STAFFING

Introduction

 Staffing is the third sequential function of the admininstrative and management process. If planning serves as the backbone of an organization and organizing is concerned with giving shape to this backbone, then staffing may be considered as the function which gives life to this entity of backbone and shape.

Definition

Staffing involves choosing competent and suitable personnel for different positions in the organization. "Staffing may be defined as the management function of employing and developing human resources for carrying out various managerial and non-managerial activities of the organization. The function is concerned with attracting, acquiring and activating the human resources for achieving the organizational goals. Staffing also involves upgrading the quality and usefulness of the members of the organization for obtaining better performance from them."

FEATURES OF STAFFING FUNCTION/PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

 The nature of the personnel management has been highlighted in its following features:

 (i) Inherent Part of Management:

Human resource management is inherent in the process of management. This function is performed by all the managers throughout the organization rather than by the personnel department alone. If a manager is to get the best of his people, he must undertake the basic responsibility of selecting people who will work under him. He must also take interest in training and motivating the employees and in appraising their performance for improving their quality.

 (ii) Pervasive Function:

 Personnel management is a pervasive function of management. It is performed by all managers at various levels across all departments in the organization. In other words, every manager from managing director to the foreman is required to perform the personnel function on a continuous basis.

 (iii) People Centered:

Personnel management is people centered and is relevant in all types of organizations. It is concerned with all categories of personnel from top to the bottom of the organization. The broad classification of personnel in an industrial enterprise may be as follows

: – Blue-collar workers (i.e. those working on machines and engaged in loading, unloading, etc.) and white-collar workers (i.e. clerical employees).

– Managerial and non-managerial personnel. – Professionals (such as Company Secretary, Lawyer, etc.) and non-professional personnel.

 (iv) Personnel Activities or Functions:

Personnel management involves several functions concerned with the management of people at work. It includes manpower, planning, employment, placement, training, appraisal and compensation of employees. For the performance of these activities efficiently, a separate department known as Personnel Department is created in most of the organizations.

 (v) Continuous Process:

 Personnel management is not a ‘one shot’ function. It must be performed continuously if the organizational objectives are to be achieved smoothly. To quote G.R. Terry. “The personnel function cannot be turned on and off like water from a faucet; it cannot be practiced only one hour each day or one day a week. Personnel management requires a constant alertness and awareness of human relations and their importance in everyday operations”.

(vi) Based on Human Relations:

 Personnel management is concerned with the motivation of human resources in the organization. The human beings can’t be dealt with like the physical factors of production. If the personnel function is performed properly, the human relations in the organization will be cordial.

Staffing as part of Human Resource Management

 It is a function which all managers need to perform. It is a separate and specialised function and there are many aspects of human relations to be considered. It is the job of managers to fill positions in their organisation and to make sure that they remain occupied with qualified people. Staffing is closely linked to organising since after the structure and positions have been decided, people are required to work in these positions. Subsequently, they need to be trained and motivated to work in harmony with the goals of the organisation. Thus, staffing is seen as a generic function of management.

The staffing function deals with the human element of management. Managing the human component of an organisation is the most important task because the performance of an organisation depends upon how well this function is performed. The success of an organisation in achieving its goals is determined to a great extent on the competence, motivation and performance of its human resource.

As the organizations grow and number of persons employed increases, a separate department called the human resource department.

Human Resource Management includes many specialised activities and duties which the human resource personnel must perform. These duties are:

• Recruitment i.e., search for qualified people  
• Analysing jobs, collecting information about jobs to prepare job descriptions.
• Developing compensation and incentive plans.
• Training and development of employees for efficient performance and career growth.  
• Maintaining labour relations and union management relations.
• Handling grievances and complaints.
• Providing for social security and welfare of employees.
• Defending the company in law suits and avoiding legal complications.

FUNCTIONS OF A HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER

 Following are the functions of a Human Resource Manager

A. Managerial Functions The Human Resource Manager is a member of the management. So he must perform the basic managerial functions of planning, organising, directing and controlling in relation to his department. These functions are briefly discussed below:

 (i) Planning:

 (ii) Organising:

 Once the personnel manager has established the objectives and developed the plans and programmes to achieve them, he must design and develop organization structure to carry out the various operations. The organization structure basically includes the following:

– Grouping of personnel activity logically into functions or positions;

 – Assignment of different groups of activities to different individuals;

 – Delegation of authority according to the tasks assigned and responsibilities involved;

– Coordination of activities of different individuals.

(iii) Direction:

The plans are to be put into effect by people. But how smoothly the plans are implemented depends on the motivation of people. The direction function of the personnel manager involves encouraging people to work willingly and effectively for achieving the goals of the enterprise. In other words, the direction function is meant to guide and motivate the people to accomplish the personnel programmes. The personnel manager can motivate the employees in an organization through career planning and salary administration by boosting employees’ morale, developing cordial relationships, providing safety requirements and looking after the welfare of employees.

(iv) Controlling:

Controlling is concerned with the regulation of activities “A” in accordance with the plans, which in turn have been formulated on the basis of the objectives of the organization. Thus, controlling completes the cycle as it leads back to planning. It is the observation and comparison of results with the standards and correction of deviations that may occur

B. Operative Functions

The operative functions are those tasks or duties which are specifically entrusted to the personnel department under the general supervision of personnel manager. These are concerned with employment, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of personnel of the organization. The personnel department performs the following operative functions:

 (i) Employment:

The first operative function of personnel department is to employ the right kind and number of persons necessary to achieve the objectives of the organization. This involves recruitment, selection, placement, etc. of the personnel. Before these processes are performed, it is better to determine the manpower requirement, both in terms of number and quality, of the personnel and assess the existing strength to understand the gap and plan accordingly. Recruitment and selection depend on the sources of supply of labour and the devices designed to select the right type of people for various jobs. Induction and placement of personnel for their better performance also come under the employment or procurement function.

(ii) Development:

 Training and development of personnel is a follow up of the employment function. It is a duty of management to train each employee properly to develop his technical skills for the job for which he has been employed, and also to groom him for the higher jobs in the organization. Proper development of the personnel is necessary to increase their skills in performing their jobs and in satisfying their growth need. A good training programme should include a mixture of both types of methods.

(iii) Compensation:

This function is concerned with the determination of adequate and equitable remuneration of the employees in the organization for their contribution to the organizational goals. The personnel can be compensated both in terms of money as well as by receiving non-monetary rewards. Factors which must be borne in mind while fixing the remuneration of personnel are their basic needs, requirements of jobs, legal provisions regarding minimum wages, capacity of the organization to pay, wage levels afforded by competitors, etc. For fixing the wage levels, the personnel department can make use of certain techniques, like job evaluation and performance appraisal.

(iv) Maintenance:

 Merely appointment and training of people is not sufficient; they must be provided with good working conditions so that they like their work and the work-place, and thus maintain their efficiency give their best to the enterprise. Working conditions certainly influence the motivation and morale of the employees. These include measures taken for health, safety, and comfort of the workforce. The personnel department also provides for various welfare services which relate to the physical and social well-being of the employees. These may include provision of cafeteria, rest rooms, counselling, group insurance, education for the children of employees, recreational facilities, etc.

(v) Motivation:

 Employees work in the organization for the satisfaction of their needs. In many of the cases, it is found that they do not contribute towards the organizational goals as much as they can. This happens because employees are not adequately motivated. The personnel manager helps the various departmental managers to design a system of financial and non-financial rewards to motivate the employees.

(vi) Personnel Records:

Personnel department maintains the records of the employees working in the enterprise. It keeps full records of their training, achievements, transfer, promotion, etc. It also preserves many other records relating to the behaviour of personnel, like absenteeism and labour turnover, and the personnel programmes and policies of the organization.

(vii) Industrial Relations:

 These days, the responsibility of maintaining good industrial relations is mainly discharged by the personnel managers. The personnel managers can help in collective bargaining, joint consultation and settlement of disputes, if they arise. This is because personnel manager is in possession of full information relating to personnel and has the working knowledge of various labour enactments

 (viii) Separation:

 Since the first function of personnel management is to procure the employees, it is logical that the last should be the separation and return of that person to society. Most people do not die on the job. The organization is responsible for meeting certain requirements of due process in separation, as well as assuring that the returned person is in as good shape as possible. The personnel manager has to ensure the release of retirement benefits to the retiring personnel in time.

C. Advisory Functions

 Personnel/Human resource manager has specialised education and training in managing human relations. He is an expert in his area and so he can give advise on matters relating to human resources of the organization. He offers his advise to:

 (i) Top Management:

 Personnel manager advises the top management in formulation and evaluation of personnel programmes, policies and procedures. He also gives advice for achieving and maintaining good human relations and high employee morale.

(ii) Departmental Heads:

Personnel manager offers advice to the heads of various departments on matters, such as manpower planning, job analysis and design, recruitment and selection, placement, training, performance and appraisal.

 Staffing process-

Estimating the Manpower Requirements:

Understanding manpower requirements is not merely a matter of knowing how many persons we need but also of what type.

(ii) Recruitment:

 Recruitment may be defined as the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organisation. The information generated in the process of writing the job description and  the candidate profile may be used for developing the ‘situations vacant’ advertisement. The advertisement may be displayed on the factory/ office gate or else it may be got published in print media or flashed in electronic media. This step involves locating the potential candidate or determining the sources of potential candidates.

(iii) Selection:

 Selection is the process of choosing from among the pool of the prospective job candidates developed at the stage of recruitment. Even in case of highly specialised  jobs where  the choice space is very narrow, the rigour of the selection process serves two important purposes:

 (i) it ensures that the organisation gets the best among the available, and

 (ii) it enhances the self­esteem and prestige of those selected and conveys to them the seriousness with which the things are done in the organisation.

(iv) Placement and Orientation:

Joining a job marks the beginning of socialisation of the employee at the workplace. The employee is given a brief presentation about the company and is introduced to his superiors, subordinates and the colleagues. He is taken around the workplace and given the charge of the job for which he has been selected. This process of familiarisation is very crucial and may have a lasting impact on his decision to stay and on his job performance. Orientation is, thus, introducing the selected employee to other employees and familiarising him with the rules and policies of the organisation. Placement refers to the employee occupying the position or post for which the person has been selected.

(v) Training and Development:

What people seek is not simply a job but a career. Every one must have the opportunity to rise to the top. The best way to provide such an opportunity is to facilitate employee learning. Organisations have either in -house training centers or have forged alliances with training and educational institutes to ensure continuing learning of their  employees.

(vi) Performance Appraisal

After the employees have undergone a period of training and they have been on the job for some time, there is a need to evaluate their performance. All organisations have some formal or informal means of appraising their employee’s performance. Performance appraisal means evaluating an employee’s current and/or past performance as against certain predetermined standards.

(vii) Promotion and career planning

  It becomes necessary for all organisations to address career related issues and promotional avenues for their employees. Managers need to design activities to serve employees’ long­term interests also. They must encourage employees to grow and realise their full potential. Promotions are an integral part of people’s career.

(viii) Compensation  All organisations need to establish wage and salary plans for their employees. There are various ways to prepare different pay plans depending on the worth of the job. Basically the price of the job needs to be determined.

Direct financial payments are of two types :

 time based

or

 performance based.

A time based plan means salary and wages are paid either daily, weekly or monthly or annually. Performance based plans means salary/wages are paid according to piecework.

RECRUITMENT

Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and encouraging them to apply for the jobs in an organization. It aims at securing as many qualified applicants for jobs as possible so as to decrease the hiring ratio. Both Internal and external sources of manpower are used depending upon the types of personnel needed.

Meaning of Recruitment

 The process of identification of different sources of personnel is known as recruitment. According to Edwin B. Flippo, “Recruitment is the process of searching the candidates (or employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization”. It is a linking activity that brings together those offering jobs and those seeking jobs. Dale S. Beachobserved, “Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate manpower resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labour upon whom the organization can draw when it needs additional employees.” Recruitment is a positive function as it results in collection/pool of applicants in response to the vacancy advertised.

Sources of Recruitment

 As shown below, the various sources of recruitment may be grouped into the following two categories: – Internal sources (recruitment from within the enterprise)

 – External sources (recruitment from outside)

Internal Sources

The internal sources of recruitment include personnel already on the pay-roll of an organization. It also includes personnel who were once on the pay-roll and wish to return, or whom the company may like to re-hire, like those who left their jobs voluntarily or were laid off. Recruitment from internal sources so as to fill up vacancies by transfer, promotion, or re-hiring previous employees, offers several advantages: – Selection and placement of existing employees are simple and economical.

– The employer is in a better position to appraise the skill and capability of present employees accurately.

 – It improves employee morale as internal promotions provide opportunities for advancement.

 – It promotes loyalty among the employees.

 – Persons already employed can be more easily inducted and trained for new jobs.

 However, recruitment from within the organization often leads to in-breeding and prevents the ‘infusion of new blood’ into the organization. As promotion is based on seniority, internal recruitment involves the danger that unsuitable employees may get promoted and the really capable persons may be left behind. In any case, it narrows down the area of selection and does not provide equal opportunity to all qualified persons to be considered for the jobs. Besides, recruitment at lower levels have to be made from outside the organization.

External Sources These sources lie outside the organization, and usually include:

– Persons introduced and recommended by present and former employees or trade unions;

 – Employment Exchanges and private employment agencies;

 – Open advertisements;

– Educational, technical and professional institutions;

– Contractors and jobbers;

 – Gate hiring of unskilled workers;

 – Casual applicants; and

 – Temporary or badli workers.

Encouraging present employees to recommend candidates for employment helps management both in finding suitable candidates and in maintaining goodwill among employees. But this may also encourage family cliques and inner circles of close friends. In general, external recruitment through open advertisement provides a wider scope for selection from among a large number of candidates with requisite skill and competence. It proves to be most useful for filling up managerial positions requiring technical and professional qualifications.

SELECTION

The selection procedure starts with the screening of applications for various jobs from the interested candidates. Totally unsuitable candidates are rejected at this stage. The personnel department administers various kinds of tests to the candidates to determine if they would be able to do their jobs efficiently. Those passing this stage are called for employment interview. Candidates found suitable for employment are required to go through medical examination and reference checking. The employment process is completed when appointment letters are issued to the candidates clearing all the stages in the selection procedure.

Selection and Recruitment

 Recruitment is the process of identifying sources for prospective candidates who may be stimulated to apply for job in an organization. The main objective of recruitment is developing and maintaining adequate manpower resources with the required skills upon which organization can depend when it needs additional personnel. It helps management to search for competent personnel from among the eligible qualified candidates. As against recruitment, selection is the process of logically choosing individuals who possess the necessary skills and ability to successfully fill specific jobs in the organization. Selection is more of a negative function because it results in the elimination of unsuitable candidates.

Selection Procedure

 The procedure of selection varies from organization to organization and even from department to department within the same organization depending upon the kind of the jobs to be filled. The number of steps in the procedure and the sequence of steps also vary. For instance, some organizations do not hold preliminary interview, test or screening, whereas in some organizations, such as commercial banks preliminary tests are given to eliminate a large numbers of applicants. Similarly, in some cases, medical examination is given before final selection and in someothers, medical check up follows the final selection. Thus, every organization designs a selection procedure that suits its requirements. However, the main steps that could be incorporated in the selection procedure are as under:

 (i) Preliminary interview

 (ii) Receiving applications

 (iii) Screening of applications

 (iv) Employment test

 (v) Employment interview

(vi) Physical examination

 (vii) Checking references

 (viii) Final selection.

 As shown in the figure, every candidate for a job has to clear a number of hurdles before getting selected for it. If he is not found suitable at any stage, he is not considered for the further stages. Thus, he is rejected. The successive stages in the selection process are discussed below:

 (i) Preliminary Interview

 In most of the organizations, the selection programme begins with preliminary interview or screening. The preliminary interview is generally brief and does the job of eliminating the totally unsuitable candidates. The preliminary interview offers advantages not only to the organization, but also to the applicants. If an applicant is eliminated at this stage, the organization will be saved from the expenses of processing him through the remaining steps of the selection procedure and the unsuitable candidate will be saved from the trouble of passing through the long procedure

(ii) Receiving Applications

 Whenever there is a vacancy, it is advertised or enquiries are made from the suitable sources, and applications are received from the candidates. The written information about age, qualifications, experience, etc. may prove to be of greater value to the interviewers. It makes the processing of applications very easy since there is uniformity in filling the data in the application form.

 (iii) Screening of Applications

 After the applications are received, they are screened by a screening committee and a list is prepared of the candidates to be interviewed. Applicants may be called for interview on some specific criteria, like sex, desired age group, experience and qualifications. The number of candidates to be called for interview is normally five to seven times the number of the posts to be filled up. The screened applications are then reviewed by the Personnel Manager and interview letters are dispatched by registered post or under certificate of post.

 (iv) Employment Tests

 Individuals differ in almost all aspects one can think of. They differ with respect to their physical characteristics, capacity to work, level of mental ability and their likes and dislikes and also with respect to their personality traits. The pattern of physical, mental and personal variables gives rise to thousand and one combinations and the particular pattern makes the individual suitable for several classes of activities, jobs or fields of work. Matching of individual’s physical, mental and temperamental pattern with the requirements of job or field of training is a difficult task. But where this matching takes place, the result is happiness for the individual and prosperity for the organization and the society. But instances of round pegs in square holes andviceversaare not rare. So before deciding upon the job or jobs suitable for a particular individual, one should find out the level of his ability, his knowledge in the field he is required to work, his interests and aptitudes in detail. This will require the use of employment tests which are listed below:

 – Intelligence tests.

 – Aptitude tests.

 – Trade or proficiency tests.

– Interest tests.

 – Personality tests.

Employment tests are widely used for judging the applicant’s suitability for the job. They bring out the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals which could be analysed before jobs are offered to them. The tests must be designed properly. If the tests are biased, they will not be good indicators of one’s knowledge and skills. Selections based on such tests will be faulty. That is why, tests should not be relied upon totally.

(v) Employment Interview

 Although applications and employment tests provide a lot of valuable information about the candidate, they do not provide complete information required of the applicant. Interview may be used to get more information about the candidate. The main purpose of an employment interview are: – To find out the suitability of the candidate; – To seek more information about the candidate; and – To give him an accurate picture of the job with details of the terms and conditions implied, and some idea about the organization’s policies.

(vi) Checking References

A referee is potentially an important source of information about a candidate’s ability and personality if he holds a responsible position in some organization or has been the boss or employer of the candidate. Prior to final selection, the prospective employer normally makes an investigation on the references supplied by the applicant and undertakes more or less a thorough search into the candidate’s past employment, education, personal reputation, financial condition, police record, etc. However, it is often difficult to persuade a referee to give his opinion frankly. The organization may persuade him to do so by giving an assurance that all information provided by him will be treated as strictly confidential.

(vii) Medical Examination

 The pre-employment physical examination or medical test of a candidate is an important step in the selection procedure. Though in the suggested selection procedure, medical test is located near the end, but this sequence need not be rigid. The organizations may place the medical examination relatively early in process so as to avoid time and expenditure to be incurred on the selection of medically unfit persons.

(viii) Final Selection and Appointment Letter

 After a candidate has cleared all the hurdles in the selection procedure, he is formally appointed by issuing him an appointment letter or by concluding with him a service agreement. Generally, the candidates are not appointed on permanent basis because it is considered better to try them for a few months on the job itself.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Employee training and development are integral parts of the HR function of management. Training implies a systematic procedure whereby employees are imparted technical knowledge and skill for specific jobs. It emphasises improvements of the abilities of employees to handle specific jobs and operations more effectively. Development, on the other hand, implies an educational process aimed at the growth and maturity of managerial personnel in terms of insight, attitudes, adaptability, leadership and human relations, on the basis of conceptual and theoretical knowledge.

Training and development programmes are generally designed in accordance with the nature of the job, personnel concerned (operatives, supervisors, managers) and the purpose in view. The programmes can be broadly divided into two categories: On-the-Job Programmes; and Off-the-Job Programmes. Training of operatives and skilled workers are mostly organised by way of:

  (i) Training on specific jobs;

(ii) Vestibule training with separate sets of tools and equipment in a special training centre;

(iii) Internship training with the cooperation of vocational training institutions;

 (iv) Apprenticeship training combining job experience with classroom instruction; and

 (v) Job rotation involving transfer from job to job on a systematic basis. Supervisory and managerial training programmes are mostly off-the-job programmes. One or more such programmes commonly used are the following:

 (i) Classroom lectures;

(ii) Conferences;

 (iii) Group discussions;

 (iv) Case studies;

 (v) Role-playing;

 (vi) T-group training; and

(vii) Programmed instruction.

 Management development programmes may consist of

 (i) In-basket programme for identifying executive potentials and developing decision-making abilities;

 (ii) Management games to develop capabilities of decision-making in a competitive situation of a realistic nature;

 (iii) Sensitivity training aimed at developing awareness of and sensitivity to behavioural patterns of oneself and others;

 (iv) Committee assignments or membership of junior boards;

(v) Simulation and role-playing, and

 (vi) Transactional analysis for improving communication abilities, human relations and managerial interaction with subordinates.

Benefits of Training

 The investments made in training benefit an organization in many ways more than one:

 (i) Training helps to improve the quantity and quality of workforce. It increases the knowledge and skills of employees and improves their performance.

(ii) It helps to reduce the time and cost required to reach the acceptable level of performance. It prevents employees’ obsolescence. Accidents are also reduced.

(iii) It enables the organization to fill manpower needs. Promising employees can be spotted and trained for higher level jobs.

(iv) Trained employees make better and economic use of materials and equipment. Maintenance cost is reduced and the life of machines and equipment is increased.

(v) It helps to reduce the need for constant and close supervision of workers. It facilitates “management by exception”.

(vi) It helps to give more job satisfaction and boosts the morale of the employees which results in the enhancement of their earnings, provides job security and better career prospects.

 (vii) It facilitates delegation and decentralisation of authority. Trained employees are willing to accept new and challenging assignments.

Benefits of Development Similarly, the investment made in management development benefits the organization in the following ways:

(i) It prevents managerial obsolescence by exposing executives to latest concepts and techniques in their respective fields of specialisation.

 (ii) It ensures that the company is staffed with a sufficient number of managers who have requisite knowledge and skills.

(iii) It ensures long-term survival and growth of the organization.

 (iv) It replaces old executives with younger ones, i.e., it develops a second line of competent officers for future replacement.

(v) It creates group cohesiveness and encourages teamwork.

(vi) It ensures that managerial resources of the organization are properly and fully used.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

People differ in their abilities and aptitudes. Therefore, it is necessary for management to know these differences so that the employees having better abilities may be rewarded and the wrong placements of employees may be rectified through transfers. The individual employee may also like to know the level of his performance in comparison to his fellow employees so that he may improve upon it. Thus, there is a great need to have suitable performance appraisal system to measure the relative merit of each employee. The basic purpose of performance appraisal is to facilitate orderly determination of an employee’s worth to the organization of which he is a part. However, a fair determination of the worth of an employee can take place only by appraising numerous factors, some of which are highly objective, as for instance, attendance; while others are highly subjective; as for instance, attitude and personality. The objective factors can be assessed accurately on the basis of records maintained by the Human Resource or Personnel Department, but there are no device to measure the subjective factors precisely. Notwithstanding this, appraisal of these factors must be done to achieve the full appreciation of every employee’s merit. Performance appraisal goes by various names, such as performance evaluation, progress rating, merit rating, merit evaluation.

Methods of Appraisal

 There are various methods of merit rating which may be classified into:

 – Traditional Methods

– Modern Methods

These are shown as hereunder:

Traditional Methods Traditional methods are very old techniques of performance appraisal. They are discussed below.

 (i) Unstructured Appraisal:

Under this, the appraiser is required to write down his impression about the person being appraised in an unstructured way. However, in some organizations, comments are required to be grouped under specific headings, such as quality of job performance, reasons for specific job behaviour, personality traits, and development needs. This system is highly subjective and has got its merit in its simplicity and is still in use, especially in the small firms.

 (ii) Ranking Method:

This is the simplest of all methods. The appraisal consists of ranking employees as more or less efficient by interpersonal comparison of overall qualities. This method may be conveniently adopted if the number of employees is small and work performance is measurable. The ranking thus made involves subjective appraisal of employees without any common standards. A variant of the ranking method is the paired-comparison method, in which employees are compared and ranked in pairs. Each employee is compared with the other employees in a group, one at a time. The results of these paired comparisons are tabulated and a rank is assigned to each employee.

 (iii) Forced Distribution Method:

 The basic assumption made for using this method is that employees are distinguishable as outstanding, above average, average, below average or poor; and their number conforms to a normal frequency distribution, e.g., 10% each in the highest and lowest categories, 20% each in the above average and below average categories, and 40% in the average category. The rater is required to distribute the employees in the five categories on the basis of their overall performance and attributes.

 (iv) Graphic Rating Scales:

This method is similar to the Rating- scale Method, except that the degrees of qualities or attributes on which employees are to be appraised are indicated on a graph or chart. The scale of attributes may be numerical-alphabetical or descriptive-adjective. Thus different degrees of an attribute may be stated as exceptional, above average, below average, or poor and assigned numbers as 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

(v) Check List: Employee appraisal under this method involves listing of a number of statements about the performance and behaviour of the employee and the rater checks these statements indicating whether a statement applies or does not apply to the employee or there is a doubt. Afterwards, values (or weights) are assigned to the statements depending upon their respective importance. The final rating of the employee is taken as the average of the scale value of all statements that the rater has checked.

 (vi) Critical Incident Method:This method involves employee appraisal on the basis of events or incidents and the employee’s reactions to them reflecting positive or negative aspects of his behaviour. A continuous record of incidents is maintained by the supervisors and numerical scores are assigned according to the nature of employee’s reaction to the particular events.

(vii) Field Review Method:Under this method, the supervisors are interviewed by an expert from the personnel department. The expert questions the supervisors to obtain all the pertinent information on each employee and takes notes in his note book. Thus, there is no rating form with factors or degrees, but overall ratings are obtained. The workers are usually classified into three categories: outstanding, satisfactory and unsatisfactory. The success of Field Review method depends upon the competence of the interviewer. If he knows his job, he can contribute significantly to accurate appraisals. Field Review method relieves the supervisors of the tedious writing work of filling in appraisal forms. It also ensures a greater likelihood that the supervisors will give adequate attention to the appraisals because the personnel department largely controls the process. Superficial judgement can be eliminated, if the appraiser probes deeply.

Modern Methods

 There are two important methods of performance appraisal which are used by the modern organizations. The first is Management by Objectives which represents result-oriented appraisal. The second is BehaviourallyAnchored Rating Scale which is based behaviour-rating, the behaviour of the subordinates.

(i) Management by Objectives

It wasPeter Drucker who proposed goal setting approach to performance appraisal which he called ‘Management by Objectives and Self Control’. This approach was further strengthened by Douglas Mc.Gregor. McGregor was concerned with the fact that most traditional appraisal systems involved ratings of traits and personal qualities that he felt were highly unreliable. Besides, the use of such trait ratings produced two main difficulties:

 (1) The manager was uncomfortable about using them and resisted making appraisals, and

(2) it had a damaging effect on the motivation and development of the subordinate. Goal setting approach or “Management by Objectives” (MBO) is the same as behavioural-approach to subordinate appraisal, actually called “work planning and review” in case of General Electric Co., U.S.A. Under this approach, an employee is not appraised by his recognisable traits, but by his performance with respect to the agreed goals or objectives. Thus, the essential feature of this approach is mutual establishment of job goals. The application of goal setting approach to performance appraisal involves the following steps:

– The subordinate discusses his job descriptions with his superior and they agree on the contents of his job and the key results areas.

– The subordinate prepares a list of reasonable objectives for the coming period of six to twelve months. – He sits with his superior to discuss these targets and plans, and a final set is worked out.

– Check-points are established for the evaluation of progress, and the ways of measuring progress are selected.

 – The superior and the subordinate meet at the end of the period to discuss the results of the subordinate’s efforts to meet the targets mutually established.

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) are designed to identify the critical areas of performance for a job, and to describe the more effective and less effective job behaviour for getting results. Performance is evaluated by asking the rater to record specific observable job behaviour of an employee and then to compare the observations with a “behaviorally anchored rating scale”. As a result, the supervisor will be in a position to compare the employee’s actual behaviour with the behaviour that has been previously determined to be more or less effective. Proponents of BARS claim many advantages of this approach. They argue that such a system differentiates among behaviour, 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 behaviour, it is a more reliable and valid method for performance appraisal. Empirical studies of behaviourally anchored rating scales (BARS) have provided a fertile ground for study by both theorists and practitioners. The BARS experience has helped to clarify three major controversies of the appraisal process. One was the previously discussed issue of rating content (trait vs. job related). The second controversy involved the multidimensional nature of performance. The administrative uses of appraisal had encouraged rating systems to produce an overall measure of performance, which tended to mark differences in performance in the key result areas (“performance dimension”) critical to job results. The third controversy involved the issue of the most effective way to anchor the rating scales (numerical or behavioural). By anchoring the scales behaviourally, the BARS approach was expected to produce more valid and reliable results by reducing measurement errors (leniency, halo effect, central tendency, and so on).