Future Oriented Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is a systematic process that evaluates an individual employee’s performance in terms of his productivity with respect to the pre-determined set of objectives. It is an annual activity, which gives the employee an opportunity to reflect on the duties that were dispatched by him, since it involves receiving feedback regarding their performance. It also evaluates the individual’s attitude, personality, behaviour and stability in his job profile.

Some of the Future oriented appraisal methods are:

• Assessment centre method

• Human Resource Accounting Method

• Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)

• Appraisal through management by objectives (MBO)

• The 360 degree appraisal

Modern Methods:

(a) Management by Objectives

In fact, MBO is not only a method of performance evaluation. It is viewed by the Practicing managers and pedagogues as a philosophy of managerial practice because .t .s a method by wh.ch managers and subordinates plan, organise, communicate, control and debate.

An MBO programme consists of four main steps: goal setting, performance standard, compari­son, and periodic review. In goal-setting, goals are set which each individual, s to attain. The superior and subordinate jointly establish these goals. The goals refer to the desired outcome to be achieved by each individual employee.

In performance standards, the standards are set for the employees as per the previously arranged time period. When the employees start performing their jobs, they come to know what is to be done, what has been done, and what remains to be done.

In the third step the actual level of goals attained are compared with the goals agreed upon. This enables the evaluator to find out the reasons variation between the actual and standard performance of the employees. Such a comparison helps devise training needs for increasing employees’ performance it can also explore the conditions having their bearings on employees’ performance but over which the employees have no

This method was first developed and formally used by General Electric Company of USA in 1992. Then, it travelled to other countries including India. In India, companies like Reliance Industries, Wipro Corporation, Infosys Technologies, Thermax, Thomas Cook etc., have been using this method for appraising the performance of their employees. This feedback based method is generally used for ascertaining training and development requirements, rather than for pay increases.

Under 360 – degree appraisal, performance information such as employee’s skills, abilities and behaviours, is collected “all around” an employee, i.e., from his/her supervisors, subordinates, peers and even customers and clients.

In other worlds, in 360-degree feedback appraisal system, an employee is appraised by his supervisor, subordinates, peers, and customers with whom he interacts in the course of his job performance. All these appraisers provide information or feedback on an employee by completing survey questionnaires designed for this purpose.

All information so gathered is then compiled through the computerized system to prepare individualized reports. These reports are presented to me employees being rated. They then meet me appraiser—be it one’s superior, subordinates or peers—and share the information they feel as pertinent and useful for developing a self-improvement