Performance Appraisal and Career Development

Performance Appraisal and career Development Ms. Garima Gupta (Assistant Professor, MBA&PGDM) Banshi Group of Institutions, Bithoor, Kanpur ABSTRACT: The paper focuses on the roles that are played by the employee, the manager and the employer in planning, guiding and developing the employee’s career and points out that appraisal works as a motivating tool for the same as it improves employee’s job performance by identifying strengths and weaknesses and determining how their strengths, may be best utilized within the organization and weaknesses be overcome.

It throws light on the fact that people wants to choose occupations, jobs and a career that makes sense in terms of projected future demand for various types of occupation the performance Appraisal system helps the employees to become aware of their personal skills, interests, knowledge, motivation and other characteristics which help to identify their career related goals and establishes action plans to attain goals, research is done to find out the employer’s role and also his career development responsibilities, that depends on how long the employee has been with the firm, it is the employer only who serves as a mentor to helps the person learn that ropes are important , it focuses on the importance of employer that it is only he who contributes in a positive way to the employee’s career & matches the person’s strength & weaknesses with the feasible career path and believes that development is one of the important step that helps to improve the organization career planning process. Performance appraisal: It is defined as the method of judging the relative worth or the ability of an employee in performing his tasks. It lets the employee know how he is performing (whether his performance is meeting the set standard or not) and helps him to improve his performance if lacking. It is generally carried out to evaluate the employee’s performance and also to develop him by capitalizing his strengths and overcoming the weaknesses. Who will appraise: The Appraisal can be done by one or by the combination of following:

1. Employer(Supervisor)

2. Peer

3.High Level Manager

4. Customer

5. Subordinate

6. Self-Appraisal Appraisal

A Motivating tool to develop Employee’s Career and improving job performance———————————————————–by identifying Employee’s strength and Weaknesses It has been noticed that appraising the employee helps a lot in improving his performance it helps to know that whether the employee is meeting the set standard or not if not then what are the lacking areas in which he is not able to perform well, in order to overcome this the weaknesses of employee are identified and proper steps are taken to improve them & utilize his strengths effectively.

Employer’s Role in Identifying person’s Strengths and weaknesses: It is the employer who keeps an eye on the employees during his job performance it is only he who assign the task and duties to the employees after identifying the employee’s area of interest, his abilities and competencies in performing the task, he is the one who notices that how well the employee is performing and also notices the points where employee does not perform well during the whole performance Appraisal and evaluation process the employer comes to know about the strengths and weaknesses of the employee and ask the employee to overcome his weaknesses as they may prove to be obstacle in the path of his career development ,it is the employer who advises the employee to match his strengths and weaknesses with the opportunity and threats prevailing in the organization to achieve the career growth . The Employer should find out that how long the employee is staying with the organization and whether the skills and interest of the employee are meeting with the job post or not.

If not than it is the sole responsibility of the employer to help employee in overcoming his weaknesses by guiding and providing suggestions in developing required skills in the employee, as the employer serves as the mentor to the employee in boosting up their morale and inhibiting confidence in them so that they can move forward in their career and build them according to their wishes. A positive contribution is required from employer’s side. Employee’s strength and weaknesses identified by the Employer: By continuously monitoring the activities performed by the employee and also by evaluating employee’s performance the employer brings out following Strengths and weaknesses in the employee-

STRENTHS: 1. Level of Education 2. Sound job knowledge . Work experience 4. Positive personal characteristics 5. Excellent communication skills 6. Problem solving abilities 7. Team building characteristics 8. Sound judgment and decision making abilities 9. A good Initiator 10. Controlling and Delegating Abilities WEAKNESSES: 1. Lack of higher Education level 2. Inappropriate job knowledge 3. Lack of work experience 4. Negative personal characteristics 5. Lack of communication skills 6. Low problem solving abilities 7. Lack of team building characteristics 8. Lack of sound judgment and low decision making abilities 9. Lack of Initiative characteristics 10. Low delegating and Controlling abilities

Though strengths are the internal positive aspects of employees, which should be capitalized whereas weaknesses are the internal negative aspects of employee, which should be improved. It has been noticed that it is very difficult for us to know about about our weaknesses as we only wish to see our positive sides and tries to ignore our negative aspects, in such situation employer plays very crucial role in identifying our strengths and weaknesses, during Appraisal the employee also comes across the points where he lacks and tries the way to improve in that area , the Employer emphasizes on the fact that the employee should take steps to develop his, skills, interest, Style and values.

An impressing personality also proves to be one of the most important factors for growth, one should inoculate the skills of sharp learning in himself so that it helps employee to know more and more about himself and helps him to improve himself in the areas where the employee is weak. , Which in turn proves to be very much important for the growth of the organization. Following points are very important for employee’s development- 1. Employer’s Feedback 2. Areas of Employee Development 3. Praise as well as criticism from the employers 4. Maintain/improve knowledge & skills 5. Maintain awareness of operating environment & organisation’s mandate 6. Know & understand scope of responsibilities & duties 7. Give feedback on performance expectations and assessment criteria 8.

Give feedback on constraints to achieving targets 9. Produce & maintain high quality of output Employee Competency: An employee should be good in following points in order to become competent by capitalizing strengths and overcoming weaknesses- 1. He should have sound knowledge about his job profile and his working areas. 2. He should a positive attitude towards the responsibilities and duties assigned to him. 3. He should posses a positive behavior towards his subordinates for the achievement of goals. 4. He Should be strongly motivated But these competencies can be developed only through a sound Appraisal System that will help to find out the employee’s drawbacks, which can be improved, y Training and Development. The employee can achieve success in his work by matching his own needs with the needs of organization.

MATCHING INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS ORGANIZATIONALNEEDSINDIVIDUAL NEEDS

StaffingMaking career/job choice DevelopmentMaking contribution Leveling offFitting into organization RestaffingUsing Experience Career development is directly linked with Human Development. It ongoes throughout the lifep of an individual resulting in the individuals growth both in their life and work, it basically refers to shaping your career in a way you wish to. It helps in developing capable employees with best skills, knowledge and behavior.

Employer’s Role in Career Planning, Guiding and Developing the Employee’s Career: Following steps should be taken: •Know yourself: •Who are you? •What is your motivational type? •What is your personality type? •What are your career assets? •Assess where you are in relation to where you want to be •Identify your strengths and developmental needs •Benchmark your goals •Planning: Create Your Career Development Plan •Preparation: Have a Career Discussion and be Competition Ready By keeping above points in mind following characteristics are developed in the employees by the Employer to plan and develop their career- 1. Employee’s personal interest and abilities 2.

Integrating the employee’s personal value system with the organizational culture. 3. Developing Team building Skills. 4. The employer to deal with conflicts, grievances, Stress, and emotions provides healthy tips. 5. Developing the feeling of commitment and competence among the employees. 6. Boosting up the employee’s Career. 7. Creates awareness among the employee about his unique characteristics that makes him different from others. It is the prime responsibility of the employer to take active interest in an employees career planning. Promotions in the job through appropriate Appraisal system that brings following points in the employee’s mind- 1. The employee gains a sense of satisfaction and security. 2.

It helps to increase employee’s loyalty as they feel that the organization not only concerned in its development but also in the development of the employee. 3. The feeling of promotion motivates the employee to develop their personal skills and potential abilities for their personal growth and development. 4. It encourages employees to match their personal goals with the goals of organization for effective and efficient working that will yield fruitful results. 5. The employee will take keen interest in asking the employer about his strengths and weaknesses and will try to match them with the opportunities and threats of the organization he is working with.

Career Development Initiatives: •A periodic review should be done by the employer to discuss about the career plan •Employer and the manager should take active part in guiding the employees on the issues related to their career development. •Job Rotation should be done so that they may understand the variations in their responsibilities. •An effective performance appraisal programme should be done to help employee know about their lacking areas •Helping employees in identifying their skills, interest and values. •Helping employees in developing their career goals based on the needs of the organization. •Relating employee’s current performance with future potentials. Transfers ,Promotions ,Demotions/Termination, Relocation Services, Outplacement Services, Development Opportunity Announcements, promotion of CD Opportunities. •Encourage employees take more ownership for their own career development References: •1998, Archer North & Associatiates, Introduction to Performance Appraisal, http://www. performance-appraisal. com/intro. htm •A framework for HRM-Gary Dessler •HRM-An Introduction-Angelo S. DeNisi,Ricky W. Griffin •Human Resource Management-Principles and Practices-PG Aquinas •Human Resource Management-Theory and Practices-Tapomoy Deb •Terrence H. Murphy (2004-03-24) (PDF). Performance Appraisals. •Thomas F. Patterson (1987). Refining Performance Appraisal. •www. rhemagroup. com •www. slideshare. com •www. usuhs. mil/chr/idp. pdf