A study on performance appraisal of employees with special reference to ETA star property developers ltd NEED FOR THE

STUDY: This study has been carried out to learn the Performance Appraisal System. This study provides information about the performance ranks on which decision regarding salary fixation, promotion, transfer and demotion are taken. It provides feedback which council the subordinates, provide information to diagnose, deficiency in employees skill and knowledge determining training and development needs. To provide information to prevent grievances. It provides a formal, recorded, regular review of an individual's performance, and a plan for future development.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY: The study helps to identify the best appraisal techniques which is more comfort and satisfactory to the employees. This study helps to know about target fixation and also level of achievement by the employees. The management can identify the various factors that motivate the employee to increase the productivity. The appropriate performance reward may help the employees in obtaining job satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: PRIMARY; To study and understand the performance appraisal procedure practiced in ETA star property developers.

SECONDARY: To know the employees awareness and level of satisfaction about the performance appraisal method practiced in the organization. To assess the factors influencing the performance of employees. To create and maintain a satisfactory level of performance. To improve the performance of employees and thereby increasing the overall performance of the company. To provide suggestions based on findings.

LIMITATIONS: The study was conducted only in ETA STAR PROPERTY DEVELOPERS CHENNAI, hence limiting the scope of findings only to it. The respondents were busy with their job so they found less time to interact with the researcher.

INTRODUCTION: Performance appraisals of Employees are necessary to understand each employees abilities, competencies and relative merit and worth for the organization. Performance appraisal rates the employees in terms of their performance. The history can be dated back to the 20th century and then to the second world war when the merit rating was used for the first time. An employer evaluating their employees is a very old concept. It is an indispensable part of performance measurement. Performance appraisal is necessary to measure the performance of the employees and the organization to check the progress towards the desired goals and aims. The latest mantra being followed by organizations across the world being "get paid according to what you contribute" the focus of the organizations is turning to performance management and specifically to individual performance. Performance appraisal helps to rate the performance of the employees and evaluate their contribution towards the organizational goals. If the process of performance appraisals is formal and properly structured, it helps the employees to clearly understand their roles and responsibilities and give direction to the individuals performance. It helps to align the individual performances with the organizational goals and also review their performance. Performance appraisal takes into account the past performance of the employees and focuses on the improvement of the future performance of the employees. Objectives of Performance appraisal:

To review the performance of the employees over a given period of time. To judge the gap between the actual and the desired performance. To help the management in exercising organizational control. Helps to strengthen the relationship and communication between superior subordinates and management employees. To diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals so as to identify the training and development needs of the future. To provide feedback to the employees regarding their past performance. Provide information to assist in the other personal decisions in the organization. Provide clarity of the expectations and responsibilities of the functions to be performed by the employees. To judge the effectiveness of the other human resource functions of the organization such as recruitment, selection, training and development. To reduce the grievances of the employees.

ESTABLISHING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS The first step in the process of performance appraisal is the setting up of the standards which will be used to as the base to compare the actual performance of the employees. This step requires setting the criteria to judge the performance of the employees as successful or unsuccessful and the degrees of their contribution to the organizational goals and objectives. The standards set should be clear, easily understandable and in measurable terms. In case the performance of the employee cannot be measured, great care should be taken to describe the standards. COMMUNICATING THE STANDARDS Once set, it is the responsibility of the management to communicate the standards to all the employees of the organization. The employees should be informed and the standards should be clearly explained to the. This will help them to understand their roles and to know what exactly is expected from them. The standards should also be communicated to the appraisers or the evaluators and if required, the standards can also be modified at this stage itself according to the relevant feedback from the employees or the evaluators.

MEASURING THE ACTUAL PERFORMANCE The most difficult part of the Performance appraisal process is measuring the actual performance of the employees that is the work done by the employees during the specified period of time. It is a continuous process which involves monitoring the performance

throughout the year. This stage requires the careful selection of the appropriate techniques of measurement, taking care that personal bias does not affect the outcome of the process and providing assistance rather than interfering in an employees work. COMPARING THE ACTUAL WITH THE DESIRED PERFORMANCE The actual performance is compared with the desired or the standard performance. The comparison tells the deviations in the performance of the employees from the standards set. The result can show the actual performance being more than the desired performance or, the actual performance being less than the desired performance depicting a negative deviation in the organizational performance. It includes recalling, evaluating and analysis of data related to the employees performance. DISCUSSING RESULTS The result of the appraisal is communicated and discussed with the employees on one-to-one basis. The focus of this discussion is on communication and listening. The results, the problems and the possible solutions are discussed with the aim of problem solving and reaching consensus. The feedback should be given with a positive attitude as this can have an effect on the employees future performance. The purpose of the meeting should be to solve the problems faced and motivate the employees to perform better. DECISION MAKING The last step of the process is to take decisions which can be taken either to improve the performance of the employees, take the required corrective actions, or the related HR decisions like rewards, promotions, demotions, transfers etc. Essentials of a Good Performance Appraisal System: 1.Standardized Performance Appraisal System2 . U n i f o r m i t y o f a p p r a i s a l s 3 . D e f i n e d performance standards4 . T r a i n e d R a t e r s 5.Use of relevant rating tools or methods6.Should be based on job analysis7.Use of objectively verifiable d a t a 8.Avoid rating problems like halo effect, central tendency, leniency, severity etc.9 . C o n s i s t e n t D o c u m e n t a t i o n s m a i n t a i n e d 10.No room for discrimination based on cast, creed, race, religion, region etc The essentials of an effective performance system are as follows: Documentation means continuous noting and documenting the performance. It also helps the evaluators to give a proof and the basis of their ratings. Standards / Goals the standards set should be clear, easy to understand, achievable, motivating, time bound and measurable. Practical and simple format - The appraisal format should be simple, clear, fair and objective. Long and complicated formats are time consuming, difficult to understand, and do not elicit much useful information.

Evaluation technique An appropriate evaluation technique should be selected; the appraisal system should be performance based and uniform. The criteria for evaluation should be based on observable and measurable characteristics of the behavior of the employee. Communication Communication is an indispensable part of the Performance appraisalprocess. The desired behavior or the expected results should be communicated to the employees as well as the evaluators. Communication also plays an important role in the review or feedback meeting. Open communication system motivates the employees to actively participate in the appraisal process. Feedback The purpose of the feedback should be developmental rather than judgmental. To maintain its utility, timely feedback should be provided to the employees and the manner of giving feedback should be such that it should have a motivating effect on the employees future performance. Personal Bias Interpersonal relationships can influence the evaluation and the decisions in the performance appraisal process. Therefore, the evaluators should be trained to carry out the processes of appraisals without personal bias and effectively. Challenges Of Performance Appraisal An organization comes across various problems and challenges Of Performance Appraisal in order to make a performance appraisal system effective and successful. The main Performance Appraisal challenges involved in the performance are: Determining the evaluation criteria Identification of the appraisal criteria is one of the biggest problems faced by the top management. The performance data to be considered for evaluation should be carefully selected. For the purpose of evaluation, the criteria selected should be in quantifiable or measurable terms Create a rating instrument The purpose of the Performance appraisal process is to judge the performance of the employees rather than the employee. The focus of the system should be on the development of the employees of the organization. Lack of competence Top management should choose the raters or the evaluators carefully. They should have the required expertise and the knowledge to decide the criteria accurately. They should have the experience and the necessary training to carry out the appraisal process objectively. Many errors based on the personal bias like stereotyping, halo effect (i.e. one trait influencing the evaluators rating for all other traits) etc. may creep in the appraisal process. Therefore the rater should exercise objectivity and fairness in evaluating and rating the performance of the employees. Resistance The appraisal process may face resistance from the employees and the trade unions for the fear of negative ratings. Therefore, the employees should be communicated and clearly explained

the purpose as well the process of appraisal. The standards should be clearly communicated and every employee should be made aware that what exactly is expected from him/her.
Purpose Of Performance Appraisal

Performance Appraisal is being practiced in 90% of the organizations worldwide. Selfappraisal and potential appraisal also form a part of the performance appraisal processes. To judge the gap between the actual and the desired performance. To help the management in exercising organizational control. To diagnose the training and development needs of the future. Provide information to assist in the HR decisions like promotions, transfers etc. Provide clarity of the expectations and responsibilities of the functions to be performed by the employees. To judge the effectiveness of the other human resource functions of the organization such as recruitment, selection, training and development. To reduce the grievances of the employees. Helps to strengthen the relationship and communication between superior subordinates and management employees.

1. ESSAY APPRAISAL METHOD This traditional form of appraisal, also known as "Free Form method" involves a description of the performance of an employee by his superior. The description is an evaluation of the performance of any individual based on the facts and often includes examples and evidences to support the information. A major drawback of the method is the inseparability of the bias of the evaluator. 2. STRAIGHT RANKING METHOD This is one of the oldest and simplest techniques of performance appraisal. In this method, the appraiser ranks the employees from the best to the poorest on the basis of their overall performance. It is quite useful for a comparative evaluation.

3. PAIRED COMPARISON A better technique of comparison than the straight ranking method, this method compares each employee with all others in the group, one at a time. After all the comparisons on the basis of the overall comparisons, the employees are given the final rankings. 4. CRITICAL INCIDENTS METHODS

In this method of Performance appraisal, the evaluator rates the employee on the basis of critical events and how the employee behaved during those incidents. It includes both negative and positive points. The drawback of this method is that the supervisor has to note down the critical incidents and the employee behaviour as and when they occur.

5. FIELD REVIEW In this method, a senior member of the HR department or a training officer discusses and interviews the supervisors to evaluate and rate their respective subordinates. A major drawback of this method is that it is a very time consuming method. But this method helps to reduce the superiors personal bias. 6. CHECKLIST METHOD The rater is given a checklist of the descriptions of the behaviour of the employees onjob. The checklist contains a list of statements on the basis of which the rater describes the on the job performance of the employees. 7. GRAPHIC RATING SCALE

In this method, an employees quality and quantity of work is assessed in a graphic scale indicating different degrees of a particular trait. The factors taken into consideration include both the personal characteristics and characteristics related to the on the job performance of the employees. For example a trait like Job Knowledge may be judged on the range of average, above average, outstanding or unsatisfactory.

8. FORCED DISTRIBUTION To eliminate the element of bias from the raters ratings, the evaluator is asked to distribute the employees in some fixed categories of ratings like on a normal distribution curve. The rater chooses the appropriate fit for the categories on his own discretion.

ASSESSMENT CENTRES An assessment centre typically involves the use of methods like social/informal events, tests and exercises, assignments being given to a group of employees to assess their competencies to take higher responsibilities in the future. Generally, employees are given an assignment similar to the job they would be expected to perform if promoted. The trained evaluators observe and evaluate employees as they perform the assigned jobs and are evaluated on job related characteristics. The major competencies that are judged in assessment centres are interpersonal skills, intellectual capability, planning and organizing capabilities, motivation, career orientation etc. assessment centres are also an effective way to determine the training and development needs of the targeted employees. BEHAVIORALLY ANCHORED RATING SCALES

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) is a relatively new technique which combines the graphic

rating scale and critical incidents method. It consists of predetermined critical areas of job performance or sets of behavioral statements describing important job performance qualities as good or bad (for eg. the qualities like inter personal relationships, adaptability and reliability, job knowledge etc). These statements are developed from critical incidents. In this method, an employees actual job behaviour is judged against the desired behaviour by recording and comparing the behaviour with BARS. Developing and practicing BARS requires expert

knowledge. HUMAN RESOURCE ACCOUNTING METHOD

Human resources are valuable assets for every organization. Human resource accounting method tries to find the relative worth of these assets in the terms of money. In this method the Performance appraisal of the employees is judged in terms of cost and contribution of the employees. The cost of employees include all the expenses incurred on them like their compensation, recruitment and selection costs, induction and training costs etc whereas their contribution includes the total value added (in monetary terms). The difference between the cost and the contribution will be the performance of the employees. Ideally, the contribution of the employees should be greater than the cost incurred on them.