencies

Occasional

Frequent

Formalities

High

Low

Rewards

Individualistic

Grouped, Organisational

Techniques / Methods of PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS

Numerous methods have been devised to measure the quantity and quality of performance
appraisals. Each of the methods is effective for some purposes for some organizations only.
None should be dismissed or accepted as appropriate except as they relate to the particular
needs of the organization or an employee.
Broadly all methods of appraisals can be divided into two different categories.

Past Oriented Methods

Future Oriented Methods

Past Oriented Methods
1.

Rating Scales: Rating scales consists of several numerical scales representing job related

performance criterions such as dependability, initiative, output, attendance, attitude etc. Each
scales ranges from excellent to poor. The total numerical scores are computed and final
conclusions are derived. Advantages Adaptability, easy to use, low cost, every type of job
can be evaluated, large number of employees covered, no formal training required.
Disadvantages Raters biases
2.

Checklist: Under this method, checklist of statements of traits of employee in the form

of Yes or No based questions is prepared. Here the rater only does the reporting or checking
and HR department does the actual evaluation. Advantages economy, ease of
administration, limited training required, standardization. Disadvantages Raters biases, use
of improper weighs by HR, does not allow rater to give relative ratings
3.

Forced Choice Method: The series of statements arranged in the blocks of two or more

are given and the rater indicates which statement is true or false. The rater is forced to make a

choice. HR department does actual assessment. Advantages Absence of personal biases

because of forced choice. Disadvantages Statements may be wrongly framed.
4.

Forced Distribution Method: here employees are clustered around a high point on a

rating scale. Rater is compelled to distribute the employees on all points on the scale. It is
assumed that the performance is conformed to normal distribution. Advantages Eliminates
Disadvantages Assumption of normal distribution, unrealistic, errors of central tendency.
5.

Critical Incidents Method: The approach is focused on certain critical behaviors of

employee that makes all the difference in the performance. Supervisors as and when they
occur record such incidents. Advantages Evaluations are based on actual job behaviors,
ratings are supported by descriptions, feedback is easy, reduces recency biases, chances of
subordinate improvement are high. Disadvantages Negative incidents can be prioritized,
forgetting incidents, overly close supervision; feedback may be too much and may appear to
be punishment.
6.

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales: statements of effective and ineffective behaviors

determine the points. They are said to be behaviorally anchored. The rater is supposed to say,
which behavior describes the employee performance. Advantages helps overcome rating
errors. Disadvantages Suffers from distortions inherent in most rating techniques.
7.

Field Review Method: This is an appraisal done by someone outside employees own

department usually from corporate or HR department. Advantages Useful for managerial

level promotions, when comparable information is needed, Disadvantages Outsider is
generally not familiar with employees work environment, Observation of actual behaviors not
possible.
8.

Performance Tests & Observations: This is based on the test of knowledge or skills.

The tests may be written or an actual presentation of skills. Tests must be reliable and
validated to be useful. Advantage Tests may be apt to measure potential more than actual
performance. Disadvantages Tests may suffer if costs of test development or administration
are high.
9.

Confidential Records: Mostly used by government departments, however its application

in industry is not ruled out. Here the report is given in the form of Annual Confidentiality

Report (ACR) and may record ratings with respect to following items; attendance, self
expression, team work, leadership, initiative, technical ability, reasoning ability, originality
and resourcefulness etc. The system is highly secretive and confidential. Feedback to the
assessee is given only in case of an adverse entry. Disadvantage is that it is highly subjective
and ratings can be manipulated because the evaluations are linked to HR actions like
promotions etc.
10. Essay Method: In this method the rater writes down the employee description in detail
within a number of broad categories like, overall impression of performance, promoteability
of employee, existing capabilities and qualifications of performing jobs, strengths and
weaknesses and training needs of the employee. Advantage It is extremely useful in filing
information gaps about the employees that often occur in a better-structured checklist.
Disadvantages It its highly dependent upon the writing skills of rater and most of them are
not good writers. They may get confused success depends on the memory power of raters.
11. Cost Accounting Method: Here performance is evaluated from the monetary returns
yields to his or her organization. Cost to keep employee, and benefit the organization derives
is ascertained. Hence it is more dependent upon cost and benefit analysis.

CASE STUDY
Inter System Maintenance Services Sdn. Bhd. (abbreviated as ISMS) was registered on 3rd
July, 1986 at the Registrar of Business Office in Kuala Lumpur. ISMS offers the following
types of maintenance and cleaning services to its clients:
Cleaning and maintenance of offices and buildings

Cleaning and maintenance of office and building exteriors

Cleaning and maintenance of all types of floors and interiors

Cleaning of all type of carpeted floorings

Area maintenance including landscape and gardens
Cleaning drains and grass cutting
Refuse/litter collections
The company has three branches located at Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, and Pahang. The
mission of the company is the following:

- To provide quality, efficient, and effective services to its clients

- To build excellent and lasting business rapport with clients, and

- To be successful and highly respected bumiputra company

To succeed in the competitive business market, the company strives to differentiate

itself by providing superior quality services to its clients. The Kuala Lumpur unit of the
company has about 300 employees working at various operational levels. Their works are
closely monitored by a number of supervisors. The performance of the company depends
heavily on the performance of those employees. The main purpose of the paper is to evaluate
the peformance of the operational level employees of the company. It was widely speculated
that the present perforance appraisal system adopted by the company lacked objectivity.
Therefore, the company needs an objective measurement procedure which is capable of
incorporating objective as well as subjective factors into the evaluation process and it
provides a measurement of the employees overall performance that is fairly accurate.

CASE STUDY SOLUTION

Inter System Maintenance Services Sdn. Bhd. (abbre- viated as ISMS) was registered on 3rd
July, 1986. Their main objectives were to clean and maintain offices and buildings, clean and
maintain office and building exteriors, clean and maintenance of office and interiors and

carpeted flooring, area maintenance, cleaning drains, etc.

The company has three branches located at Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, and Pahang. The
mission of the company is to provide quality, efficient and effective services to the client,
build excellent and lasting business rapport and to be highly successful and respected.
There was a lack of performance by the companys employees. There are many factors which
could have been possible for the declination of the performance within the employees.
Managerial standards can be a factor in motivating or de-motivating employees. The
background of the employee, including their educational history, is also outlined in a job
description. Supervisors should keep their expectations in line with the duties assigned to the
employee. By expecting more from an employee than they were hired for.
There needs to be some sort of motivation beyond the weekly paycheck. Motivation can
come in the form of financial incentives, the opportunity to get involved in company projects,
a career path that leads to management and direct involvement from management into the
daily tasks. Effective motivation can create a productive work force, but a lack of motivating
factors can leave employees searching for reasons to give their maximum effort.
Offering a competitive rate of pay and benefits package, offering assistance in paying for
employee's higher education costs, developing a regular training schedule that keeps
employees updated on company changes and gives pertinent information for employees to do
their jobs and upgrading equipment to make sure that employees have the most efficient
technology available to do their work.
Employees should also be physically and mentally healthy to perform better in the
organization. Illness can also effect the process or working of the employee lowering his or
her efficiency for the upliftment of the organization through serving clients better than before.
Work ethics is also a major factor for the performance of the employee. Good morals and
ethics can help a person to improve their performance. Otherwise it might lead to poor
performance.

References
http://corehr.wordpress.com/performance-management/performance-appraisal-methods/
http://corehr.wordpress.com/performance-management/appraising/
http://www.wpi.edu/Admin/HR/performance-appraisal.html
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/hr/policy/appraisal/