Question 1 on HRM

Internet Recruitment

1) Internet recruiting is the act of scouring the Internet to locate both actively-searching job
seekers and also individuals who are content in their current position (these are called
"passive candidates"). It is a field of dramatic growth and constant change that has given
birth to a dynamic multi billion dollar industry.

Traditionally, recruiters use large job boards, niche job boards, as well as social and business
networking to locate these individuals. The immediate goal of Internet recruiting is to find
individuals that a recruiter or company can present to hiring managers for the purpose of
employment. Quite often, Internet recruiters have very short-term goals when it comes to
recruiting online. The general catalyst that sparks this process is when a new job requisite
comes in (called a REQ). The recruiter scans his or her database to see if anyone's resumes
match the requirements. If not, they proceed to search on the Internet.

E-RECRUITMENT In the era of globalization anyone who is interested in corporate world

is aware of these sites.

Using internet prospective applicants could search for positions in which they were
interested. Contact with employers directly is viable. Feasibility of email overruled the use
of telephone, fax or mail and the companies started accepting application through email.
Today Organizations have their own sites or job postings are given in the placement sites.
Again the candidates can visit the sites, post resume, contact the company directly without
any delay. All these are just one „click‟ away. E-recruitment is a tool for many employers to
search for job candidates and for applicants to look for job. Recent trend of recruitment is e-
recruitment or the internet recruitment or on-line recruitment, where the process of
recruitment is automated. The automation began in 1980 but was systematized in 1990 with
the release of Restrac‟s initial product. E-recruitment simply means the recruitment process
through internet. Various methods can be used for it.

E-RECRUITING METHODS

Methods of e-recruitment are many, among those the important ones are-

● Job boards: These are the places where the employers post jobs and search for candidates.
Candidates become aware of the vacancies. One of the disadvantages is, it is generic in
nature. Special skill candidates to be searched by certain job boards.

● Employer web sites: These sites can be of the company owned sites, or a site developed by
various employers. For an example, Directemployers.com is the first cooperative, employer-
owned e-recruiting consortium formed by Direct Employers Association. It is a non profit
organization formed by the executives from leading U.S corporations. Press release by
Recruiters Network (February 20, 2003) showed the site has 98 members approximately 45
percent of which are Fortune 500 companies.

● Professional websites: These are for specific professions, skills and not general in nature.
For an example, for HR jobs Human Resource Management sites to be visited like
www.shrm.org. The professional associations will have their own site or society.

WHY E-RECRUITMENT? In May 1980 in Kolkata Amita being an MBA never expected any
problem regarding job. She returned home exhausted with no satisfactory result in hand.
She knew that the place is full of opportunities, and it won‟t be difficult to place herself in a
job. But what she was not aware of was search for the company will be so tedious and tiring.
First she went through the newspaper advertisement meticulously , then scanned those
advertisements and selected the suitable ones. Then she visited each and every place just to
submit the Resume. It was worse as she was restricted to Kolkata, as going and visiting
companies at different places were not possible and due to postal service the Resumes were
not properly forwarded. At that era this was the scenario for many candidates. Even the
companies were not satisfied with the recent recruitment practices. Like, A1 electrical of
Nagpur were to find a suitable engineer for them. The company wanted to collect Resumes
of maximum candidates. Advertisement in employment news was not giving them the
satisfactory result. There came the need for e-recruitment, to overcome the barriers to easy
access of the candidates. To be a successful Organization and to maintain the position
recruiting high caliber staff is fundamental. Not finding the right person can lead to
frustration. Employers like A1 electricals aren't limited to attracting candidates from their
own country and can appeal to qualified candidates all over the world. The same holds true
for job seekers like Amita. They can search and apply for jobs in areas where their skills are
in demand regardless of geographical location. The widespread use of internet today has
meant that advertising for candidates has become cheaper while at the same time appealing
to the wider audience. This is the secret of e-recruitment gaining popularity in a short time
span. The advantages are:

● Cost efficient: Advertisements in internet when compared to newspaper, magazines, and

employment agencies is considerably cheap. As in the other sources continuously one has to
revise the advertisement, for example a company wanted their ad to appear on every
Sunday for a month thus was suppose to pay for four advertisements. But for internet it is
not applicable.

● Time saving device: Time to deliver; to communicate is minimized by this. Response is

direct and immediate without any delay. Beforehand the postal services, fax was one way
communication and was time consuming. Phones provided two way communications but
resume management, communicating worldwide were not possible.

● Widens the search: In the era of globalization the reach cannot be restricted at one place. It
provides global reach that also within a fraction of second. Truly the process supports the
definition of recruitment by creating a vast pool of potential candidates.

● Provides clarity: Advertisements in employment news, other newspapers, magazines will

have word limit, thus sometimes is misinterpreted. For an example a company
advertisement announced vacancy for computer skilled person which was interpreted as
MIS job which was rather a job for computer skilled receptionist. The advertisement was not
clear enough to explain the full profile. In internet the word limitation is not there, the idea,
opinion, profile can be expressed as anyone like.

● Scope for better match: Information in detail is provided with clarity therefore suitable
candidate match is possible. The search is widened link with other websites are possible,
these attracts the candidates and after the job profile matches, the candidates apply.

● Standardization: The information of the candidates are collected in a standard format.

Beside collecting the data it also consolidates information received from various sources.

● Reservoir: It acts as the reservoir of information. From the job profile to candidate profile
is available along with past applicant data.

● Lessen paper work: As the data collection, filing, administrative work are done
electronically thus paper work or documentation has been lessened.

DRAWBACKS OF E-RECRUITMENT

● Require being computer savvy: The process is restricted within computer savvy
candidates. As the search is based on various websites, their screening, keywords
application demands for a computer savvy person and company.

● Legal consequences: Alike other recruitment sources this source also should be aware of
the words used in the advertisements otherwise it may lead to the charge of discrimination.
For example, Disney World was sued for screening the resumes preferring the key words
used by whites.

● Vast pool of applicants: This benefits the Organizations as well as it is disadvantage to

them also. Because the huge database cannot be scanned in depth. Either first few
candidates are called for interview or the resumes are screened based on some key words.
On the other hand applicants also face global competition.

● Non-serious applicants: Lot of applicants forward their resumes just to know their market
value. As personally the candidates are not checked thus whether they are serious is not
known. At the time of interview the recruiter might realize that the candidate is not serious
in leaving the current job. But by that time some serious candidates might have been
rejected.

● Disclosure of information: Candidates profile and company details are available to

public. The applicants do not want their employer to know that they are looking for a
change. Phone number, address information has lead to many security problems. Again the
companies do not want their competitors always to know the current scenario.

MODERN TRENDS OF E-RECRUITMENT

● Speedy communication: Company and the prospective employee can communicate with
each other via the blogs. Thus blogs, podcasts, vodcasts are being considered a tool of e-
recruitmant. No more the process can be blamed for being one way communication like
mails, faxes only being speedy as done electronically. Podcasts are the services of digital
media files. Vodcasts are the video podcasts.

● Candidate’s preference: History states that employers had the privilege to be selective in
hiring process, especially in screening resumes but were not always fair. Because of the time
constraint it was not possible to go through all the applications. Today the candidates can
choose their employers as not only the financial state is known to them but also the culture
is known. Applying for the Organization will no more be influenced only by the image.

● Search engine advertisement: Print ad is phasing out due the popularity of search engine
ads. Pay-per-click is not only convenient but also more attractive.

● RSS feed: Job boards are embracing RSS feed. Hotjobs, Google deserves special mention.
Google offers one to upload the jobs on Google Base even when one doesn‟t have their own
site. RSS can be read using software “RSS reader”. It is a family of web feed formats use to
publish frequently updated works. Such as blog entries, news headlines in a standard
format.

CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVE E-RECRUITMENT

● The requirement for it is to benefit the selection procedure. Thus to make the process
effective, the Organizations should be concerned about various factors. Among them most
important are- Return on investment (ROI) should be calculated to compare the costs and
risks. It facilitates to evaluate benefits and to calculate the estimated return.

● Recruitment policy should be flexible and proactive, to adapt market changes. The
companies will have their own mix and match sources according their objective. The
guidelines to be provided in the policy.

● Unemployment rate, labor turnover rate are considered. As the whole process depends on
the availability of candidates in the market. For every post, position it is not viable to spend
too much of time. These rates will determine whether to be stringent or lenient.

● Impact of supplying compensation details to be considered. That is the wage, salary,

benefits, when disclosed on line then it should follow the legal norms. Chance for
negotiation will not be there. Compensation rate of the company not only reaches to the
candidates but will be known to all.

● Precautions to be taken for resume screening. Words that discriminates gender, age,
religion etc to be avoided. For an example, „recent‟ college graduates only in an ad are not
preferable.

● Review the results periodically and also update regularly to achieve a better result.
Otherwise pool of candidates will remain static and will not serve the purpose.

● Organizations need to selective while choosing the sites. It refers to whether it is required
to be giving to the job search sites like www.monster.com or in their own site. When special
skill candidates are searched then generic job search sites to be avoided.

CONCLUSION Traditional methods should not be replaced by the e-recruitment, it should

supplement. The loopholes of e-recruitment can be covered by the traditional methods and
recruitment process will be faster, global due to e-recruitment. One method should not
replace the other. When two vacancies are there and two candidates are available the
companies do not have much choice, thus they prefer to widen their search and attracts
numerous applications. But when for two vacancies a company receive 2000 application, the
in depth screening process is not possible. While other methods like campus interview,
internal search has a personal touch. But receiving application in hand, communicating with
candidates becomes time consuming without internet.

Cisco2 a global infotech player has gained competitive edge by their creative mix and match
of different recruitment sources. They changed the newspaper advertisement by availing
their internet address and inviting for application without giving the job profile. Another
innovation was clubbing employee‟s referral with internet. Cisco thought information about
them when provided by the friends, will be more approachable. They launched friends
program in 1996. Informal sources of information like referrals, word of mouth are also
being used in various IT companies, such as IBM, WIPRO. Cisco observed they are hiring
1000 employees every three months of 1999, hundreds of positions still to be fulfilled. They
formed focus groups who targeted the senior engineers and marketing professionals of
other companies to find out how they spend their free time. The survey showed that
„corporate cartoon Dilbert” website is extremely popular as watching movie was the
preference. They linked with the webpage. The website offered fill in resumes online or
create a resume using their resume builder which appealed both active and passive job
seekers. Their hiring cycle came down to 45 days from 68 days. By late 1999, job page of
Cisco was recording around 500,000 applications per month. By 2001, referrals with the
Friends program accounted for 50-60% of new employees. Speedy global reach when
supported with traditional methods will serve the objectivity of hiring process; Cisco
deserves special mention regarding this.

s each week, month, and year go by, more and more people are beginning to use the online
recruitment agencies more. In fact, most people are now using online recruiting agencies to
find jobs!

For many people that are looking for interesting jobs, using an online recruitment agency is
one for sure way. In fact, most online recruitment agencies will list any job provided that
they listing are being paid for; and of course if it is a real job!

As people are looking for jobs, the online recruitment industry, India internet penetration is
becoming very popular. In fact, with the online recruitment industry, India internet
penetration is making many companies lots of money. In fact, some of the companies are
now worth millions of dollars!

The online recruitment industry India internet penetration is not only known in India, but it
is known in many other countries. In fact, it is known by many online recruiting agencies
that the online recruitment industry: India internet penetration is one of the biggest
agencies. Along with it being one of the biggest online recruitment agencies, it is one of the
most used online recruitment industry. India internet penetration is at one of the highest
records to date. In fact, many people are now using the online recruitment industry India
internet penetration for more than jobs! In deed, many people are beginning to use the India
internet penetration for many things, and shopping is one of them!

Over the last seven years, the India internet penetration had jumped up from being at .1% to
4.5% in 2005 for people using the internet; in India. In fact, India is now in 4th place for
people using the internet. For India being that high in the percentage of countries using the
internet, that country can‟t be that bad off! However, there are many parts of the country
that can not use the internet to look at the online recruitment agencies! From 2005 to 2007,
internet use was expected to climb over 100 million people!

Not only has the India internet penetration helped bring more people to the internet, but it
also helped many companies stay afloat! By that, more and more people are using the
internet for jobs as well as shopping. In fact, most often when people are finding jobs in
India it is due to the internet and the online recruitment agencies. In fact, if it were not for
many of the online recruitment agencies, many of the companies would not be able to fill
their positions!

In India, the online recruitment industry as well as the internet penetration is very important
to the country! In fact, much of the country would not be able to survive without the internet
or the worker from the internet agencies!
2) Question 2 on HRM
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Performance Appraisal is an objective system to judge the ability of an individual employee

to perform his tasks. A good performance appraisal system should focus on the individual
and his development, besides helping him to achieve the desired performance. This means
that while the results are important the organization should also examine and prepare its
human capital to achieve this result. This holds true even for new inductees.

There is a strong linkage between induction, training and appraisal. In a large number of
firms worldwide, a new recruit is expected to discuss his schedule of work in achieving his
induction objective. This schedule of work becomes a part of his job for the next few months.

Objectives of Appraisal

Almost all organizations practice performance appraisal in one form or another to achieve
certain objectives. These objectives may vary from organization to organization or even
within the same organization from time to time. It has been found that there are two
primary objectives behind the use of this methodology. One is to use it as an evaluation
system and second, to use it as a feedback system.

The aim of the evaluation system is to identify the performance gap. This means that it helps
determine the gap between the actual performance of the employee and that required or
desired by the organization.

The aim of the feedback system is to inform the employee about the quality of his work or
performance. This is an interactive process by which the employee can also speak about his
problems to his superior.

An effective performance appraisal system should emphasis individual objectives,

organizational objectives and also mutual objectives. From the viewpoint of individual
objective the performance appraisal should talk about

a) What task the individual is expected to do?

b) How well the individual has done the task?
c) How can his performance be further improved?
d) His reward for doing well.

From the organizational view point a performance appraisal should generate manpower
information, improve efficiency and effectiveness serve as a mechanism of control and
provide a rational compensation structure. In short the appraisal system establishes and
upholds the principle of accountability in the absence of which organization failure is the
only possible outcome.
Finally, talking about mutual goals, the emphasis is on growth and development, harmony,
effectiveness and profitability.

Performance Management and Performance Appraisal

Many people mistake performance appraisal for performance management. Actually,

performance management is a much bigger system, and is much more valuable to managers
and companies (and employees) than performance appraisal. The essential components or
parts of an effective performance management system include:

 Performance Planning (includes employee goal setting / objective setting)

 Ongoing Performance Communication
 Data Gathering, Observation and Documentation
 Performance Appraisal Meetings
 Performance Diagnosis and Coaching

Performance Management is an ongoing process of measuring and adjusting performance

continually focusing on behaviors throughout the year. It is a continuous process not an
event. It is not the same as performance appraisal, which is an assessment of the employee‟s
performance by both the employee and his superior jointly, with the purpose of allocating a
score that may be used for both development and salary or promotion purposes.

Performance Management includes Performance Appraisal as one of its elements.

Performance Management should became part of day to day workplace behavior. Some
organizations have adopted an online Performance Management system. Going online with
performance management puts ownership of the process in the hands of the individual as
opposed to the traditional manager driven system. It allows direct communication between
the individual and the manager via online journals at times convenient to both. It links
performance with the individual‟s learning and development plans and also to the
organizational goals, values and competencies.

In fact performance appraisal is the least important component of a performance

management system. To quote Robert Bacal „If all you do is appraisal -- if you don't do planning
and have ongoing communication, collect data, and diagnose problems, you are wasting your time.‟
In fact it's even worse than that. If all you do is performance appraisal, you will almost be
guaranteed that morale will suffer, performance problems will increase, and the manager's
job will become much harder.

[edit] Aims

Generally, the aims of a performance appraisal are to:

 Give employees feedback on performance

 Identify employee training needs
 Document criteria used to allocate organizational rewards
 Form a basis for personnel decisions: salary increases, promotions, disciplinary
actions, bonuses, etc.
 Provide the opportunity for organizational diagnosis and development
 Facilitate communication between employee and administration
 Validate selection techniques and human resource policies to meet federal Equal
Employment Opportunity requirements.
 To improve performance through counseling, coaching and development.
 Performance Appraisal

The history of performance appraisal is quite brief. Its roots in the early 20th century
can be traced to Taylor's pioneering Time and Motion studies. But this is not very
helpful, for the same may be said about almost everything in the field of modern
human resources management.

As a distinct and formal management procedure used in the evaluation of work

performance, appraisal really dates from the time of the Second World War - not
more than 60 years ago.

Yet in a broader sense, the practice of appraisal is a very ancient art. In the scale of
things historical, it might well lay claim to being the world's second oldest
profession!

There is, says Dulewicz (1989), "... a basic human tendency to make judgements
about those one is working with, as well as about oneself." Appraisal, it seems, is
both inevitable and universal. In the absence of a carefully structured system of
appraisal, people will tend to judge the work performance of others, including
subordinates, naturally, informally and arbitrarily.
 The human inclination to judge can create serious motivational, ethical and legal
problems in the workplace. Without a structured appraisal system, there is little
chance of ensuring that the judgements made will be lawful, fair, defensible and
accurate.

Performance appraisal systems began as simple methods of income justification. That

is, appraisal was used to decide whether or not the salary or wage of an individual
employee was justified.
 The process was firmly linked to material outcomes. If an employee's performance
was found to be less than ideal, a cut in pay would follow. On the other hand, if their
performance was better than the supervisor expected, a pay rise was in order.
 Little consideration, if any, was given to the developmental possibilities of appraisal.
If was felt that a cut in pay, or a rise, should provide the only required impetus for an
employee to either improve or continue to perform well.

Sometimes this basic system succeeded in getting the results that were intended; but
more often than not, it failed.

For example, early motivational researchers were aware that different people with
roughly equal work abilities could be paid the same amount of money and yet have
quite different levels of motivation and performance.

These observations were confirmed in empirical studies. Pay rates were important,
yes; but they were not the only element that had an impact on employee
performance. It was found that other issues, such as morale and self-esteem, could
also have a major influence.
 As a result, the traditional emphasis on reward outcomes was progressively rejected.
In the 1950s in the United States, the potential usefulness of appraisal as tool for
motivation and development was gradually recognized. The general model of
performance appraisal, as it is known today, began from that time.

Modern Appraisal
Performance appraisal may be defined as a structured formal interaction between a
subordinate and supervisor, that usually takes the form of a periodic interview
(annual or semi-annual), in which the work performance of the subordinate is
examined and discussed, with a view to identifying weaknesses and strengths as
well as opportunities for improvement and skills development.
 In many organizations - but not all - appraisal results are used, either directly or
indirectly, to help determine reward outcomes. That is, the appraisal results are used
to identify the better performing employees who should get the majority of available
merit pay increases, bonuses, and promotions.

By the same token, appraisal results are used to identify the poorer performers who
may require some form of counseling, or in extreme cases, demotion, dismissal or
decreases in pay. (Organizations need to be aware of laws in their country that might
restrict their capacity to dismiss employees or decrease pay.)

Whether this is an appropriate use of performance appraisal - the assignment and

justification of rewards and penalties - is a very uncertain and contentious matter.

Controversy, Controversy
Few issues in management stir up more controversy than performance appraisal.

There are many reputable sources - researchers, management commentators,

psychometricians - who have expressed doubts about the validity and reliability of
the performance appraisal process. Some have even suggested that the process is so
inherently flawed that it may be impossible to perfect it (see Derven, 1990, for
example).

At the other extreme, there are many strong advocates of performance appraisal.
Some view it as potentially "... the most crucial aspect of organizational life" (Lawrie,
1990).
 Between these two extremes lie various schools of belief. While all endorse the use of
performance appraisal, there are many different opinions on how and when to apply
it.

There are those, for instance, who believe that performance appraisal has many
important employee development uses, but scorn any attempt to link the process to
reward outcomes - such as pay rises and promotions.

This group believes that the linkage to reward outcomes reduces or eliminates the
developmental value of appraisals. Rather than an opportunity for constructive
review and encouragement, the reward-linked process is perceived as judgmental,
punitive and harrowing.

For example, how many people would gladly admit their work problems if, at the
same time, they knew that their next pay rise or a much-wanted promotion was
 riding on an appraisal result? Very likely, in that situation, many people would deny
or downplay their weaknesses.

Nor is the desire to distort or deny the truth confined to the person being appraised.
Many appraisers feel uncomfortable with the combined role of judge and
executioner.
 Such reluctance is not difficult to understand. Appraisers often know their
appraisees well, and are typically in a direct subordinate-supervisor relationship.
They work together on a daily basis and may, at times, mix socially. Suggesting that
a subordinate needs to brush up on certain work skills is one thing; giving an
appraisal result that has the direct effect of negating a promotion is another.
 The result can be resentment and serious morale damage, leading to workplace
disruption, soured relationships and productivity declines.
 On the other hand, there is a strong rival argument which claims that performance
appraisal must unequivocally be linked to reward outcomes.
 The advocates of this approach say that organizations must have a process by which
rewards - which are not an unlimited resource - may be openly and fairly distributed
to those most deserving on the basis of merit, effort and results.
 There is a critical need for remunerative justice in organizations. Performance
appraisal - whatever its practical flaws - is the only process available to help achieve
fair, decent and consistent reward outcomes.
 It has also been claimed that appraisees themselves are inclined to believe that
appraisal results should be linked directly to reward outcomes - and are suspicious
and disappointed when told this is not the case. Rather than feeling relieved,
appraisees may suspect that they are not being told the whole truth, or that the
appraisal process is a sham and waste of time.

The Link to Rewards

Research (Bannister & Balkin, 1990) has reported that appraisees seem to have
greater acceptance of the appraisal process, and feel more satisfied with it, when the
process is directly linked to rewards. Such findings are a serious challenge to those
who feel that appraisal results and reward outcomes must be strictly isolated from
each other.
 There is also a group who argues that the evaluation of employees for reward
purposes, and frank communication with them about their performance, are part of
the basic responsibilities of management. The practice of not discussing reward
issues while appraising performance is, say critics, based on inconsistent and
muddled ideas of motivation.
 In many organizations, this inconsistency is aggravated by the practice of having
separate wage and salary reviews, in which merit rises and bonuses are decided
arbitrarily, and often secretly, by supervisors and managers.

 Benefits of Appraisal

Perhaps the most significant benefit of appraisal is that, in the rush and bustle of
daily working life, it offers a rare chance for a supervisor and subordinate to have
"time out" for a one-on-one discussion of important work issues that might not
otherwise be addressed.
 Almost universally, where performance appraisal is conducted properly, both
supervisors and subordinates have reported the experience as beneficial and
positive.
 Appraisal offers a valuable opportunity to focus on work activities and goals, to
identify and correct existing problems, and to encourage better future performance.
Thus the performance of the whole organization is enhanced.
 For many employees, an "official" appraisal interview may be the only time they get
to have exclusive, uninterrupted access to their supervisor. Said one employee of a
large organization after his first formal performance appraisal, "In twenty years of
work, that's the first time anyone has ever bothered to sit down and tell me how I'm
doing."
 The value of this intense and purposeful interaction between a supervisors and
subordinate should not be underestimated.

Motivation and Satisfaction

Performance appraisal can have a profound effect on levels of employee motivation
and satisfaction - for better as well as for worse.
 Performance appraisal provides employees with recognition for their work efforts.
The power of social recognition as an incentive has been long noted. In fact, there is
evidence that human beings will even prefer negative recognition in preference to no
recognition at all.
 If nothing else, the existence of an appraisal program indicates to an employee that
the organization is genuinely interested in their individual performance and
development. This alone can have a positive influence on the individual's sense of
worth, commitment and belonging.
 The strength and prevalence of this natural human desire for individual recognition
should not be overlooked. Absenteeism and turnover rates in some organizations
might be greatly reduced if more attention were paid to it. Regular performance
appraisal, at least, is a good start.

Training and Development

Performance appraisal offers an excellent opportunity - perhaps the best that will
ever occur - for a supervisor and subordinate to recognize and agree upon individual
training and development needs.
 During the discussion of an employee's work performance, the presence or absence
of work skills can become very obvious - even to those who habitually reject the idea
of training for them!
 Performance appraisal can make the need for training more pressing and relevant by
linking it clearly to performance outcomes and future career aspirations.
 From the point of view of the organization as a whole, consolidated appraisal data
can form a picture of the overall demand for training. This data may be analysed by
variables such as sex, department, etc. In this respect, performance appraisal can
provide a regular and efficient training needs audit for the entire organization.

Recruitment and Induction

Appraisal data can be used to monitor the success of the organization's recruitment
and induction practices. For example, how well are the employees performing who
were hired in the past two years?
 Appraisal data can also be used to monitor the effectiveness of changes in
recruitment strategies. By following the yearly data related to new hires (and given
sufficient numbers on which to base the analysis) it is possible to assess whether the
general quality of the workforce is improving, staying steady, or declining.
 Employee Evaluation
Though often understated or even denied, evaluation is a legitimate and major
objective of performance appraisal.
 But the need to evaluate (i.e., to judge) is also an ongoing source of tension, since
evaluative and developmental priorities appear to frequently clash. Yet at its most
basic level, performance appraisal is the process of examining and evaluating the
performance of an individual.
 Though organizations have a clear right - some would say a duty - to conduct such
evaluations of performance, many still recoil from the idea. To them, the explicit
process of judgement can be dehumanizing and demoralizing and a source of
anxiety and distress to employees.
 It is been said by some that appraisal cannot serve the needs of evaluation and
development at the same time; it must be one or the other.
 But there may be an acceptable middle ground, where the need to evaluate
employees objectively, and the need to encourage and develop them, can be
balanced.


 Common Mistakes
 Where performance appraisal fails to work as well as it should, lack of support from
the top levels of management is often cited as a major contributing reason.
 Opposition may be based on political motives, or more simply, on ignorance or
disbelief in the effectiveness of the appraisal process.
 It is crucial that top management believe in the value of appraisal and express their
visible commitment to it. Top managers are powerful role models for other managers
and employees.
 Those attempting to introduce performance appraisal, or even to reform an existing
system, must be acutely aware of the importance of political issues and symbolism in
the success of such projects.

Fear of Failure
There is a stubborn suspicion among many appraisers that a poor appraisal result
tends to reflect badly upon them also, since they are usually the employee's
supervisor. Many appraisers have a vested interest in making their subordinates
"look good" on paper.
 When this problem exists (and it can be found in many organizations), it may point
to a problem in the organization culture. The cause may be a culture that is intolerant
of failure. In other words, appraisers may fear the possibility of repercussions - both
for themselves and the appraisee.
 Longenecker (1989) argues that accuracy in performance appraisal is impossible to
achieve, since people play social and political games, and they protect their own
interests. "No savvy manager...", says Longenecker, "... is going to use the appraisal
process to shoot himself or herself in the foot."
 No matter what safeguards are in place, "... when you turn managers loose in the real
world, they consciously fudge the numbers." What Longenecker is saying is that
 appraisers will, for all sorts of reasons, deliberately distort the evaluations that they
give to employees.
 Indeed, surveys have shown that not only do many managers admit to a little
fudging, they actually defend it as a tactic necessary for effective management.
 The fudging motives of appraisers have, at times, a certain plausibility. For instance,
a supervisor who has given an overly generous appraisal to a marginal performer
might claim that their 'legitimate' motive was the hope of encouraging a better
performance.
 On the other hand, fudging motives can be a lot less admirable and sometimes
devious: the appraiser who fudges to avoid the possibility of an unpleasant
confrontation, the appraiser who fudges to hide employee difficulties from senior
managers, the appraiser who fudges in order to punish or reward employees.

Judgement Aversion
Many people have a natural reluctance to "play judge" and create a permanent
record which may affect an employee's future career. This is the case especially
where there may be a need to make negative appraisal remarks.
 Training in the techniques of constructive evaluation (such as self-auditing) may
help. Appraisers need to recognize that problems left unchecked could ultimately
cause more harm to an employee's career than early detection and correction.

Organizations might consider the confidential archiving of appraisal records more

than, say, three years old.

Feedback-Seeking
Larson (1989) has described a social game played by poor performers. Many
supervisors will recognize the game at once and may have been its victims.
 The game is called feedback-seeking. It occurs where a poor performing employee
regularly seeks informal praise from his or her supervisor at inappropriate moments.
 Often the feedback-seeker will get the praise they want, since they choose the time
and place to ask for it. In effect, they "ambush" the supervisor by seeking feedback at
moments when the supervisor is unable or unprepared to give them a full and
proper answer, or in settings that are inappropriate for a frank assessment.
 The supervisor may feel "put on the spot", but will often provide a few encouraging
words of support. The game seems innocent enough until appraisal time comes
around. Then the supervisor will find that the employee recalls, with perfect clarity,
every casual word of praise ever spoken!
 This places the supervisor in a difficult bind. Either the supervisor lied when giving
the praise, or least, misled the employee into thinking that their performance was
acceptable (in fact, this is the argument that feedback-seekers will often make).
 The aim of the game is that the feedback- seeker wants to deflect responsibility for
their own poor performance. They also seek to bolster their appraisal rating by
bringing in all the "evidence" of casual praise. Very often the feedback seeker will
succeed in making the supervisor feel at least partly responsible. As a result, their
appraisal result may be upgraded.
 Was the supervisor partly responsible? Not really. The truth of the matter is that they
have been "blackmailed" by a subtle social game. But like most social games, the play
depends on the unconscious participation of both sides. Making supervisors aware
of the game is usually sufficient to stop it. They must learn to say, when asked for
casual praise, "I can't talk about it now... but see me in my office later."
 This puts the supervisor back in control of the appraisal process.

Appraiser Preparation
The bane of any performance appraisal system is the appraiser who wants to "play it
by ear". Such attitudes should be actively discouraged by stressing the importance
and technical challenge of good performance appraisal. Perhaps drawing their
attention to the contents of this web site, for example, may help them to see the
critical issues that must be considered.

Employee Participation
Employees should participate with their supervisors in the creation of their own
performance goals and development plans. Mutual agreement is a key to success. A
plan wherein the employee feels some degree of ownership is more likely to be
accepted than one that is imposed. This does not mean that employees do not desire
guidance from their supervisor; indeed they very much do.

Performance Management
One of the most common mistakes in the practice of performance appraisal is to
perceive appraisal as an isolated event rather than an ongoing process.
 Employees generally require more feedback, and more frequently, than can be
provided in an annual appraisal. While it may not be necessary to conduct full
appraisal sessions more than once or twice a year, performance management should
be viewed as an ongoing process.
 Frequent mini-appraisals and feedback sessions will help ensure that employees
receive the ongoing guidance, support and encouragement they need.
 Of course many supervisors complain they don't have the time to provide this sort of
ongoing feedback. This is hardly likely. What supervisors really mean when they say
this is that the supervision and development of subordinates is not as high a priority
as certain other tasks.
 In this case, the organization may need to review the priorities and values that it has
instilled in its supervisory ranks. After all, supervisors who haven't got time to
monitor and facilitate the performance of their subordinates are like chefs who
haven't got time to cook, or dentists who are too busy to look at teeth. It just doesn't
make sense.
 If appraisal is viewed as an isolated event, it is only natural that supervisors will
come to view their responsibilities in the same way. Just as worrying, employees
may come to see their own effort and commitment levels as something that needs a
bit of a polish up in the month or two preceding appraisals.


 Bias Effects

Gabris & Mitchell have reported a disruptive bias in performance appraisal known
as the Matthew Effect.
 It is named after the Matthew of biblical fame who wrote, "To him who has shall be
given, and he shall have abundance: but from him who does not have, even that
which he has shall be taken away."
 In performance appraisal the Matthew Effect is said to occur where employees tend
to keep receiving the same appraisal results, year in and year out. That is, their
appraisal results tend to become self-fulfilling: if they have done well, they will
continue to do well; if they have done poorly, they will continue to do poorly.
 The Matthew Effect suggests that no matter how hard an employee strives, their past
appraisal records will prejudice their future attempts to improve.
 There is other research to support the theory that poor performers might not be
given a fair chance to improve. A study of supervisors in nearly 40 different
organizations found that subordinates tend to be divided into two groups: in-
groupers and out-groupers.
 This study, by Heneman, Greenberger & Anonyou (1989) reported that ingroupers
are subordinates who seem to be favored by their supervisors. In their relationship
with the boss, they enjoy "a high degree of trust, interaction, support and rewards."
 On the other hand, outgroupers don't do as well. They appear to be permanently out
of favor and are likely to bear the brunt of supervisory distrust and criticism. The
effect is therefore similar to the horns and halo effect; supervisors tend to judge
employees as either good or bad, and then seek evidence that supports that opinion.
 It was found that when an ingrouper did poorly on a task, supervisors tended to
overlook the failure or attribute to causes such as bad luck or bad timing; when they
did well, their success was attributed to effort and ability.
 But when a outgrouper performed well, it was rarely attributed to their effort or
ability. And when an outgrouper performed poorly, there was little hesitation it
citing the cause as laziness or incompetence.
 It is not clear how supervisors make the distinction between ingroupers and
outgroupers. Whatever the criteria, it is clearly not objective, equitable or reliable.
 This bias must inevitably lead to a distortion of the appraisal process. It must also be
a source of frustration for those employees who are discriminated against.

Frustration
The extent of this frustration was explored by Gabris & Mitchell. They studied an
organization with a quarterly performance appraisal system. The workforce was
divided into two groups: those who had been given high appraisal results
consistently, and those who had low results consistently.
 When the groups were asked if the appraisal system was fair and equitable, 63 per
cent of the high performers agreed, compared to only 5 per cent of the lower
performers.
 The groups were asked if their supervisors listened to them. Of the high performers,
69 per cent said yes, while among the low performers, 95 per cent said no.
 Finally, when asked if their supervisors were supportive, nearly half of the high
performers agreed that they were, while none (nil, zilch, zero!) of the low performers
agreed.
 Of course, not everyone who gets a poor appraisal result is a victim of supervisory
bias. Nor are all supervisors prone to making the same degree of ingroup and
outgroup distinction. The effects discussed here are tendencies, not immutable
effects.
 But to some extent, it appears that certain employees may be unfairly advantaged,
while others are disadvantaged, by bias effects in the judgements of supervisors.
 It is a cardinal principle of performance appraisal that employees should have the
chance to improve their appraisal results - especially if their past results have not
been so good. It is a very serious flaw in the process of appraisal if this principle is
denied in practice.
 There are reasonable steps which can be taken to limit the effects of supervisory bias.

Awareness Training
The first line of defence lies in raising awareness of the problem. Supervisors need to
 be informed of the types of subtle bias that can interfere with their performance as
appraisers. They need to understand that the ingroup/outgroup bias, for instance,
reduces the morale and motivation of their subordinates.

Developing Poor Performers

Incentives, financial or non-financial, may offered to encourage supervisors to make
special efforts to help poor performers improve. Supervisory appraisals, for example,
might stress the importance of working with poor performers to upgrade their
performance. The possibilities are extensive.

Counselling, Transfer, Termination

There is always the possibility that an employee who receives poor appraisal results
is in fact a chronic poor performer. No employer is obliged to tolerate poor
performance forever. Consistently poor appraisal results will indicate a need for
counselling, transfer or termination. The exact remedy will depend on the
circumstances.