Human Resource Management - Assignment

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Enrollment No. MBISMCT10716140 d MBA Information Systems 1 st Year - Assignment Annamalai University 4: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SELF DECLARATION I declare that the assignment submitted by me is not a verbatim/photo static copy from the website/book/journals/manuscripts. ______________________ Signature of the student _____________ Countersigned 1

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it consists of human resources and related concepts.

Transcript of Human Resource Management - Assignment

Enrollment No. MBISMCT10716140

dMBA Information Systems 1st Year - Assignment

Annamalai University

4: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

SELF DECLARATION

I declare that the assignment submitted by me is not a verbatim/photo static copy from the website/book/journals/manuscripts.

______________________

Signature of the student

_____________

Countersigned

_________________________________

Signature of the Faculty concerned

Question 1:What are all the roles of HR Manager? Explain line and staff function.

Answer:HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERIntroductionHenry Ford the pioneer in the field of management state: "Take out my building, take out my machines and all capital but leave my men with me, I will become Henry Ford again." This statement of Henry Ford highlights that human resources in an organisation plays a crucial role. In fact, management of human resource is the most important and central because proper or improper use of other resources depends upon human factor. In other words, without the cooperation of human resources it is not possible to achieve the objectives of an organisation.

The human resources refer to the knowledge, skills, abilities, values, aptitudes and beliefs possessed by its workforce in the organisation. In fact competent and skilled workforce determines the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation. Other things remaining the same, an organisation with competent workforce is likely to be more effective in comparison to the organisation low in this factor. In the words,"Most business are alike except as to people."- Alfred P. Solan So, achieving human resources excellence leads to organisation's excellence.

HRM as planning, organizing, directing, controlling of procurement, development, compensation, integration , maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organizational and social objectives are achieved. - Edwin Flippo definesHR Manager is one of the most important key to open a lock hanging on the door of success in an organisation. If an HR Manager is efficient enough to handle and to take out best from his team members any oragnisation can achieve more from his target goals. HR manager plays an very important role in hierarchy, and also in between the higher management and low level employees.Qualities of HR Manager

A successful HR Manager must have the following qualities to work efficiently:-Creativity: Creativity is what separates competence from excellence. Creativity is the ingredient that pulls the different pieces together into a cohesive whole, adding zest and appeal in the process.Structure: The context and structure we work within always have a set of parameters, limitations and guidelines. A stellar manager knows how to work within the structure and not let the structure impinge upon the process or the project. Do this to expand beyond the boundaries.

Intuition: Intuition is the capacity of knowing without the use of rational processes; it's the cornerstone of emotional intelligence. With stronger intuition, the one will be stronger manager.Knowledge: A thorough knowledge base is essential. The excellent manager lives from a knowledge base, without having to draw attention to it.Commitment: A manager is committed to the success of the project and of all team members. It's the manager's commitment that pulls the team forward during trying times.Being Human: Employees value leaders who are human and who don't hide behind their authority. Managers who respect and connect with others on a human level inspire great loyalty.Versatility: Flexibility and versatility are valuable qualities in a manager. Beneath the flexibility and versatility is an ability to be both non-reactive and not attached to how things have to be. Flexibility and versatility are the pathways to speedy responsiveness.Lightness: A stellar manager doesn't just produce outstanding results. Lightness complements the seriousness of the task at hand as well as the resolve of the team, therefore contributing to strong team results and retention.Discipline/Focus: Discipline is the ability to choose and live from what one pays attention to. Discipline as self-mastery can be exhilarating Role model an important leadership quality.Big Picture, Small Actions: Excellent managers see the big picture concurrent with managing the details. Small actions lead to the big picture; the excellent manager is skilful at doing both: think big while also paying attention to the details.

Scope, Responsibilities and Duties of HR ManagerHR manager or human resource manager has many roles and responsibilities in the corporate. From hiring people to employee retention, the HR manager responsibilities can never end or reduce. He/she has a huge obligation towards the company as it is essential to identify the talent of each employee, utilize their talents, and place them in a position best suited for them. Apart from these, we have listed few more HR manager roles and responsibilities below.1. Recruitment Procedure;

2. Hiring Employees;

3. Training & Developing Employees;

4. Organization Development;

5. Bridge for Communication;

6. Employee Performance

7. Consultation for Employees;

8. Advocating Company Policies;

9. Wages and Benefits;

10. Teamwork and Team Spirit;11. Relations Amongst Employees;12. Significance of Strategies;1. Recruitment Procedure: One of the initial responsibilities of HR manager is recruiting efficient employees for the company that will deliver to the best of their abilities. As the recruitment procedure can be quite expensive for the company, it is imperative not to make an error during the process.

2. Hiring Employees: Hiring is also one of the most important duties of the HR manager, be it long term or short term. Every individual has unique set of talents, educational background, and skills that can benefit an organization. Keeping that in mind, a HR manager should possess an eye for searching these talented people for the company's growth.

3. Training & Developing Employees: The new employees or the old employees entering new departments need to undergo employee training for their specific roles. The HR manager has to take care of the training needs of employees, so that no compatibility issue arises with the work assigned later on.4. Organization Development: This is again one of the key areas where the HR manager has to execute to the fullest. Development of an organization is a responsibility which includes peculiar organizational culture, making the team more effective by introducing events intervening employees in a formal and informal way; thus impacting the business. Promoting employees' growth and maintaining a congenial atmosphere at work increases the overall growth of the company.5. Bridge for Communication: A HR manager holds a significant role in reducing the gap between the employees and the employer. Communication in terms of change management, work relationships and environment, interviews and relevant questions, taking actions regarding discipline, resolving conflicts.

6. Employee Performance: HR manager evaluates performances of the employees and determines the appropriate wages, bonuses, employee performance appraisals, and wage increase. Assessment of employee performance works in both the company's and the employees' advantage, making the HR manager responsibilities increase furthermore.

7. Consultation for Employees: In case of any issues or misunderstandings, the HR manager has to come into play and neutralize the scenario. HR manager also suffices the role of being a mentor or helping employees cope up with bad bosses. He/she helps inspire and motivate employees and builds their spirits to enhance their performance and productivity.8. Advocating Company Policies: HR manager can create policies if and when there is confusion regarding behaviour, handling situations, harassments and sexual harassments, making rules that are standard to other organizations, and for the current organization; along with considering fair treatment of employees.9. Wages and Benefits: HR manager has the power to decide the wages offered to an employee or to a new recruit. Human resources management decides the break-up of salary and benefits the employee can avail during the tenure of work with the organization. Benefits may include travel allowances, HRA (Health Reimbursement Arrangements), medical, etc.10. Teamwork and Team Spirit: HR manager helps in building a team effective for working under circumstances and makes sure that right people are included in the team, minimizing conflicts and increasing productivity.

11. Relations Amongst Employees: One of the fundamental HR manager responsibilities and duties is to implicate fair labour laws and policy, hiring disabled people. He should work in congruence with the US Department of Labour, Family and Medical Leave Act, managing paid, casual leaves and so on. Treating each and every employee fairly in the company brings a positive attitude in them which help in the growth of organization.12. Significance of Strategies: The HR manager designs strategies complementing the long term needs and growth of the company. The needs of the employees and the demands of a particular organization should be met in unison. He not only aligns the business goals, but also communicates effectively to accomplish the company's business plans and overall objectives.

Other than the above mentioned HR manager responsibilities, there are various other roles and HR manager duties in an organization like, security, handling travel and tickets, records management, etc. The HR manager is the soul of the organization. He plays a major role in the development and growth of employees, along with the company as a whole. Role of HR ManagerHuman Resource is one of the most important function of management. So, a human resource manager plays a vital role as he is responsible for the execution of the human resource functions. The main role of HR managers are:

1. Humanitarian Role

2. Counsellor

3. Mediator

4. Spokesman

5. Problem Solver

6. Change Agent

7. Management of Manpower Resources1. Humanitarian Role: Reminding moral and ethical obligations to employees.

2. Counsellor: Consultations to employees about marital, health, mental, physical and career problems.

3. Mediator: Playing the role of a peacemaker during disputes, conflicts between individuals and groups or management.

4. Spokesman: To represent the company in Media and other forums because he has better overall picture of his companys operations.

5. Problem Solver: Solving problems of overall human resource management and long-term organizational planning.

6. Change Agent: Introducing and implementing institutional changes and installing organizational development programs.

7. Management of Manpower Resources: Broadly concerned with leadership both in the group and individual relationships and labour-management relations.Staff and Line Function of HR ManagerHR: No More a Staff But a Line Function- Sidharth Nahata & K. Snehapriya"All managers are, in a sense, HR managers, since they all get involved in activities like recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and training."- Gary DesslerHR managers are, in most of the cases even now in this modern world, generally staff managers. They are responsible for advising line managers (like those for production and sales) in areas like recruiting, hiring, and compensation.

The human resource department provides this specialized assistance. Thus, an HR manager will perform three distinct functions: -

1. A Line Function: An HR manager possesses a line authority over his own department to accomplish the task and roles assigned to each employee of the department. And since the majority of the decision is trickled down from the corporate level, he actually exudes such power. His suggestions also are taken as orders.

2. A Coordinative Function: An HR manager is also a coordinator of all the decision, activities in the personnel area. This is referred to as functional control. Whatever policies, procedures and objectives are set for the HR manager implements on employees in the organization.

3. A Staff Function: This is basically an advisory role played by the manager whereby he only assists line managers, but that does not mean his advice shall be taken finally. It all depends on the discretion of the line manager. Such a function involves assisting on areas such as training, evaluating, rewarding, counselling, promoting, and firing of employees, etc. Many a times, HR managers also update the line managers as well as top management regarding the current trends and new methods of solving problems.HR Manager Activities Between the Line and the Staff DutiesDepartment Supervisors (Line) ActivitiesPersonnel Specialists (Staff) Activities

Recruitment & SelectionAssist job analyst by listing specific duties and responsibilities of the job in question and explain to HR future staffing needs and sorts of people needed to be hired.

Describe "human requirements" of job so HR can develop selection tests Interview candidates and make final selection decisionWrite job description and job specification based on input from department supervisor. Develop personnel plans showing promo table employees.

Resorting of qualified applications.

Conduct initial serving interviews and refer feasible candidates to department supervisor.

Training & DevelopmentOrient employees regarding the company and job and instruct and train new employees.

Evaluate and recommend managers' developmental activities.

Provide the leadership and empowerment that builds effective work teams.

Use the firm's appraisal forms to appraise employee performance.

Assess subordinates' career progress and advise them regarding career options.Prepare training materials and orientation documents and outlines. Advise CEO regarding development plan for managers based on CEO's stated vision of firm's future needs.Providing information regarding how to institute and operate quality improvement programs and team building efforts.

Develop performance appraisal tools and maintain records of appraisals

CompensationAssist HR by providing information regarding the nature and relative worth of each job to serve as the basic for compensation decisions.

Don the nature and amounts of incentives to be paid to subordinates.

Decide on the package of benefits and services the firm is to payConduct job evaluation procedures aimed at determining relative worth of each job in the firm.

Conduct salary survey for same job type in the market.Serve as a resource in advising line management regarding financial incentives and pay plan alternatives

Labor RelationsEstablish the day-to-day climate of mutual respect and trust needed to maintain healthy labour management relations.

Consistently apply the terms of the labour agreement.

Ensure that the firm's grievance process is functioning in a manner consistent with the labour agreement and make final decisions on grievances after investigating same.

Work with HR in negotiating the collective bargaining agreementDiagnose underlying causes of labour discontent with an eye toward anticipating with the sorts of moral and lead to unionization efforts.

Train line managers regarding the interpretation of contract terms and the legal pitfalls to be avoided during the union organizing effort.

Advise managers regarding how to handle grievances and assist all parties in reaching agreement regarding grievances

Employee Security & SafetyKeep the lines of communication open between employees and managers so employees are kept abreast of important company matters and have a variety of vehicles they can use to express concerns and use to express concerns and gripes.

Sure employees are guaranteed fair treatment as it relates to discipline, dismissals and job security.

Continually direct employees in the consistent application of safe work habits.

Prepare accident reports promptly and accurately.Advise line management regarding the communication techniques that can be used to encourage upward and downward communication.

Develop a fair treatment process and train line managers in its use.

Analyze jobs to develop safe practice rules and advise on design of safety apparatus such as machinery guards.

Promptly invest accidents analyze causes, make recommendations for accident presentation and submit necessary forms to occupational safety and health administration

Question 4: a) Write short notes on:

i. Collective bargaining

ii. Trade unions

b) What are the performance appraisal methods? Explain.

Answer: (a)i. Collective bargaining

IntroductionCollective bargaining generally includes negotiations between the two. Collective bargaining consists of negotiations between an employer and a group of employees that determine the conditions of employment. Often employees are represented in the bargaining by a union or other labour organization. The result of collective bargaining procedure is called the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Procedural agreements deal with the relationship between workers and management and the procedures to be adopted for resolving individual or group disputes. A collective bargaining process generally consists of four types of activities- 1. Distributive bargaining; 2. Integrative bargaining;

3. Attitudinal restructuring; and 4. Intra-organizational bargaining; 1. Distributive bargaining: It involves haggling over the distribution of surplus. Under it, the economic issues like wages, salaries and bonus are discussed. In distributive bargaining, one partys gain is anothers loss. This type of bargaining is also known as conjunctive bargaining.2. Integrative bargaining: This involves negotiation of an issue on which both the parties may gain, or at least neither party loses. This is also known as cooperative bargaining.3. Attitudinal restructuring: This involves shaping and reshaping some attitudes like trust or distrust, friendliness or hostility between labour and management. It develops a bargaining environment and creates trust and cooperation among the parties.4. Intra-organizational bargaining: It generally aims at resolving internal conflicts. This is a type of manoeuvrings to achieve consensus with the workers and management.

Characteristicsof Collective Bargaining It is a group process, wherein one group, representing the employers, and the other, representing the employees, sit together to negotiate terms of employment.

It is a formalized process by which employers and independent trade unions negotiate terms and conditions of employment.

Collective bargaining is a flexible process and not static, consists of a number of steps.

It a bipartite process. This means there are always two parties involved in its process.

It is a complementary process i.e. each party needs something that the other party has.

It tends to improve the relations between workers and the union and the employer.

Collective Bargaining is continuous process. It uses cooperation and consensus for settling disputes rather than conflict and confrontation.

Collective bargaining takes into account day to day changes, policies, potentialities, capacities and interests.

It is a political activity frequently undertaken by professional negotiators.

Collective Bargaining Process

It is normally include procedures in respect of individual grievances, disputes and discipline. Frequently, procedural agreements are put into the company rule book which provides information on the overall terms and conditions of employment and codes of behaviour. The collective bargaining process comprises of five core steps:

1. Prepare

2. Discuss

3. Propose

4. Bargain

5. Settlement1. Prepare: This phase involves composition of a negotiation team. The first thing to be done is to determine whether there is actually any reason to negotiate at all. A correct understanding of the main issues to be covered and intimate knowledge of operations, working conditions, production norms and other relevant conditions is required.

2.Discuss: Here, the parties decide the ground rules that will guide the negotiations. An environment of mutual trust and understanding is also created so that the collective bargaining agreement would be reached.

3.Propose: This phase involves the initial opening statements and the possible options that exist to resolve them. In a word, this phase could be described as brainstorming. The exchange of messages takes place and opinion of both the parties is sought.

4.Bargain: negotiations are easy if a problem solving attitude is adopted. This stage comprises the time when what ifs and supposable are set forth and the drafting of agreements take place.

5. Settlement: This stage is described as consisting of effective joint implementation of the agreement through shared visions, strategic planning and negotiated change.

Importance of Collective BargainingCollective bargaining includes not only negotiations between the employers and unions but also includes the process of resolving labour-management conflicts. It acts as a method of introducing civil rights in the industry, that is, the management should be conducted by rules rather than arbitrary decision making.

Importance to employees

1. Collective bargaining develops a sense of self-respect and responsibility among the employees.

2. It increases the strength of the workforce, thereby, increasing their bargaining capacity as a group.

3. Collective bargaining increases the morale and productivity of employees.

4. It restricts managements freedom for arbitrary action against the employees.

5. Effective collective bargaining machinery strengthens the trade unions movement.

6. The workers feel motivated as they can approach the management on various matters and bargain for higher benefits.

7. It helps in securing a prompt and fair settlement of grievances.

Importance to employers

1. It becomes easier for the management to resolve issues at the bargaining level rather than taking up complaints of individual workers.

2. Collective bargaining tends to promote a sense of job security among employees and thereby tends to reduce the cost of labour turnover to management.

3. Collective bargaining opens up the channel of communication between the workers and the management and increases worker participation in decision making.

4. Collective bargaining plays a vital role in settling and preventing industrial disputes

Importance to society

1. Collective bargaining leads to industrial peace in the country

2. It results in establishment of a harmonious industrial climate which supports and helps the pace of a nations efforts towards economic and social development since the obstacles to such a development can be reduced considerably.

3. The discrimination and exploitation of workers is constantly being checked.4. It provides a method or the regulation of the conditions of employment of those who are directly concerned about them.ii. Trade UnionIntroductionTrade Unionism grew as one of the most powerful socio-economic political institutions of our time - to fill in the vacuum created by industrial revolution in industrial society. Individual dispensability and collective indispensability was the basic principle for its formation. United we stand and divided we fall is the philosophy. The supply of labour was more and demand was less. Employers employed them at their terms, which were exploitative. Combination of workers was considered as criminal conspiracy and the terms of contract was regulated by workman Breach of Contract Act, 1860 and general law of the land. Discontent was brewing. Liberal democratic and revolutionary ideas of the time fanned the discontentment which was a smouldering since long and gave birth to an institution known as trade union. Definition of Trade UnionsAccording to Webbs, a trade union is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining and improving the conditions of their working lives. Under the Trade Union Act of 1926, the term is defined as:

Trade union is an association either of employees, employers or of independent workers.

It is a relatively permanent formation of workers. It is not a temporary or casual combination of workers.

It is formed for securing certain economic and social benefits to members. Collective strength offers a sort of insurance cover to members to fight against irrational, arbitrary and illegal actions of employers. Members can share their feelings, exchange notes and fight the employer quite effectively whenever he goes off the track.

A more recent and non-legislative definition of a union is an organisation of workers acting collectively who seek to protect and promote their mutual interests through collective bargaining -De Cenzo & Robbins, 1993.

Forms of Trade Unions

There are three forms of trade unions: 1. Classical: A trade unions main objective is to collectively protect the interests of its members in given socio-economic-political system. Trade Unions are the expressions of the needs, aspirations and wishes of the working class. 2. Neo-classical: It goes beyond classical objectives and tries to improve up other wider issues like tax-reliefs, raising saving rates etc.3. Revolutionary: Change in the system. Establishing the rule of working class even through violence and use of force etc.Functions of Trade Unions

Trade unions perform a number of functions in order to achieve the objectives. These functions can be broadly classified into four categories:1. Militant Functions2. Fraternal Functions3. Social Functions4. Political functions1. Militant Functions: Activities performed by trade unions leads to the betterment of the position of their members in relation to their employment. The militant functions of trade is:

To achieve higher wages and better working conditions

To raise the status of workers as a part of industry

To protect labors against victimization and injustice

2. Fraternal Functions: Another set of activities performed by trade unions aims at rendering help to its members in times of need, and improving their efficiency. The fraternal functions of trade unions can be summed up as: To take up welfare measures for improving the morale of workers

To generate self confidence among workers

To encourage sincerity and discipline among workers

To provide opportunities for promotion and growth

To protect women workers against discrimination

3. Social Functions: Besides the main economic functions consisting basically of organising unions and improving their terms and conditions of employment to enable workers to meet their physical needs, which may be grouped under following heads:

i. Welfare activities provided to improve the quality of work life including organisation of mutual fund, providing housing, cultural programmes, banking and medical facilities and training for women in various crafts to help them to supplement their family income.

ii. Education: Education of members in all aspects of their working life including improving their civic life, awareness in the environment around them, enhancement of their knowledge.

iii. Publication of periodicals, news letters or magazines for establishing communication with their members, making the latter aware of union policy and stand on certain principal.

v. Research: Of late, this is gaining importance and is intended mainly to provide updated information to union negotiators at the bargaining table.

4. Political functions: These functions include affiliating the union with a political party, helping the political party in enrolling members, collecting donations, seeking the help of political parties during the periods of strikes and lockouts. Role of Trade UnionsTrade Unions assume the following roles:

1. Sectional Bargainers: Interests of the workers at plant, industry, national level multiplicity of unions, Crafts Unions, white Collar Union etc.

2. Class Bargainers: Unions representing the interest of the class as whole as in France Agricultural Unions, Federations of unions, Civil Servants Union.

3. Agents of State: As in U.S.S.R., ensuring targets of production at fixed price. In 1974 Railway strike, INTUC stood behind Government and its agent.

4. Partners in Social Control: Co-determinator in Germany. Also, some examples are found in Holland, France, Italy and Sweden; some half-hearted attempts are being made in India also.

5. Unions role which can be termed as enemies of economic systems, driven by political ideologies than business compulsions. Leftistunions want to change the fundamental structure of economy and want to have control over it. Therefore, they encourage high wages, high bonus etc. without any consideration for the health of the economy.

5. Business Oriented Role: Here unions consider the interests of the organisation along with workers. They think that their members fate is inextricably linked with that of organisation and they swim or sink together.

6. Unions as Change Agent: Lead the changes than to be led by them and thus, performing the pioneering role.Answer: (b)

Performance appraisalIntroductionProcess by which a manager or consultant, examines and evaluates an employee's work behaviour by comparing it with preset standards, documents the results of the comparison, and uses the results to provide feedback to the employee to show where improvements are needed and why. Performance appraisals are employed to determine who needs what training, and who will be promoted, demoted, retained, or fired.Definitions:Performance appraisal has been defined by different scholars in various ways. Some of the important definitions are as follows:1."Performance appraisal is systematic evaluation of the individual with respect to his or her performance on the job and his or her potential for development".- Dale S. Beach2."Performance appraisal is a formal, structured system of measuring and evaluating an employees job, related behaviour and outcomes to discover how and why the employee is presently perfuming on the job and how the employee can perform more effectively in the future so that the employee, organisation, and society all benefit."- Randall S. SchulerGoals of Performance AppraisalConducting performance appraisals on employees performance should be more than a simple checklist of Dos and Donts. Each employees work should support the activities needed to action his or her supervisors performance objectives. To make effective performance appraisals a reality, four criteria need to be present. These are:

1. Employees should be actively involved in the evaluation and development process.

2. Supervisors need to enter performance appraisals with a constructive and helpful attitude.

3. Realistic goals must be mutually set.4. Supervisors must be aware, and have knowledge of the employees job and performance.

Objectives of Performance Appraisal

To review the performance of the employees over a given period of time

To judge the gap between the actual and the desired performance.

To help management in exercising organizational control and build up the relationship and communication between superior subordinates and management employees.

To diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals so as to identify the training and development needs of the future.

To provide feedback to the employees regarding their past performance.

Provide information to assist in the other personal decisions in the organization.

Provide clarity of the expectations and responsibilities of the functions to be performed by the employees.

To judge the effectiveness of the other human resource functions of the organization such as recruitment, selection, training and development. To reduce the grievances of the employees.Benefits of Performance Appraisal

The benefits of an effective appraisal scheme can be summed up under three categories. These are for the organization, for appraiser and for appraisee. 1. For the Organizations: Following benefits would accrue to the organization. Improved performance throughout the organization due to more effective communication of the organizations objectives and values, increased sense of cohesiveness and loyalty and improved relationships between managers and staff. Improvement in the tasks performed by each member of the staff. Identification of ideas for improvement. Expectations and long-term plans can be developed. Training and development needs can be identified more clearly. A culture of continuous improvement and success can be created and maintained. People with potential can be identified and career development plans can be formulated for future staff requirements.

2) For the Appraiser: The following benefits would accrue to the appraiser: The opportunity to develop an overview of individual jobs and departments. Identification of ideas for improvements. The opportunity to link team and individual objectives and targets with departmental and organizational objectives. The opportunity to clarify expectations of the contribution the manager expects from teams and individuals. The opportunity to re-prioritize targets. A means of forming a more productive relationship with staff based on mutual trust and understanding.

3) For the Appraisee: For the appraisee the following benefits would accrue: Increased motivation. Increased job satisfaction. Increased sense of personal valuePerformance Appraisal MethodsThere are many metods for the performance appraisal as given below:1. Graphic Rating Scale2. Forced Choice

3. Management by Objectives

4. Essay Type Method5. Critical incidents

6. Ranking and Paired Comparison7. Other Performance Appraisal Methods1. Graphic Rating ScaleThis method assesses the position of employees between the minimum and maximum of a rating scale. This method is used to rate a general group of employees such as clerks or general workers. It is suitable for task-oriented jobs. The problem with this method is that it lacks total job evaluation elements. Thus, you cannot truly see the actual performance of the employee. But it is believed that this is the most commonly used method now.

2. Forced Choice

In forced choice method appraisal is based on a choice from a number of pre-written statements. There is no provision for a rating that can falls between two choices. This is the reason why it is called forced choice. The end result is a "bell-shaped" evaluation results. The majority of employees will fall around the middle range. There are very few people in the non-performance and outstanding performance ranges of the scale.

This method does not truly reflect actual performance level of employees. One of the risks is that superiors may rate all their people within the middle range. This does not serve any purpose. But it can lead to dissatisfaction.

3. Management by Objectives

Management by Objectives (MBO) is one of the more popular performance appraisal methods among organizations. MBO requires you to establish the objectives of the job. The questions asked in performance appraisal are whether these objectives are achieved by employees and to what extent. This method is suitable for assessing the performance of managers

4. Essay Type MethodThis performance appraisal method requires to prepare descriptive narratives to assess performance on the job. It is either structured or unstructured. If the structure method used, it need to find suitable performance measures and standards. In unstructured method, the supervisor is required to state in essay form the performance level of the employee

5. Critical incidentsAnother appraisal method is the critical incidents method. This is similar to essay appraisal method. It requires the supervisor to keep a log on employees performance. The assessor will submit an essay on the poor or outstanding performance of the employee. The problem is that he or she may come to arbitrary conclusions. As in the case of the essay type of appraisal, it is necessity to keep an on-going log

6. Ranking and Paired ComparisonIn the ranking method and paired comparison method, employees are arranged from the highest to the lowest performer. These methods are subjective in nature and the factors used are not prepared against performance standards. This can lead to awkwardness as people do not strictly fall within the lowest, the highest or average performers

7. Other Performance Appraisal MethodsOther performance appraisal methods include:

i. Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale: This is suitable for either professional or technical jobs. It is combination of the critical incident technique and the rating scale method. This method identifies behaviours that demonstrate high performance. But it requires the preparation of detailed performance levels ranging from1 for very poor to 5 for very good or from 1 for extremely poor to 7 for extremely good.

ii. Weighted Checklist: These are sets of objectives or statements on employee behaviour. The assessor will determine which sets of behaviour fit the employee. The supervisor is required to make a choice between "yes" and "no" answers.

iii. Forced Distribution: This is similar to the forced choice method as both end up with a "bell shape" result. But in forced distribution, the assessor may have to add a few employees to the very poor or outstanding in order to arrive at a required number of people for those groups

iv. Performance Test: This is to assess whether the employee can perform the specified tasks. For example, whether a crane operator can correctly operate the crane while on-loading or off-loading goods.

v. Team Appraisal: Many are yet to accept this method of appraising performance. It does not reflect individual performance level. Every member of the team is given the same reward for every member of the team including those who had made minimum contribution. There is the possibility of the presence of free riders.

vi. 360 Degree Appraisal: Several parties are required to assess the same employee. These include the employee himself/herself, working colleagues as internal customers, the superior, outside parties such as customers and suppliers. There are some organizations that use this appraisal method. It is yet to gain wide acceptance. Most organizations are not yet ready to implement this far-reaching evaluation method.vii. Regularity of Review: It is usual to implement fixed review dates or periods. It may fix the review as a yearly or twice a year activity. Performance appraisal is also conducted before an employee is confirmed in service.

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