Question

Case Study B.R Investments is a reputed finance company having 15 branches in different part of the country. In the home office there are more than 200 employees. This company has a performance rating under which the employees are rated at six months intervals by a committee of two executives. Graphic scales have been used as means of appraisal. The qualities considered are responsibility, initiative, and interest in work, leadership potential, co-operative attitude and community activity. After the performance is evaluated, the ratings are discussed with the concerned employees by their immediate boss who counsels them. The ratings aroused to influence promotions and salary adjustments the employees and also as a criterion for assigning further rating for them. Recently three employees of the company called on the company’s president to express their dissatisfaction with the ratings they had received. Their scores and composite ratings had been discussed with them. Because their ratings were comparatively low, they had been denied annual increments in salary. Approximately, two thirds of all the employees received such increments. The aggrieved employees argued that their ratings did not accurately represent their qualifications or performance. They insisted that “community activity” was not actually a part of their job and that what they do off the job is none of the company’s business. They expressed their opinion that employees should organize union and insist that salary increase be automatic. The threat of a union caused concern to the officers of the company. This particular experience convinced the top officers that ratings may represent a serious hazard to satisfactory relationship with employees. Even the chief executive finds that performance appraisal is a dangerous source of friction and its hazards outweigh its values; so it should be discontinued altogether.

Questions: 2. If you were the HR manager, how would you tackle the situation?

Answer 1

Question 2:

As the HR manager of the company, decisions related to performance appraisals are critical. The traditional approach that B.R Investments takes is one where the immediate boss of the employee evaluates the employee based on 6 parameters. The parameters/ qualities considered are responsibility, initiative, interest in work, leadership potential, co-operative attitude and community activity. These qualities do measure those that the employees externally show, but it totally oversees the motivation level or the job satisfaction of the employees. The employees tend to show maximum productivity only ehrn they have the right motivation and encouragement to work in the professional environment.

The chief executive of the company did find the performance appraisal to be a dangerous source of friction and that it's hazards overweig its values. This opinion was formed after protests from some employess on being rated low inspite of their hard work. The employees argue that they are not paid for community activities and that those parameters cannot be used to decide the performance rating. The argument put forward by the employees does make sence and hence as the HP manager, one needs to take those feedbacks seriously.

• One main initiative can be self-assessment where the employees set goals for themselves each 6 months and then they are asked to rate themselves by comparing their actual performance with the goals they set. Using this approach, once the employee rates themselves, the immediate manager can discuss with the employee the justifications and decide whether the rating is genuine or not each 6 months.
• Some of the additional parameters can be proactive learning , interest to take intitiative etc.
• Another main initiative can be career mapping done be the employee and his/her manager. On mapping the current job responsibilities, the manager can get to know what the employee expects and customise their job responsiblities in such a away that the employee can realise their career goal at the earliest.

All of this does three simple things: highlights competency gaps, strengthens the company culture, and ensures the B.R Investments retain talent by helping turn jobs into careers.