Human Resource Development: Features, Scope, Objectives and Functions!

In 1970, Leonard Nadler published his book Developing Human Resources in which he coined the term
human resource development (HRD). Human resource refers to the talents and energies of people that
are available to an organization as potential contributors to the creation and realization of the organizations mission, vision, values, and goals.

Development refers to a process of active learning from experience-leading to systematic and

purposeful development of the whole person, body, mind, and spirit. Thus, HRD is the integrated use of
training, organizational and career development efforts to improve individual, group, and organizational
effectiveness.

Definitions of HRD:

1. According to South Pacific Commission human resource development is equipping people with
relevant skills to have a healthy and satisfying life.

2. According to Watkins, human resource development is fostering long-term work related learning
capacity at individual, group and organizational level.

3. The American Society for Training and Development defines HRD as follows: human resource
development is the process of increasing the capacity of the human resource through development. It is
thus the process of adding value to individuals, teams or an organization as a human system.

Features of HRD:

1. Systematic approach:

HRD is a systematic and planned approach through which the efficiency of employees is improved. The
future goals and objectives are set by the entire organization, which are well planned at individual and

organizational levels.

2. Continuous process:

HRD is a continuous process for the development of all types of skills of employees such as technical,
managerial, behavioural, and conceptual. Till the retirement of an employee sharpening of all these
skills is required.

3. Multi-disciplinary subject:

HRD is a Multi-disciplinary subject which draws inputs from behavioural science, engineering,
commerce, management, economics, medicine, etc.

4. All-pervasive:

HRD is an essential subject everywhere, be it a manufacturing organization or service sector industry.

5. Techniques:

HRD embodies with techniques and processes such as performance appraisal, training, management
development, career planning, counselling, workers participation and quality circles.

Scope of HRD:

Human resource management (HRM) deals with procurement, development, compensation, maintenance and utilization of human resources. HRD deals with efficient utilization of human resources and it
is a part of HRM.

Human resource being a systematic process for bringing the desired changes in the behaviour of
employees involves the following areas:

1. Recruitment and selection of employees for meeting the present and future requirements of an
organization.

2. Performance appraisal of the employees in order to understand their capabilities and improving them
through additional training.

3. Offering the employees performance counselling and performance interviews from the superiors.

4. Career planning and development programmes for the employees.

5. Development of employees through succession planning.

6. Workers participation and formation of quality circles.

7. Employee learning through group dynamics and empowerment.

8. Learning through job rotation and job enrichment.

9. Learning through social and religious interactions and programmes.

10. Development of employees through managerial and behavioural skills.

Objectives of HRD:

The prime objective of human resource development is to facilitate an organizational environment in

which the people come first. The other objectives of HRD are as follows:

1. Equity:

Recognizing every employee at par irrespective of caste, creed, religion and language, can create a very
good environment in an organization. HRD must ensure that the organization creates a culture and
provides equal opportunities to all employees in matters of career planning, promotion, quality of work
life, training and development.

2. Employability:

Employability means the ability, skills, and competencies of an individual to seek gainful employment
anywhere. So, HRD should aim at improving the skills of employees in order to motivate them to work
with effectiveness.

3. Adaptability:

Continuous training that develops the professional skills of employees plays an important role in HRD.
This can help the employees to adapt themselves to organizational change that takes place on a
continuous basis.

HRD Functions:

HRD functions include the following:

1. Employee training and development,

2. Career planning and development,

3. Succession planning,

4. Performance appraisal,

5. Employees participation in management,

6. Quality circles,

7. Organization change and organization development

Human Resource Development is the part of human resource management that specifically deals with
training and development of the employees in the organization.
Human resource development includes training a person after he or she is first hired, providing
opportunities to learn new skills, distributing resources that are beneficial for the employee's tasks, and
any other developmental activities.

Introduction to HRM
Human Resource Management
Scope of Human Resource Management
Significance of Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management functions
Human Resource Management Model
HRM Vs Personnel Management
Human Resource Development
Human Capital Management
Talent Management
3 Benefits of Talent Management for a Company

Knowledge Management
About Human Resource Manager
HRM environment in India
Changing role of HRM
e-HRM
INTRODUCTION

Development of human resources is essential for any organisation that would like to be dynamic and
growth-oriented. Unlike other resources, human resources have rather unlimited potential capabilities.
The potential can be used only by creating a climate that can continuously identify, bring to surface,
nurture and use the capabilities of people. Human Resrouce Development (HRD) system aims at creating
such a climate. A number of HRD techniques have been developed in recent years to perform the above
task based on certain principles. This unit provides an understanding of the concept of HRD system,
related mechanisms and the changing boundaries of HRD.

HRD concept was first introduced by Leonard Nadler in 1969 in a conference in US. He defined HRD as
those learning experience which are organized, for a specific time, and designed to bring about the
possibility of behavioral change.

Human Resource Development (HRD) is the framework for helping employees develop their personal
and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities. Human Resource Development includes such
opportunities as employee training, employee career development, performance management and
development, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, key employee identification, tuition assistance,
and organization development.

The focus of all aspects of Human Resource Development is on developing the most superior workforce
so that the organization and individual employees can accomplish their work goals in service to
customers.

Human Resource Development can be formal such as in classroom training, a college course, or an
organizational planned change effort. Or, Human Resource Development can be informal as in employee
coaching by a manager. Healthy organizations believe in Human Resource

Development and cover all of these bases.

Definitions of HRD

HRD (Human Resources Development) has been defined by various scholars in various ways. Some of
the important definitions of HRD (Human Resources Development) are as follows:
According to Leonard Nadler, "Human resource development is a series of organised activities,
conducted within a specialised time and designed to produce behavioural changes."
In the words of Prof. T.V. Rao, "HRD is a process by which the employees of an organisation are helped
in a continuous and planned way to (i) acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various
functions associated with their present or expected future roles; (ii) develop their journal capabilities as
individual and discover and exploit their own inner potential for their own and /or organisational
development purposes; (iii) develop an organisational culture in which superior-subordinate
relationship, team work and collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the
professional well being, motivation and pride of employees." .
According to M.M. Khan, "Human resource development is the across of increasing knowledge,
capabilities and positive work attitudes of all people working at all levels in a business undertaking."

THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Human resource development in the organisation context is a process by which the employees of an
organisation are helped, in a continuous and planned way to:
Acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions associated with their present or
expected future roles;
Develop their general capabilities as individuals and discover and exploit their own inner potentials for
their own and/or organisational development purposes; and
Develop an organisational culture in which supervisor-subordinate relationships, teamwork and
collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the professional well being, motivation and
pride of employees.

This definition of HRD is limited to the organisational context. In the context of a state or nation it would
differ.

HRD is a process, not merely a set of mechanisms and techniques. The mechanisms and techniques such
as performance appraisal, counselling, training, and organization development interventions are used to
initiate, facilitate, and promote this process in a continuous way. Because the process has no limit, the
mechanisms may need to be examined periodically to see whether they are promoting or hindering the
process. Organisations can facilitate this process of development by planning for it, by allocating
organisational resources for the purpose, and by exemplifying an HRD philosophy that values human
beings and promotes their development.

Difference between HRD and HRM

Both are very important concepts of management specifically related with human resources of
organisation. Human resource management and human resource development can be differentiated on
the following grounds:
The human resource management is mainly maintenance oriented whereas human resource
development is development oriented.
rganisation structure in case of human resources management is independent whereas human resource
development creates a structure, which is inter-dependent and inter-related.
Human resource management mainly aims to improve the efficiency of the employees whereas aims at
the development of the employees as well as organisation as a whole.
Responsibility of human resource development is given to the personnel/human resource management
department and specifically to personnel manager whereas responsibility of HRD is given to all
managers at various levels of the organisation.
HRM motivates the employees by giving them monetary incentives or rewards whereas human resource
development stresses on motivating people by satisfying higher-order needs.

THE NEED FOR HRD

HRD is needed by any organisation that wants to be dynamic and growth-oriented or to succeed in a
fast-changing environment. Organisations can become dynamic and grow only through the efforts and
competencies of their human resources. Personnel policies can keep the morale and motivation of
employees high, but these efforts are not enough to make the organisation dynamic and take it in new
directions. Employee capabilities must continuously be acquired, sharpened, and used. For this purpose,
an enabling organisational culture is essential. When employees use their initiative, take risks,
experiment, innovate, and make things happen, the organisation may be said to have an enabling
culture.

Even an organisation that has reached its limit of growth, needs to adapt to the changing environment.
No organisation is immune to the need for processes that help to acquire and increase its capabilities for
stability and renewal.

HRD FUNCTIONS

The core of the concept of HRS is that of development of human beings, or HRD. The concept of
development should cover not only the individual but also other units in the organisation. In addition to
developing the individual, attention needs to be given to the development of stronger dyads, i.e.,
two-person groups of the employee and his boss. Such dyads are the basic units of working in the
organisation. Besides several groups like committees, task groups, etc. also require attention.
Development of such groups should be from the point of view of increasing collaboration amongst
people working in the organisation, thus making for an effective decision-making. Finally, the entire
department and the entire organisation also should be covered by development. Their development
would involve developing a climate conducive for their effectiveness, developing self-renewing
mechanisms in the organisations so that they are able to adjust and pro-act, and developing relevant
processes which contribute to their effectiveness.

Hence, the goals of the HRD systems are to develop:

The capabilities of each employee as an individual.
The capabilities of each individual in relation to his or her present role.

The capabilities of each employee in relation to his or her expected future role(s).
The dyadic relationship between each employee and his or her supervisor.
The team spirit and functioning in every organisational unit (department, group, etc.).
Collaboration among different units of the organisation.
The organisations overall health and self-renewing capabilities which, in turn, increase the enabling
capabilities of individuals, dyads, teams, and the entire organisation.
What is human resource development and what are the functions of HRD?
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What is human resource development?
A human resource development is set of planned and systematic activities designed by an organization
to provide opportunities to its members to learn skills necessary for the present and future job
requirements. The process of HRD involves the development of expertise in the employee through
organizational development and training and development. The aim of HRD is to improve the
performance of the employees. The three main areas of human resource development are human
resource management, quality improvement and career development.

The main functions of HRD are:1.

Training and development

Training and development is aimed at improving or changing the knowledge skills and attitudes of the
employees. While training involves providing the knowledge and skills required for doing a particular job
to the employees, developmental activities focus on preparing the employees for future job
responsibilities by increasing the capabilities of an employee which also helps him perform his present
job in a better way. These activities start when an employee joins an organization in the form of
orientation and skills training. After the employee becomes proficient, the HR activities focus on the
development of the employee through methods like coaching and counseling.

Organization development

OD is the process of increasing the effectiveness of an organization along with the well being of its
members with the help of planned interventions that use the concepts of behavioral science. Both micro
and macro changes are implemented to achieve organization development. While the macro changes
are intended to improve the overall effectiveness of the organization the micro changes are aimed at
individuals of small groups. Employee involvement programmes requiring fundamental changes in work

expectation, reporting, procedures and reward systems are aimed at improving the effectiveness of the
organization. The human resource development professional involved in the organization development
intervention acts as an agent of change. He often consults and advising the line manager in strategies
that can be adopted to implement the required changes and sometimes becomes directly involve in
implementing these strategies.

3.

Career development

It is a continuous process in which an individual progresses through different stages of career each
having a relatively unique set of issues and tasks. Career development comprises of two distinct
processes. Career Planning and career management. Whereas career planning involves activities to be
performed by the employee, often with the help of counselor and others, to assess his capabilities and
skills in order to frame realistic career plan. Career management involves the necessary steps that need
to be taken to achieve that plan. Career management generally focus more on the steps that an
organization that can take to foster the career development of the employees.
organization with structure and the ability to meet business needs through managing your company's
most valuable resources -- its employees. There are several HR disciplines, or areas, but HR practitioners
in each discipline may perform more than one of the more than six essential functions. In small
businesses without a dedicated HR department, it's possible to achieve the same level of efficiency and
workforce management through outsourcing HR functions or joining a professional employer
organization.

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Recruitment
The success of recruiters and employment specialists generally is measured by the number of positions
they fill and the time it takes to fill those positions. Recruiters who work in-house -- as opposed to
companies that provide recruiting and staffing services -- play a key role in developing the employer's
workforce. They advertise job postings, source candidates, screen applicants, conduct preliminary
interviews and coordinate hiring efforts with managers responsible for making the final selection of
candidates.

Safety

Workplace safety is an important factor. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970,
employers have an obligation to provide a safe working environment for employees. One of the main
functions of HR is to support workplace safety training and maintain federally mandated logs for
workplace injury and fatality reporting. In addition, HR safety and risk specialists often work closely with
HR benefits specialists to manage the company's workers compensation issues.

Employee Relations
In a unionized work environment, the employee and labor relations functions of HR may be combined
and handled by one specialist or be entirely separate functions managed by two HR specialists with
specific expertise in each area. Employee relations is the HR discipline concerned with strengthening the
employer-employee relationship through measuring job satisfaction, employee engagement and
resolving workplace conflict. Labor relations functions may include developing management response to
union organizing campaigns, negotiating collective bargaining agreements and rendering interpretations
of labor union contract issues.

Compensation and Benefits

Like employee and labor relations, the compensation and benefits functions of HR often can be handled
by one HR specialist with dual expertise. On the compensation side, the HR functions include setting
compensation structures and evaluating competitive pay practices. A comp and benefits specialist also
may negotiate group health coverage rates with insurers and coordinate activities with the retirement
savings fund administrator. Payroll can be a component of the compensation and benefits section of HR;
however, in many cases, employers outsource such administrative functions as payroll.

Compliance
Compliance with labor and employment laws is a critical HR function. Noncompliance can result in
workplace complaints based on unfair employment practices, unsafe working conditions and general
dissatisfaction with working conditions that can affect productivity and ultimately, profitability. HR staff
must be aware of federal and state employment laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Fair
Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act and many other rules and regulations.

Training and Development

Employers must provide employees with the tools necessary for their success which, in many cases,
means giving new employees extensive orientation training to help them transition into a new
organizational culture. Many HR departments also provide leadership training and professional

development. Leadership training may be required of newly hired and promoted supervisors and
managers on topics such as performance management and how to handle employee relations matters
at the department level. Professional development opportunities are for employees looking for
promotional opportunities or employees who want to achieve personal goals such as finishing a college
degree. Programs such as tuition assistance and tuition reimbursement programs often are within the
purview of the HR training and development area
In a small organisation, the proprietor performs all the functions. But as the organisation grows,
delegation of duties is essential. He employs other people and delegates some of his duties and
responsibilities to them. In this way he creates another level in his organisation. With the further growth
of an organisation, there is a need for greater specialisation of functions.

Human resources
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To a small businessman, salary structure of his employees requires no specialised knowledge but a big
company employing several thousand employees needs the assistance of a specialist to manage wage
and salary administration. In this way managerial assistance of a specialised nature is required. This is
the origin of staff function separated from the line function.

The term line is used to indicate the line of authority as with different ranks in the armed forces where
the line of authority is clear. In organisation theory, the word line usually refers to those functions
which have direct responsibility for accomplishing the major objectives of the enterprise and the word
staff to these functions that help the line in accomplishing those objectives and are only indirectly
related to the major objectives.

In a manufacturing firm production, purchase and sales are line-functions and personnel, finance,
accounting and research are staff functions. The distinction between line and staff is a means of
determining who makes decisions directly related to the attainment of end results and who provides
advice and service in making those decisions. It is the function of the staff executives to serve the line
executives.

All managers are in sense human resources managers, since they all get involved in recruiting,
interviewing, selecting, training, etc. Yet most firms also have a Personnel or Human Resources
Department with its HRD managers. How the duties of this manager are related to the Personnel

Management duties of other line managers in the firm?

Line managers are authorised to direct the work of subordinates-they are always someones boss. In
addition, line managers are in charge of accomplishing the basic goals in the organisation. On the other
hand, staff managers are authorised to assist and advise line managers in accomplishing these basic
goals in the organisation.

The direct handling of people is an integral part of every line managers responsibility. As already said,
line managers may carry out all the personnel management duties unassisted. But as the firm grows,
they need the assistance of a specialised personnel or HRD staff. The HRD Department provides this
specialised assistance. In doing so, the HRD Manager carries out three major functions as follows:

i) A line function The HRD personnel performs a line function by directing the activities of the people in
his own department and in service areas. He exerts line authority within his own HRD department.

ii) A co-ordinative function HRD executives also function as coordinators of the personnel activities, a
duty usually referred to as functional control. The HRD manager and his department act as the right
arm of the top executive to assure him that personnel objectives, policies and procedures which have
been adopted by the line organisation are being consistently carried out by line managers.

iii) Staff(Service) function Service to line management is the bread and butter of the HRD managers
job. HRD manager assists in hiring, firing, rewarding and evaluating employees at all levels and
administers various welfare programmes.

The term staff refers to the function of a stick or staff carried by a person for support. Thus the staff
performs a supporting role. It supports the line in its performance. The objective of staff function is to
help line executives by relieving them of certain specialized activities.

While on the overall organisation chart of a company, the HRD manager is a staffman to the rest of the
organisation, his relationship with his own subordinates in his department is always line. He manages a
department which may run as high as hundred employees and his managerial duties are as heavy as
those of most line managers.

Like them, he is concerned with production, quality of work, planning, organising and controlling the
efforts of his department as well as with the recruitment, selection and placement of people on his staff
and their training, leadership and motivation.

Formal organisation refers to the manner in which its personnel are grouped into different departments
and division. The different departments of an organisation can be formally structured in three major
ways by function, by division or by matrix structure.

In the functional form, all personnel who can contribute to the performance of a specific function are
clustered together. Under such a system all personnel concerned with personnel administration are
grouped together in the HRD department, all persons concerned with the marketing function are
grouped together in the marketing department and so on.

One important advantage of this functional form is that each function is performed by a specialist.
Owing to specialisation, skills of employees in a functional organisation can be more effectively utilized.
But the employees have several bosses, co-ordination is very difficult to achieve and the organisation
cannot operate as a total integrated system.

The other way of grouping organisational members is by divisionalisation. Here we aggregate all the
specialists required to produce a given product. If a company produces and sells four different products,
it may set up four divisional centres, one for each product. Within each division all the needed
production, marketing, finance and other manpower services are assembled.

Divisionalisation may be of different types. There may be divisionalisation by product or by territory.

Advantage of divisionalisation is that here it is easy to compare performances but it involves duplication
of staff and unnecessary wastage.

An organisations departments can be structured in the matrix form i.e. organisational members are
placed under two bosses, one boss will be the head of the department to which the employees belong
and the other boss will be the head of the project to which they are temporarily involved.

Matrix form is also known as the multiple command system. In a big engineering firm, technical
personnel of various departments are assigned to a project.

When this particular project is complete, they go back to their respective departments until the next
assignment to another project is given. One great advantage of the matrix organisation or project
organisation is that specialized knowhow and skill is available to all projects on an equal basis but it
violates the traditional organisational principle of unity of command and fosters conflicts.

The organisational structure of the Human Resources Department has a pyramid-like shape with the
HRD Manager or HRD Director at the head. In many large organisations the HRD Manager is also a
Member of the

Board and would be designated as HRD Director or Vice-President, HRD. Where he is not a Member of
the Board, the appropriate designation would naturally be HRD Manager. Right below the HRD Manager
there is another level with personnel officers who will report directly to the HRD Manager
Performance Appraisal is the systematic evaluation of the performance of employees and to understand
the abilities of a person for further growth and development. Performance appraisal is generally done in
systematic ways which are as follows:

The supervisors measure the pay of employees and compare it with targets and plans.
The supervisor analyses the factors behind work performances of employees.
The employers are in position to guide the employees for a better performance.
Objectives of Performance Appraisal
Performance Appraisal can be done with following objectives in mind:

To maintain records in order to determine compensation packages, wage structure, salaries raises, etc.
To identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees to place right men on right job.
To maintain and assess the potential present in a person for further growth and development.
To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status.

To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status.

It serves as a basis for influencing working habits of the employees.
To review and retain the promotional and other training programmes.
Advantages of Performance Appraisal
It is said that performance appraisal is an investment for the company which can be justified by
following advantages:

Promotion: Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to chalk out the promotion programmes for
efficient employees. In this regards, inefficient workers can be dismissed or demoted in case.
Compensation: Performance Appraisal helps in chalking out compensation packages for employees.
Merit rating is possible through performance appraisal. Performance Appraisal tries to give worth to a
performance. Compensation packages which includes bonus, high salary rates, extra benefits,
allowances and pre-requisites are dependent on performance appraisal. The criteria should be merit
rather than seniority.
Employees Development: The systematic procedure of performance appraisal helps the supervisors to
frame training policies and programmes. It helps to analyse strengths and weaknesses of employees so
that new jobs can be designed for efficient employees. It also helps in framing future development
programmes.
Selection Validation: Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to understand the validity and
importance of the selection procedure. The supervisors come to know the validity and thereby the
strengths and weaknesses of selection procedure. Future changes in selection methods can be made in
this regard.
Communication: For an organization, effective communication between employees and employers is
very important. Through performance appraisal, communication can be sought for in the following
ways:
Through performance appraisal, the employers can understand and accept skills of subordinates.
The subordinates can also understand and create a trust and confidence in superiors.
It also helps in maintaining cordial and congenial labour management relationship.
It develops the spirit of work and boosts the morale of employees.
All the above factors ensure effective communication.

Motivation: Performance appraisal serves as a motivation tool. Through evaluating performance of

employees, a persons efficiency can be determined if the targets are achieved. This very well motivates
a person for better job and helps him to improve his performance in the future.
Following are the tools used by the organizations for Performance Appraisals of their employees.

Ranking
Paired Comparison
Forced Distribution
Confidential Report
Essay Evaluation
Critical Incident
Checklists
Graphic Rating Scale
BARS
Forced Choice Method
MBO
Field Review Technique
Performance Test
We will be discussing the important performance appraisal tools and techniques in detail.

Ranking Method
The ranking system requires the rater to rank his subordinates on overall performance. This consists in
simply putting a man in a rank order. Under this method, the ranking of an employee in a work group is
done against that of another employee. The relative position of each employee is tested in terms of his
numerical rank. It may also be done by ranking a person on his job performance against another
member of the competitive group.

Advantages of Ranking Method

Employees are ranked according to their performance levels.

It is easier to rank the best and the worst employee.
Limitations of Ranking Method
The whole man is compared with another whole man in this method. In practice, it is very difficult to
compare individuals possessing various individual traits.
This method speaks only of the position where an employee stands in his group. It does not test
anything about how much better or how much worse an employee is when compared to another
employee.
When a large number of employees are working, ranking of individuals become a difficult issue.
There is no systematic procedure for ranking individuals in the organization. The ranking system does
not eliminate the possibility of snap judgements.
Forced Distribution method
This is a ranking technique where raters are required to allocate a certain percentage of rates to certain
categories (eg: superior, above average, average) or percentiles (eg: top 10 percent, bottom 20 percent
etc). Both the number of categories and percentage of employees to be allotted to each category are a
function of performance appraisal design and format. The workers of outstanding merit may be placed
at top 10 percent of the scale, the rest may be placed as 20 % good, 40 % outstanding, 20 % fair and 10
% fair.

Advantages of Forced Distribution

This method tends to eliminate raters bias
By forcing the distribution according to pre-determined percentages, the problem of making use of
different raters with different scales is avoided.
Limitations of Forced Distribution
The limitation of using this method in salary administration, however, is that it may lead low morale, low
productivity and high absenteeism.

Employees who feel that they are productive, but find themselves in lower grade(than expected) feel
frustrated and exhibit over a period of time reluctance to work.
Critical Incident techniques

Under this method, the manager prepares lists of statements of very effective and ineffective behaviour
of an employee. These critical incidents or events represent the outstanding or poor behaviour of
employees or the job. The manager maintains logs of each employee, whereby he periodically records
critical incidents of the workers behaviour. At the end of the rating period, these recorded critical
incidents are used in the evaluation of the workers performance. Example of a good critical incident of
a Customer Relations Officer is : March 12 - The Officer patiently attended to a customers complaint. He
was very polite and prompt in attending the customers problem.

Advantages of Critical Incident techniques

This method provides an objective basis for conducting a thorough discussion of an employees
performance.
This method avoids recency bias (most recent incidents are too much emphasized)
Limitations of Critical Incident techniques
Negative incidents may be more noticeable than positive incidents.
The supervisors have a tendency to unload a series of complaints about the incidents during an annual
performance review sessions.
It results in very close supervision which may not be liked by an employee.
The recording of incidents may be a chore for the manager concerned, who may be too busy or may
forget to do it.
Checklists and Weighted Checklists
In this system, a large number of statements that describe a specific job are given. Each statement has a
weight or scale value attached to it. While rating an employee the supervisor checks all those
statements that most closely describe the behaviour of the individual under assessment. The rating
sheet is then scored by averaging the weights of all the statements checked by the rater. A checklist is
constructed for each job by having persons who are quite familiar with the jobs. These statements are
then categorized by the judges and weights are assigned to the statements in accordance with the value
attached by the judges.

Advantages of Checklists and Weighted Checklists

Most frequently used method in evaluation of the employees performance.
Limitations of Checklists and Weighted Checklists

This method is very expensive and time consuming

Rater may be biased in distinguishing the positive an
Managers commit mistakes while evaluating employees and their performance. Biases and judgment
errors of various kinds may spoil the performance appraisal process. Bias here refers to inaccurate
distortion of a measurement. These are:

First Impression (primacy effect): Raters form an overall impression about the ratee on the basis of
some particluar characteristics of the ratee identified by them. The identified qualities and features may
not provide adequate base for appraisal.
Halo Effect: The individuals performance is completely appraised on the basis of a perceived positive
quality, feature or trait. In other words this is the tendency to rate a man uniformly high or low in other
traits if he is extra-ordinarily high or low in one particular trait. If a worker has few absences, his
supervisor might give him a high rating in all other areas of work.
Horn Effect: The individuals performance is completely appraised on the basis of a negative quality or
feature perceived. This results in an overall lower rating than may be warranted. He is not formally
dressed up in the office. He may be casual at work too!.
Excessive Stiffness or Lenience: Depending upon the raters own standards, values and physical and
mental makeup at the time of appraisal, ratees may be rated very strictly or leniently. Some of the
managers are likely to take the line of least resistance and rate people high, whereas others, by nature,
believe in the tyranny of exact assessment, considering more particularly the drawbacks of the
individual and thus making the assessment excessively severe. The leniency error can render a system
ineffective. If everyone is to be rated high, the system has not done anything to differentiate among the
employees.
Central Tendency: Appraisers rate all employees as average performers. That is, it is an attitude to rate
people as neither high nor low and follow the middle path. For example, a professor, with a view to play
it safe, might give a class grade near the equal to B, regardless of the differences in individual
performances.
Personal Biases: The way a supervisor feels about each of the individuals working under him - whether
he likes or dislikes them - as a tremendous effect on the rating of their performances. Personal Bias can
stem from various sources as a result of information obtained from colleagues, considerations of faith
and thinking, social and family background and so on.
Spillover Effect: The present performance is evaluated much on the basis of past performance. The
person who was a good performer in distant past is assured to be okay at present also.
Recency Effect: Rating is influenced by the most recent behaviour ignoring the commonly demonstrated

behaviours during the entire appraisal period.

Therefore while appraising performances, all the above biases should be avoidd.
A performance appraisal is a systematic and periodic process that assesses an individual employee's job
performance and productivity in relation to certain pre-established criteria and organizational
objectives.[4][5] Other aspects of individual employees are considered as well, such as organizational
citizenship behavior, accomplishments, potential for future improvement, strengths and weaknesses,
etc.[4][6][7]
To collect PA data, there are three main methods: objective production, personnel, and judgmental
evaluation. Judgmental evaluations are the most commonly used with a large variety of evaluation
methods.[1] Historically, PA has been conducted annually (long-cycle appraisals); however, many
companies are moving towards shorter cycles (every six months, every quarter), and some have been
moving into short-cycle (weekly, bi-weekly) PA.[8][9] The interview could function as "providing
feedback to employees, counseling and developing employees, and conveying and discussing
compensation, job status, or disciplinary decisions".[8] PA is often included in performance
management systems. PA helps the subordinate answer two key questions: first, "What are your
expectations of me?" second, "How am I doing to meet your expectations?"[10]
Performance management systems are employed "to manage and align" all of an organization's
resources in order to achieve highest possible performance.[1] "How performance is managed in an
organization determines to a large extent the success or failure of the organization. Therefore,
improving PA for everyone should be among the highest priorities of contemporary organizations".[11]
Some applications of PA are compensation, performance improvement, promotions, termination, test
validation, and more.[12] While there are many potential benefits of PA, there are also some potential
drawbacks. For example, PA can help facilitate management-employee communication; however, PA
may result in legal issues if not executed appropriately, as many employees tend to be unsatisfied with
the PA process.[1][13][14] PAs created in and determined as useful in the United States are not
necessarily able to be transferable cross-culturally.[15]
Applications of results[edit]
A central reason for the utilization of performance appraisals (PAs) is performance improvement
("initially at the level of the individual employee, and ultimately at the level of the organization").[12]
Other fundamental reasons include "as a basis for employment decisions (e.g. promotions, terminations,
transfers), as criteria in research (e.g. test validation), to aid with communication (e.g. allowing
employees to know how they are doing and organizational expectations), to establish personal
objectives for training" programs, for transmission of objective feedback for personal development, "as
a means of documentation to aid in keeping track of decisions and legal requirements"[12] and in wage
and salary administration.[1] Additionally, PAs can aid in the formulation of job criteria and selection of
individuals "who are best suited to perform the required organizational tasks".[4] A PA can be part of
guiding and monitoring employee career development.[16] PAs can also be used to aid in work

motivation through the use of reward systems.[4]

Potential benefits[edit]
There are a number of potential benefits of organizational performance management conducting formal
performance appraisals (PAs). There has been a general consensus in the belief that PAs lead to positive
implications of organizations.[17] Furthermore, PAs can benefit an organizations effectiveness.[16] One
way is PAs can often lead to giving individual workers feedback about their job performance.[13] From
this may spawn several potential benefits such as the individual workers becoming more productive.[18]
Other potential benefits include:
Facilitation of communication: communication in organizations is considered an essential function of
worker motivation.[13] It has been proposed that feedback from PAs aid in minimizing employees
perceptions of uncertainty.[16] Fundamentally, feedback and management-employee communication
can serve as a guide in job performance.[13]
Enhancement of employee focus through promoting trust: behaviors, thoughts, and/or issues may
distract employees from their work, and trust issues may be among these distracting factors.[19] Such
factors that consume psychological energy can lower job performance and cause workers to lose sight of
organizational goals.[13] Properly constructed and utilized PAs have the ability to lower distracting
factors and encourage trust within the organization.[20]
Goal setting and desired performance reinforcement: organizations find it efficient to match individual
workers goals and performance with organizational goals.[13] PAs provide room for discussion in the
collaboration of these individual and organizational goals.[21] Collaboration can also be advantageous
by resulting in employee acceptance and satisfaction of appraisal results.[22]
Performance improvement: well constructed PAs can be valuable tools for communication with
employees as pertaining to how their job performance stands with organizational expectations.[16] "At
the organizational level, numerous studies have reported positive relationships between human
resource management (HRM) practices"[13] and performance improvement at both the individual and
organizational levels.
Determination of training needs: Employee training and development are crucial components in
helping an organization achieve strategic initiatives.[13][23] It has been argued that for PAs to truly be
effective, post-appraisal opportunities for training and development in problem areas, as determined by
the appraisal, must be offered.[24] PAs can especially be instrumental for identifying training needs of
new employees.[7] Finally, PAs can help in the establishment and supervision of employees career
goals.[16]
Potential complications[edit]
Despite all the potential advantages of formal performance appraisals (PAs), there are also potential
drawbacks. It has been noted that determining the relationship between individual job performance and

organizational performance can be a difficult task.[23] Generally, there are two overarching problems
from which several complications spawn. One of the problems with formal PAs is there can be
detrimental effects to the organization(s) involved if the appraisals are not used appropriately. The
second problem with formal PAs is they can be ineffective if the PA system does not correspond with
the organizational culture and system.[13]
Complications stemming from these are:
Detrimental to quality improvement: it has been proposed that the use of PA systems in organizations
adversely affect organizations pursuits of quality performance.[25] It is believed by some scholars and
practitioners that the use of PAs is more than unnecessary if there is total quality management.[21]
Subjective evaluations: Traditional performance appraisals are often based upon a manager's or
supervisor's perceptions of an employee's performance and employees are evaluated subjectively rather
than objectively. Therefore the review may be influenced by many non-performance factors such as
employee 'likeability', personal prejudices, ease of management, and/or previous mistakes or successes.
Reviews should instead be based on data-supported, measurable behaviors and results within the
performers control.[26]
Negative perceptions: "Quite often, individuals have negative perceptions of PAs".[17] Receiving and/or
the anticipation of receiving a PA can be uncomfortable and distressful[16] and potentially cause
"tension between supervisors and subordinates".[18] If the person being appraised does not trust their
employer, appraiser or believe that they will benefit from the process it may become a "tick box"
exercise.[27]
Errors: Performance appraisals should provide accurate and relevant ratings of an employees
performance as compared to pre-established criteria/goals (i.e. organizational expectations).[28]
Nevertheless, supervisors will sometimes rate employees more favorably than that of their true
performance in order to please the employees and avoid conflict.[13] "Inflated ratings are a common
malady associated with formal" PA.[29]
Legal issues: when PAs are not carried out appropriately, legal issues could result that place the
organization at risk.[18] PAs are used in organizational disciplinary programs[16] as well as for
promotional decisions within the organization.[13] The improper application and utilization of PAs can
affect employees negatively and lead to legal action against the organization.
Performance goals: performance goals and PA systems are often used in association. Negative outcomes
concerning the organizations can result when goals are overly challenging or overemphasized to the
extent of affecting ethics, legal requirements, or quality.[30] Moreover, challenging performance goals
can impede an employees abilities to acquire necessary knowledge and skills.[19] Especially in the early
stages of training, it would be more beneficial to instruct employees on outcome goals than on
performance goals.[13]
Derail merit pay or performance-based pay: some researchers contend that the deficit in merit pay and

performance-based pay is linked to the fundamental issues stemming from PA systems.[24]

Improvements[edit]
Although performance appraisals can be so easily biased, there are certain steps that can be taken to
improve the evaluations and reduce the margin of errors through the following:
Training - Creating an awareness and acceptance in the people conducting the appraisals that within a
group of workers, they will find a wide range in difference of skills and abilities.
Providing Feedback to Raters - Trained raters provide managers who evaluated their subordinates with
feedback, including information on ratings from other managers. This reduces leniency errors.
Subordinate Participation - By allowing employee participation in the evaluation process, there is
employee-supervisor reciprocity in the discussion for any discrepancies between self ratings and
supervisor ratings, thus, increasing job satisfaction and motivation.[31]
Opposition[edit]
Not everyone is in favor of formal performance appraisal systems. Many employees, especially those
most affected by such ratings are not very enthusiastic about them. There are many critics of these
appraisals including labor unions and managers.
Labor Unions
Labor unions represent 11% (7% in the private sector) of the work force in the United States. In some
cases they may require that seniority be taken as one of the main criteria for promotion. However,
length of job experience may not always be a reliable indication of the ability to perform a higher level
job. That is why some employers give senior people the first opportunity for promotion, but the
employer may seek to further qualify the employee for that promotion because of their abilities (not
solely because of length of service). Performance appraisals may provide a basis for assessment of
employee merit as a component of these decisions.[32][33][34]
Managers
Managers who have had unsatisfactory experiences with inadequate or poorly designed appraisal
programs may be skeptical about their usefulness.
Some managers may not like to play the role of a judge and be responsible for the future of their
subordinates.
They may be uncomfortable about providing negative feedback to the employees.
This tendency can lead them to inflate their assessments of the workers job performance, giving higher
ratings than deserved.
Conduct[edit]

Human resource management (HRM) conducts performance management. Performance management

systems consist of the activities and/or processes embraced by an organization in anticipation of
improving employee performance, and therefore, organizational performance.[35] Consequently,
performance management is conducted at the organizational level and the individual level. At the
organizational level, performance management oversees organizational performance and compares
present performance with organizational performance goals.[24] The achievement of these
organizational performance goals depends on the performance of the individual organizational
members.[24] Therefore, measuring individual employee performance can prove to be a valuable
performance management process for the purposes of HRM and for the organization.[24] Many
researchers would argue that "performance appraisal is one of the most important processes in Human
Resource Management".[14]
The performance management process begins with leadership within the organization creating a
performance management policy.[24] Primarily, management governs performance by influencing
employee performance input (e.g. training programs) and by providing feedback via output (i.e.
performance assessment and appraisal).[36] "The ultimate objective of a performance management
process is to align individual performance with organizational performance".[37] A very common and
central process of performance management systems is performance appraisal (PA).[24] The PA process
should be able to inform employees about the "organization's goals, priorities, and expectations and
how well they are contributing to them".[37]
When they are conducted[edit]
Performance appraisals (PAs) are conducted at least annually,[38] and annual employee performance
reviews appear to be the standard in most American organizations.[8] However, "it has been
acknowledged that appraisals conducted more frequently (more than once a year) may have positive
implications for both the organization and employee."[13] It is suggested that regular performance
feedback provided to employees may quell any unexpected and/or surprising feedback to year-end
discussions.[14] In a recent research study concerning the timeliness of PAs, "one of the respondents
even suggested that the performance review should be done formally and more frequently, perhaps
once a month, and recorded twice a year."[14]
Other researchers propose that the purpose of PAs and the frequency of their feedback are contingent
upon the nature of the job and characteristics of the employee.[39] For example, employees of routine
jobs where performance maintenance is the goal would benefit sufficiently from annual PA feedback.
On the other hand, employees of more discretionary and non-routine jobs, where goal-setting is
appropriate and there is room for development, would benefit from more frequent PA feedback. Non
formal performance appraisals may be done more often, to prevent the element of surprise from the
formal appraisal.[8][39][40]
Methods of collecting data[edit]
There are three main methods used to collect performance appraisal (PA) data: objective production,
personnel, and judgmental evaluation. Judgmental evaluations are the most commonly used with a

large variety of evaluation methods.[6]

Objective production[edit]
The objective production method consists of direct, but limited, measures such as sales figures,
production numbers, the electronic performance monitoring of data entry workers, etc.[6] The
measures used to appraise performance would depend on the job and its duties. Although these
measures deal with unambiguous criteria, they are usually incomplete because of criterion
contamination and criterion deficiency. Criterion contamination refers to the part of the actual criteria
that is unrelated to the conceptual criteria.[6] In other words, the variability in performance can be due
to factors outside of the employees control. Criterion deficiency refers to the part of the conceptual
criteria that is not measured by the actual criteria.[6] In other words, the quantity of production does
not necessarily indicate the quality of the products. Both types of criterion inadequacies result in
reduced validity of the measure.[6] Regardless of the fact that objective production data is not a
complete reflection upon job performance, such data is relevant to job performance.
Happy-productive worker hypothesis[edit]
The happy-productive worker hypothesis states that the happiest workers are the most productive
performers, and the most productive performers are the happiest workers.[41] Yet, after decades of
research, the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance produces only a weak positive
correlation. Published in 2001 by Psychological Bulletin, a meta-analysis of 312 research studies
produced an uncorrected correlation of 0.18.[42] This correlation is much weaker than what the
happy-productive worker hypothesis would predict.
Personnel[edit]
The personnel method is the recording of withdrawal behaviors (i.e. absenteeism, accidents). Most
organizations consider unexcused absences to be indicators of poor job performance, even with all
other factors being equal;[41] however, this is subject to criterion deficiency. The quantity of an
employees absences does not reflect how dedicated he/she may be to the job and its duties. Especially
for blue-collar jobs, accidents can often be a useful indicator of poor job performance,[6] but this is also
subject to criterion contamination because situational factors also contribute to accidents. Once again,
both types of criterion inadequacies result in reduced validity of the measure.[6] Although excessive
absenteeism and/or accidents often indicate poor job performance rather than good performance, such
personnel data is not a comprehensive reflection of an employees performance.[6]
Judgmental evaluation[edit]
Judgmental evaluation appears to be a collection of methods, and as such, could be considered a
methodology. A common approach to obtaining PAs is by means of raters.[1] Because the raters are
human, some error will always be present in the data. The most common types of error are leniency
errors, central tendency errors, and errors resulting from the halo effect.[1] Halo effect is characterized
by the tendency to rate a person who is exceptionally strong in one area higher than deserved in other

areas. It is the opposite of the Horns effect, where a person is rated as lower than deserved in other
areas due to an extreme deficiency in a single discipline.[43] These errors arise predominantly from
social cognition and the theory in that how we judge and evaluate other individuals in various contexts
is associated with how we "acquire, process, and categorize information".[1]
An essential piece of this method is rater training. Rater training is the "process of educating raters to
make more accurate assessments of performance, typically achieved by reducing the frequency of halo,
leniency, and central-tendency errors".[1] Rater training also helps the raters "develop a common frame
of reference for evaluation" of individual performance.[44] Many researchers and survey respondents
support the ambition of effectual rater training.[14] However, it is noted that such training is expensive,
time consuming, and only truly functional for behavioral assessments.[14]
Another piece to keep in mind is the effects of rater motivation on judgmental evaluations. It is not
uncommon for rating inflation to occur due to rater motivation (i.e. "organizationally induced pressures
that compel raters to evaluate ratees positively").[1] Typically, raters are motivated to give higher
ratings because of the lack of organizational sanction concerning accurate/inaccurate appraisals, the
rater's desire to guarantee promotions, salary increases, etc., the rater's inclination to avoid negative
reactions from subordinates, and the observation that higher ratings of the ratees reflect favorably upon
the rater.[1]
The main methods used in judgmental performance appraisal are:[1]
Graphic Rating Scale: graphic rating scales (see scale (social sciences)) are the most commonly used
system in PA.[1] On several different factors, subordinates are judged on 'how much' of that factor or
trait they possess. Typically, the raters use a 5- or 7-point scale; however, there are as many as 20-point
scales.[1]
Employee-Comparison Methods: rather than subordinates being judged against pre-established criteria,
they are compared with one another. This method eliminates central tendency and leniency errors but
still allows for halo effect errors to occur.[1] The rank-order method has raters ranking subordinates
from "best" to "worst", but how truly good or bad one is on a performance dimension would be
unknown.[1] The paired-comparison method requires the rater to select the two "best" subordinates
out of a group on each dimension then rank individuals according to the number of times each
subordinate was selected as one of the "best".[1] The forced-distribution method is good for large
groups of ratees. The raters evaluate each subordinate on one or more dimensions and then place (or
"force-fit", if you will) each subordinate in a 5 to 7 category normal distribution.[1] The method of
top-grading can be applied to the forced distribution method.[45] This method identifies the 10% lowest
performing subordinates, as according to the forced distribution, and dismisses them leaving the 90%
higher performing subordinates.
Behavioral Checklists and Scales: behaviors are more definite than traits. The critical incidents method
(or critical incident technique) concerns "specific behaviors indicative of good or bad job
performance".[1] Supervisors record behaviors of what they judge to be job performance relevant, and
they keep a running tally of good and bad behaviors. A discussion on performance may then follow. The

behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) combine the critical incidents method with rating scale
methods by rating performance on a scale but with the scale points being anchored by behavioral
incidents.[1] Note that BARS are job specific. In the behavioral observation scale (BOS) approach to
performance appraisal, employees are also evaluated in the terms of critical incidents. In that respect, it
is similar to BARS. However, the BOS appraisal rate subordinates on the frequency of the critical
incidents as they are observed to occur over a given period. The ratings are assigned on a five-point
scale. The behavioral incidents for the rating scale are developed in the same way as for BARS through
identification by supervisors or other subject matter experts. Similarly, BOS techniques meet equal
employment opportunity because they are related to actual behavior required for successful job
performance.[46]
Peer and self assessments[edit]
While assessment can be performed along reporting relationships (usually top-down), net assessment
can include peer and self-assessment. Peer assessment is when assessment is performed by colleagues
along both horizontal (similar function) and vertical (different function) relationship. Self-assessments
are when individuals evaluate themselves.[1] There are three common methods of peer assessments.
Peer nomination involves each group member nominating who he/she believes to be the "best" on a
certain dimension of performance. Peer ratings has each group member rate each other on a set of
performance dimensions. Peer ranking requires each group member rank all fellow members from
"best" to "worst" on one or more dimensions of performance.
Self-assessments: for self-assessments, individuals assess and evaluate their own behavior and job
performance.[1]
Peer assessments: members of a group evaluate and appraise the performance of their fellow group
members.[1] There it is common for a graphic rating scale to be used for self-assessments. Positive
leniency tends to be a problem with self-assessments.[6] Peer assessments from multiple members of a
group are often called crowd-based performance reviews, and solve many problems with peer
assessments from only one member.[47]
360-degree feedback: 360-degree feedback is multiple evaluations of employees which often include
assessments from superior(s), peers, and ones self.[1]
Negotiated performance appraisal: The negotiated performance appraisal (NPA) is an emerging
approach for improving communication between supervisors and subordinates and for increasing
employee productivity, and may also be adapted to an alternate mediation model for
supervisor-subordinate conflicts. A facilitator meets separately with the supervisor and with the
subordinate to prepare three lists. What employees do well, where the employee has improved in
recently, and areas where the employee still needs to improve. Because the subordinate will present his
or her lists first during the joint session, this reduces defensive behaviors. Furthermore, the subordinate
comes to the joint session not only prepared to share areas of needed improvement, but also brings
concrete ideas as to how these improvements can be made. The NPA also focuses very strongly on what
employees are doing well, and involves a minimum of twenty minutes of praise when discussing what

the employee does well. The role of the facilitator is that of a coach in the pre-caucuses, and in the joint
sessions the supervisor and subordinate mostly speak to each other with little facilitator
interference.[48][49]
In general, optimal PA process involves a combination of multiple assessment modalities. One common
recommendation is that assessment flows from self-assessment, to peer-assessment, to management
assessment - in that order. Starting with self-assessment facilitates avoidance of conflict. Peer feedback
ensures peer accountability, which may yield better results than accountability to management.
Management assessment comes last for need of recognition by authority and avoidance of conflict in
case of disagreements. It is generally recommended that PA is done in shorter cycles to avoid
high-stakes discussions, as is usually the case in long-cycle appraisals.[citation needed]
Normalization of performance appraisal[edit]
Normalization is the process of review of the ratings each group as a whole to ensure the ratings are as
per the recommended norms and the percentages are generally decided by management.[citation
needed]
Organizational citizenship behavior[edit]
Main article: Organizational citizenship behavior
Also referred to as contextual behavior, prosocial behavior, and extra-role behavior, organizational
citizenship behavior (OCB) consists of employee behavior that contributes to the welfare of the
organization but is beyond the scope of the employees job duties.[6] These extra-role behaviors may
help or hinder the attainment of organizational goals. Research supports five dimensions of OCB:
altruism, conscientiousness, courtesy, sportsmanship, and civic virtue.[50] Researchers have found that
the OCB dimensions of altruism and civic virtue can have just as much of an impact on managers
subjective evaluations of employees performances as employees objective productivity levels.[51] The
degree to which OCB can influence judgments of job performance is relatively high. Controversy exists
as to whether OCB should be formally considered as a part of performance appraisal (PA).
Interviews[edit]
The performance appraisal (PA) interview is typically the final step of the appraisal process.[1] The
interview is held between the subordinate and supervisor. The PA interview can be considered of great
significance to an organizations PA system.[8] It is most advantageous when both the superior and
subordinate participate in the interview discussion and establish goals together.[1] Three factors
consistently contribute to effective PA interviews: the supervisors knowledge of the subordinates job
and performance in it, the supervisors support of the subordinate, and a welcoming of the
subordinates participation.[8]
Employee reactions[edit]
Numerous researchers have reported that many employees are not satisfied with their performance

appraisal (PA) systems.[14] Studies have shown that subjectivity as well as appraiser bias is often a
problem perceived by as many as half of employees.[14] Appraiser bias, however, appears to be
perceived as more of a problem in government and public sector organizations.[14] Also, according to
some studies, employees wished to see changes in the PA system by making "the system more
objective, improving the feedback process, and increasing the frequency of review."[14] In light of
traditional PA operation defects, "organizations are now increasingly incorporating practices that may
improve the system. These changes are particularly concerned with areas such as elimination of
subjectivity and bias, training of appraisers, improvement of the feedback process and the performance
review discussion."[14]
According to a meta-analysis of 27 field studies, general employee participation in his/her own appraisal
process was positively correlated with employee reactions to the PA system.[22] More specifically,
employee participation in the appraisal process was most strongly related to employee satisfaction with
the PA system.[22] Concerning the reliability of employee reaction measures, researchers have found
employee reaction scales to be sound with few concerns through using a confirmatory factor analysis
that is representative of employee reaction scales.[52]
Researchers suggest that the study of employees' reactions to PA is important because of two main
reasons: employee reactions symbolizes a criterion of interest to practitioners of PAs and employee
reactions have been associated through theory to determinants of appraisal acceptance and
success.[52] Researchers translate these reasons into the context of the scientist-practitioner gap or the
"lack of alignment between research and practice."[52]
Schultz & Schultz notes that opposition to performance appraisals generally don't receive positive
ratings from anyone involved. "So employees that will be directly affected by the Performance
Appraisals are less than enthusiastic about participating in them". When an employee knows that their
work performance has been less than perfect its nerve-racking to be evaluated. Most workers just don't
appreciate constructive criticism or any criticism. Employees tend to be hostile knowing they could be
given bad news on their performance.[53]
Legal implications[edit]
There are federal laws addressing fair employment practices, and this also concerns performance
appraisal (PA). Discrimination can occur within predictions of performance and evaluations of job
behaviors.[1] The revision of many court cases has revealed the involvement of alleged discrimination
which was often linked to the assessment of the employees job performance.[54] Some of the laws
which protect individuals against discrimination are "the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil
Rights Act of 1991, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)."[1] Lawsuits may also results from charges of an employers negligence,
defamation, and/or misrepresentation.[1] A few appraisal criteria to keep in mind for a legally sound PA
is to keep the content of the appraisal objective, job-related, behavior-based, within the control of the
ratee, and related to specific functions rather than a global assessment.[54] Some appraisal procedure
suggestions for a legally sound PA is to standardize operations, communicate formally with employees,

provide information of performance deficits and give opportunities to employees to correct those
deficits, give employees access to appraisal results, provide written instructions for the training of
raters, and use multiple, diverse and unbiased raters.[54] These are valuable but not exhaustive lists of
recommendations for PAs. The Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines apply to any
selection procedure that is used for making employment decisions, not only for hiring, but also for
promotion, demotion, transfer, layoff, discharge, or early retirement. Therefore, employment appraisal
procedures must be validated like tests or any other selection device. Employers who base their
personnel decisions on the results of a well-designed performance review program that includes formal
appraisal interviews are much more likely to be successful in defending themselves against claims of
discrimination.[55]
Cross-cultural implications[edit]
Performance appraisal (PA) systems, and the premises of which they were based, that have been
formed and regarded as effective in the United States may not have the transferability for effectual
utilization in other countries or cultures, and vice versa.[15] Performance "appraisal is thought to be
deeply rooted in the norms, values, and beliefs of a society".[56] "Appraisal reflects attitudes towards
motivation and performance (self) and relationships (e.g. peers, subordinates, supervisors,
organization), all of which vary from one country to the next".[57] Therefore, appraisal should be in
conjunction with cultural norms, values, and beliefs in order to be operative.[58] The deep-seated
norms, values and beliefs in different cultures affect employee motivation and perception of
organizational equity and justice. In effect, a PA system created and considered effectual in one country
may not be an appropriate assessment in another cultural region.[57]
For example, some countries and cultures value the trait of assertiveness and personal accomplishment
while others instead place more merit on cooperation and interpersonal connection. Countries scoring
high on assertiveness consider PA to be a way of assuring equity among employees so that higher
performing employees receive greater rewards or higher salaries.[57] Countries scoring low on
assertiveness but higher in interpersonal relations may not like the social separation and pay inequity of
higher/lower performing employees; employees from this more cooperative rather than individualistic
culture place more concern on interpersonal relationships with other employees rather than on
individual interests.[57] High assertive countries value performance feedback for self-management and
effectiveness purposes while countries low in assertiveness view performance feedback as "threatening
and obtrusive".[57][59] In this case, the PA of the high assertive countries would likely not be beneficial
for countries scoring lower in assertiveness to employ. However, countries scoring lower in
assertiveness could employ PA for purposes of improving long-term communication development within
the organization such as clarifying job objectives, guide training and development plans, and lessen the
gap between job performance and organizational expectations.[60]
Developments in information technology[edit]
Computers have been playing an increasing role in PA for some time (Sulsky & Keown, 1998). There are
two main aspects to this. The first is in relation to the electronic monitoring of performance, which

affords the ability to record a huge amount of data on multiple dimensions of work performance
(Stanton, 2000). Not only does it facilitate a more continuous and detailed collection of performance
data in some jobs, e.g. call centres, but it has the capacity to do so in a non-obvious, covert manner. The
second aspect is in mediating the feedback process, by recording and aggregating performance ratings
and written observations and making the information available on-line; many software packages are
available for this. The use of IT in these ways undoubtedly helps in making the appraisal process more
manageable, especially where multiple rating sources are involved, but it also raises many questions
about appraisees' reactions and possible effects on PA outcomes. Mostly, the evidence so far is
positive.[46]
Rater errors[edit]
Mistakes made by raters is a major source of problems in performance appraisal. There is no simple way
to completely eliminate these errors, but making raters aware of them through training is helpful. Rater
errors are based on the feelings and it has consequences at the time of appraisal.[61][62]
Varying standards
Problem: When a manager appraises (evaluates) his or her employees and the manager uses different
standards and expectations for employees who are performing similar jobs.[citation needed]
Example: A professor does not grade the exams of all students in the same standards, sometimes it
depends on the affection that the professor has towards others. This affection will make professor give
students higher or lower grades.
Solution: The rater must use the same standards and weights for every employee. The manager should
be able to show coherent arguments in order to explain the difference. Therefore, it would be easier to
know if it is done, because the employee has done a good performance, or if it because the manager
perception is distorted.
Recency effects
Problem: When the manager, according only to the last performance, that has been quite good, rates
higher.
Example: When a professor gives the course grade based just in the performance of the student, only in
the last week.
Solution: In order to avoid that, the manager should use some methods as documenting both in positive
and negative aspects.
Primacy effects
Problem: When the person who evaluates gives more weight according to information the manager has
received first.

Example: It could be a silly example. When we are watching a TV quiz and conquest have to remember a
list of things, they only remember the first ones. This is apply also in remembering human performance.
Solution: performance. When manager has to take some decision, is better not to do it according to
what he or she remembers. It is better to based on real actions that has happened and are recorded.
Central Tendency
Problem: When the manager evaluate every employees within a narrow range, as the average because
he or she is dismissing the differences in the performance that employees have done.
Example: When a professor because the average of the class tends to grade harder. Therefore, if the
performance of the class average is quite high, the professor will evaluate them more high. In the
contrary, if the average of the class is lower, he or she would appraise lower.
Leniency
Problem: Rating of all employees are at the high end of the scale.
Example: When the professor tends to grade harder, because the average of the class.
Strictness
Problem: When a manager uses only the lower part of the scale to rate employees.
Example: When the professor tends to grade lower, because the average of the class.
Solution: try to focus more on the individual performance of every employee regardless the average
results.
Rater Bias[63]
Problem: Raters when the manager rates according to his or her values and prejudices which at the
same time distort (distorsionar) the rating. Those differentiations can be made due to the ethnic group,
gender, age, religion, sex, appearance...
Example: Sometimes happen that a manager treats someone different, because he or she thinks that
the employee is homosexual.
Solution: If then, the examination is done by higher-level managers, this kind of appraising can be
corrected, because they are supposed to be more partial.
Halo effect
Problem: When a manager rates an employee high on all items because of one characteristic that he or
she likes.
Example: If a worker has few absence but the supervisor has a good relationship with that employee,

the supervisor might give to the employee a high rating in all other areas of work, in order to balance
the rating. Sometimes it happens due to the emotional dependability based on the good relationship
they have.
Solution: Training raters to recognize the problem and differentiating the person with the performance
they do.
Horns effect
Problem: This is the opposite to the Halo effect and Horns effect occurs when a manager rates an
employee low on all items because of one characteristic that he or she dislikes.
Example: If a worker does a good performance and in some resting times he or she loves telling jokes,
but his or her supervisor hates jokes, the supervisor might give to the employee a lower rating in all
other areas of work, because they do not have that conexion. Sometimes it happens when they do not
have a close relationship and manager do not like the person her/him-self.
Solution: Is the same as in the Halo Effect. Training raters to recognize the problem and differentiating
the person with the performance they do.
Contrast
Problem: The tendency to rate people relative to other people rather than to the individual performance
he or her is doing.
Example: At school, if you are sat down where all the chatty people are and you are silent but you do
not pay attention and you do not do your homework, because you are drawing; when teacher gets
angry with the group, you might be excluded of the bad behavior they have just because you are silent;
but not because you are doing a good performance. Therefore, according to the group, you are not that
chatty, but you are either doing the proper performance. However the rater will only get the idea that
your behavior is not as bad as other, thus, you will be rate higher.
Solution: The rating should reflect the task requirement performance, not according to other people
attitude.
Similar-to-Me / Different-from-Me
Problem: Sometimes, ratters are influenced by some of the characteristics that people show. Depending
if those characteristics are similar or different to ratters' one, they would be evaluated differently.
Example: A manager with higher education degree might give subordinates with higher education
degree a higher appraisal than those with only bachelors degrees.
Solution: Try to focus on the performance the employee is doing regardless the common characteristic
that you have
Sampling

Problem: When the rater evaluates the performance of an employee relying only on a small percentage
of the amount of work done.
Example: An employee has to do 100 reports. Then, the manager take five of them to check how has the
work been made, and the manager finds mistakes in those five reports. Therefore the manager will
appraised the work of the employee as a "poor" one, without having into account the other 95 reports
that the manager has not seen, that have been made correctly.
Solution: To follow the entire track of the performance, not just a little part of it.
We have been looking one by one the possible solutions to each of the situations, which are also
complicated to put into practice, thus here we have a general solution that could be apply to all the
possible rating errors. It is difficult to minimized rater errors, since we are humans and we are not
objective. Moreover, sometimes, we are not aware of our behavior of having preferences towards
people but there are some tools in order to have a more objective information as using available
technology to track performances and record it which enables manager to have some objective
information about the process.
Consultant Marcus Buckingham and executive Ashley Goodall, reporting on a large-scale Deloitte
performance management survey on Harvard Business Review, went as far as to say that, contrary to
the assumptions underlying performance rating, the rating mainly measured the unique rating
tendencies of the rater and thus reveals more about the rater than about the person who is rated. They
referred to this as the idiosyncratic rater effect. In view of this effect, they advocate a radically different
approach to performance management. In their scenario, 360-degree feedback and similar
time-intensive exercises are replaced by team leaders' "performance snapshots"that focus on what they
would do with each team member rather than what they think of that individual, and yearly appraisals
of past performance are replaced by weekly c
The performance appraisal methods may be classified into three categories, as shown in Figure below.

Figure: Performance Appraisal Methods

Individual Evaluation Methods

Under the individual evaluation methods of merit rating, employees are evaluated one at a time without
comparing them with other employees in the organization.

(a)
Confidential report: It is mostly used in government organizations. It is a descriptive report
prepared, generally at the end of every year, by the employee's immediate superior. The report
highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the subordinate. The report is not databased. The
impressions of the superior about the subordinate are merely recorded there. It does not offer any
feedback to the appraisee. The appraisee is not very sure about why his ratings have fallen despite his
best efforts, why others are rated high when compared to him, how to rectify his mistakes, if any; on
what basis he is going to be evaluated next year, etc. Since the report is generally not made public and
hence no feedback is available, the subjective analysis of the superior is likely to be hotly contested. In
recent years, due to pressure from courts and trade unions, the details of a negative confidential report
are given to the appraisee.
(b)
Essay evaluation: Under this method, the rater is asked to express the strong as well as weak
points of the employee's behavior. This technique is normally used with a combination of the graphic
rating scale because the rater can elaborately present the scale by substantiating an explanation for his
rating. While preparing the essay on the employee, the rater considers the following factors: (i) Job
knowledge and potential of the employee; (ii) Employee's understanding of the company's programmes,
policies, objectives, etc.; (iii) The employee's relations with co-workers and superiors; (iv) The
employee's general planning, organizing and controlling ability; (v) The attitudes and perceptions of the
employee, in general.

Essay evaluation is a non-quantitative technique. This method is advantageous in at least one sense, i.e.,
the essay provides a good deal of information about the employee and also reveals more about the
evaluator. The essay evaluation method however, suffers from the following limitations:
It is highly subjective; the supervisor may write a biased essay. The employees who are sycophants will
be evaluated more favorably then other employees.
Some evaluators may be poor in writing essays on employee performance. Others may be superficial in
explanation and use flowery language which may not reflect the actual performance of the employee. It
is very difficult to find effective writers nowadays.
The appraiser is required to find time to prepare the essay. A busy appraiser may write the essay
hurriedly without properly assessing the actual performance of the worker. On the other hand,
appraiser takes a long time, this becomes uneconomical from the view point of the firm, because the
time of the evaluator (supervisor) is costly.
(c)
Critical incident technique: Under this method, the manager prepares lists of statements of
very effective and ineffective behavior of an employee. These critical incidents or events represent the
outstanding or poor behavior of employees on the job. The manager maintains logs on each employee,
whereby he periodically records critical incidents of the workers behavior. At the end of the rating
period, these recorded critical incidents are used in the evaluation of the workers' performance. An
example of a good critical incident of a sales assistant is the following:

July 20 The sales clerk patiently attended to the customers complaint. He is polite, prompt,
enthusiastic in solving the customers' problem.

On the other hand the bad critical incident may appear as under:
July 20 The sales assistant stayed 45 minutes over on his break during the busiest part of the day. He
failed to answer the store manager's call thrice. He is lazy, negligent, stubborn and uninterested in work.

This method provides an objective basis for conducting a thorough discussion of an employee's
performance. This method avoids recency bias (most recent incidents get too much emphasis). This
method suffers however from the following limitations:
Negative incidents may be more noticeable than positive incidents.
The supervisors have a tendency to unload a series of complaints about incidents during an annual
performance review session.
It results in very close supervision which may not be liked by the employee.
The recording of incidents may be a chore for the manager concerned, who may be too busy or forget to
do it.

Most frequently, the critical incidents technique of evaluation is applied to evaluate the performance of
superiors rather than of peers of subordinates.
(d)
Checklists and weighted checklists: Another simple type of individual evaluation method is the
checklist. A checklist represents, in its simplest form, a set of objectives or descriptive statements about
the employee and his behavior. If the rater believes strongly that the employee possesses a particular
listed trait, he checks the item; otherwise, he leaves the item blank. A more recent variation of the
checklist method is the weighted list. Under this, the value of each question may be weighted equally or
certain questions may be weighted more heavily than others. The following are some of the sample
questions in the checklist.
l

Is the employee really interested in the task assigned?

Is he respected by his colleagues (co-workers)

Does he give respect to his superiors?

Does he follow instructions properly?

Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No

Does he make mistakes frequently?

Yes/No

A rating score from the checklist helps the manager in evaluation of the performance of the employee.
The checklist method has a serious limitation. The rater may be biased in distinguishing the positive and
negative questions. He may assign biased weights to the questions. Another limitation could be that this
method is expensive and time consuming. Finally, it becomes difficult for the manager to assemble,
analyze and weigh a number of statements about the employee's characteristics, contributions and
behaviors. In spite of these limitations, the checklist method is most frequently used in the employee's
performance evaluation.
(e)
Graphic rating scale: Perhaps the most commonly used method of performance evaluation is
the graphic rating scale. Of course, it is also one of the oldest methods of evaluation in use. Under this
method, a printed form, as shown below, is used to evaluate the performance of an employee. A variety
of traits may be used in these types of rating devices, the most common being the quantity and quality
of work. The rating scales can also be adapted by including traits that the company considers important
for effectiveness on the job. A model of a graphic rating scale is given below.
Table: Typical Graphic Rating Scale
Employee Name...................
Department .........................

Job title .................

Rate ...............

Data ..................................

Quantity of work: Volume of work under normal working conditions

Unsatisfactory
Fair
Satisfactory
Good
Outstanding
Quality of work: Neatness, thoroughness and accuracy of work Knowledge of job

A clear understanding of the factors connected with the job

Attitude: Exhibits enthusiasm and cooperativeness on the job

Dependability: Conscientious, thorough, reliable, accurate, with respect to attendance, reliefs, lunch
breaks, etc.

Cooperation: Willingness and ability to work with others to produce desired goals.

From the graphic rating scales, excerpts can be obtained about the performance standards of
employees. For instance, if the employee has serious gaps in technical-professional knowledge (knows
only rudimentary phases of job); lacks the knowledge to bring about an increase in productivity; is
reluctant to make decisions on his own (on even when he makes decisions they are unreliable and
substandard); declines to accept responsibility; fails to plan ahead effectively; wastes and misuses
resources; etc., then it can safely be inferred that the standards of the performance of the employee are
dismal and disappointing.

The rating scale is the most common method of evaluation of an employee's performance today. One
positive point in favor of the rating scale is that it is easy to understand, easy to use and permits a
statistical tabulation of scores of employees. When ratings are objective in nature they can be
effectively used as evaluators. The graphic rating scale may however suffer from a long standing
disadvantage, i.e., it may be arbitrary and the rating may be subjective. Another pitfall is that each
characteristic is equally important in evaluation of the employee's performance and so on.
(f)
Behaviorally anchored rating scales: Also known as the behavioral expectations scale, this
method represents the latest innovation in performance appraisal. It is a combination of the rating
scale and critical incident techniques of employee performance evaluation. The critical incidents serve
as anchor statements on a scale and the rating form usually contains six to eight specifically defined
performance dimensions. The following chart represents an example of a sales trainee's competence
and a behaviorally anchored rating scale.
Table: An Example of Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)

Performance
Points
Behavior
Extremely good
7
Can expect trainee to make valuable suggestions for increased sales and to have positive relationships

with customers all over the country.

Good
6
Can expect to initiate creative ideas for improved sales.
Above average
5
Can expect to keep in touch with the customers throughout the year.
Average
4
Can manage, with difficulty, to deliver the goods in time.
Below average
3
Can expect to unload the trucks when asked by the supervisor.
Poor
2
Can expect to inform only a part of the customers.
Extremely poor
1
Can expect to take extended coffee breaks and roam around purposelessly.

How to construct BARS? Developing a BARS follows a general format which combines techniques
employed in the critical incident method and weighted checklist ratings scales. Emphasis is pinpointed
on pooling the thinking of people who will use the scales as both evaluators and evaluees.

Step 1: Collect critical incidents: People with knowledge of the job to be probed, such as job holders and
supervisors, describe specific examples of effective and ineffective behavior related to job performance.

Step 2: Identify performance dimensions: The people assigned the task of developing the instrument
cluster the incidents into a small set of key performance dimensions. Generally between five and ten
dimensions account for most of the performance. Examples of performance dimensions include
technical competence, relationships with customers, handling of paper work and meeting day-to-day
deadlines. While developing varying levels of performance for each dimension (anchors), specific
examples of behavior should be used, which could later be scaled in terms of good, average or below
average performance.

Step 3: Reclassification of incidents: Another group of participants who are knowledgeable about the job
is instructed to retranslate or reclassify the critical incidents generated (in Step II) previously. They are
given the definition of job dimension and told to assign each critical incident to the dimension that it
best describes. At this stage, incidents for which there is not 75 per cent agreement are discarded as
being too subjective.

Step 4: Assigning scale values to the incidents: Each incident is then rated on a one-to-seven or
one-to-nine scale with respect of how well it represents performance on the appropriate dimension. A
rating of one represents ineffective performance; the top scale value indicates very effective
performance. The second group of participants usually assigns the scale values. Means and standard
deviations are then calculated for the scale values assigned to each incident. Typically incidents that
have standard deviations of 1.50 or less (on a 7-point scale) are retained.

Step 5: Producing the final instrument: About six or seven incidents for each performance dimension
all having met both the retranslating and standard deviation criteria will be used as behavioral
anchors. The final BARS instrument consists of a series of vertical scales (one for each dimension)
anchored (or measured) by the final incidents. Each incident is positioned on the scale according to its
mean value.

Because the above process typically requires considerable employee participation, its acceptance by
both supervisors and their subordinates may be greater. Proponents of BARS also claim that such a
system differentiates among behavior, performance and results and consequently is able to provide a
basis for setting developmental goals for the employee. Because it is job-specific and identifies
observable and measurable behavior, it is a more reliable and valid method for performance appraisal.

Researchers, after surveying several studies on BARS, concluded that despite the intuitive appeal of
BARS, findings from research have not been encouraging. It has not proved to be superior to other

methods in overcoming rater errors or in achieving psychometric soundness. A specific deficiency is that
the behaviors used are activity oriented rather than results oriented. This creates a potential problem
for supervisors doing the evaluation, who may be forced to deal with employees who are performing
the activity but not accomplishing the desired goals. Further, it is time consuming and expensive to
create BARS. They also demand several appraisal forms to accommodate different types of jobs in an
organization. In a college, lecturers, office clerks, library staff, technical staff and gardening staff all have
different jobs; separate BARS forms would need to be developed for each. In view of the lack of
compelling evidence demonstrating the superiority of BARS over traditional techniques such as graphic
rating scales. Decotis concluded that: It may be time to quit hedging about the efficacy of behavioral
scaling strategies and conclude that this method has no clear-cut advantages over more traditional and
easier methods of performance evaluation.
(g)
Forced choice method: This method was developed to eliminate bias and the preponderance
of high ratings that might occur in some organizations. The primary purpose of the forced choice
method is to correct the tendency of a rater to give consistently high or low ratings to all the employees.
This method makes use of several sets of pair phrases, two of which may be positive and two negative
and the rater is asked to indicate which of the four phrases is the most and least descriptive of a
particular worker. Actually, the statement items are grounded in such a way that the rater cannot easily
judge which statements apply to the most effective employee. The following box is a classic illustration
of the forced choice items in organizations.

Table: Forced Choice Items

1.

2.

Least

Most

Does not anticipate difficulties

Grasps explanations easily and quickly

Does not waste time

Very easy to talk to

Least

Most

Can be a leader

Wastes time on unproductive things

At all times, cool and calm

Smart worker

A
B
C
D

The favorable qualities earn a plus credit and the unfavorable ones earn the reverse. The worker gets
over plus when the positive factors override the negative ones or when one of the negative phrases is
checked as being insignificantly rated.

They overall objectivity is increased by using this method in evaluation of employee's performance,
because the rater does not know how high or low he is evaluating the individual as he has no access to
the scoring key. This method, however, has a strong limitation. In the preparation of sets of phrases
trained technicians are needed and as such the method becomes very expensive. Further, managers
may feel frustrated rating the employees in the dark'. Finally, the results of the forced choice method
may not be useful for training employees because the rater himself does not know how he is evaluating
the worker. In spite of these limitations, the forced choice techniques is quite popular.
(h)
Management by Objectives (MBO): MBO represents a modern method of evaluating the
performance of personnel. Thoughtful managers have become increasingly aware that the traditional
performance evaluation systems are characterized by somewhat antagonistic judgments on the part of
the rater. There is a growing feeling nowadays that it is better to make the superior work with
subordinates in fixing goals. This would inevitably enable subordinates to exercise self-control over their
performance behaviors. The concept of management by objectives is actually the outcome of the
pioneering works of Drucker, McGregor and Odiorne in management science. Management by
objectives can be described as a process whereby the superior and subordinate managers of an
organization jointly identify its common goals, define each individuals' major areas of responsibility in
terms of results expected of him and use these measures as guides for operating the unit and assessing
the contributions of each of its members. MBO thus represents more than an evaluation programme
and process. Practicing management scientists and pedagogues view it as a philosophy of managerial
practice; it is a method by which managers and subordinates plan, organize, control, communicate and
debate.
Features
MBO emphasizes participatively set goals that are tangible, verifiable and measurable.
MBO focuses attention on what must be accomplished (goals) rather than how it is to be accomplished
(methods).
MBO, by concentrating on key result areas translates the abstract philosophy of management into
concrete phraseology. The technique can be put to general use (non-specialist technique). Further it is
a dynamic system which seeks to integrate the company's need to clarify and achieve its profit and
growth targets with the manager's need to contribute and develop himself.
MBO is a systematic and rational technique that allows management to attain maximum results from
available resources by focusing on achievable goals. It allows the subordinate plenty of room to make
creative decisions on his own.

Performance appraisals help organizations and their members measure performance. In this lesson,
you'll learn about different standards, or criteria, used in performance appraisals, including trait,
competencies, behavioral and results.
Performance Management & Appraisals
Malcolm is a human resource specialist for a pharmaceutical company in the Midwest. He's been asked
to review and revise the company's performance appraisal system. This task is part of performance
management, which is a management practice focused on developing and implementing processes that
help maximize the productivity and effectiveness of the organization and its members.

One of these processes is performance appraisal, which is the process of reviewing and evaluating the
performance of individuals or teams on their work tasks. In revising his company's performance
appraisal system, he needs to develop a set of criteria, or standards, by which the company will appraise
performance. Let's take a look at the primary types of standards used in performance appraisals.

Trait Appraisal
Malcolm can use traits as a standard. A trait is a characteristic that an individual possesses. Traits include
things such as appearance, attitude, initiative, work ethic, leadership ability, a sense of ethics, loyalty,
adaptability and judgment.

One big issue with using traits as a standard in judging performance is that they are pretty much
subjective in nature. On the other hand, if the trait has some legitimate relationship to the job, then it
may have some value in appraisal. For example, Malcolm's company expects its pharmaceutical sales
reps to be immaculately groomed and professionally dressed. In this case, appearance has relevance
and can have some degree of objectivity if a dress code is established.

Behavioral Appraisal
Behaviors can also be used as a criteria in performance appraisals. While traits are characteristics,
behaviors are actions. Of course, to be effective, the behaviors must be related to the performance
being appraised. Malcolm may use behaviors that demonstrate cooperation and team building when
developing team appraisals. Salespeople may be assessed on their persistency in making cold calls to
doctors to set up appointments.

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Traditional methods of Performance Appraisal

Performance Appraisal
Performance Appraisal
History & origin of Performance Appraisal
Objectives of Performance Appraisal
Benefits of Performance Appraisal
Performance Appraisal Process
Performance Appraisal Rating Factors
Traditional methods of Performance Appraisal
Modern Methods of Performance Appraisal
360 Degrees Performance Appraisal
Performance Appraisal at Pepsi-Cola International
Potential Appraisal
Performance Counseling

1.Rating Scales Method

creating Scales Method is commonly used method for assessing the performance of the employees and
well-known traditional method of performance appraisal of employees. Many corporations and
companies example in the country India, telecommunications company likely airtel and US IT companies
like Dell Corporation are using this method for evaluating the employees and subsequently take
decisions on concerned employee.

Depending upon the job of employee under this method of appraisal traits like attitude, performance,
regularity, accountability and sincerity etc,are rated with scale from 1 to 10. 1 indicates negative
feedback and 10 indicates positive feedback as shown below.

Attitude of employee towards his superiors, colleagues and customers

10

10

Extremely
Excellent
poor

Regularity in the job

Extremely
outstanding
poor

Under this method of performance appraisal, employee may be assessed by his superiors, colleagues,
subordinates or sometimes by his customers which all depends on nature of the company or job which
is added where the employee. Appraiser is a person who appraises employee will give rating for every
trait given by marking or choosing number basing on his observation and satisfaction. ultimately all
numbers chosen or marked will be added to determine highest score gained by employee. Employee
who scored more points will be treated as top performer following descending scored employees will
be treated as low performer and the least scored employee will be treated as non-performers.

2. 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.

Under this method, the rater is asked to express the strong as well as weak points of the employees
behavior. This technique is normally used with a combination of the graphic rating scale because the
rater can elaborately present the scale by substantiating an explanation for his rating. While preparing
the essay on the employee, the rater considers the following factors:
Job knowledge and potential of the employee;
Employees understanding of the companys programmes, policies, objectives, etc.;
The employees relations with co-workers and superiors;
The employees general planning, organizing and controlling ability;
The attitudes and perceptions of the employee, in general.
Essay evaluation is a non-quantitative technique. This method is advantageous in at least one sense, i.e.,
the essay provides a good deal of information about the employee and also reveals more about the
evaluator. The essay evaluation method however, suffers from the following limitations:
It is highly subjective; the supervisor may write a biased essay. The employees who are sycophants will
be evaluated more favorably then other employees.
Some evaluators may be poor in writing essays on employee performance. Others may be superficial in
explanation and use flowery language which may not reflect the actual performance of the employee. It
is very difficult to find effective writers nowadays.
The appraiser is required to find time to prepare the essay. A busy appraiser may write the essay
hurriedly without properly assessing the actual performance of the worker. On the other hand,
appraiser takes a long time, this becomes uneconomical from the view point of the firm, because the
time of the evaluator (supervisor) is costly.

3. RANKING METHOD
How do we use the ranking method? Under the ranking method, the manager com-pares an employee
to other similar employees, rather than to a standard measurement. An offshoot of ranking is the forced
distribution method, which is similar to grading on a curve. Predetermined percentages of employees
are placed in various performance categories, for example, excellent,above average, average, below
average, and poor,. The employees ranked in the top group usually get the rewards (raise, bonus,
promotion), those not at the top tend to have the reward withheld, and those at the bottom sometimes
get punished. In Self-Assessment and Skill Builder 8-1, you are asked to rank the performance of your

peers.

Why and when do we use the ranking method? Managers have to make evaluative decisions, such as
who is the employee of the month, who gets a raise or promotion, and who gets laid off. So when we
have to make evaluative decisions, we generally have to use ranking. However, our ranking can, and
when possible should, be based on other methods and forms. Ranking can also be used for
developmental purposes by letting employees know where they stand in comparison to their
peersthey can be motivated to improve performance. For example, when one of the authors passes
back exams, he places the grade distribution on the board. It does not in any way affect the current
gradesbut it lets students know where they stand, and he does it to motivate improvement.

4. 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.

5. CRITICAL INCIDENTS METHODS

This technique of performance appraisal was developed by Flanagan and Burns.
The manager prepares lists of statements of very effective and ineffective behavior of an employee.
These critical incidents or events represent the outstanding or poor behavior of employees on the job.
The manager maintains logs on each employee, whereby he periodically records critical incidents of the
workers behavior. At the end of the rating period, these recorded critical incidents are used in the
evaluation of the workers performance. An example of a good critical incident of a sales assistant is the
following:

July 20 The sales clerk patiently attended to the customers complaint. He is polite, prompt,
enthusiastic in solving the customers problem.

On the other hand the bad critical incident may appear as under:

July 20 The sales assistant stayed 45 minutes over on his break during the busiest part of the day. He
failed to answer the store managers call thrice. He is lazy, negligent, stubborn and uninterested in work.

This method provides an objective basis for conducting a thorough discussion of an employees
performance. This method avoids recency bias (most recent incidents get too much emphasis). This
method suffers however from the following limitations:
Negative incidents may be more noticeable than positive incidents.
The supervisors have a tendency to unload a series of complaints about incidents during an annual
performance review session.
It results in very close supervision which may not be liked by the employee.
The recording of incidents may be a chore for the manager concerned, who may be too busy or forget to
do it.

6. CONFIDENTIAL REPORT SYSTEM

confidential report system is well known method of performance appraisal system mostly being used by
the the Government organisations. In this method of appraising system, subordinate is observed by
his superiors regarding his performance in the job and on his duties done. Thereafter Superior writes
confidential report on his performance, mainly on his behaviour in the organisation and conduct and
remarks if any. confidential reports will be kept confidential and will not be revealed to anyone and
finally confidential reports will be forwarded to the top management officials for taking decision against
person on whom confidential report has made. Confidential reports are the main criteria for promoting
or transferring of any employee mainly in the government sector. All governmental organisations
example judiciary, police Department and other government departments in the India are using
confidential reports method as a tool to know about the employee and to take any decision connecting
to him.

Procedure of confidential report system

The superiors who appraises their subordinates performance, behaviour and other key issues will be
kept in the form of writing on paper, which is called as confidential report. Confidential report should
not be sent openly on a paper, it must be kept in a sealed cover to send it to decision-making
authorities. Only authorised persons are allowed to open the sealed covers which consists of
confidential reports. Confidential reports shall not be handed over in loose sheets to the subordinates.

Key factors assessed in Confidential Report writing

Character and conduct of an employee
Absenteeism of an employee
Knowledge of an employee
His nature and quality of work
Punctuality of employee
Unauthorised absenteeism or leave without permission
Behaviour of an employee with colleagues, superiors and with public
Ability of supervision and controlling
His/her integrity and honesty
If any complaints against employee
7. CHECKLIST METHOD
The rater is given a checklist of the descriptions of the behaviour of the employees on job. The checklist
contains a list of statements on the basis of which the rater describes the on the job performance of the
employees.
Another simple type of individual evaluation method is the checklist. A checklist represents, in its
simplest form, a set of objectives or descriptive statements about the employee and his behavior. If the
rater believes strongly that the employee possesses a particular listed trait, he checks the item;
otherwise, he leaves the item blank. A more recent variation of the checklist method is the weighted list.
Under this, the value of each question may be weighted equally or certain questions may be weighted
more heavily than others. The following are some of the sample questions in the checklist.
Is the employee really interested in the task assigned?
Is he respected by his colleagues (co-workers)
Does he give respect to his superiors?
Does he follow instructions properly?

Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No

Does he make mistakes frequently?

8. GRAPHIC RATING SCALE

Example of Graphic Rating Scales Method

Performance Trait
Excellent
Fair

Good

Average

Poor

Attitude
5

Knowledge of Work
5

Managerial Skills
5

Team Work
5
Honesty
5

Regularity
5

Accountability
5

Interpersonal relationships
5

Yes/No

Creativity

Discipline
5
3

4
2

This is the very popular, traditional method of performance appraisal. Under this method, core traits of
employee pertaining to his job are carefully defined like Attitude, Knowledge of Work, Managerial
Skills, Team Work, Honesty, Regularity, Accountability, Interpersonal relationships, Creativity and
Discipline etc. Theses traits are allotted with with numerical scale to tabulate the scores gained by
appraisee (employee) in performance assessment relating to his job by appraiser (employer) and
sum-up to determine the best performer. Appraiser ticks rating of particular trait depending upon
his endeavor in his job. Score vary form employee to employee depending up on his performance levels
and endeavor in his job.

This method is popular because it is simple and does not require any writing ability. The method is easy
to understand and use. Comparison among pairs is possible. This is necessary for decision on salary
increases, promotion, etc.

Companies like DELL, Maruthi Suzuki India Ltd and airtel are using this graphic rating scale method to
appraise performance of their employees in there jobs and to take decisions regarding the matters
concerned to employees

9. FORCED DISTRIBUTION
The system is 17 to 18 years old, and most big organisations started waking up to this form of
performance appraisal in the late '90s. The bell curve is nothing but a graphical representation of the
fact that everybody's performance is not the same. Some employees will be outstanding, some average,
and others at the bottom.
Irrespective of whether or not the bell curve is the most appropriate representation of performance or
human behaviour, some believe that it is the most viable option, especially in services-driven sectors,
which have large workforces.

The system requires the managers to evaluate each individual, and rank them typically into one of three
categories (excellent, good, poor). The system is thought to be relatively widely-used, but remains
somewhat controversial due to the competition it creates, and also the reality that not all employees
will fit neatly into one of the categories and might end up in a category that does not reflect their true
performance. One of the first companies to use this system was General Electric, in the 1980s.
--------Businessdictionary.com

In India, big Indian employers including Infosys, Wipro, ICICI Bank and Aditya Birla Group evaluate lakhs
of employees on the basis of this system.
Back home, big Indian employers including InfosysBSE -0.47 %, WiproBSE 0.63 %, ICICI BankBSE 0.33 %
and Aditya Birla Group evaluate lakhs of employees on the basis of this system.
QUALITY OF WORK LIFE

Integration:

There has been much concern today about decent wages, convenient working hours, conducive working
conditions etc. Their term Quality of work life has appeared in research journals and the press in USA
only in 1970s. There is no generally acceptable definition about this term. However, some attempts
were made to describe the term quality of work life (QWL). It refers to the favourableness or
unfavourableness of a job environment for people. QWL means different things to different people. J.
Richard and J. Loy define QWL as the degree to which members of a work organization are able to
satisfy important personnel needs through their experience in the organization.
Quality of work life improvements are defined as any activity which takes place at every level of an
organization, which seeks greater organizational effectiveness through the enhancement of human
dignity and growth a process through which the stockholders in the organization management, unions
and employees learn how to work together better to determine for themselves what actions, changes
and improvements are desirable and workable in order to achieve the twin and simultaneous goals of an
improved quality of life at work for all members of the organization and greater effectiveness for both
the company and the unions.
Richard E. Walton explains quality of work life in terms of eight broad conditions of employment that
constitute desirable quality of work life. He proposed the same criteria for measuring QWL. Those
criteria include:
(i) Adequate and Fair Compensation: There are different opinions about adequate compensation. The
committee on Fair Wages defined fair wage as . . . the wage which is above the minimum wage, but

below the living wage.

(ii) Safe and Healthy Working Conditions: Most of the organizations provide safe and healthy working
conditions due to humanitarian requirements and/or legal requirements. In fact , these conditions are a
matter or enlightened self interest.
(iii) Opportunity to Use and Develop Human Capacities: Contrary to the traditional assumptions, QWL is
improved to the extent that the worker can exercise more control over his or her work, and the
degree to which the job embraces and entire meaningful task but not a part of it. Further, QWL
provides for opportunities like autonomy in work and participation in planning in order to use human
capabilities.
(iv) Opportunity for Career Growth: Opportunities for promotions are limited in case of all categories of
employees either due to educational barriers or due to limited openings at the higher level. QWL
provides future opportunity for continued growth and security by expanding ones capabilities,
knowledge and qualifications.
(v) Social Integration in the Work Force: Social integration in the work force can be established by
creating freedom from prejudice, supporting primary work groups, a sense of community and
inter-personnel openness, legalitarianism and upward mobility.
(vi) Constitutionalism in the Work Organization: QWL provides constitutional protection to the
employees only to the level of desirability as it hampers workers. It happens because the managements
action is challenged in every action and bureaucratic procedures need to be followed lat that level.
Constitutional protection is provided to employees on such matters as privacy, free speech, equity and
due process.
(vii) Work and Quality of Life: QWL provides for the balanced relationship among work, non-work and
family aspects of life. In other words family life and social life should not be strained by working hours
including overtime work, work during inconvenient hours, business travel, transfers, vacations etc.
(viii) Social Relevance of Work: QWL is concerned about the establishment of social relevance to work in
a socially beneficial manner. The workers self esteem would be high if his work is useful to the society
and the vice versa is also true.
Quality Circles: Quality circles which have been popularized by Japanese firms are being used all over
the world because of the benefits that accrue to the firm. A quality circle involves participation from a
small group of employees doing the same type of work. They meet regularly to identify, analyze and
solve the problems that arise during the course of their work and their association with the organization.
The basic objectives of quality circles are to develop and utilize human resources effectively, to develop
quality products, improve the quality of work life and sharpen and utilize an individuals creative
abilities. There are different steps involved in the development of quality circles from getting started to
problem-solving. Communicating the importance of quality circles to the employees is of prime
importance.

The next step is the composition of a quality circle. Then the stage of initial problem solving through
which employee suggestions are presented, follows. The suggestions are then evaluated and the best
one, chosen by consensus, is implemented. Various techniques like brainstorming sessions, fish bone
diagram and sampling and charting methods, are used in quality circles.
Problems arise in the implementation of quality circles because of lack of understanding regarding the
concepts, low education levels and training, delays in execution and operational problems. Most of
these problems can be resolved through effective training of employees and management support.
Industrial Relations: The concept of industrial relations means the relationship between employees and
the management in the day-to-day working of the industry. But the concept has a wide meaning. When
taken in the wider sense, industrial relations is a set of functional interdependence involving historical,
economic, social, psychological, demographic, technological, occupational, political and legal variables.
According to Dale Yoder, industrial relations is a whole field of relationship that exists because of the
necessary collaboration of men and women in the employment process of an industry.
According to the international Labour Organisaton (ILO), Industrial Relations deal with either the
relationship between the state and employers and workers organizations or the relation between the
occupational organizations themselves. The concept of industrial relations has been extended to
denote the relations of the joint consultations between employers and people at their organizations.
The subject there fore includes individual relations of the joint consultations between employers and
people at their work place, collective relations between em0ployers and their organizations and trade
unions and the part played by the State in regulating these relations.
Characteristics of Industrial Relations: Characteristics of industrial rations include:
i. Industrial relations are the outcome of employment relationship in an industrial enterprise.
ii. Industrial relations develop the skills and methods of adjusting to and co-operating with each other.
iii. Industrial relations system creates complex rules and regulations to maintain harmonious relations.
iv. The Government involves to shape the industrial relations through laws, rules, agreements, awards
etc.
v. The important factors of industrial relations are: employees and their organizations, employer and
their associations and the Government.
Factors of Industrial Relations: Industrial relations are influenced by various factors, viz., institutional
factors, economic factors and technological factors.
1. Institutional factors: These factors include government policy, labour legislations, voluntary courts,
collective agreement, employee courts, employers federations, social institutions like community,
caste, joint family, creed, system of beliefs, attitudes of works, system of power status etc.
2. Economic factors: These factors include economic organization, like capitalist, communist mixed etc,.

The structure of labour force, demand for and supply of labour force etc.
3. Technological factors: These factors include mechanization, automation, rationalization, computation
etc.,
4. Social and cultural factors: These factors include population, customs and traditions of people, ethnic
groups, cultures of various groups of people etc.
5. Political factors: These factors include political system in the country, political parties and their
ideologies, their growth, mode of achievement of their policies, involvement in trade unions etc.
6. Government factors: These factors include governmental policies like industrial policy, economic
policy, labour policy, export policy etc.
Objectives of Industrial Relations: The primary objective of industrial relations is to maintain congenial
relations between employees and the employer. And the other objectives are:
i. To promote and develop congenial labour management relations;
ii. To enhance the economic status of the worker by improving wages, benefits and by helping the
worker in evolving sound budget;
iii. To regulate the production by minimizing industrial conflicts through state control;
iv. To socialize industries by making the government as an employer;
v. To provide and opportunity to the workers to have a say in the management and decision-making;
vi. To improve workers strength with a view to solve their problems through mutual negotiations and
consultation with the management;
vii. To encourage and develop trade unions in order to improve the workers strength;
viii. To avoid industrial conflict and their consequences and
ix. To extend and maintain industrial democracy.
DEFINITION OF A DISPUTE/CONFLICT
According to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, Section 2 (k), Industrial dispute means any dispute of
difference between employers and employers, or between employers and workmen or between
workmen and workmen, which is connected with the employment or non-employment or terms of
employment or non-employment or with the conditions of labour of any person.
CAUSES OF INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES/CONFLICTS
It not easy to identify a single factor as a cause of industrial conflicts as multifarious causes blended
together result in industrial disputes. Deep seated and more basic causes of disputes can be identified

through in-depth probe, though surface manifestations appear to be responsible for conflicts. The
relative importance of these causes, when more than one present, is often very difficult to gauge.
According to Mukherjee, the development of capitalistic enterprise, which means the control of the
tools of production by the small entrepreneur class has brought to the fore the acute problem of friction
between management and labour throughout the world.
Causes of industrial conflicts may be grouped into four categories, viz.:
1) Industrial factors;
2) Managements attitude towards workers;
3) Government machinery and
4) Other causes.
TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL CONFLICTS: Industrial conflicts are basically two types, viz. Strikes and Lock-outs.
Fig.28.1 shows the manifestation of industrial conflicts.
Strikes: Strikes are the result of more fundamental maladjustments, injustices and economic
disturbances. According to Peterson, strike is a temporary cessation of work by a group of employees in
order to express grievances or to enforce a demand concerning changes in work conditions.Under
Section 2(q) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, strike is a cessation of work by a body of persons
employed in any industry, acting in combination or a concerted refusal under a common understanding,
of a number of persons who are or have bee so employed to continue to work or to accept
employment.
However, prohibiting an individual employee, termination of employment of retrenchment, termination
of service of more than one person are not lock-outs.
Strikes are divided into primary strikes and secondary strikes. Primary strikes are generally against the
employer with whom the dispute exist. They take the form of stay away strike, sit-in, sit-down,
pen-down, tools-down, or mouth-shut strikes, go slow, work-to-rule, token or protest strike, lightening
or wildcat strike, picketing or boycott.
Primary Strikes: Stay away strike: In this strike, workmen stay away from the work place. They organize
rallies, demonstrations etc.
Stay-in strike or sit-down shut strike: In this strike, workmen come to the place, they stay at the work
place but they dont work.
Tools-down, pen-down or mouth-shut strike: In this strike, the strikers lay down their tools in case of
factory workers, lay down their pens in case of office workers and shut their mouth in case of teachers.
Token or protest strike: It is a very short duration and in the nature of signal for the danger ahead. In
this strike, the workers do not work for an hour or a day.

Lightening or wildcat strike: In this strike, the strikers strike the work without any prior notice or with a
shortest notice.
Go slow: In this strike, the workers intentionally reduce the speed of work.
Work to rule/work to designation: In this strike, the strikers undertake the work according to rules of job
description.
Picketing: It is an act of posting pickets and implies machinery or patrolling of the workmen in front of
the premises of the employer.
Boycott: It alms at disrupting the normal functioning of the enterprise.
Gherao: It is a physical blockade of a target either by encirclement, intended to block the regress and
ingress for a limited period or up to the period of settlement of disputes.
Hunger strike: This type of strike is resorted to either by the leaders of the union or by some workers all
at a time or in small batches for a limited period or up to the period of settlement of disputes.
Secondary strike: Secondary strikes are against a third party. These strikes are sympathetic strikes.
Other strikes: These strikes are in the form of general, political strikes and bandhs.
SETTLEMENT OF CONFLICTS:The methods of the settlement of conflicts generally include those
mentioned in the figure below: They are dealt in detail in the following paragraphs:
Investigation: This is conducted by a board or court appointed by the government. It may be voluntary
or compulsory. If the investigation is conducted on an application by either or both the parties to the
dispute, it is voluntary. If the Government appoints a Court of inquiry to investigate into a dispute
without the consent of the parties, it is compulsory. Investigations do not aim at bringing about the
settlement of disputes directly, but by analyzing the facts, they aim at bringing about an amicable
solution. When the investigation is comp0ulsory, the strikes and lock-outs are required to be stopped
and employment. The result of investigation has no serious effect on the disputes because the general
public is least bothered t make note of the disputes.
Mediation: another attempt to settle disputes is mediation. In this method, an outsider assists the
parties in their negotiations. It takes place with the consent of both the parties. The mediator performs
the messengers job for both the parties and he neither imposes his will nor his judgement upon them.
The main aim of mediation is the settlement of disputes by bringing about a voluntary agreement. There
may be three kinds of mediation:
(i) The Eminent Outside;
(ii) Non-Government Board; and
(iii) Semi-Governmental Board.

If mediation is conducted skillfully and sympathetically along proper lines, it can bring about the
adjustment of differences tat might otherwise contribute to stoppage of work.
Conciliation: the main objective of a conciliation and arbitration is to reunite and arbitration is to reunite
the two conflicting groups in the industry in order to avoid interruption of production, distrust etc.
Conciliation is a process buy which representatives of both workers and employers are brought together
before third party with a view to persuading them to arrive at some sort of settlement. It is an extension
of collective bargaining with third party assistance. It is the practice by which the services of a neutral
third party are used in a dispute as a means of helping the disputing parties to reduce the extent of their
differences and to arrive at an amicable settlement or agreed solution. It is a process of rational and
orderly discussions of differences between the parties to a dispute under the guidance of a conciliator.
Conciliation machinery consists of a conciliation officer and board of conciliations. The conciliator
induces the parties to a course of action. He plays the role of an innovator, protector, discussion leader,
stimulator, advisor, face saver. He acts as a safety valve and a communication link.
The task of conciliation is to offer advice and make suggestions to the parties to the dispute on
controversial issues.
Voluntary Arbitration: If the two parties to the dispute fail to come to an agreement, either by
themselves or with the help of a mediator or conciliator, who agrees to submit the dispute to an
impartial authority, whose decision, they are ready to accept. The essential elements in voluntary
arbitration are:
the voluntary submission of dispute to an arbitrator;
the subsequent attendance of witness and investigations and
the enforcement of an award may not be necessary.
Compulsory Arbitration/Adjudication: Where trade unions are weak, the method of Compulsory
Arbitration is used. Compulsory Arbitration is utilized generally when the parties fail to arrive at a
settlement through the voluntary methods.
In India, Compulsory Arbitration is enforced because collective bargaining was not used for regulating
wages and other conditions of employment.
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE Meaning/Definitions:
The concept grievance has been defined in several ways by different authorities. Some of the
definitions are as follows:
Beach defines grievance as any dissatisfaction for feeling of injustice in connection with ones
employment situation that is brought to the notice of the management, whereas Flippo indicates the
grievance as a type of discontent which must always be expressed. A grievance is usually more formal

in character than a complaint. It can be valid or ridiculous, and must grow out of something connected
with company operations or policy. It must involve an interpretation or application of the provisions of
the labour contract. Jucius defines grievance as any discontent or dissatisfaction, whether exposed
or not, whether valid or not, arising out of anything connected with the company which an employee
thinks, believes or even feels to be unfair, unjust or inequitable.
Causes of Grievances: The causes of employee grievances include:
Demands for individual wage adjustments;
Complaints about the incentive system;
Complaints about the job classifications;
Complaints against a particular foreman;
Complaints concerning disciplinary measures and procedures;
Objections to the general methods of supervision;
Loose calculation and interpretation of seniority rules and unsatisfactory interpretation of
agreements;
Promotions;
Disciplinary discharge or lay-off;
Transfer for another department or another shift;
Inadequacy of safety and health services/devices;
Non-availability of materials in time;
Violation of contracts relating to collective bargaining;
Improper job assignment;
Undesirable or unsatisfactory conditions of work;
Victimization and
Fines.
Grievance Procedure: The model Grievance Procedure suggested by the National Commission on Labour
has provided for the successive time bound steps each leading to the next in case of lack of satisfaction.
At the outset, an aggrieved worker shall approach the foreman, inform his grievance orally and seek the
redressal of his grievance. If it is not redressed to his satisfaction, he approaches the supervisor who has
to give a decision to the complaint of the worker within 48 hours. If the decision (answer) is not

acceptable to the worker or if the superior does not give an answer, the worker can go to the next step.
At the third stage, the worker can, either in person or accompanied by his departmental representative,
approach the head of the department who has to give an answer before the expiry of three days. If the
department head fails to do so or if the decision given by him is not acceptable to the worker, then the
worker can resort to the Grievance Committee which comprises of the representatives of employers and
employees. This Committee shall communicate its recommendations to the manager within seven days
of the grievance reaching it. If there are unanimous decisions, these shall be implemented by the
management. In case unanimous decisions have not been arrived at, the views of the members of the
Committee shall be recorded and all the relevant records shall be placed before the manager for
decision. The manager shall communicate his decision within three days. The worker has got a right to
appeal against the managers decision. These appeals shall be decided within a week. If the aggrieved
desires, he can take along with him a union official for discussion with the authority. In case a decision
has not been arrived at, at this stage, the union and management may refer the grievance to voluntary
arbitration within a week of receipt of the managements decision by the worker.
GUIDELINES FOR GRIEVANCE HANDLING:
The primary purposes of a grievance procedure are to:
(1) channel conflict into an institutionalized mechanism for peaceful resolution;
(2) facilitate communication between labor and management regarding problems that arise in a
collective bargaining relationship;
(3) enable employees to complain with dignity knowing that there is a system of appeals leading to an
impartial decision-maker; and
(4) enforce compliance with the terms and conditions negotiated by the parties.
Handling Employee Grievance:
The following checklist is provided as guidance when an employee comes to you with a complaint:
Make sure that meetings with employees to handle complaints are held in accordance with any
contract provisions that regulate the time and/or location for such meetings. Develop good listening and
note taking skills.
Be prepared to spend the time to get the evidence and testimony to support your case and to refute
managements case. Treat all employees fairly and consistently.
Do not make judgments about the case to the employee or anyone else until you get the facts. Keep
good records of all transactions, oral and written, that occur from the time a complaint is brought to you
until the case is resolved in the grievance procedure or in arbitration.
INTERVIEW:

Let the employee tell his/her story without interruption. Take notes. Review the employees
description of the case with him/her to make sure you have all the facts. Make sure you get the answers
to the questions who, what, when, where, why and how.
Ask the employee for the names, addresses and telephone numbers of any witnesses. Then ask the
employee to tell you what he/she thinks each witness knows about the case. Record this information.
Try to clarify any uncertainties about what a witness is supposed to know.
Ask the employee to give you all of the evidence he/she has concerning the case. Make copies so that
no information is lost. Before the employee leaves, check one more time to make sure you have all the
facts, names of witnesses and evidence.
REVIEW:
Refer to the grievance procedure in the contract to make sure the issue the employee has raised is
defined as a proper subject of a grievance. If you are uncertain, ask for help. If the issue is not a proper
subject of a grievance, the best thing to do is to tell the employee and explain how this affects his/her
case.
Check to make sure that the procedural requirements set forth in the grievance procedure have been
complied with. If there is more than one witness who knows about a given event, note which ones
would be best able to present clear testimony under the pressure of examination and cross-examination
at an arbitration hearing.
Verify name, address, telephone, work shift and location.
ANALYSIS:
After you have thoroughly reviewed all of these matters, you may find that a complaint is not
grievable/arbitrable or that the case lacks merit. One way to proceed is to explain your findings to the
employee and ask if there is any additional information he/she has that might have a bearing on the
case. If not, you should be guided by local or international union policy and perhaps by counsel, in
determining how to handle this situation.
FILING:
Be sure to properly and timely complete the grievance form. This includes such items as: names; dates;
signatures; clear and accurate statement of the complaint; contract clauses alleged to have been
violated; and remedy requested. This is a checklist, not a magic wand. It highlights key points to consider
in handling employee complaints. This task is time consuming and requires the application of a number
of skills. There are no real short cuts. If you take them, an employer will usually find them at some stage
in the grievance procedure or in arbitration. The result may be very damaging involving not only loss of a
case that might have been won, but also expenditures of time, other resources and credibility that a
union can ill afford.

EMPLOYEE COUNSELING
Employees face a variety of uncertainties, issues and problems both at the work and the family. In fact,
the problems are multi-faceted involving economic, social, physical, psychological and religious
considerations. Counseling is one of the efficient interventions to find out work and family related
employee problems that affect the work negatively. Counseling is the process of helping other persons
to find and act upon a solution to their problems, anxieties, uncertainties and issues, the person
conducting counseling is called counselor and the person being counseled is called counselee or client.
Concept of counseling
A counselor is mostly concerned with client rather than the problem. The counselor helps the counselee
to identify his/her own problem and develop is/her own solution rather than imposing his/her solution.
Counselor helps counselee in reaching a solution. This style involves more listening than talking.
Counselor uses questions and exploring techniques and enable the client to find out his/her own
problem. The counselor further helps the client to learn the problem solving techniques, processes and
methods that helps them to solve their problems on their own in the future. the counselor recognizes
the emotions, feelings, psychological issues involved in the process.
Counseling can assist the employee to resolve difficulties in a supportive and professional setting.
Whether a crisis or something that has been worrying the employee for sometime, counseling can assist
the employee to understand the problem, its impact and to develop strategies to cope with it. As
employees from time to time, we can experience difficulties either in our work or personal life. At these
times, work performance and productivity can be affected. Counseling can result in quicker and less
stressful resolution of the problems with less disruption to the workplace.Counseling is confidential and
private. Generally, no information can be released without employees written authority.
Counseling is provided for work and personal issues such as: Stress , Change, Conflict, Career planning,
Communication, Trauma, Depression, Relationship issues, Family problems, Gambling, Grief and
bereavement, Anxiety, Drug and alcohol problem & Work satisfaction
Process of Counselling: Counseling is the process of helping other persons to solve their problems. The
person conducting the counseling is known as the counselor and the one being counseled is referred to
as the counselee or client.
There are four basic styles of counseling, viz., telling, manipulating, counseling and advising. The
counseling process includes various steps viz., identifying the needs for counseling, communicating
effectively, managing the counseling interview, controlling emotions, and follow-up.
Identifying the needs for counseling: The manager of the department concerned identifies the
counseling needs of the employees. The couselling needs may be obvious, based on permanent
lateness, irregular attendance, absenteeism, poor quality of work, breakages at the work etc. In
addition, the manager can identify the possible and prospective problems. Counseling needs or
employee problems may be classified as personality problems, work and organizational related

problems and external problems and external problems. Personality problems are related to the image
people have of themselves and others.
Communicating effectively: Counselling is mostly done through communication. In other words,
communication plays vital role in counselling. Counselor communicates with the counselee by practicing
a three step-process, which can be repeated in the counseling interview process. These steps are
questioning, listening and responding.
The counselor should use oral, written, verbal and non-verbal communication. The counsellors posture
and the counsellees posture matter much in the counseling process.
Managing the counselling interview: The cousnellor and the counselee should be prepared physically,
socially and psychologically before counselling interview. The manager of the employee might have
developed good and comfortable relationship with the staff. Therefore, the suggestions of the manager
should be considered by the counselor, if the manager is not acting as a counselor. The steps in the
interview process include:
1. setting up the interview
2. creating the right interview opportunity
3. starting the interview
4. encouraging the people to talk
5. reaching the core problem
6. discovering when to ask and what to ask
7. exploring the feeling problem
8. develop and provide the solution.
Controlling emotions: counselling mostly involves understanding the feelings of the counselee. The
counselor has to gain the confidence and trust of the counselee. Counselling will result in change in the
behaviour of the counselee, which causes pain. The counselee can express his feelings freely when the
interview environment is free and harmonious. In addition, the counselor should also control his/her
emotions and feelings so that the counselee can express his/her feelings and emotions.
Follow-up: The counselor after offering his/her advice provides the methods and step-by-step procedure
to the counselee to practise the advice. The counselor has to get feedback from the counselee and
ascertain whether the counselee is improving or not. If not, he /she has to modify the advice and
follow-up further. Thus, the counselee should ensure the permanent solution to the problem and
improvement in the counselee.
DEFINITION OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

The phrase Collective Bargaining is coined by Sydney and Beatrice Webb. According to them, collective
bargaining is a method by which trade unions protect and improve the conditions of their members
working lives. According to the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, collective bargaining is a process of
discussion and negotiation between two parties, one or both of whom is a group of persons acting in
consent. The resulting bargain is an understanding as to the terms and conditions under which a
continuing service is to be performed. More specifically, collective bargaining is a procedure by which
employers and a group of employees agree upon the conditions of work.
Functions of Collective Bargaining: Collective bargaining plays an important role in preventing industrial
disputes, setting disputes and maintaining industrial peace by performing the following functions:
Increase the economic strength of employees and management.
Establish uniform conditions of employment.
Secure a prompt and fair redressal of grievances.
Lay down fair rates of wages and other norms of working conditions.
Achieve an efficient functioning of the organization.
Promote the stability and prosperity of the company.
It provides a method of the regulation of the conditions of employment of those who are directly
concerned about them.
It provides a solution to the problem of sickness in the industry and ensures ole- age pension benefits
and other fringe benefits.
It creates new and varied procedures for the solution of the problems as and when they
arise-problems which vex industrial relations; and its form can be adjusted to meet new situations. Since
basic standards are laid down, the employee is assured that he will be required to work under the
stipulated conditions incorporated in the agreement and the employer is protected from unfair
competition by those who are engaged in a similar industry.
It provides a flexible means for the adjustment of wages and employment conditions to economic and
technological changes in the industry, as a result of which the changes for conflicts are reduced.
As a vehicle of industrial peace, collective bargaining is the most important and significant aspect of
labour management relations, and extends the democratic principle from the political to the industrial
field.
It builds up a system of industrial jurisprudence by introducing civil rights in the industry. In other
words, it ensures that the management is conducted by rules rather than by arbitrary decisions.
Collective Bargaining Process: There are two stages in collective bargaining, viz., (i) the negotiation stage
and (ii) the stage of contract

1. negotiation
a) identification of problem: The nature of the problem influences the whole process-whether the
problem is very important that is to be discussed immediately or it can be postponed for some other
convenient time, whether the problem is problem is minor that it can be solved with the other partys
acceptance on its presentation and does not need to involve the long process of collective bargaining
process etc.
b) preparing for negotiations: When it becomes necessary to solve the problem through collective
bargaining process, both the parties prepare themselves for negotiations.
c) Negotiations of agreement; Usually, there will be a chief negotiator who is from the management
side. He directs and presides over the process. The chief negotiator presents the problem, its intensity
and nature and the views of both the parties. When a solution is reached at, it is pt on the paper, taking
concerned legislations into consideration. Both the parties concerned, sign the agreement which, in
turn, becomes a binding contract for both the parties.
2. contract Administration: Implementation of the contract is as important as making a contract.
Management usually distributes the printed contract, its terms and conditions throughout the
organization. The union takes steps to see that all the workers understand the contract and implement
it. From time-to-time depending on changing circumstances, both the parties can make mutually
acceptable amendments.
Causes for the Limited Success of Collective Bargaining in India: Though it is argued that collective
bargaining has grown in India due to statutory provisions, voluntary measures, Industrial Truce
Resolution of 1962 and the amendments to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, its success is limited. The
causes for its limited success are:
1. Problems with unions: Collective bargaining process mainly depends on the strength of unions. But
still there are not many strong unions in India. Unions are marked with multiplicity, inter and intra-union
rivalry, weak financial position and non-recognition. Weak trade unions cannot initiate strong arguments
during negotiations. There is usually no unanimous decision among workers to be presented at the
negotiating table.
2. Problems from Government: The Government has not been making any strong effects for the
development of Collective Bargaining. The Government has imposed many restrictions regarding strikes
and lock-ours, which is an obstacle for the development of collective bargaining process.
3. Legal Problems: Now adjudication is easily accessible. As such now collective bargaining process is
losing its importance.
Maintenance of HR: Organisation provide a variety of fringe benefits. Dale Yoder and Paul D. Standohar
classified the fringe benefits under four heads as given hereunder:
For employment security: Benefits under this head include unemployment insurance, technological

adjustment pay, leave travel pay, over for maternity, leave for grievances, holidays, cost of living bonus,
call-back pay, lay-off pay, retiring rooms, jobs to the sons/daughters of the employees and the like.
For health protection: Benefits under this head include accident insurance, disability insurance, health
insurance, hospitalization, life insurance, medical care, sick benefits, sick leave, etc.
For old age and retirement: Benefits under this category include: deferred income plans, pension,
gratuity, provident fund, old age assistance, old age counseling, medical benefits for retired employee
traveling concession to retired employees, jobs to sons /daughters of the deceased employee and the
like.
For personnel identification, participation and stimulation: This category covers the following benefits:
anniversary awards, attendance bonus, canteen, co-operative credit societies, educational facilities,
beauty parlour services,housing, income tax aid, counseling, quality bonus, recreational programmes,
stress counseling, safety measures etc.
Employee Security: Physical and job security to the employee should also be provided with a view to
promoting security to the employee and his family members. The benefits of confirmation of the
employee on the job create a sense of job security . further, a minimum and continuous wage or salary
gives a sense of security to the life. The Payment of Wages Act, 1936, The Minimum Wages Act, 1948,
and the Payment of Bouns Act, 1965, provide income security to the employees.
Safety and Health: Employees safety and health should be taken care of in order to protect the
employee against accidents, unhealthy working conditions and to protect workers capacity. In India, the
Factories Act, 1948, stipulated certain requirements regarding working conditions with a view to provide
a safe working environment. These provisions relate to cleanliness, disposal of waste and effluents,
ventilation and temperature, dust and fume, artificial humidification, over-crowding, lighting drinking
water, public utility and spittoons. Provisions relating to safety measures include fencing of machinery,
work on or near machinery in motion, employment of young persons on dangerous machines, striking
gear and devices for cutting off power, self-acting machines, easing of new machinery, probation of
employment of women and children near cotton openers, hoists and lifts, lifting machines, chains, ropes
and lifting tackles, revolving machinery, pressure plant, floors, excessive weights, protection of eyes,
precautions against dangerous fumes, explosive or inflammable dust, gas etc. Precautions in case of fire,
power to require specifications of defective parts of test of test of stability, safety of buildings and
machinery etc.
Welfare and Recreational Facilities: Welfare and recreational recreation include: (a) Canteens: (b)
Consumer societies: (c) Credit societies: (d) Housing; (e) Legal aid: (f) Employee counseling: (g) Welfare
organizations; (h) Holiday homes; (i) Educational facilities; (j) Transportation: (k) Miscellaneous.
Old Age and Retirement Benefits: Industrial life generally breaks the family system. The saving capacity
of the employee is very low due to lower wages, high living cost and increasing aspirations of the
employees and his family members. As such, employers provide some benefits to the employees after
retirement and during old age, with a view to create a feeling of security about the old age. These

benefits are called old age and retirement benefits, these benefits include: (a) Provident Fund; (b)
Pension; (c) Deposit linked insurance; (d) Gratuity and (e) Medical benefit.
Corporate social responsibility:
Corporate social responsibility is becoming an increasingly important priority for many CEOs across the
world, and HR has a vital part to play, writes Robin Kramar
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development is gaining increasing prominence in
the global business culture, as many businesses attempt to accommodate the CSR agenda. The concept
of corporate sustainable development is still the subject of controversy and therefore the indicators
used to measure CSR continue to be the topic of debate. However, no matter what indicators are used,
the notion of responsibility includes responsibility for people in the collective sense (such as
communities) and also for individuals.
The criteria used to measure workplace practices relate specifically to HR practices. The criteria include:
employee involvement; fair and reasonable rewards and conditions; a positive commitment to diversity
and work-life balance; industrial relations arrangements based on mutual respect; occupational health
and safety arrangements; executive remuneration that is fair and reflect the concerns of internal
stakeholders; independently verifiable performance measurement and evaluation systems and training
and development policies. These criteria indicate that an organisation that is seen as socially responsible
creates a culture that is perceived as open, fair and attractive to potential and existing employees.
Research demonstrates CSR initiatives have a positive impact on employee morale, motivation,
commitment, loyalty, training, recruitment and turnover. Benefits in these areas have been found to
improve the bottom line of companies. Three surveys across Europe, the USA and a survey involving 25
countries found employees felt greater loyalty, satisfaction and motivation when their companies were
socially responsible.
A recent survey of 257 CEOs by Korn/Ferry shows that 65 per cent of CEOs are taking responsibility for
managing company reputation. Almost three-quarters of the CEOs regarded recruitment and retention
as the main business objective of corporate reputation and almost the same percentage identified the
hiring and retaining of key and talented people as one of the three top objectives of corporate and social
responsibility initiatives. These HR concerns were regarded as more important than more commercial
and business outcomes.
Therefore, corporate initiatives can contribute to the branding of organisations in the labour market.
These initiatives can make the organisation attractive to employees with similar values and so assist the
organisation to become an employer of choice for these potential employees. And, if it lives out the
values and initiatives on a daily basis it will assist the retention of desirable employees.
Global HRM : Global HRM refers to Human Resource Management practices that deal with managing a
diversity of workforce from all around the world.
The following challenges are being faced by HR managers in terms of globalization:

- Managing diversity of workforce.

- Managing pressures for more labor rights in third world countries.
- Managing Outsourcing of employees.
- More part-time and temporary work
- Managing productivity and Quality
- Downsizing the workforce
- Coping with flexible working hours
The globalization of Business has had a significant impact on human resource management. Even though
there has been large scale regional integrations, such as the European Union, human resource manage
across borders is very different and can be quite difficult for a Human Resource Professional
un-accustom to cross border management. The purpose of this course is gain insights into employee
relations from a cultural and international perspective. One would tend to think that Human Resource
management in one country would be much like it is in another country. There are similarities in the
human resource function from one country to another however; due to cultural differences the human
resource function can also be quite different. We must first define the Field of Human Resource
Management. According to Peter Dowling in International Human Resource Management, Human
resource management is those activities undertaken by an organization to utilize its human resources
effectively.
These activities include but are not limited to, human resource planning, staffing, performance
management, training and education, compensation and benefits, and labor relations. We must
consider what, if any, changes to the above definition occur when a company goes international or
global. When the human resource activities are spread across different countries therefore, different
types of employees must be considered. Employees from the parent company or Parent Company
Nationals (PCNs), this is the expatriate manager or technical professional assigned to a different country.
The next type of employee is the Host Country National (HCNs), this is an employee of the company
form the country which hosts the subsidiary. The last type of employee is a Third Country National
(TCNs), these employees are from a country that is neither the host nor the parent country. This
expatriate also may be from another subsidiary owned by the parent company. These multi-country
nationals lead to issues generally not associated with Human Resource Management (HRM), such as
international taxation, international relocation, administrative services for expatriates, and government
relations. For example D.L. Pinney discusses tax reimbursement for expatriates because expatriates are
subject to international tax and often have domestic tax liabilities; it is therefore incumbent on a
company to provide tax equalization. If there is no tax equalization much of the incentive and
motivation for the overseas assignments would be lost.

Models and components[edit]

Various authors and researchers have proposed models of quality of working life which include a wide
range of factors. Selected models are reviewed below.
Hackman and Oldham (1976)[1] drew attention to what they described as psychological growth needs
as relevant to the consideration of Quality of working life. Several such needs were identified :
Skill variety,
Task Identity,
Task significance,
Autonomy
Feedback.
See also: Job characteristic theory
They suggested that such needs have to be addressed if employees are to experience high quality of
working life.
In contrast to such theory based models, Taylor (1979)[2] more pragmatically identified the essential
components of quality of working life as basic extrinsic job factors of wages, hours and working
conditions, and the intrinsic job notions of the nature of the work itself. He suggested that a number of
other aspects could be added, including :
individual power,
employee participation in the management,
fairness and equity,
social support,
use of ones present skills,
self-development,
a meaningful future at work,
social relevance of the work or product,
effect on extra work activities.
Taylor suggested that relevant quality of working life concepts may vary according to organisation and
employee group.

Warr and colleagues (1979),[3] in an investigation of quality of working life, considered a range of
apparently relevant factors, including :
work involvement,
intrinsic job motivation,
higher order need strength,
perceived intrinsic job characteristics,
job satisfaction,
life satisfaction,
happiness, and
self-rated anxiety.
They discussed a range of correlations derived from their work, such as those between work
involvement and job satisfaction, intrinsic job motivation and job satisfaction, and perceived intrinsic job
characteristics and job satisfaction. In particular, Warr et al. found evidence for a moderate association
between total job satisfaction and total life satisfaction and happiness, with a less strong, but significant
association with self-rated anxiety.
Thus, whilst some authors have emphasised the workplace aspects in quality of working life, others have
identified the relevance of personality factors, psychological well being, and broader concepts of
happiness and life satisfaction.
Factors more obviously and directly affecting work have, however, served as the main focus of
attention, as researchers have tried to tease out the important influences on quality of working life in
the workplace.
Mirvis and Lawler (1984)[4] suggested that quality of working life was associated with satisfaction with
wages, hours and working conditions, describing the basic elements of a good quality of work life as :
safe work environment,
equitable wages,
equal employment opportunities
opportunities for advancement.
opportunities to learn and grow
protection of individual rights

Baba and Jamal (1991)[5] listed what they described as typical indicators of quality of working life,
including:
job satisfaction,
job involvement,
work role ambiguity,
work role conflict,
work role overload,
job stress,
organisational commitment and
turn-over intentions.
Baba and Jamal also explored routinisation of job content, suggesting that this facet should be
investigated as part of the concept of quality of working life.
Some have argued that quality of working life might vary between groups of workers. For example, Ellis
and Pompli (2002)[6] identified a number of factors contributing to job dissatisfaction and quality of
working life in nurses, including:
poor working environments,
resident aggression,
workload, innability to deliver quality of care preferred,
balance of work and family,
shiftwork,
lack of involvement in decision making,
professional isolation,
lack of recognition,
poor relationships with supervisor/peers,
role conflict,
lack of opportunity to learn new skills.
Sirgy et al. (2001)[7] suggested that the key factors in quality of working life are:

need satisfaction based on job requirements,

need satisfaction based on work environment,
need satisfaction based on supervisory behaviour,
need satisfaction based on ancillary programmes,
organizational commitment.
They defined quality of working life as satisfaction of these key needs through resources, activities, and
outcomes stemming from participation in the workplace. Needs as defined by the psychologist,
Abraham Maslow, were seen as relevant in underpinning this model, covering health & safety, economic
and family, social, esteem, actualisation, knowledge and aesthetics, although the relevance of non-work
aspects is play down as attention is focussed on quality of work life rather than the broader concept of
quality of life.
These attempts at defining quality of working life have included theoretical approaches, lists of
identified factors, correlational analyses, with opinions varying as to whether such definitions and
explanations can be both global, or need to be specific to each work setting.
Bearfield, (2003)[8] used 16 questions to examine quality of working life, and distinguished between
causes of dissatisfaction in professionals, intermediate clerical, sales and service workers, indicating that
different concerns might have to be addressed for different groups.
The distinction made between job satisfaction and dissatisfaction in quality of working life reflects the
influence of job satisfaction theories. Herzberg at al., (1959)[9] used Hygiene factors and Motivator
factors to distinguish between the separate causes of job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction. It has
been suggested that Motivator factors are intrinsic to the job, that is; job content, the work itself,
responsibility and advancement. The Hygiene factors or dissatisfaction-avoidance factors include
aspects of the job environment such as interpersonal relationships, salary, working conditions and
security. Of these latter, the most common cause of job dissatisfaction can be company policy and
administration, whilst achievement can be the greatest source of extreme satisfaction.
Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy (2013) used 9 components to measure quality of worklife of
employees in private technical institutions:[10]
Work environment
Organization culture and climate
Relation and co-operation
Training and development
Compensation and Rewards

Facilities
Job satisfaction and Job security
Autonomy of work
Adequacy of resources
Male employees are more satisfied than female employees the chi square test confirms that all the
demographic factors like gender, designation, salary, department, experience are independent of quality
of worklife of employees in private technical institution. Study also reveals that there is a significant
association between QWL of Teaching and Non teaching staffs. From the correlation analysis it is find
that Adequacy of Resources are more correlated and Training & Development are less correlated with
teaching staffs perception towards quality of worklife and in case of non teaching staffs Compensation &
Rewards are more correlated and Work Environment are less correlated with QWL.
An individuals experience of satisfaction or dissatisfaction can be substantially rooted in their
perception, rather than simply reflecting their real world. Further, an individuals perception can be
affected by relative comparison am I paid as much as that person - and comparisons of internalised
ideals, aspirations, and expectations, for example, with the individuals current state (Lawler and Porter,
1966).[11]
In summary, where it has been considered, authors differ in their views on the core constituents of
Quality of Working Life (e.g. Sirgy, Efraty, Siegel & Lee, 2001[7] and Warr, Cook & Wall, 1979).[3]
It has generally been agreed however that Quality of Working Life is conceptually similar to well-being of
employees but differs from job satisfaction which solely represents the workplace domain (Lawler,
1982).[12]
Quality of Working Life is not a unitary concept, but has been seen as incorporating a hierarchy of
perspectives that not only include work-based factors such as job satisfaction, satisfaction with pay and
relationships with work colleagues, but also factors that broadly reflect life satisfaction and general
feelings of well-being (Danna & Griffin, 1999).[13] More recently, work-related stress and the
relationship between work and non-work life domains (Loscocco & Roschelle, 1991)[14] have also been
identified as factors that should conceptually be included in Quality of Working Life.
Measurement[edit]
There are few recognised measures of quality of working life and jobs, and of those that exist few have
evidence of validity and reliability, although the Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction has been
systematically developed to be reliable and is rigorously psychometrically validated.[15] A recent
statistical analysis of a new measure, the Work-Related Quality of Life scale (WRQoL),[16] provides
support for the psychometric structure of this instrument. The WRQoWL measure [17] uses six core
factors to explain most of the variation in an individuals quality of working life: Job and Career
Satisfaction; Working Conditions; General Well-Being; Home-Work Interface; Stress at Work and Control

at Work.
The Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction (BIAFJS) is a 4-item, purely affective as opposed to cognitive,
measure of overall affective job satisfaction that reflects quality of working life. The BIAJS differs from
other job satisfaction measures in being comprehensively validated not just for internal consistency
reliability, temporal stability, convergent and criterion-related validities, but also for cross-population
invariance by nationality, job level, and job type. Reported internal consistency reliabilities range
between .81 and .87.[15]
The Job & Career Satisfaction (JCS) scale of the Work-Related Quality of Life scale (WRQoL) is said to
reflect an employees feelings about, or evaluation of, their satisfaction or contentment with their job
and career and the training they receive to do it. Within the WRQoL measure, JCS is reflected by
questions asking how satisfied people feel about their work. It has been proposed that this Positive Job
Satisfaction factor is influenced by various issues including clarity of goals and role ambiguity, appraisal,
recognition and reward, personal development career benefits and enhancement and training needs.
The General well-being (GWB) scale of the Work-Related Quality of Life scale (WRQoL),[16] aims to
assess the extent to which an individual feels good or content in themselves, in a way which may be
independent of their work situation. It is suggested that general well-being both influences, and is
influenced by work. Mental health problems, predominantly depression and anxiety disorders, are
common, and may have a major impact on the general well-being of the population. The WRQoL GWB
factor assesses issues of mood, depression and anxiety, life satisfaction, general quality of life, optimism
and happiness.
The WRQoL Stress at Work sub-scale (SAW) reflects the extent to which an individual perceives they
have excessive pressures, and feel stressed at work. The WRQoL SAW factor is assessed through items
dealing with demand and perception of stress and actual demand overload. Whilst it is possible to be
pressured at work and not be stressed at work, in general, high stress is associated with high pressure.
The Control at Work (CAW) subscale of the WRQoL scale addresses how much employees feel they can
control their work through the freedom to express their opinions and being involved in decisions at
work. Perceived control at work as measured by the Work-Related Quality of Life scale (WRQoL)[16] is
recognized as a central concept in the understanding of relationships between stressful experiences,
behaviour and health. Control at work, within the theoretical model underpinning the WRQoL, is
influenced by issues of communication at work, decision making and decision control.
The WRQoL Home-Work Interface scale (HWI) measures the extent to which an employer is perceived to
support the family and home life of employees. This factor explores the interrelationship between home
and work life domains. Issues that appear to influence employee HWI include adequate facilities at
work, flexible working hours and the understanding of managers.
The Working Conditions scale of the WRQoL assesses the extent to which the employee is satisfied with
the fundamental resources, working conditions and security necessary to do their job effectively.
Physical working conditions influence employee health and safety and thus employee Quality of working

life. This scale also taps into satisfaction with the resources provided to help people do their jobs.
Applications[edit]
Regular assessment of Quality of Working Life can potentially provide organisations with important
information about the welfare of their employees, such as job satisfaction, general well-being,
work-related stress and the home-work interface. Studies in the UK University sector have shown a valid
measure of Quality of Working Life exists[18] and can be used as a basis for effective interventions.
Worrall and Cooper (2006)[19] recently reported that a low level of well-being at work is estimated to
cost about 5-10% of Gross National Product per annum, yet Quality of Working Life as a theoretical
construct remains relatively unexplored and unexplained within the organisational psychology research
literature.
A large chunk of most peoples lives will be spent at work. Most people recognise the importance of
sleeping well, and actively try to enjoy the leisure time that they can snatch. But all too often, people
tend to see work as something they just have to put up with, or even something they dont even expect
to enjoy.
Some of the factors used to measure quality of working life pick up on things that dont actually make
people feel good, but which seem to make people feel bad about work if those things are absent. For
example, noise if the place where someone works is too noisy, they might get frequent headaches, or
find they cannot concentrate, and so feel dissatisfied. But when it is quiet enough they dont feel
pleased or happy - they just dont feel bad. This can apply to a range of factors that affect someone's
working conditions.
Other things seem to be more likely to make people feel good about work and themselves once the
basics are OK at work. Challenging work (not too little, not too much) can make them feel good.
Similarly, opportunities for career progression and using their abilities can contribute to someone's
quality of working life.
A recent publication of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE)[20] emphasises the core role
of assessment and understanding of the way working environments pose risks for psychological
wellbeing through lack of control and excessive demand. The emphasis placed by NICE on assessment
and monitoring wellbeing springs from the fact that these processes are the key first step in identifying
areas for improving quality of working life and addressing risks at work.
Quality of Work Life: its Meaning and Definition!

The present era is an era of knowledge workers and the society in which we are living has come, to be
known as knowledge society. The intellectual pursuits have taken precedence over the physical efforts.

Some knowledge workers work for more than 60 hours a week. As a result of this, their personal
hobbies and interests clash with their work. Life is a bundle that contains all the strands together and
hence the need to balance work life with other related issues.

One must have both love and work in ones life to make it healthy. Gone are the days when the priority
of employees used to be for physical and material needs. With the increasing shift of the economy
towards knowledge economy, the meaning and quality of work life has undergone a drastic change.

Meaning:

Quality of work life (QWL) refers to the favourableness or unfavourableness of a job environment for
the people working in an organisation. The period of scientific management which focused solely on
specialisation and efficiency, has undergone a revolutionary change.

The traditional management (like scientific management) gave inadequate attention to human values. In
the present scenario, needs and aspirations of the employees are changing. Employers are now
redesigning jobs for better QWL.

Definition:

The QWL as strategy of Human Resource Management has assumed increasing interest and importance.
Many other terms have come to be used interchangeably with QWL such as humanisations of work
quality of working life, industrial democracy and participative work.

There are divergent views as to the exact meaning of QWL.

A few definitions given by eminent authors on QWL are given below:

1. QWL is a process of work organisations which enable its members at all levels to actively; participate
in shaping the organizations environment, methods and outcomes. This value based process is aimed
towards meeting the twin goals of enhanced effectiveness of organisations and improved quality of life
at work for employees.

The American Society of Training and Development

2. QWL is a way of thinking about people, work and organisations, its distinctive elements are (i) a
concern about the impact of work on people as well as on organisational effectiveness, and (ii) the idea
of participation in organisational problem-solving and decision making. Nadler and Lawler

3. The overriding purpose of QWL is to change the climate at work so that the
human-technological-organisational interface leads to a better quality of work life.

-Luthans

4. QWL is based on a general approach and an organisation approach. The general approach includes
all those factors affecting the physical, social, economic, psychological and cultural well-being of
workers, while the organisational approach refers to the redesign and operation of organisations in
accordance with the value of democratic society.

Beinum

From the definitions given above, it can be concluded that QWL is concerned with taking care of the
higher-order needs of employees in addition to their basic needs. The overall climate of work place is
adjusted in such a way that it produces more humanized jobs.

QWL is viewed as that umbrella under which employees feel fully satisfied with the working
environment and extend their wholehearted cooperation and support to the management to improve
productivity and work environment.
Redeployment and Exit Strategies

Career Management and Career Planning

Effective HRM encompasses career planning, career development and succession planning. An
organization without career planning and career development initiatives is likely to encounter the
highest rate of attrition, causing much harm to their plans and programmes. Similarly without
succession planning managing of vacancies, particularly at higher levels, become difficult. There are
examples of many organizations that had to suffer for not being able to find a right successor for their
key positions. With the increase scope for job mobility and corporate race for global headhunting of
good performers, it is now a well established fact that normal employment span for key performers
remains awfully short.

The term career planning and career developments are used interchangeably in most of the
organizations. It is also correct that but for their subtle difference in the definitional context, their
process remains the same.

1.1.1

Definition of Career

Career is a sequence of attitudes and behaviours associated with the series of job and work related
activities over a persons lifetime.

Yet in another way, it may be defined as a succession of related jobs, arranged in hierarchical order,
through which a person moves in an organization. As the literal definition of career focuses on an
individually perceived sequence, to be more accurate, career may be either individual-centred or
organizational-centred. Therefore, career is often defined separately as external career and internal
career. External career refers to the objective categories used by society and organizations to describe
the progression of steps through a given occupation, while internal career refers to the set of steps or
stages which make up the individuals own concept of career progression within an occupation. For such
two different approaches, in organizational context, career can be identified as an integrated pace of
vertical lateral movement in an occupation of an individual over his employment span.

1.1.2

Important Elements of Career

Analysing definitional context, it is clear that career has following important elements-

1. It is a proper sequence of job-related activities. Such job related activities vis-a-vis experience include
role experiences at diff hierarchical levels of an individual, which lead to an increasing level of
responsibilities, status, power, achievements and rewards.

2. It may be individual-centered or organizationalcentered, individual-centered career is an individually

perceived sequence of career progression within an occupation.

3. It is better defined as an integrated pace of internal movement in an occupation of an individual over

his employment span.

Overview

Career planning generally involves getting to know who you are, what you want, and how to get there.
Keep in mind that career planning is a continuous process that allows you to move from one stage to
another stage as your life changes. You may even find yourself going back to look at who you are again
after exploring how to get there. Learning to negotiate the career planning process now is essential,
considering most people will change careers several times in a lifetime.

If a career plan is to be effective, it must begin with an objective. When asked about career objectives,
most managers will probably answer by saying that they want to be successful. What is success?
Definition of success depends on personal aspirations, values, self-image, age, background and other
different factors. Success is personally defined concept. In order to plan your career, you need to have
an idea of what constitutes career success.

Do you want to be president of the company?

Do you want to be the senior executive in your field of expertise?

Would you be happier as a middle manager in your area?

Whatever the choice it must be yours.

Career management is a process by which individuals can guide, direct and influence the course of their
careers.

Fig.1.2

General Periods in Careers

In the course of our career we move from one stage to another setting and implementing appropriate
goals at each stage. Our goals differ from getting established on job at early career stage to career
reappraisal, moving away from technical areas & becoming more of a generalist. Movement form one
career stage to another will require individuals to update self & to appropriate change goals. When
required danger exist that individuals may too long stay in a job they dont like or miss career
opportunity

A sensible early step in career planning is to diagnose. You might answer questions:

What types of positions and career experiences do I need to achieve my goals?

What personal traits characteristics and behaviors require change in order for me to improve my
professional effectiveness?

CAREER PLANNING IN AN ORGANIZATION

Career planning is the process by which one selects career goals and the path to these goals. The major
focus of career planning is on assisting the employees achieve a better match between personal goals
and the opportunities that are realistically available in the organization. Career programmers should not
concentrate only on career growth opportunities. Practically speaking, there may not be enough high
level positions to make upward mobility a reality for a large number of employees. Hence,
career-planning efforts need to pin-point and highlight those areas that offer psychological success
instead of vertical growth.

Career planning is not an event or end in itself, but a continuous process of developing

human resources for achieving optimum results. It must, however, be noted that individual and
organizational careers are not separate and distinct. A person who is not able to translate his career plan
into action within the organization may probably quit the job, if he has a choice. Organizations,
therefore, should help employees in career planning so that both can satisfy each others needs.

1.3.1 Career Planning vs. Human Resource Planning

Human Resource planning is the process of analyzing and estimating the need for and availability of
employees. Through Human Resource planning, the Personnel Department is able to prepare a
summary of skills and potentials available within the organization. Career planning assists in finding
those employees who could be groomed for higher level positions, on the strength of their
performance.

Human Resource planning gives valuable information about the availability of human resources for
expansion, growth, etc. (expansion of facilities, construction of a new plant, opening a new branch,
launching a new product, etc.). On the other hand, career planning only gives us a picture of who could
succeed in case any major developments leading to retirement, death, resignation of existing

employees.

Human Resource planning is tied to the overall strategic planning efforts of the organization. There
cannot be an effective manpower planning, if career planning is not carried out properly.

1.3.2

Need for Career Planning

Every employee has a desire to grow and scale new heights in his workplace continuously. If there are
enough opportunities, he can pursue his career goals and exploit his potential fully. He feels highly
motivated when the organization shows him a clear path as to how he can meet his personal ambitions
while trying to realize corporate goals.

Unfortunately, as pointed out by John Leach, organizations do not pay adequate attention to this aspect
in actual practice for a variety of reasons. The demands of employees are not matched with
organizational needs; no effort is made to show how the employees can grow within certain limits, what
happens to an employee five years down the line if he does well, whether the organization is trying to
offer mere jobs or long-lasting careers, etc. When recognition does not come in time for meritorious
performance and a certain amount of confusion prevails in the minds of employees whether they are
in with a chance to grow or not, they look for greener pastures outside. Key executives leave in
frustration and the organization suffers badly when turnover figures rise. Any recruitment effort made
in panic to fill the vacancies is not going to be effective. So, the absence of a career plan is going to make
a big difference to both the employees and the organization. Employees do not get right breaks at a
right time; their morale will be low and they are always on their toes trying to find escape routes.

Organizations are not going to benefit from high employee turnover. New employees

mean additional selection and training costs. Bridging the gaps through short-term replacements is not
going to pay in terms of productivity. Organizations, therefore, try to put their career plans in place and
educate employees about the opportunities that exist internally for talented people. Without such a
progressive outlook, organizations cannot prosper.

1.3.3

Objectives

Career planning seeks to meet the following objectives:

i. Attract and retain talent by offering careers, not jobs.

ii. Use human resources effectively and achieve greater productivity.

iii. Reduce employee turnover.

iv. Improve employee morale and motivation.

v. Meet the immediate and future human resource needs of the organization on a timely basis

1.3.4

Career Planning Process

The career planning process involves the following steps:

i. Identifying individual needs and aspirations:

Most individuals do not have a clear cut idea about their career aspirations, anchors and goals. The
human resource professionals must, therefore, help an employee by providing as much information as
possible showing what kind of work would suit the employee most, taking his skills, experience, and
aptitude into account. Such assistance is extended through workshops/seminars while the employees
are subjected to psychological testing, simulation exercises, etc. The basic purpose of such an exercise is
to help an employee form a clear view about what he should do to build his career within the company.
Workshops and seminars increase employee interest by showing the value of career planning. They help
employees set career goals, identify career paths and uncover specific career development activities
(discussed later). These individual efforts may be supplemented by printed or taped information. To
assist employees in a better way, organizations construct a data bank consisting of information on the
career histories, skill evaluations and career preferences of its

employees (known as skill or talent inventory).

ii. Analyzing career opportunities:

Once career needs and aspirations of employees are known, the organization has to provide career
paths for each position. Career paths show career progression possibilities clearly. They indicate the
various positions that one could hold over a period of time, if one is able to perform well. Career paths
change over time, of course, in tune with employees needs and organizational requirements. While
outlining career paths, the claims of experienced persons lacking professional degrees and that of young
recruits with excellent degrees but without experience need to be balanced properly.

iii. Aligning needs and opportunities:

After employees have identified their needs and have realized the existence of career opportunities the
remaining problem is one of alignment. This process consists of two steps: first, identify the potential of

employees and then undertake career development

programmers (discussed later on elaborately) with a view to align employee needs and organizational
opportunities. Through performance appraisal, the potential of employees can be assessed to some
extent. Such an appraisal would help reveal employees who need further training, employees who can
take up added responsibilities, etc. After identifying the potential of employees certain developmental
techniques such as special assignments, planned position rotation, supervisory coaching, job
enrichment, understudy programs can be undertaken to update employee knowledge and skills.

iv. Action plans and periodic review:

The matching process would uncover gaps. These need to be bridged through individual career
development efforts and organization supported efforts from time to time. After initiating these steps, it
is necessary to review the whole thing every now and then. This will help the employee know in which
direction he is moving, what changes are likely to take place, what kind of skills are needed to face new
and emerging organizational challenges. From an organizational standpoint also, it is necessary to find
out how employees are doing, what are their goals and aspirations, whether the career paths are in tune
with individual needs and serve the overall corporate objectives, etc.

FIG.1.3 The New Portable Career Path

1.3.5

CAREER PLANNING MODELS

There are many models one may use while career planning. The two main models are

1.3.5.1 Waterloo University Model

FIG.1.5 Water University Model

1.3.5.2 The SODI Career Planning Model

Given the complexity of career development and the fluidity of the world of work, we need to be able to
navigate our career paths with purpose and clarity.

Law and Watts (1977) devised a simple model of career education which has stood the test of time. This
model has been changed slightly to become a career planning, rather than a career education model
and named the SODI model where the last element is implementation rather than transition learning,
and decision learning becomes decision making and planning.

The model encapsulates four concepts which are:

Self-awareness individual having knowledge about and understanding of their own personal
development. Self-awareness in a careers context involves an understanding of kind of personal
resources (both actual and potential) they bring to world.

Opportunity awareness an understanding of the general structures of the world of work, including
career possibilities and alternative pathways.

Decision making and planning an understanding of how to make career decisions, and being aware of
pressures, influences, styles, consequences and goal setting.

Implementing plans having the appropriate skill level in a range of areas to be able to translate job and
career planning into realityRedeployment and Exit Strategies

Career Management and Career Planning

Effective HRM encompasses career planning, career development and succession planning. An
organization without career planning and career development initiatives is likely to encounter the
highest rate of attrition, causing much harm to their plans and programmes. Similarly without
succession planning managing of vacancies, particularly at higher levels, become difficult. There are
examples of many organizations that had to suffer for not being able to find a right successor for their
key positions. With the increase scope for job mobility and corporate race for global headhunting of
good performers, it is now a well established fact that normal employment span for key performers
remains awfully short.

The term career planning and career developments are used interchangeably in most of the
organizations. It is also correct that but for their subtle difference in the definitional context, their
process remains the same.

1.1.1

Definition of Career

Career is a sequence of attitudes and behaviours associated with the series of job and work related
activities over a persons lifetime.

Yet in another way, it may be defined as a succession of related jobs, arranged in hierarchical order,
through which a person moves in an organization. As the literal definition of career focuses on an

individually perceived sequence, to be more accurate, career may be either individual-centred or

organizational-centred. Therefore, career is often defined separately as external career and internal
career. External career refers to the objective categories used by society and organizations to describe
the progression of steps through a given occupation, while internal career refers to the set of steps or
stages which make up the individuals own concept of career progression within an occupation. For such
two different approaches, in organizational context, career can be identified as an integrated pace of
vertical lateral movement in an occupation of an individual over his employment span.

1.1.2

Important Elements of Career

Analysing definitional context, it is clear that career has following important elements-

1. It is a proper sequence of job-related activities. Such job related activities vis-a-vis experience include
role experiences at diff hierarchical levels of an individual, which lead to an increasing level of
responsibilities, status, power, achievements and rewards.

2. It may be individual-centered or organizationalcentered, individual-centered career is an individually

perceived sequence of career progression within an occupation.

3. It is better defined as an integrated pace of internal movement in an occupation of an individual over

his employment span.

Overview

Career planning generally involves getting to know who you are, what you want, and how to get there.
Keep in mind that career planning is a continuous process that allows you to move from one stage to
another stage as your life changes. You may even find yourself going back to look at who you are again
after exploring how to get there. Learning to negotiate the career planning process now is essential,
considering most people will change careers several times in a lifetime.

If a career plan is to be effective, it must begin with an objective. When asked about career objectives,
most managers will probably answer by saying that they want to be successful. What is success?
Definition of success depends on personal aspirations, values, self-image, age, background and other
different factors. Success is personally defined concept. In order to plan your career, you need to have
an idea of what constitutes career success.

Do you want to be president of the company?

Do you want to be the senior executive in your field of expertise?

Would you be happier as a middle manager in your area?

Whatever the choice it must be yours.

Career management is a process by which individuals can guide, direct and influence the course of their
careers.

Fig.1.2

General Periods in Careers

In the course of our career we move from one stage to another setting and implementing appropriate
goals at each stage. Our goals differ from getting established on job at early career stage to career
reappraisal, moving away from technical areas & becoming more of a generalist. Movement form one
career stage to another will require individuals to update self & to appropriate change goals. When
required danger exist that individuals may too long stay in a job they dont like or miss career

opportunity

A sensible early step in career planning is to diagnose. You might answer questions:

What types of positions and career experiences do I need to achieve my goals?

What personal traits characteristics and behaviors require change in order for me to improve my
professional effectiveness?

CAREER PLANNING IN AN ORGANIZATION

Career planning is the process by which one selects career goals and the path to these goals. The major
focus of career planning is on assisting the employees achieve a better match between personal goals
and the opportunities that are realistically available in the organization. Career programmers should not
concentrate only on career growth opportunities. Practically speaking, there may not be enough high
level positions to make upward mobility a reality for a large number of employees. Hence,
career-planning efforts need to pin-point and highlight those areas that offer psychological success
instead of vertical growth.

Career planning is not an event or end in itself, but a continuous process of developing

human resources for achieving optimum results. It must, however, be noted that individual and
organizational careers are not separate and distinct. A person who is not able to translate his career plan
into action within the organization may probably quit the job, if he has a choice. Organizations,
therefore, should help employees in career planning so that both can satisfy each others needs.

1.3.1 Career Planning vs. Human Resource Planning

Human Resource planning is the process of analyzing and estimating the need for and availability of
employees. Through Human Resource planning, the Personnel Department is able to prepare a
summary of skills and potentials available within the organization. Career planning assists in finding
those employees who could be groomed for higher level positions, on the strength of their
performance.

Human Resource planning gives valuable information about the availability of human resources for
expansion, growth, etc. (expansion of facilities, construction of a new plant, opening a new branch,
launching a new product, etc.). On the other hand, career planning only gives us a picture of who could
succeed in case any major developments leading to retirement, death, resignation of existing
employees.

Human Resource planning is tied to the overall strategic planning efforts of the organization. There
cannot be an effective manpower planning, if career planning is not carried out properly.

1.3.2

Need for Career Planning

Every employee has a desire to grow and scale new heights in his workplace continuously. If there are
enough opportunities, he can pursue his career goals and exploit his potential fully. He feels highly
motivated when the organization shows him a clear path as to how he can meet his personal ambitions
while trying to realize corporate goals.

Unfortunately, as pointed out by John Leach, organizations do not pay adequate attention to this aspect
in actual practice for a variety of reasons. The demands of employees are not matched with
organizational needs; no effort is made to show how the employees can grow within certain limits, what
happens to an employee five years down the line if he does well, whether the organization is trying to
offer mere jobs or long-lasting careers, etc. When recognition does not come in time for meritorious
performance and a certain amount of confusion prevails in the minds of employees whether they are
in with a chance to grow or not, they look for greener pastures outside. Key executives leave in
frustration and the organization suffers badly when turnover figures rise. Any recruitment effort made

in panic to fill the vacancies is not going to be effective. So, the absence of a career plan is going to make
a big difference to both the employees and the organization. Employees do not get right breaks at a
right time; their morale will be low and they are always on their toes trying to find escape routes.

Organizations are not going to benefit from high employee turnover. New employees

mean additional selection and training costs. Bridging the gaps through short-term replacements is not
going to pay in terms of productivity. Organizations, therefore, try to put their career plans in place and
educate employees about the opportunities that exist internally for talented people. Without such a
progressive outlook, organizations cannot prosper.

1.3.3

Objectives

Career planning seeks to meet the following objectives:

i. Attract and retain talent by offering careers, not jobs.

ii. Use human resources effectively and achieve greater productivity.

iii. Reduce employee turnover.

iv. Improve employee morale and motivation.

v. Meet the immediate and future human resource needs of the organization on a timely basis

1.3.4

Career Planning Process

The career planning process involves the following steps:

i. Identifying individual needs and aspirations:

Most individuals do not have a clear cut idea about their career aspirations, anchors and goals. The
human resource professionals must, therefore, help an employee by providing as much information as
possible showing what kind of work would suit the employee most, taking his skills, experience, and
aptitude into account. Such assistance is extended through workshops/seminars while the employees
are subjected to psychological testing, simulation exercises, etc. The basic purpose of such an exercise is
to help an employee form a clear view about what he should do to build his career within the company.
Workshops and seminars increase employee interest by showing the value of career planning. They help
employees set career goals, identify career paths and uncover specific career development activities
(discussed later). These individual efforts may be supplemented by printed or taped information. To
assist employees in a better way, organizations construct a data bank consisting of information on the
career histories, skill evaluations and career preferences of its

employees (known as skill or talent inventory).

ii. Analyzing career opportunities:

Once career needs and aspirations of employees are known, the organization has to provide career
paths for each position. Career paths show career progression possibilities clearly. They indicate the
various positions that one could hold over a period of time, if one is able to perform well. Career paths
change over time, of course, in tune with employees needs and organizational requirements. While
outlining career paths, the claims of experienced persons lacking professional degrees and that of young

recruits with excellent degrees but without experience need to be balanced properly.

iii. Aligning needs and opportunities:

After employees have identified their needs and have realized the existence of career opportunities the
remaining problem is one of alignment. This process consists of two steps: first, identify the potential of
employees and then undertake career development

programmers (discussed later on elaborately) with a view to align employee needs and organizational
opportunities. Through performance appraisal, the potential of employees can be assessed to some
extent. Such an appraisal would help reveal employees who need further training, employees who can
take up added responsibilities, etc. After identifying the potential of employees certain developmental
techniques such as special assignments, planned position rotation, supervisory coaching, job
enrichment, understudy programs can be undertaken to update employee knowledge and skills.

iv. Action plans and periodic review:

The matching process would uncover gaps. These need to be bridged through individual career
development efforts and organization supported efforts from time to time. After initiating these steps, it
is necessary to review the whole thing every now and then. This will help the employee know in which
direction he is moving, what changes are likely to take place, what kind of skills are needed to face new
and emerging organizational challenges. From an organizational standpoint also, it is necessary to find
out how employees are doing, what are their goals and aspirations, whether the career paths are in tune
with individual needs and serve the overall corporate objectives, etc.

FIG.1.3 The New Portable Career Path

1.3.5

CAREER PLANNING MODELS

There are many models one may use while career planning. The two main models are

1.3.5.1 Waterloo University Model

FIG.1.5 Water University Model

1.3.5.2 The SODI Career Planning Model

Given the complexity of career development and the fluidity of the world of work, we need to be able to
navigate our career paths with purpose and clarity.

Law and Watts (1977) devised a simple model of career education which has stood the test of time. This

model has been changed slightly to become a career planning, rather than a career education model
and named the SODI model where the last element is implementation rather than transition learning,
and decision learning becomes decision making and planning.

The model encapsulates four concepts which are:

Self-awareness individual having knowledge about and understanding of their own personal
development. Self-awareness in a careers context involves an understanding of kind of personal
resources (both actual and potential) they bring to world.

Opportunity awareness an understanding of the general structures of the world of work, including
career possibilities and alternative pathways.

Decision making and planning an understanding of how to make career decisions, and being aware of
pressures, influences, styles, consequences and goal setting.

Implementing plans having the appropriate skill level in a range of areas to be able to translate job and
career planning into reality

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Creating a Culture of Quality

Quality Is More Than Making a Good Product
How to Engage the Front Line in Process Improvement
MOTIVATING PEOPLE
Quality Circles After the Fad
Edward E. Lawler IIISusan A. Mohrman
FROM THE JANUARY 1985 ISSUE

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On the face of it, it makes sense. If you want to involve your employees more in decision making and
shift the organization toward a more participative culture, starting suggestion groups called quality
circles seems to be a risk-free way to begin. Having studied many quality circles in different
organizations, the authors of this article conclude that quality circles have their distinct advantages but
that they have inherent in their design numbers of factors that often lead them to self-destruct. Quality
circles are also said to be a poor forerunner for more participative approaches to management.
Changing a quality circle into an institutionalized participative structure involves making many changes
in important features of the organization that do not naturally flow from the implementation of a circle
program. The authors describe the stages that quality circles go through, discuss the various threats
they must survive, and then outline the most effective uses that managers can make of them.

Suggestion programs have always been popular in U.S. workplaces. Until recently, in most programs
employees would write down their ideas and pass them on to management via a suggestion box. The
widespread adoption of quality circles (QCs) and other group suggestion programs has changed this in
many companies. Although QC programs are relatively new in the United States, we have studied their
effects in a range of situations. The results of these studies are consistent and suggest that some
purposes management has been putting the circles to are doomed from the start. But before we discuss
the limitations of QCs and how management should use them, we want briefly to describe their
characteristics and examine their popularity.

The Quality Circle Phenomenon

The QC programs that managers have implemented in the United States follow a similar pattern. (See
the accompanying insert for a description of what we mean by quality circle.) Not all programs are the
same, however. Usually organizations fine-tune the quality circle approach to suit their needs. The
number of circles, the amount of training, the size of groups, and whether the supervisor serves as the
facilitator vary among companies. Nevertheless, what goes on across organizations is similar enough to
allow us to speak with some confidence about how management usually operates quality circles.

What Is a Quality Circle?

A quality circle is a group of employees that meets regularly to solve problems affecting its work area.
Generally, 6 to 12 volunteers from the same work area make up the circle. The members receive
training in problem solving, statistical quality control, and group process. Quality circles generally
recommend solutions for quality and productivity problems which management then may implement. A
facilitator, usually a specially trained member of management, helps train circle members and ensures
that things run smoothly. Typical objectives of QC programs include quality improvement, productivity
enhancement, and employee involvement. Circles generally meet four hours a month on company time.
Members may get recognition but rarely receive financial rewards.

READ MORE
It is interesting to contrast quality circles in the United States with those in Japan and with the
suggestion groups that companies with Scanlon and other gain-sharing plans have used for several
decades. Although American and Japanese QC programs are very similar, several important differences
exist. Programs in Japan give greater emphasis to statistical quality control; employees often meet on
their own time rather than on company time; and finally, in Japan all company employees usually
receive a financial bonus for the performance of the organization.

The problem-solving groups that work in conjunction with the Scanlon Plan differ in some important
ways from the typical quality circle. The groups often have the authority to make and implement
decisions that affect their work area only. Indeed, they generally have a small budget they can draw on.
Most Scanlon Plan organizations have a hierarchy of committees, so that lower-level groups pass on to
higher-level groups whatever problems cant be solved at that level. Although the more mature quality
circle programs sometimes also have higher-level groups, higher-level QC groups generally legitimate

and approve suggestions rather than solve problems. Overall, Scanlon Plan groups seem to have more
power than quality circles and, like Japanese quality circles, are found in companies that give bonuses
based on organization performance.

Quality circle programs in the United States create a parallel organizational structure; that is, they
operate independently and in ways different from the existing organization. They emphasize different
group processes, assign new roles to people, and take people out of their normal day-to-day work
activities. To accomplish anything, the circles have to report their results back to the existing
organization, which is the object of change as well as the controller of the resources necessary to effect
it.

Popular & prospering

In the last five years QC activity has increased dramatically. A 1982 study by the New York Stock
Exchange showed that 44% of all companies with more than 500 employees had quality circle programs.
Nearly three out of four had started after 1980. Although no hard data are available, a good estimate is
that over 90 of the Fortune 500 companies now have QC programs in their structures. Such
well-regarded companies as IBM, TRW, Honeywell, Westinghouse, Digital Equipment, and Xerox use
them a lot.

In any discussion of the prevalence and popularity of quality circles, the question inevitably arises, Why
are they so popular? As with most management trends, there is no simple answer. Probably the single
most important reason is the success of high-quality Japanese products at competitive prices in the
United States. The invasion of the U.S. auto, steel, and electronics markets led many people to examine
what the Japanese were doing that could explain their success. The press, along with many academics,
attributed that success to Japans superior approach to management, which includes quality circles.
Thus people came to see quality circles as a way for U.S. companies to regain competitiveness.
Favorable press reports of some early uses of quality circles in the United States reinforced this
perception.

Some features of quality circles have also contributed to their popularity. First, the programs are
accessible: for a fixed price, executives can buy a standardized package complete with training and
support materials and instructions on how to proceed. The turnkey approach appeals to many managers
because it is similar to the way they buy other things, such as machines and training programs.

Second, because quality circles do not have to involve everyone, management can easily control the
number of people involved as well as the size and cost (mainly for start-up and training) of the program.
With little risk, it can test the waters with a small number of quality circles and expand that number if
they work.

Third, because quality circles have no decision-making power, managers dont have to give up any
control or prerogatives. Also, because they are parallel to the organizations structure, top management
can easily eliminate them if they become troublesome.

Fourth, and finally, quality circles are, as everyone knows, a fad. Some companies have tried quality
circles on a trial basis simply because they symbolize modern participative management. In a number of
cases we studied, the CEO of the company had seen a TV program or read a magazine article praising
circles and decided to give them a try. He or she then ordered the personnel department to start a few
to see how they work. In these cases, circles were simply something the top told the middle to do to the
bottom.

Developing a QC Program
Like virtually any planned organizational change effort, quality circles go through a series of stages in
their growth. Each phase contains its own key activities as well as its own threats to the program (see
Exhibit I). The time it takes to go through each phase varies, but almost without exception every QC
program we studied that survives the threats of the first stage moves into the second stage, and so
forth. They rarely skip stages or become stuck at one or another.

Exhibit I Phases of a circles life

Start-up phase
During the start-up phase, few serious threats to the program arise. The worst are an insufficient
number of volunteers, inadequate training, inability of volunteers to learn the procedures, and, finally,
lack of funding for meetings, facilitator time, and training.

Because many consulting firms offer good training packages for QC program participants, because costs
arent high, and because most people like to participate in problem-solving groups, most organizations
are able to deal effectively with the threats during the start-up phase. As decades of research have
pointed out, people want to contribute to the company they work for and want to participate in
decision making.

Initial problem solving

Once people in circles are trained and officially sanctioned, they turn to problem solving. It is at this
point that they identify the problems they are going to work on and begin to come up with solutions. As
in the initial phase, few serious threats to the continued existence of the program occur at this stage.
Some groups get in trouble because they are unable to agree on which problem to tackle. This is
particularly likely when representatives from different areas make up the group and no tractable issue
affects everyone. Nevertheless, most groups do identify common concerns and begin to problem solve.

Once it starts, a group may find it has inadequate knowledge to deal with the issue. Management can
overcome this barrier by providing additional training or by adding expertise to the group, sometimes in
the form of people who have technical resources at their disposal. Therefore, in most quality circles the
groups do solve problems and experience success.

Presentation & approval of solutions

Because quality circles form a parallel structure, the group must report its solutions back to decision
makers in the line organization. This report-back activity is very important. The reports must be relevant
and thorough, and the line organization must respond quickly, knowledgeably, and in most cases,
positively. It is during this phase that the typical QC program first encounters serious threats to its
continuation.

Usually the people who have to accept and act on the ideas the circle generates are middle-level
managers, most of whom have no role in the quality circle and little experience either soliciting or
responding to ideas from subordinates. They may be uncomfortable listening to ideas that they feel they
should have thought of themselves or that will change their own work activities. Also, they may be too
busy. In any event, not surprisingly, these middle managers often resist the new ideas; they either
formally reject them or take a long time to respond.

Because of the time and resources invested in the program and because middle managers know that the

program will lose its momentum if they dont accept the ideas, managers feel a great deal of pressure to
accept the initial suggestions. In fact, we have even seen situations in which top management has
ordered middle management to accept all initial suggestions. Such situations heighten bad feelings
about the process. Middle managers then receive subsequent ideas far less positively. Often, a clear
rejection is better than what happens to suggestions in some cases. After the quality circles make their
suggestions, the people to whom they are presented sometimes do literally nothing.

If in a high percentage of cases managers react negatively, or not at all, to circle suggestions, the
program usually ends. The people in the group become discouraged and stop meeting. The quality circle
participants get discouraged and feel that the program is a sham, a waste of time, and a management
trick. If, however, middle managers accept the ideas, the program moves on to the next phase.

Implementation of solutions
In most organizations, approval does not mean implementation. Indeed, time after time we found
situations where managers accepted many of the initial ideas with great fanfare but didnt implement
them. The result was a serious loss of credibility of both the program and management.

Implementing ideas often involves the cooperation of many people and, of course, requires money and
manpower. As we noted earlier, in many cases the people who are in charge of putting the circles ideas
into action are not involved in the groups initial activities and therefore have little investment in them.
In addition, only those individuals who develop the ideas, not those who implement them, receive
recognition and rewards. Time is also a factor. Staff engineering groups, maintenance people, and
middle managers are often faced with a choice between continuing their normal activities and picking
up on ideas that the QC groups have suggested. Unless they are willing to put their regular duties aside,
these organization members will never implement the ideas.

Just as with approval, if the ideas are never converted into action, QC programs usually lose their
momentum and die. Official approval of their ideas may please participants but isnt enough to motivate
them to come up with new ideas. People need to see their ideas in action and to receive feedback on
how they are working out. Because it is so hard to effect change in organizations, a significant
percentage of QC programs end at this point. In some cases, however, some of the ideas from the
program are implemented and produce large savings. In these situations, the program moves on to the
next phase.

Expansion & continued problem solving

During this phase the program is often expanded to include new groups, and old groups are either
phased out or told to work on additional problems. In general, if the program gets this far, management
has committed a considerable amount of resources to it, and it has become a part of the organization.
Threats to continuation do, however, appear during this phase. Simply reaching this phase provides no
guarantee that the program will continue.

Problems that confront a program at this point are many and varied. Some of them are a product of the
initial success of the program, while others are related to the fact that the circles are a program that
requires a parallel organizational structure.

The initial success of the program spurs formerly disinterested people to want to get into a circle.
Nonparticipants become jealous of circle members and wonder why they cannot have the luxury of
meeting and solving problems during work hours. They also resent the recognition and status successful
circle members receive. To a degree, managers can meet this issue by expanding the number of groups
to include more people, but almost always an insider-outsider culture arises.

Success of the first groups may also raise group members aspirations. These increased hopes can take
several forms. They may, for example, lead people to desire greater upward career mobility as well as
additional training. Also, circle members often become uncomfortable with the split between the way
they are treated in quality circle meetings and how they are treated in the day-to-day operations of the
organization. As their desire for influence rises they may ask for more participation in managing the
daily work of the organization.

Having initially picked off the easiest problems to solve, some groups run out of problems. They then
find themselves in a situation where, with the limited charter and training they have, they can do little
more. At this point, the circle may simply go out of existence or take on other areaseven those beyond
its mandate.

The initial success may also lead participants to ask for financial rewards. They are particularly likely to
do this when management talks about the great savings the circles have produced for the organization.
In the American culture, people who have contributed to gains perceive that they have the right to
share in them. Management can deal with this issue through various financial sharing plans, but to do so

requires changing the basic structure of the quality circle program.

Expanding the program may boost its price tag. The need for training time rises, as does the need for
time to coordinate, facilitate, and meet. All this costs a great deal, and ultimately many managers
question whether the savings justify the expense. Unfortunately, when executives try to document the
savings from the early QC ideas, they often turn out to be smaller than originally estimated. It often
turns out that management based the initial expansion of the program on optimistic estimates of just
how much it was going to save and, indeed, may have rewarded people for projected, rather than
actual, savings. Disappointment over the actual savings from early ideas and the significant expense of
running the QC program often combine to provide the single most serious threat to its continued
existence.

Given the many forces and pressures that develop during this phase, it is not surprising that the typical
program either begins to decline or becomes a different kind of program at this point.

Decline
In our experience, few QC programs turn into other kinds of programs; more commonly, decline sets in.
During this period, groups meet less often, they become less productive, and the resources committed
to the program dwindle. The main reason the groups continue at all is because of the social satisfaction
and pleasure the members experience rather than the groups problem-solving effectiveness. As
managers begin to recognize this, they cut back further on resources. As a result, the program shrinks.
The people who all along have resisted the program recognize that it is less powerful than it once was,
and they openly reject and resist the ideas it generates. The combination of overt resistance from
middle managers and staff, budget cuts, and participants waning enthusiasm usually precipitates the
decline of the QC program.

In summary, then, circles encounter many threats to their continued existence. Because of these
threats, it is not likely that managers will institutionalize and sustain programs over a long time.
Ironically, circles contain in their initial design many of the elements that lead to their elimination and
destruction. This raises the issue of how, if at all, executives can effectively use quality circles.

How Best to Use Quality Circles

Although we have tried to show that circles are an unstable organizational structure that is likely to
self-destruct, this does not mean that management should avoid them. Companies can use circles in

three sensible ways. Each pattern produces different results and may meet different organizations
needs.

Group suggestion program. Quality circle programs can effectively collect the ideas of the individuals
closest to the work. If management has no interest in shifting its style toward participation or in creating
an elaborate parallel structure, it can create quality circles, capture the ideas they produce, and then
stop them. This approach recognizes the strengths and limitations of the circle process and capitalizes
on them. It relies on the initial enthusiasm and knowledge of workers who get an opportunity to meet
and make suggestions. It recognizes that circle programs are difficult to maintain and therefore plans for
their being phased out.

If management takes this approach, it should rotate circle membership, thereby continually introducing
new blood into groups that may be running out of ideas. In addition, executives should rotate the circle
program, along with its training and facilitation resources, among various work areas so that the circles
work on the most obvious problems and then move elsewhere. These programs need to be carefully
introduced. Management should give the groups a very narrow mandate with no indication that the
program represents the arrival of a new management style.

The chief benefit of this approach is the good ideas that result in savings. The approach also improves
communication, particularly upward, and raises the consciousness of employees concerning issues of
quality and productivity. In addition, managers who have used it mention that as a result of exposure to
the circles, supervisors develop more skills and have an opportunity to identify workers with a lot of
potential.

The danger of this approach is that workers may feel that they have been manipulated: they see their
ideas saving the company money, but they find no change in their daily work lives or in their opportunity
to get involved on an ongoing basis. Also when employees become aware of the difficulty of getting
ideas approved and implemented as well as of the cumbersome organizational decision-making and
resource-allocation processes, they may become cynical about their organization and its management.

Special projects. Executives can also use quality circles effectively to deal with temporary or critical
organizational issues. For instance, in introducing new technologies, retooling for new product lines, or
helping to solve major quality problems, management can use circles to work out the bugs as well as to
help workers accept the change. This approach implies a limited degree of movement toward
participative management.

When managers use this form, they should let the problem at hand define the circles lifetime. For
example, the circle should disband when the new technology has been debugged or when quality has
been brought within acceptable bounds. Because the groups activities can make an appreciable
difference in a chosen problem area and because management is concerned enough to be responsive to
good ideas, workers are enthusiastic about this approach.

We found a few companies that have used QC programs for more than ten years and have gone through
successive cycles of start-up and decline. A start-up typically occurred when the company was
introducing a new product or a new technology and wanted employee input. At those points, managers
seemed to almost spontaneously rediscover quality circles and start the activity again. Experience made
the start-up and development of the circles much quicker and easier.

This approach to circles represents a significant but limited development in the direction of employee
participation. Employees benefit from influencing change, which affects their work lives, and from
contributing to quality improvements, which fosters pride of workmanship. On the other hand, their
daily work lives and job content do not shift much toward increased responsibility. Also, circle activity is
limited to management-defined problems. We have encountered numerous situations where
participants in such special purpose circles think that the company benefits but they dont.

Nevertheless, the use of quality circles to address particular problem areas can be an effective
management tool. Because it produces good solutions to critical organizational problems, a circle has
the potential of making an important contribution to organizational performance. It has, however, the
obvious disadvantage of heavy start-up cost as well as the potential of raising expectations
unrealistically high.

Transitional vehicle. Finally, managers can use quality circles as an interim or transitional device in
moving toward a more participative management system and culture. What often happens is that a
company embarks on a QC program, discovers its limitations, and then sets out on a course of action to
further develop the participative culture of the organization.

As Exhibit II indicates, quality circles can evolve into other forms of employee participation and expand
organizational commitment. Employees often want to work on issues that extend beyond their work
group. In our experience, many of the issues that groups identify

in their brainstorming sessions involve questions of intergroup relations and of organizationwide

policies and practices. Group members become frustrated when they are unable to initiate needed
changes in these areas, particularly when they see a close relationship between the problems they
identify and organizational performance. The QC activity may lead group members to want to transcend
their status as a parallel suggestion system to become an integral part of the decision-making system.

Exhibit II Moving circles to other forms of participation

Management can move from quality circles to other forms of group activity in one or both of two
directions. It can expand participative activities by establishing task forces composed of people from
different work groups and at different organizational levels. The groups can be mandated to work on
organization-wide problems. It can also transfer decision-making authority to the quality circles and task
forces by providing them with the information, expertise, and resources needed to make and implement
decisions.

Organizations with a commitment to participative management will, most likely, move in both these
directions. In our experience, interdepartmental and organization-wide suggestion groups, if they
remain dependent on others to approve and implement their ideas, tend to be no more stable than
more homogeneous suggestion groups. Thus, by themselves they do not represent a workable
long-term approach to participation.

A quality circle is a participatory management technique that enlists the help of employees in solving
problems related to their own jobs. Circles are formed of employees working together in an operation
who meet at intervals to discuss problems of quality and to devise solutions for improvements. Quality
circles have an autonomous character, are usually small, and are led by a supervisor or a senior worker.
Employees who participate in quality circles usually receive training in formal problem-solving
methodssuch as brain-storming, pareto analysis, and cause-and-effect diagramsand are then
encouraged to apply these methods either to specific or general company problems. After completing
an analysis, they often present their findings to management and then handle implementation of
approved solutions. Pareto analysis, by the way, is named after the Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto,
who observed that 20 percent of Italians received 80 percent of the incomethus the principle that
most results are determined by a few causes.

The interest of U.S. manufacturers in quality circles was sparked by dramatic improvements in the
quality and economic competitiveness of Japanese goods in the post-World War II years. The emphasis
of Japanese quality circles was on preventing defects from arising in the first place rather than through
culling during post-production inspection. Japanese quality circles also attempted to minimize the scrap
and downtime that resulted from part and product defects. In the United States, the quality circle
movement evolved to encompass the broader goals of cost reduction, productivity improvement,
employee involvement, and problem-solving activities.

The quality circle movement, along with total quality control, while embraced in a major way in the
1980s, has largely disappeared or undergone significant transformations for reasons discussed below.

BACKGROUND
Quality circles were originally associated with Japanese management and manufacturing techniques.
The introduction of quality circles in Japan in the postwar years was inspired by the lectures of W.
Edwards Deming (19001993), a statistician for the U.S. government. Deming based his proposals on
the experience of U.S. firms operating under wartime industrial standards. Noting that American
management had typically given line managers and engineers about 85 percent of the responsibility for
quality control and line workers only about 15 percent, Deming argued that these shares should be
reversed. He suggested redesigning production processes to account more fully for quality control, and
continuously educating all employees in a firmfrom the top downin quality control techniques and
statistical control technologies. Quality circles were the means by which this continuous education was
to take place for production workers.

Deming predicted that if Japanese firms adopted the system of quality controls he advocated, nations
around the world would be imposing import quotas on Japanese products within five years. His
prediction was vindicated. Deming's ideas became very influential in Japan, and he received several
prestigious awards for his contributions to the Japanese economy.

The principles of Deming's quality circles simply moved quality control to an earlier position in the
production process. Rather than relying upon post-production inspections to catch errors and defects,
quality circles attempted to prevent defects from occurring in the first place. As an added bonus,
machine downtime and scrap materials that formerly occurred due to product defects were minimized.
Deming's idea that improving quality could increase productivity led to the development in Japan of the
Total Quality Control (TQC) concept, in which quality and productivity are viewed as two sides of a coin.
TQC also required that a manufacturer's suppliers make use of quality circles.

Quality circles in Japan were part of a system of relatively cooperative labor-management relations,
involving company unions and lifetime employment guarantees for many full-time permanent
employees. Consistent with this decentralized, enterprise-oriented system, quality circles provided a
means by which production workers were encouraged to participate in company matters and by which
management could benefit from production workers' intimate knowledge of the production process. In
1980 alone, changes resulting from employee suggestions resulted in savings of $10 billion for Japanese
firms and bonuses of $4 billion for Japanese employees.

Active American interest in Japanese quality control began in the early 1970s, when the U.S. aerospace
manufacturer Lockheed organized a tour of Japanese industrial plants. This trip marked a turning point
in the previously established pattern, in which Japanese managers had made educational tours of
industrial plants in the United States. Thereafter quality circles spread rapidly here; by 1980, more than
one-half of firms in the Fortune 500 had implemented or were planning to implement quality circles. To
be sure, these were not installed uniformly everywhere but introduced for experimental purposes and
later selectively expandedand also terminated.

In the early 1990s, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) made several important rulings
regarding the legality of certain forms of quality circles. These rulings were based on the 1935 Wagner
Act, which prohibited company unions and management-dominated labor organizations. One NLRB
ruling found quality programs unlawful that were established by the firm, that featured agendas
dominated by the firm, and addressed the conditions of employment within the firm. Another ruling
held that a company's labor-management committees were in effect labor organizations used to bypass
negotiations with a labor union. As a result of these rulings, a number of employer representatives
expressed their concern that quality circles, as well as other kinds of labor-management cooperation
programs, would be hindered. However, the NLRB stated that these rulings were not general
indictments against quality circles and labor-management cooperation programs, but were aimed
specifically at the practices of the companies in question.

SILVER BULLETS AND MARKSMANSHIP

In the mid-2000s, quality circles are almost universally consigned to the dustbin of management
techniques. James Zimmerman and Jamie Weiss, writing in Quality, summed the matter up as follows:
"Quality and productivity initiatives have come and gone during the past few decades. The list of
'already rans' includes quality circles, statistical process control, total quality management, Baldrige
protocol diagnostics, enterprise wide resource planning and lean manufacturing. Most have been sound
in theory but inconsistent in implementation, not always delivering on their promises over the long run."

Nilewide Marketing Review said the same thing in similar words: "Management fads should be the curse
of the business worldas inevitably as night follows day, the next fad follows the last. Nothing more
typifies the disastrous nature of this following so-called excellence than the example of quality circles.
They rose to faddish heights in the late 80s presenting the so-called secret of Japanese companies and
how American companies such as Lockheed used them to their advantage. Amid all the new
consultancies and management articles, everyone ignored the fact Lockheed had abandoned them in
1978 and less than 12% of the original companies still used them."

Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley, writing in their book, Why The New Teams Don't Work, put it most
bluntly: "Now, we know what happened to quality circles nationwidethey failed, because they had no
power and no one listened to them." Robbins and Finley cite the case of Honeywell which formed 625
quality circles but then, within 18 months, had abandoned all but 620 of them.

Japanese industry obviously embraced and applied quality circles (the idea of an American thinker) and
QC has contributed to Japanese current dominance in many sectors, notably in automobiles. If QC
became a fad in the U.S. and failed to deliver, implementation was certainly one important reasonas
Zimmerman and Weiss pointed out. U.S. adapters of QC may have seen the practice as a silver bullet
and did not bother shooting straight. The reason why a succession of other no doubt sensible
management techniques have also, seemingly, failed to get traction may be due to a tendency by
modern management to embrace mechanical recipes for success without bothering to understand and
to internalize them fully and to absorb their spirit.

REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCCESS

The problems of adaptation, which have caused quality circles to be abandoned, are made plain by a
look at the conditions two experts think are necessary for the success of quality circles. Ron Basu and J.
Nevan Wright, in their book Quality Beyond Six Sigma (another quality management technique)
specified seven conditions for successful implementation of quality circles. These are summarized
below:

Quality circles must be staffed entirely by volunteers.

Each participant should be representative of a different functional activity.
The problem to be addressed by the QC should be chosen by the circle, not by management, and the
choice honored even if it does not visibly lead to a management goal.

Management must be supportive of the circle and fund it appropriately even when requests are trivial
and the expenditure is difficult to envision as helping toward real solutions.
Circle members must receive appropriate training in problem solving.
The circle must choose its own leader from within its own members.
Management should appoint a manager as the mentor of the team, charged with helping members of
the circle achieve their objectives; but this person must not manage the QC.
"Quality circles have been tried in the USA and Europe, often with poor results," Basu and Wright say.
"From our combined first-hand experience of quality circles in Australasia, the UK and Europe, South
America, Africa, Asia and India, we believe that quality circles will work if [these] rules are applied."

Any experienced manager, contemplating the rules shown above and the typical management
environments in which he or she works or has worked in the past will be able to discern quite readily
why QC has not taken a firm hold in the U.S. environment. As for the small business owner, he or she
may actually be in a very good position to try this approach if it feels natural. An obviously important
element of success, confirmed by Basu and Wright, is that QC must be practiced in an environment of
trust and empowerment
Definition:

Perhaps the most widely discussed and undertaken intervention of employee involvement is the quality
circle (QC). The concept of QC originally began in the United States and was exported to Japan in the
1950s. It is mentioned that it is the concept of QC that enabled Japanese firms to make high quality
products at low costs.

What is quality circle? It is a work group of employees who meet regularly to discuss their quality
problems, investigate causes, recommend solutions, and take corrective actions. Generally, QC is a small
group of employees belonging to the same similar work area.

This is so because the employees doing the similar type of work are well familiar to problems faced by
them. The size of the QC should not be too big so as to prevent some members from participating
meaningfully in its meetings. Generally, six to eight members are considered the ideal size of the QC.

QC is formed to achieve the following objectives:

1. Improvement in quality of product manufactured by the organisation.

2. Improvement in methods of production.

3. Development of employees participating in QC.

4. Promoting morale of employees.

5. Respect humanity and create a happy work place worthwhile to work.

The main features of QC can be listed as follows:

1. Voluntary Groups:

QC is a voluntary group of employees generally coming from the same work area. There is no pressure
from anywhere on employees to join QC.

2. Small Size:

The size of the QC is generally small consisting of six to eight members.

3. Regular Meeting:

QC meetings are held once a week for about an hour on regular basis. The members meet during
working hours usually at the end of the working day in consultation with the manager. The time of the
meetings is usually fixed in advance in consultation with the manager and members.

4. Independent Agenda:

Each QC has its own agenda with its own terms of reference. Accordingly, each QC discusses its own
problems and takes corrective actions.

5. Quality Focused:

As per the very nature and intent of QC, it focuses exclusively on quality issues. This is because the
ultimate purpose of QC is improvement in quality of product and working life.

Developing Quality Circles in Organisations:

Like any other organizational change, QC being a new concept may be opposed by the employees.

Therefore, QC should be developed and introduced with great concern and precaution as discussed
below:

1. Publicising the Idea:

Introduction of QC is just like an organisational change programme Hence, like an organisational change
programme, the workers need to be convinced about the need for and significance of QC from the
points of view of the workers and the organisation. Moreover, participation in QC being voluntary, its
publicity among the workers is necessary. To begin with, management can also arrange for initial
training to those workers who want to form a quality circle.

2. Constitution of QC:

Workers doing the same or similar type of work are drawn voluntarily to form quality circle. The
membership of a QC is generally restricted to eight to ten. Once a QC is formed, they remain as
permanent members of the circle unless they leave that work area.

3. Initial Problem Solving:

The members of QC should discuss the problem at threadbare and, then, prepare a list of alternative
solutions. Thereafter, each alternative solution should be evaluated and the final solution should be
arrived at on the basis of consensus.

4. Presentation and Approval of Suggestions:

The final solution arrived at should be presented to the management either in oral or in written form.
The management may evaluate the solution by constituting a committee for this purpose. The
committee may also meet the members of the quality circle for clarifications, if required. Presentation
of solutions to the management helps improve the communication between management and workers
and reflects managements interest to the members of QC.

5. Implementation:

Once the suggestion or solution is approved by the management, the same is being put into practice in a
particular workplace. Quality circles may be organized gradually for other workplaces or departments
also. In this way, following above outlined process, the entire organisation can have quality circles.

Quality circle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A quality circle is a group of workers who do the same or similar work, who meet regularly to identify,
analyze and solve work-related problems.[1] Normally small in size, the group is usually led by a
supervisor or manager and presents its solutions to management; where possible, workers implement
the solutions themselves in order to improve the performance of the organization and motivate
employees. Quality circles were at their most popular during the 1980s, but continue to exist in the form

of Kaizen groups and similar worker participation schemes.[2]

Typical topics for the attention of quality circles are improving occupational safety and health, improving
product design, and improvement in the workplace and manufacturing processes. The term quality
circles was most accessibly defined by Professor Kaoru Ishikawa in his 1988 handbook, "What is Total
Quality Control? The Japanese Way"[3] and circulated throughout Japanese industry by the Union of
Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) in 1960. The first company in Japan to introduce Quality Circles
was the Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company in 1962. By the end of that year there were 36
companies registered with JUSE by 1978 the movement had grown to an estimated 1 million Circles
involving some 10 million Japanese workers. Contrary to some people's opinion this movement had
nothing whatever to do with Dr. W. Edwards Deming or indeed Dr Juran and both were skeptical as to
whether it could be made to work in the USA or the West generally.
Quality circles are typically more formal groups. They meet regularly on company time and are trained
by competent persons (usually designated as facilitators) who may be personnel and industrial relations
specialists trained in human factors and the basic skills of problem identification, information gathering
and analysis, basic statistics, and solution generation.[4] Quality circles are generally free to select any
topic they wish (other than those related to salary and terms and conditions of work, as there are other
channels through which these issues are usually considered).[5][6]
Quality circles have the advantage of continuity; the circle remains intact from project to project. (For a
comparison to Quality Improvement Teams, see Juran's Quality by Design.[7]).
Contents

[hide]

History

Empirical studies of quality circles

Student quality circles

See also

References

History[edit]
Quality circles were originally described by W. Edwards Deming in the 1950s, Deming praised Toyota as
an example of the practice.[8] The idea was later formalized across Japan in 1962 and expanded by
others such as Kaoru Ishikawa. The Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) coordinated the
movement in Japan. The first circles started at the Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company; the idea
then spread to more than 35 other companies in the first year.[9] By 1978 it was claimed[by whom?]
that there were more than one million quality circles involving some 10 million Japanese
workers.[citation needed] As of 2015 they operate in most East Asian countries; it was recently[when?]
claimed[by whom?] that there were more than 20 million quality circles in China.[citation needed]

Quality circles have been implemented even in educational sectors in India, and QCFI (Quality Circle
Forum of India) is promoting such activities. However this was not successful in the United States, as the
idea was not properly understood and implementation turned into a fault-finding exercise - although
some circles do still exist. Don Dewar together with Wayne Ryker and Jeff Beardsley established quality
circles in 1972 at the Lockheed Space Missile factory in California.
Empirical studies of quality circles[edit]
In a structures-fabrication and assembly plant in the south-eastern US, some quality circles (QCs)were
established by the management (management-initiated); whereas others were formed based on
requests of employees (self-initiated). Based on 47 QCs over a three-year period, research showed that
management-initiated QCs have fewer members, solve more work-related QC problems, and solve their
problems much faster than self-initiated QCS. However, the effect of QC initiation (management- vs.
self-initiated) on problem-solving performance disappears after controlling QC size. A high attendance of
QC meetings is related to lower number of projects completed and slow speed of performance in
management-initiated QCS[10] QCs with high upper-management support (high attendance of QC
meetings) solve significantly more problems than those without.[11][12] Active QCs had lower rate of
problem-solving failure, higher attendance rate at QC meetings, and higher net savings of QC projects
than inactive QCs.[13] QC membership tends to decrease over the three-year period. Larger QCs have a
better chance of survival than smaller QCs. A significant drop in QC membership is a precursor of QC
failure. The sudden decline in QC membership represents the final and irreversible stage of the QC's
demise.[14] Attributions of quality circles' problem-solving failure vary across participants of QCs:
Management, supporting staff, and QC members.[15]
There are seven basic quality improvement tools that circles use:
Cause-and-effect diagrams (sometimes called Ishikawa or "fishbone" diagrams)
Pareto charts
Process mapping, data gathering tools such as check sheets
Graphical tools such as histograms, frequency diagrams, spot charts and pie charts
Run charts and control charts
Scatter plots and correlation analysis
Flowcharts
Student quality circles[edit]
Student quality circles work on the original philosophy of Total Quality Management.[16] The idea of
SQCs was presented by City Montessori School (CMS) Lucknow India at a conference in Hong Kong in
October 1994. It was developed and mentored by two engineers of Indian Railways PC, Bihari and Swami
Das, in association with Principal Dr. Kamran of CMS Lucknow India. They were inspired and facilitated

by Jagdish Gandhi, who founded CMS after his visit to Japan, where he learned about Kaizen. The
world's first SQC was made in CMS Lucknow with then-13-year-old student Sucheta Bihari as its leader.
CMS has continued to conduct international conventions on student quality circles every two years.
After seeing its utility, educators from many countries started such circles. The World Council for Total
Quality & Excellence in Education was established in 1999 with its Corporate Office in Lucknow and head
office in Singapore. It monitors and facilitates student quality circle activities in its member countries,
which number more than a dozen. SQC's are considered to be a co-curricular activity. They have been
established in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Mauritius, Iran, UK (Kingston
University and started in University of Leicester), and USA. In Nepal, Prof. Dinesh P. Chapagain has been
promoting the approach through QUEST-Nepal since 1999. He has written a book entitled A Guide Book
on Students' Quality Circle: An Approach to prepare Total Quality People, which is considered a standard
guide to promote SQC's in academia for students' personality development.[citation needed]
Training and development is vital part of the human resource development. It is assuming ever
important role in wake of the advancement of technology which has resulted in ever increasing
competition, rise in customers expectation of quality and service and a subsequent need to lower costs.
It is also become more important globally in order to prepare workers for new jobs. In the current write
up, we will focus more on the emerging need of training and development, its implications upon
individuals and the employers.

Noted management author Peter Drucker said that the fastest growing industry would be training and
development as a result of replacement of industrial workers with knowledge workers. In United States,
for example, according to one estimate technology is de-skilling 75 % of the population. This is true for
the developing nations and for those who are on the threshold of development. In Japan for example,
with increasing number of women joining traditionally male jobs, training is required not only to impart
necessary job skills but also for preparing them for the physically demanding jobs. They are trained in
everything from sexual harassment policies to the necessary job skills.

The need for Training and Development

Before we say that technology is responsible for increased need of training inputs to employees, it is
important to understand that there are other factors too that contribute to the latter. Training is also
necessary for the individual development and progress of the employee, which motivates him to work
for a certain organisation apart from just money. We also require training update employees of the
market trends, the change in the employment policies and other things.

The following are the two biggest factors that contribute to the increased need to training and
development in organisations:

Change: The word change encapsulates almost everything. It is one of the biggest factors that contribute
to the need of training and development. There is in fact a direct relationship between the two. Change
leads to the need for training and development and training and development leads to individual and
organisational change, and the cycle goes on and on. More specifically it is the technology that is driving
the need; changing the way how businesses function, compete and deliver.
Development: It is again one the strong reasons for training and development becoming all the more
important. Money is not the sole motivator at work and this is especially very true for the 21st century.
People who work with organisations seek more than just employment out of their work; they look at
holistic development of self. Spirituality and self awareness for example are gaining momentum world
over. People seek happiness at jobs which may not be possible unless an individual is aware of the self.
At ford, for example, an individual can enrol himself / herself in a course on self awareness, which
apparently seems inconsequential to ones performance at work but contributes to the spiritual well
being of an individual which is all the more important.
The critical question however remains the implications and the contribution of training and
development to the bottom line of organisations performance. To assume a leadership position in the
market space, an organisation will need to emphasise on the kind of programs they use to improvise
performance and productivity and not just how much they simply spend on learning!
Training and development is one of the key HR functions. Most organisations look at training and
development as an integral part of the human resource development activity. The turn of the century
has seen increased focus on the same in organisations globally. Many organisations have mandated
training hours per year for employees keeping in consideration the fact that technology is deskilling the
employees at a very fast rate.

So what is training and development then? Is it really that important to organisational survival or they
can survive without the former? Are training and development one and the same thing or are they
different? Training may be described as an endeavour aimed to improve or develop additional
competency or skills in an employee on the job one currently holds in order to increase the performance
or productivity.

Technically training involves change in attitude, skills or knowledge of a person with the resultant
improvement in the behaviour. For training to be effective it has to be a planned activity conducted
after a thorough need analysis and target at certain competencies, most important it is to be conducted
in a learning atmosphere.

While designing the training program it has to be kept in mind that both the individual goals and
organisational goals are kept in mind. Although it may not be entirely possible to ensure a sync, but
competencies are chosen in a way that a win-win is created for the employee and the organisation.

Typically organisations prepare their training calendars at the beginning of the financial year where
training needs are identified for the employees. This need identification called as training need analysis
is a part of the performance appraisal process. After need analysis the number of training hours, along
with the training intervention are decided and the same is spread strategically over the next year.

Development
Lots of time training is confused with development, both are different in certain respects yet
components of the same system. Development implies opportunities created to help employees grow. It
is more of long term or futuristic in nature as opposed to training, which focus on the current job. It also
is not limited to the job avenues in the current organisation but may focus on other development
aspects also.

At Goodyear, for example, employees are expected to mandatorily attend training program on
presentation skills however they are also free to choose a course on perspectives in leadership through
literature. Whereas the presentation skills program helps them on job, the literature based program
may or may not help them directly.

Similarly many organisations choose certain employees preferentially for programs to develop them for
future positions. This is done on the basis of existing attitude, skills and abilities, knowledge and
performance of the employee. Most of the leadership programs tend to be of this nature with a vision of
creating and nurturing leaders for tomorrow.

The major difference between training and development therefore is that while training focuses often
on the current employee needs or competency gaps, development concerns itself with preparing people
for future assignments and responsibilities.

With technology creating more deskilled workers and with industrial workers being replaced by
knowledge workers, training and development is at the forefront of HRD. The onus is now on the human
development department to take a proactive leadership role in responding to training and business

needs.
Systems View of Training - Stages in a Training Program

The success of a training program is evaluated in terms of the end result or the increase in the work
ability, skill or competency in the trainee. For any training program to be successful it is very essential to
follow a certain process.

The basic process as illustrated in the figure below consists of four stages which are assessment,
development, delivery and evaluation.

Stages in Training Program

The process of training begins with the needs assessment stage. The aim of the assessment stage is to
understand whether or not training is required. If the answer is yes; the next step is determining
competency or skills gaps and the appropriate training intervention required. The training intervention is
essentially decided in terms of attitude, knowledge and skill (ASK), the combination of which is called as
competency. The assessment also called as the training needs analysis is undertaken at three levels,
the job, the individual and organisational analysis.
Once the training needs analysis is complete, the next stage is that of Development. This stage involves
the development of content and the training material. Right from designing the appropriate
environment to deciding the various tools, everything is taken care of in the development stage. Games,
A/Vs, Case Studies, Class room intervention are various means that may be decided upon apart from
the content delivered. For example, in behavioural training emotional intelligence, teamwork, listening
are examples of competencies that are required to perform superior work. The same may be transferred
into the trainees through any of the above means depending upon various factors like demographics,
job nature etc which are taken care of in the first stage.
The most important stage and perhaps the least talked upon from the training process is the delivery.
Once the development stage is over it is time to conduct the training. Factors like time and venue of
delivery are already decided in the earlier stages. There are various factors that determine the process
of delivery like the participant demographics, the training intervention, the individual style of the trainer
etc. This brings in a lot of diversity to the training programs.
Evaluation is the last stage in the training process and more important from the perspective of
evaluation of the effectiveness of training. Needless to say, it is aimed at analysing whether or not the
training has been effective in achieving the objective (bridging the competency gap, changing the
attitude, developing new skills etc). There are various ways in which the effectiveness of training

programs can be evaluated but not many are able to answer in terms of ROI. The most effective tool for
evaluation of training is the Kirk Patrick Model of Evaluation.
In order for the evaluation to be effective the both the criteria and design for training program is
decided so that there is no discrepancy and the participants are able to evaluate the benefits effectively
for themselves. The evaluation is made on the basis of participant reaction to the training, their learning
and the change in behaviour. This feedback is then reused in the first step training needs analysis for
making future training more effective.
Training is an expensive process not only in terms of the money spent on it but also the time and the
other resources spent on the same. The most important question therefore is determining whether or
not a need for training actually exists and whether the intervention will contribute to the achievement
of organisational goal directly or indirectly? The answer to the above mentioned question lies in
training needs analysis which is the first step in the entire process of training and development.

Training needs analysis is a systematic process of understanding training requirements. It is conducted

at three stages - at the level of organisation, individual and the job, each of which is called as the
organisational, individual and job analysis. Once these analyses are over, the results are collated to
arrive upon the objectives of the training program.

Another view of the training need is that, it is the discrepancy between what is and what should be.
Taking cues from this the world bank conducted a needs analysis and arrived upon the conclusion that
many of its units in eastern regions of Europe required transformation from state owned business to self
sustaining organisations. A number of universities were then contacted to develop the necessary
modules and conduct the training upon the same.

Although each step in the entire training process is unique in its own, needs analysis is special in that it
lays the foundation for the kind of training required. The assessment gives insight into what kind of
intervention is required, knowledge or skill or both. In certain cases where both of these are present and
the performance is still missing then the problem may be motivational in nature. It thus highlights the
need and the appropriate intervention which is essential to make the training effective.

As mentioned earlier, the needs analysis / assessment is carried out at three levels - organisational,
Individual and Job. We now take up each one of them in detail.

Organisational Analysis

The organisational analysis is aimed at short listing the focus areas for training within the organisation
and the factors that may affect the same. Organisational mission, vision, goals, people inventories,
processes, performance data are all studied. The study gives cues about the kind of learning
environment required for the training. Motorola and IBM for example, conduct surveys every year
keeping in view the short term and long term goals of the organisation.

Job Analysis
The job analysis of the needs assessment survey aims at understanding the what of the training
development stage. The kind of intervention needed is what is decided upon in the job analysis. It is an
objective assessment of the job wherein both the worker oriented - approach as well as the task oriented approach is taken into consideration. The worker approach identifies key behaviours and ASK
for a certain job and the task - oriented approach identifies the activities to be performed in a certain
job. The former is useful in deciding the intervention and the latter in content development and
program evaluation.

Individual Analysis
As evident from the name itself, the individual analysis is concerned with who in the organisation needs
the training and in which particular area. Here performance is taken out from the performance appraisal
data and the same is compared with the expected level or standard of performance. The individual
analysis is also conducted through questionnaires, 360 feedback, personal interviews etc. Likewise,
many organisation use competency ratings to rate their managers; these ratings may come from their
subordinates, customers, peers, bosses etc. Apart from the above mentioned organisations also make
use of attitude surveys, critical Incidents and Assessment surveys to understand training needs which
will be discussed in detail in other articles.
The process of needs assessment happens at three stages or levels, the organisational, the job and the
person or the individual. This is the basis for any needs assessment survey and remains the same more
or less in all organisations around the globe. There are however many techniques for collecting the data
for training need analysis. This article discusses some of the methods used for the same.

The needs assessment conducted at various stages tries to answer a different set of questions.
Organisational analysis, for example, aims at the where in the organisation of the training. Person
analysis similarly attempts to decipher the question of Whom in the organisation. There are therefore
various instruments or techniques that are used to collect data for the analysis at each stage.

Techniques for Collecting data at Organisational Level

As discussed already, in organisational analysis we try to ascertain the areas in the organisation that
require training interventions. For example, among the various kinds of interventions that organisations
chose it was found out managerial training is picking up fast among corporations and also that
managerial competencies amount for 98% of success in the jobs.

Personnel and skill inventories, organisational climate and efficiency indices, Management requests, Exit
interviews, management by objectives (MBO) are the various kinds of techniques that are used at the
level of organisational analysis for collecting data for training needs analysis.

Essentially all these tools collect data that is inferential in nature, but does not give a clear picture of the
training needs. For example, the above mentioned tools may lead an organisation to deduce that there
is a need for aligning the work processes with the organisational goals / objectives, which is not very
rich diagnostically. It may require further analysis, which is done with the help of tools at the level of Job
or the task.

The techniques for data collection at the level of the job include job description, performance standards,
work sampling, job specifications, job literature analysis, and analysis of operational problems among
others. These techniques are aimed at extracting data for understanding the target of training i.e. what
exactly should be taught in training. Time management may be may be one critical intervention in
project handling / management.

These techniques at the level of job are useful but yet not sufficient in helping understand who requires
training and when. Taking the above example further, time management may be a critical intervention
for Projects people, but there may already be some who are very efficient in time management and may
require the intervention at other level, which is only possible to ascertain with the help of techniques
used at the level of the individual or the person.

Training may prove worthless if it is conducted without studying individual data. Every member in a
team is unique and works as well as performs at a certain level (n). There may be others who are at
(n+1) or (n-1) or more. Thus, the same intervention may halt the progress of a certain individual and
finally the organisation. There are therefore certain tools that help in deciding interventions at the
individual level. Performance appraisal data, questionnaires, attitude surveys, 360 degree feedback,

assessment centres, critical incidents are some techniques that are employed to a good benefit.

All these techniques are integral to the success of any training program. Although each one of these may
be used independently but the combined use offers a holistic view of training within an organisation!
evelopment of a training program is the next step after the training need analysis has been conducted
and there is a clear consensus on the need of training within the organisation. The next vital question to
answer is whether the training should be conducted by an in house expert or from a consultant outside.

Many of the fortune 500 organisations around the world have their in house learning centers and many
have even gone ahead to have their own training universities where they train people onboard and
those who aspire to join in the future. Companies like Xerox, Good Year Tyres, Kodak, Mahindra and
Mahindra, Birla etc have such setups for generating prospective employees with the requisite skills and
also for training the existing employees. There are other organisations too that have tie ups with the
best academic institutions for employee exchange programmes.

Nevertheless the prerequisites for development of a training program remain the same. We start with
the development of a conducive learning environment, followed by a choice of the training methods and
techniques.

Designing the Environment - every individual is unique. One style of learning may not be applicable to
each of the participants in a training program. Therefore how do various individuals learn is what
should be kept in mind while designing the training program. There are certain who learn the
experiential way by doing and yet there are many who like the lecture based learning method. There are
however pros and cons of both and the appropriate learning style is generally the discretion of the
trainer / facilitator.

Establishing the Variables - trainability is one factor that must be taken into consideration before
developing any training program. It is the duty of the trainer to ensure that the employees are actually
willing to sit and learn something in the training program. This is especially very true of sensitivity
training that is not viewed positively by many. Trainabality also implies that the employee is sufficiently
motivated to learn apart from just the ability to do so. Before any training program sets off, it is the
responsibility of the trainer to build hype about the event and such that it attracts all types of
employees from target audience within the organisation.

There are both formal and informal ways of doing the same. Formal ways would be by sending mails to
the employees who are supposed to attend the program. Informal ways would be just creating
conditions for discussion in the cafeteria or the lounge where employees sit together, discuss and hear
things on the grapevine.

Finally, once the training program has been delivered the evaluation of the same provides inputs for
improving the process of training. These are called as the post learning inputs. This evaluation which is
conducted at various levels may be utilised accordingly. Most of the organisations evaluate training on
the basis of Kirk Patrick Model. The feedback at each level - learning, reaction, behaviour and results can
be used for effective design of training in future.
Training programs play a crucial role in enhancing employees capabilities, upgrading his existing
knowledge and help him acquire new skills and learnings. Effective training programs help employees to
cope up with changes, think out of the box, survive the cut throat competition with a smile and
contribute effectively to the success of organization.

Training programs need to be designed, keeping in mind the needs and requirements of employees.
Training modules ought to be precise, crisp and informative.

Training programs should not be designed just for the sake of it. Find out whether your employees really
need any kind of training or it is being conducted just as a mere formality?

Designing and Developing Effective Training Modules

Know Your Employees: Know your employees well before you begin designing training programs for
them. Sit with them and try to find out where all they need assistance. Let them come up with their
problems and what all additional skills would help them perform better. It is essential for managers to
know the strengths and weaknesses of all his team members. Design your training program accordingly.
Knowing employees well will help you figure out the skills you need to teach them. Training programs
need to be specific if you expect your employees to benefit from the same.

Dividing Employees into Groups: One cannot design similar training programs for each and every
employee. Divide employees into groups where employees who need to learn the same set of skills can
be put into one group. You can also group employees as per their age, work experience, departments,
functional areas and so on.

Preparing the Information: The next step is to prepare the content of the training program. The content
needs to be informative but interesting. Include diagrams, graphs, flow charts, pictures to make your
training program interesting so that individuals do not lose interest in the middle of the session. The
information needs to be relevant and authentic. Teach them what all is necessary and would help them
in their current as well as future assignments. Prepare your training program keeping your audience in
mind.

Presenting the Information: You need to design your presentation well. Decide how would you like to
present your information? PowerPoint or word helps you design your training program. It is absolutely
up to the trainer to decide the software which he/she would like to use. Make sure there are no spelling
errors. Read your presentation twice or thrice and find out whether it has covered entire information
you wish to convey or not? Highlight important information. Make your presentation in bullets.

Delivering Training Programs: Select your trainers carefully. Remember, the right trainer makes all the
difference. Training programs should not be a mere one way communication. As a trainer, you need to
understand that you are speaking not only for the individuals sitting in the front row but also for
employees sitting at the back. Be loud and clear. Do not speak too fast. The trainer needs to involve
his/her audience and encourage employees to come up with questions and doubts. Employees should
not attend training programs to mark their attendance. Try to gain as much as you can. Do not sit with
Employees need to be trained on a regular basis to acquaint them with the latest developments,
technologies, softwares and make them ready for unforeseen circumstances.

Employee training manuals are small handbooks which are given to employees by training managers for
their future reference. Employee training manual should include relevant information which would help
employees enhance their capabilities, eventually increasing their productivity and benefitting the
organization. Individuals have a tendency to forget things after a certain period of time. Employee
training handbooks help them recollect whatever has been taught to them in various training sessions.
You can also give a nice name to your training manual as well.

Employee training manual is a collaborative effort of all trainers who put together information, latest
happenings in respective domains, new updates for employees to help them acquire new skills and
learnings.The ultimate goal of training manual is to help employees in their current responsibilities as
well as future assignments.

There can be two formats for training manuals. One which would give general information about
companys policies and rules and regulations which every employee irrespective of his/her designation
needs to follow. Such training manuals ought to be handed over to the employee the day he steps into
the organization. It helps the new candidate to understand companys internal systems and procedures.
Such employee training manuals give a detailed insight into companys timings, dress code, labour laws,
safety techniques, lunch timings, leave policy, hierarchy, reporting system, grading system and so on.
They contain only general information that is applicable to all individuals who are directly associated
with the organization. Trust me; no one remembers what he/she was told on the first day of joining. Let
everything be in writing for employees to refer to in case of confusions and misunderstandings.
Employees can also refer to their employee manuals without bothering their superiors and fellow
workers. Employee training manuals also ensure transparency at all levels. Rules are same for everyone
whether he/she is a sales professional, admin executive or a Vice President.

The other types of employee training manuals are those which give specific project related, position
related, task related information. Such training manuals are designed in line with employees key
responsibility areas and specialization. These manuals give specific information as to how a particular
task should be performed. Position specific training manuals help employees acquire additional set of
skills which would help them outshine their fellow workers and make a mark of their own. Such training
manuals can also focus on specific tasks and roles. Such manuals guide employees to perform their tasks
with perfection and help them if they are stuck somewhere. Employee training manual of a marketing
professional would be different from that of a MIS executive. Marketing professional needs training on
brand positioning, soft skills, time management, presentation skills, effective listening skills and so on.
Employee training manual of a MIS executive ought to throw light on reporting formats, excel etc.

Employee training manuals should have correct and relevant information. Make sure they do not have
grammatical and spelling errors. Do not use complicated jargons as people might find it difficult to
understand. Employee training formats should be in an easy to follow format.
Needless to say, training in an organization is aimed at evolving existing ways and patterns of work. It is
aimed at individual development, which cannot happen until there is a transfer of learning from the
trainer to the trainee and the same is reflected in their work finally. But how can this learning be
maximized considering time, motivation and learning ability constraints?

There are certain practices that have been designed for both the training session and the workplace. An
implementation of these will ensure an efficient transfer of the learnings and subsequent
reinforcement. Some of these steps / practices are mentioned below:

Training should match the Workplace: Most of the training programs tend to be idealist in nature. The
trainees leave with a good positive impact but they find a huge disconnect when they try to implement
the same at their workplace. For good learning the context of training and the context of job should be
the same. For example, at GE training involves action learning tools where real life problems are
discussed.
Labeling: one good way to reinforce the learning or the important aspects of the training program is to
name them appropriately such that they have a good recall rate after the training is over.
Create a Supportive Environment at Work: Managers or senior management people should try and
create an environment that reinforces the learning and allows the trainees to apply new skills at their
workplace. This may involve giving the employees freedom to be more entrepreneurial, innovative and
risk taking.
Continued Learning: It is the jurisdiction of the management to ensure that learning be taken as a
continual process rather than a onetime process. This means that there should be continuous follow-ups
after training either by external consulting agencies or through an in house expert. Sometimes retraining
may be required for continual skill up gradation and development.
Practice: Employees should be compelled to practice new skills. One of the better ways is to remove the
existing obsolete tools of work, so that people become out of practice of using those.
Opportunity: In many organizations it was found out that it was the management and the work
procedures that acted as a hindrance in implementation of new concepts. For example, in a certain
study involving air force pilots it was found out that the trainees were given the opportunity of
practicing only 50% of the tasks they learnt in the training! This is also true to midsized corporations that
have a centralized functioning requiring approval for even minor changes.
Train - Practice - Train: This involves supporting the employees to learn new skills, practice them in
between various training sessions. University of Michigans centre for Learning and Development offers
a management development program where employees attend training for one week and practice them
for the next three weeks before coming back for the next intervention. These trainees spend the three
weeks working on organizational analytics, development and organizational system projects etc.
If the above mentioned steps are implemented both within organizations and inside the training rooms,
organizations stand a very good chance of making the training effective by ensuring a rich transfer of
learning
valuation involves the assessment of the effectiveness of the training programs. This assessment is done
by collecting data on whether the participants were satisfied with the deliverables of the training
program, whether they learned something from the training and are able to apply those skills at their
workplace. There are different tools for assessment of a training program depending upon the kind of
training conducted.

Since organisations spend a large amount of money, it is therefore important for them to understand
the usefulness of the same. For example, if a certain technical training was conducted, the organisation
would be interested in knowing whether the new skills are being put to use at the workplace or in other
words whether the effectiveness of the worker is enhanced. Similarly in case of behavioural training, the
same would be evaluated on whether there is change in the behaviour, attitude and learning ability of
the participants.

Benefits of Training Evaluation

Evaluation acts as a check to ensure that the training is able to fill the competency gaps within the
organisation in a cost effective way. This is specially very important in wake of the fact the organisations
are trying to cut costs and increase globally. Some of the benefits of the training evaluation are as
under:

Evaluation ensures accountability - Training evaluation ensures that training programs comply with the
competency gaps and that the deliverables are not compromised upon.
Check the Cost - Evaluation ensures that the training programs are effective in improving the work
quality, employee behaviour, attitude and development of new skills within the employee within a
certain budget. Since globally companies are trying to cut their costs without compromising upon the
quality, evaluation just aims at achieving the same with training.
Feedback to the Trainer / Training - Evaluation also acts as a feedback to the trainer or the facilitator and
the entire training process. Since evaluation accesses individuals at the level of their work, it gets easier
to understand the loopholes of the training and the changes required in the training methodology.
Not many organisations believe in the process of evaluation or at least do not have an evaluation system
in place. Many organisations conduct training programs year after year only as a matter of faith and not
many have a firm evaluation mechanism in place. Organisations like IBM, Motorala only, it was found
out, have a firm evaluation mechanism in place.

The Way Forward

There are many methods and tools available for evaluating the effectiveness of training programs. Their
usability depends on the kind of training program that is under evaluation. Generally most of the
organisations use the Kirk Patrick model for training evaluations which evaluates training at four levels reactions, learning, behaviour and results.

After it was found out that training costs organisations a lot of money and no evaluation measures the
return on investment for training, the fifth level for training evaluation was added to the training
evaluation model by Kirk Patrick which is called as the ROI.

Most of the evaluations contain themselves to the reaction data, only few collected the learning data,
still lesser measured and analysed the change in behaviour and very few took it to the level of increase
in business results. The evaluation tools including the Kirk Patrick model will be discussed in detail in
other articles.
Organizations spend a huge amount of money for training their employees at various levels and on
various competencies, behavioral and technical. Every year new tools are designed to try and cater to
individual learning styles and make the training more effective. After all an organization is concerned
about its spending and the return on the same!

Donald Kirkpatrick, professor emeritus, university of Wisconsin began working on evaluating the
effectiveness of training very early in his life. His early work on the same was published in the year 1959
in a journal of American Society of Training Directors. He laid out four levels for evaluation of any
training. This model is arguably the most widespread for evaluation in use. It is simple, very flexible and
complete. The four levels as described by Kirkpatrick are as follows:

Reaction of the Trainee - thoughts and feelings of the participants about the training
Learning - the increase in knowledge or understanding as a result of the training
Behavior - extent of change in behavior, attitude or capability
Results - the effect on the bottom line of the company as a result of the training.
Most of training is either technical or behavioural in nature, but there are still other trainings that are
neither. These fall under the ambit of special training programs and are conducted with an agenda of
smoothening the work process within the organisation.

Workforce diversity can be both positive and negative for the organisation. Positive in that it brings
fresh and different perspectives to the latter and negative in that team building may not be that easy.
Multinational corporations that employ workforce of all races, creeds and colour face the problem
racism. Similarly organisations in the Asian subcontinent more specially, face the problem of sexual
harassment of workers. There are other problems also apart from these and these can only be resolved

with the help of awareness trainings.

In this article we briefly discuss trainings other than the behavioural and technical ones.

Diversity Awareness Trainings - handling workforce diversity is one of the emerging challenges for
organisations in the 21st century. They face claims on from coloured workers, immigrants, older people,
various ethnic groups, gays and lesbians for harassment at the work place. Also there is a need for
addressing the values of various employee groups, for example, the older generation lives by a different
set of values and does the younger lot. This leads to a conflict which can only be resolved by providing
appropriate training intervention. Diversity awareness training is necessary to increase the
competitiveness and the general competency of the organisation. Many firms have accepted diversity as
a way of surviving and many that have not often face the charge of discrimination.
Sexual Harassment Training - these trainings are mostly conducted in the developed nations and in
multinational corporations that function in various geographical locations. These trainings are not very
common in organisations in the developing world. Almost all types of organisations, immaterial of what
business they are into, what industry they operate in and what kind of people they have hired receive
sexual harassment complaints at the workplace. In developing economies they go unnoticed and
unreported but in developed economies where the workforce is empowered severely sexual harassment
at the workplace is reported, resulting in penal actions and thus the sexual harassment training. Many
organisation shave policies on sexual harassment but often they are not communicated!
Creativity Training - more and more organisations want innovation and creativity as a way of being and
expression which ultimately happens only when its people are creative. Many organisations use
experiential learning, brainstorming sessions to compel the employees think out of the box and thus
bring out the latent creativity in them. There are trainings conducted on the art of creative writing from
them to write and express themselves beautifully. Organisations like Frito lay and 3M use creativity
training to push their employees harder and make them entrepreneurial. These programs have reported
to be successful; Frito Lay for example reported huge profits because of the creativity training!
There are other training types that involve training expatriates and inpatriates. These form however a
very small chunk of the entire training programs. These special training programs are also with an intent
of organisation and people development, aimed implicitly at organisational effectiveness and profits.
nformational training methods are basically used to teach facts and figures and for developing a change
in attitude. There is a one way communication between the trainer and the trainee that involves the
transfer of information without many deliberations. New policies, programs, code of conduct are
transferred using informational training methods.

Lectures, audio visuals, self directed learning (SDL) methods, programmed instruction (PI) and
independent study are some of the informational training methods that will be briefly described in the
article.

Lectures
The lecture based methodology is one of the simplest and the perhaps the oldest technique of training.
It is generally used to pass on new knowledge and to present some introductory material or an ice
breaker. This method is often combined with audio visual, group discussions now days to make it more
effective and interesting. One of the most important benefits of this training method is the low cost
involved not only in terms of the training content but also that it can used with an audience of large size.
The biggest limitation is that the audience becomes passive and the session becomes dull and there is a
poor transfer of information.

Audio / Visuals
It is the one of the most effective means of conducting training programs and the most used these days.
It is used essentially to present new knowledge to the audience and boost the morale. There are lots of
tools available in this training method; for example, the trainer has the freedom to use slides, movies,
video clips, flip charts, chalkboards etc. Videoconferencing is picking up fast. Lots of training programs
also called as webinars are conducted with geographically dispersed populations. The advantage over
lecture based training is that it allows for replays and brings in a lot of versatility to the training program.

Independent Study
This is a training method that is to transfer knowledge and for updating on information, knowledge and
facts on a continuous basis. The trainee is free to complete the course of the training at his own pace.
This method saves a lot of cost by minimising the man-day of training and also the cost of development.
Since it is more of research and continuous education based, a library or resource department has to be
developed for the same. Furthermore the training material has to be customised to individual needs.

One of the greatest drawbacks is that the trainee cannot be evaluated continually for a longer period of
time without the intervention of the trainer and that the level of motivation goes down after a certain
period of time. It is therefore not applicable to all types of jobs.

Programmed Instruction

Programmed instruction is a training methodology that is often used to prepare individuals for a training
program by bringing them at the same level. Like independent study it also allows the trainees to go at
their own pace and a quick feedback. It is however expensive to develop and may not necessarily result
in an increase in the performance at work.

Most of the training programs combine any or all of these for effective training. In addition, there are
lots of other experiential training methods that may be used, which will be discussed in other write ups.
Experiential training is a whole body of training methods that are used to develop behavioural skills and
physical abilities. Role playing, equipment simulations, games, on the job training (OJT), behaviour
modelling, case analysis and computer based training are some of the experiential learning methods
that can be used to deliver a training session.

Experiential learning is also called as learning by doing and the training involves a two way interaction
unlike the informational training methods which are more of one sided. Here the major focus is not just
mere transfer of facts and figures but development of skills in the participants, which may or not be the
case in informational training.

Let us take the example of sales training. When sales training is imparted to the life insurance marketing
people, they are introduced to policies and procedures and later asked to remember the same. These
policies and procedures are unquestionable most of the time and the information flow is unidirectional,
with the help of informational training methods. Whereas when it comes to developing sales skills in
individuals, simulation games and role plays are used when there is two way communication between
the facilitator and the participants.

A good training is a combination of both the training methods. Some of the the experiential training
methods are discussed below:

On the Job Training (OJT): This training method is used to impart new skills to the employees when they
are working on a certain position. Job rotation and apprenticeship training are some ways in which new
skills can e developed within the employees.
Equipment Simulators: These are training methods where in real life situations / conditions are created
to enable the employee to experience and prepare for the world of work. This type of training is often
used to develop physical, behavioural and team building training. NASA for example uses simulators to
train astronauts before they set out for the outer space. This type of training is very effective but the

simulators are costly to develop.

Role Playing: A role play is used essentially to change attitudes and help people see things from the
other persons eyes. It may also be used to practice certain job, behavioural skills or for analysing
interpersonal problems. This type of training is more close to reality. The only drawback is that the
employees may show hesitation role playing situations or may not even take it seriously.
Sensitivity Training: Sensitivity training is imparted to essentially increase the self awareness of the
employees. It is aimed to help the employees or trainees see how others see them. Such type of training
is used to increase the self worth of the trainees and also for changing interpersonal behaviours. More
importantly it can wipe out negativity from the organisation; in fact many organisations in the west use
this training method for top management.
Case Study: Case study analysis is perhaps the most frequently used tool for developing interpersonal,
decision making and analytical skills within the trainees. It is a very good and cheap tool for developing
problem solving skills within the individuals. The basic drawback is non availability of updated case
studies. Generally one or two cases are discussed every year and there is no updating subsequently.
These are some of the experiential training methods that can be and are used for imparting training
within organisations. Many organisations also use games and computer assisted instruction / training,
the use and relevance depends on the kind of competency you are targeting.
Training: Meaning, Definition and Types of Training!

Training constitutes a basic concept in human resource development. It is concerned with developing a
particular skill to a desired standard by instruction and practice. Training is a highly useful tool that can
bring an employee into a position where they can do their job correctly, effectively, and conscientiously.
Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skill of an employee for doing a particular job.

Definition of Training:

Dale S. Beach defines training as the organized procedure by which people learn knowledge and/or skill
for a definite purpose. Training refers to the teaching and learning activities carried on for the primary
purpose of helping members of an organization acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, abilities, and
attitudes needed by a particular job and organization.

According to Edwin Flippo, training is the act of increasing the skills of an employee for doing a
particular job.

Need for Training:

Every organization should provide training to all the employees irrespective of their qualifications and
skills.

Specifically the need for training arises because of following reasons:

1. Environmental changes:

Mechanization, computerization, and automation have resulted in many changes that require trained
staff possessing enough skills. The organization should train the employees to enrich them with the
latest technology and knowledge.

2. Organizational complexity:

With modern inventions, technological upgradation, and diversification most of the organizations have
become very complex. This has aggravated the problems of coordination. So, in order to cope up with
the complexities, training has become mandatory.

3. Human relations:

Every management has to maintain very good human relations, and this has made training as one of the
basic conditions to deal with human problems.

4. To match employee specifications with the job requirements and organizational needs:

An employees specification may not exactly suit to the requirements of the job and the organization,

irrespective of past experience and skills. There is always a gap between an employees present
specifications and the organizations requirements. For filling this gap training is required.

5. Change in the job assignment:

Training is also necessary when the existing employee is promoted to the higher level or transferred to
another department. Training is also required to equip the old employees with new techniques and
technologies.

Importance of Training:

Training of employees and mangers are absolutely essential in this changing environment. It is an
important activity of HRD which helps in improving the competency of employees. Training gives a lot of
benefits to the employees such as improvement in efficiency and effectiveness, development of self
confidence and assists every one in self management.

The stability and progress of the organization always depends on the training imparted to the
employees. Training becomes mandatory under each and every step of expansion and diversification.
Only training can improve the quality and reduce the wastages to the minimum. Training and
development is also very essential to adapt according to changing environment.

Types of Training:

Various types of training can be given to the employees such as induction training, refresher training, on
the job training, vestibule training, and training for promotions.

Some of the commonly used training programs are listed below:

1. Induction training:

Also known as orientation training given for the new recruits in order to make them familiarize with the
internal environment of an organization. It helps the employees to understand the procedures, code of
conduct, policies existing in that organization.

2. Job instruction training:

This training provides an overview about the job and experienced trainers demonstrates the entire job.
Addition training is offered to employees after evaluating their performance if necessary.

3. Vestibule training:

It is the training on actual work to be done by an employee but conducted away from the work place.

4. Refresher training:

This type of training is offered in order to incorporate the latest development in a particular field. This
training is imparted to upgrade the skills of employees. This training can also be used for promoting an
employee.

5. Apprenticeship training:

Apprentice is a worker who spends a prescribed period of time under a supervisor.

The process of examining a training program is called training evaluation. Training evaluation checks
whether training has had the desired effect. Training evaluation ensures that whether candidates are
able to implement their learning in their respective workplaces, or to the regular work routines

Techniques of Evaluation
The various methods of training evaluation are:

Observation
Questionnaire
Interview
Self diaries
Self recording of specific incidents
Types of evaluation

Evaluating the Training (includes monitoring) addresses how one determines whether the goals or
objectives were met and what impact the training had on actual performance on the job.

Generally there are four kinds of standard training evaluation:

Formative
Process
Outcome
Impact.
Formative evaluation provides ongoing feedback to the curriculum designers and developers to ensure
that what is being created really meets the needs of the intended audience.

Process evaluation provides information about what occurs during training. This includes giving and
receiving verbal feedback.
Outcome evaluation determines whether or not the desired results (e.g., what participants are doing) of
applying new skills were Achieved in the short-term.
Impact determines how the results of the training affect the strategic goal
Evaluation Methods

Evaluation methods can be either qualitative (e.g., interviews, case studies, focus groups) or quantitative
(e.g., surveys, experiments)
Training evaluation usually includes a combination of these methods and reframes our thinking about
evaluation in that measurements are aimed at different levels of a system.
Formative Evaluation

Formative Evaluation may be defined as any combination of measurements obtained and judgments
made before or during the implementation of materials, methods, or programs to control, assure or
improve the quality of program performance or delivery.
It answers such questions as, Are the goals and objectives suitable for the intended audience? Are
the methods and materials appropriate to the event? Can the event be easily replicated?
Formative evaluation furnishes information for program developers and implementers.
It helps determine program planning and implementation activities in terms of (1) target population, (2)
program organization, and (3) program location and timing.
It provides short-loop feedback about the quality and implementation of program activities and thus
becomes critical to establishing, stabilizing, and upgrading programs.

Process Evaluation

Process Evaluation answers the question, What did you do? It focuses on procedures and actions
being used to produce results.
It monitors the quality of an event or project by various means. Traditionally, working as an onlooker,
the evaluator describes this process and measures the results in oral and written reports.
Process evaluation is the most common type of training evaluation. It takes place during training
delivery and at the end of the event.
Outcome Evaluation

Outcome Evaluation answers the question, What happened to the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors
of the intended population?

This project would produce both outcomes and impacts.

Outcome evaluation is a long-term undertaking.

Outcome evaluation answers the question, What did the participants do?

Because outcomes refer to changes in behavior, outcome evaluation data is intended to measure what
training participants were able to do at the end of training and what they actually did back on the job as
a result of the training.

Impact Evaluation takes even longer than outcome evaluation and you may never know for sure that
your project helped bring about the change.

Impacts occur through an accumulation of outcomes.