Learnings of Session 13

Activity on Biases:
Biases comes into a conversation which at times might not be evident at first but can be identified
after few interactions

Biases are a result of the experiences a person has personally.

Each individual has their own biases as everyone has different ways of looking at people and the
world.

The biases can be

1. General – Like recency, negativity error etc.

2. Specific – Due to organizational environment

Measuring Performance and Performance appraisal Methods

 Performance appraisal is a subset of performance management
 It is the formal assessment of an individual
 It is done because it has :
o Specific start and end
o Has support and reward where the employee performance is evaluated based on
certain goals, targets and OKRs
 Objectives of the Performance appraisal
o Setting Targets and goals as performance Standards
o Evaluating the performance
o Identifying training and development needs
o Rewarding performance
o Improving performance

Appraisal Process:
1. Determination of performance standards based on organizational standards and job
description
2. Measurement of employee performance against the standards and it is done by using the
appraisal method decided by the organization
3. Performance feedback is given
4. Reward is given based on individual or group performance

 Deciding on how the feedback is to be given is also a critical process so that the employee
feels comfortable.
 Approaches to Measure Performance:

 Every approach to measure the performance has positives and negatives. We should focus
on how well we can use the positives of each approach for the betterment of the individual,
team, and the organization.

1. Behaviour Approach: It can be used only when there is a link between the behaviour
and the outcome.

It is appropriate when:

a. Link between behaviur and result is not obvious

b. Outcomes occur in distant future
c. Poor results due to causes beyond the performer’s control Eg. BARS

2. Result Approach: It focuses only on the results produced at the work and the behaviour
is not the focus.
a. It is not very popular because the efforts of an individual is not taken into
consideration

It is appropriate when:

 Workers skilled in needed behaviour

 Behaviour and results are obviously related
 Results show consistent improvement
 There may be many ways to do the right job

3. Trait Approach : It is used to predict the alignment of an individual with the

environment of the organization. It must be noted that positive traits does not mean
positive behaviour.

It is appropriate when:

 Emphasis is on individual performer and ignores specific situation, behaviour

and results
 It consists of assessing an employee’s intelligence and conscientiousness at
the end of each review
 Based on positive relationship found between abilities and personality traits
and desirable work related behaviours

Measuring Results:
This can be done by

1. Determining accountabilities
2. Determining objectives
3. Determining performance standards
Measuring Behaviours:
1. Competencies needs to be defined in the behavioural terms
2. We need to carefully understand which all behaviours are functional for a particular
competency.

Systems to measure competencies:

1. Comparative Systems
a. Simple Rank order
b. Paired Comparison
c. Forced Distribution

2. Absolute systems
a. Essay System
b. Behavioural Checklist
c. Critical Incident
d. Graphic Rating
e. BARS

Other methods of appraisal

1. Traditional method
a. MBO
b. Graphic Rating
c. Ranking Method
d. Critical Incident
2. Modern Method:
a. Behaviourally Anchored rating scale (BARS)
b. 360-degree performance appraisal
c. Team Appraisal
d. Balanced Scorecard

Question: Which is a better method system- comparative or absolute?

Answer : It depends on the requirement of the organization. Any method which includes comparison
for long term success is not preferrable. It is because every individual should be developed over a
period of time in an organization.

For a short-term purpose, comparative systems are useful.

Traditional Methods
Management By Objective (MBO):
 Primary focus is on goals which is set by the active participation of the employee ans
supervisor and time to time it is revisited
 If goals are not achieved, then brainstorming in done to identify the areas of improvement.
Graphic Rating
 It is a list of traits and a range of performance values for each trait
 The assessment will be done on a scale which is according to the organization, department
and individual requirements.
 Disadvantages:
o Choice of employee behaviour categories
o Interpretation of the written context can vary from person to person

Work Standard:
 The goals are predetermined

Essay Appraisal
 It is useful because it can be documented
 It works under a defined performa and format for the appraiser
 It is more open ended

Critical Incident method

 Critical incidents are reviewed and recorded to differentiate an effective from ineffective
appraisee

Forced choice rating

 It is midway of BARS and Graphic rating
 It has more scale values than the graphic rating method
 The scale is more focussed on performance
 It includes some behaviours that are measured

Point Allocation:
 The appraiser has to allocate the points to the team members based on the certain
parameters.

Modern Methods:
BARS : There are three important steps in implementing BARS System:
1. Determination of relevant job dimensions by manager and employee
2. Identification of behavioural anchors for each job dimension
3. Determination of scale values to be used and grouping of anchors for each scale value.

Team Appraisal
 Individual team member evaluates their colleagues in team and provide feedback

Assessment Centre
It is a process where a group of assessee undertake a series of exercises which are situational in
nature and a group of assessors which are trained to a standard which observe and record the
behaviour of the assesses. These observations are classified as competencies and the integrated
with the data of other assessors to finally arrive at the rating for an assessee.
  Focus is on behaviour and observation and observational recording.
 Through behaviour the competencies are assessed.

Balanced Scorecard
 It includes factors like
o Financial ( Past)
o Learning and Growth (Future)
o Business process (internal)
o Customer (External)
 HR Scorecard is a part of balance scorecard. In these individual responsibilities are assigned
based on the strategy.