Evaluation of the Selected HR Activity - Essay Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents A) Individual Research of organization 2 HR philosophy behind these activities 4 Description of the main problem/s or issue/s in the selected HR activity/process 5 (B) Individual Research Analysis 7 Evaluation of the selected HR activity or process 7 Bibliography: 14 References: 15 Appendix: 17 (A) Individual Research Description Description of organization Corporate Success Group is a well established company in "Brisbane city centre" founded by "Rex Klein and 10 Homogeneous Australian staff with 20 contractors". They are working for more than "twelve years as recruiting firm." (C.S.G., ) They help to create a healthy work environment for their client. They analyze the business, culture and values of the clients and maintain a long term relationship with them. They provide highly skilled and motivated staff as per the requirement of the client. "The key parameters for Corporate Success Group are 'Honesty' of there team members, 'Reliability' of the solution provided and 'Commitment' for maintaining quality." (C.S.G., ) The services provided are as follow- "Corporate Services/Corporate Capability service"- provides solutions such as management of records, facilitation management, carry out the work procedures and policies documentation, develops plans for purchasing and procurement. "Human Resources service"- handles the matters like fraud, grievances and misconduct handling, job designing and evaluating. They take into account Performance management, provide psychometric assessment and sets remuneration benchmarking. It also includes providing a complete strategic human resource management and planning. "Learning, Leadership & Coaching service"- provides career management counseling and help in developing the leadership. "Organisational Services"- assist in reviewing the business process, changing the management and bringing the organisational change. Thus they provide a complete solution for business and strategic planning. This service also covers risk management. "Private Employment Agency service"- provides permanent & temporary recruitment of human resource requirements. Brief overview of the HR activities in the organization Corporate Success Group takes into account the following Human Resource activities: Recruitment & Selection- the company maintains high standards for recruitment and selection process. They go for different screening technique such as personality test, intelligent quiescent, emotional quiescent, stress test, health test and checking the references. These entire tests are being done to check before hand that will the work force be able to take the work load. Training- the employees who are selected has to be trained so that they can develop the required skill for performing their job. Training is a continuous process. It should be provided as and when required for development of employees. Setting rules and regulation- rules and regulation provide the frame work within which the whole organization has to work. The performance of employee is appraised by comparing against these standards. They make the organization work smoothly and efficiently. Performance appraisal- the performance of the employees has to be appraised. This helps the organization to identify the employees who are performing above average and also helps to identify those employees whose performances are below average level. The management can drill down to find out the reasons behind. If required training and further assistance can be arranged. Career development - management should set the career path and provide proper training as and when required Grievance handling- it is the duty of organization that employee should feel satisfied with their job. They should have the feeling that organization cares for them and if any injustice happens they can easily approach the management and their problem will be solved. Compensation- the management should take care that each employee should be paid as per his/her performance. The employee who achieves their targets should be provide with incentive to motive them. The method should be simple and transparent so that the employee can understand it. HR philosophy behind these activities The organization wants their employees to be highly motivated and target oriented, hence attractive incentives are set for them. They also incorporate the feeling of loyalty and hard work in them toward their jobs. Description of the selected HR activity/process in the organization: The selected Human Resource activity in Corporate Success Group is performance management. In Corporate Success Group for performance management they apply 360 degree technique. 360-degree feed back, also known as multi-rater feed back where feedback is collected from his/her peers, superiors, subordinates, and customers. A questionnaire is prepared and circulated amongst them. On the basis of the feed back received and analyzed, the employee's performance is evaluated. These results are communicated to the employee also. This helps management to identify the employees' performance so that they can be given incentive. If the employees' performance is not satisfactory, the reasons are found out and if required training is given. (Cypert M.S., n.d.) Description of the main problem/s or issue/s in the selected HR activity/process Main problem with 360 degree method is that it is a subjective method. The whole process is based on the information collected by supervisor, subordinate, peers and customers. Humans can never be fully rational. If the employee does not have healthy terms with his peers, supervisor or subordinate, they may be biased and can provide improper information. The process may suffer from inefficiency of the latter. He should be well aware of the work of employees and important aspects of it. He should be unbiased. An outline of the research process that was undertaken by the group (e.g. what interviews/surveys were carried out) An unstructured interview was conducted to analyze how effective is the present method of performance management. In this method the employees and managers were asked certain questions regarding the present method of performance management. The feed back was collected and analyzed. The details of interview is cited in Fig-1 & Fig-2 (Appendix). (B) Individual Research Analysis Evaluation of the selected HR activity or process Corporate Success Group is using the 360 degree process for performance appraisal. This is among the common modern method which is being used by many companies. 360 degree indicates a circle which surrounds the employee. In 360 degree technique an employee's performance is evaluated by collecting information from his/her subordinates, supervisors, peers and customers. Hence the organization is able to find out how the employee is behaving with his/her subordinates, supervisors, peers and customers, and would be able to know about their reactions. Under this technique a questionnaire is prepared and circulated among the subordinates, supervisors, peers and customers. The questionnaire contains many questions related to employee's performance. Before making the questionnaire, the management conducts a thorough job analysis. This gives detail information about the nature of the job, which the employees are to perform and the responsibilities that comes with the job. The feed back is collected from supervisors, subordinates, peers and customers and thoroughly analyzed. The entire information collected is kept confidential. The result of appraisal is also discussed with the employees individually. This helps the employees to identify, what his/her subordinates, supervisors, peers and customers feels about them. The employees can set their won goals for improvement and to overcome their drawbacks. The results derived from 360 degree technique are quite valuable for the organization. On basis of this technique, employee's performance is appraised. The organization can find out that how the employee is performing as per the target provided. These results are used to set the rewards and incentives. The result helps the organization to identify potential employees who can be promoted to the next higher post. Hence the organization can set the career path for the employees. This appraisal also helps to find out the need for training. So organization can arrange different training for different employees. With its set of valuables and advantages the 360 degree technique also has its set of loop holes and drawbacks. The major one is that 360 degree is a subjective technique. As information is collected from human, so it is very common that the process suffers from biasness. If an employee does not maintain healthy social terms with the peers, they might not be interested to appraise him suitably. Though in a case of performance appraisal the information provided should be free from any form of personal biasness. Similarly, if the supervisor or subordinate have some personal problem, they will not appraise the employee properly. Some time the supervisor appraises their subordinates on the basis of their past performance. So, personal biasness plays an important role in this organization (Cypert M.S., n.d.). Another problem with this process is that, it suffers from defect of rater. As the rater is not well aware about the work responsibility of the employees, so he may ask or frame irrelevant questions. These questions are not able to evaluate the employees' performance in proper direction. Some time the rater has personal favoritism. As a result they are not able to rate the employees as per the information collected. Also employees on higher position or at prestigious post are often rated high. The insufficient training of rater leads to major problem for the whole method of evaluation. It is not that, the employee always takes the result in positive way. It has been found that employees sometimes feel dissatisfied. His/her motivation level also is adversely affected. There is a possibility that if this condition persists then the respective employees might develop grievances toward the organization, peers, customers and even toward rater. In the present scenario there are many methods which are in use. Confidential report: This technique is used in a government organization. The immediate supervisor does the appraisal. The feed backs are not provided to the employee. Essay evaluation: This technique is basically used along with graphical rating technique. The rater is asked to provide strong and weak points about the employees' performance. The factors taken into account by the rater are job knowledge and required skill, his attitude toward work and employee's relations with the co-workers and superiors. Checklists and weighted checklists: In this method the rater makes a list of important factor on the basis of which particular performance of the employees are to be checked. The questions that may arise can be be- "Is the employee really interested in the task assigned Yes/No Is he respected by his colleagues (co-workers) Yes/No Does he give respect to his superiors Yes/No Does he follow instructions properly Yes/No Does he make mistakes frequently Yes/No" (Source: Management of P.M., 2007) Graphic rating scale: This is among the most common methods which are being used by many organizations. Under this method the rater makes a printed form which is circulated for collection of information. Here is a sample of such a form- Table: Typical Graphic Rating Scale Employee Name................... Job title ................. Department ......................... Rate ............... Data .................................. Quantity of work: Volume of work under normal working conditions Unsatisfactory Fair Satisfactory Good Outstanding Quality of work: Neatness, thoroughness and accuracy of work Knowledge of job A clear understanding of the factors connected with the job Attitude: Exhibits enthusiasm and cooperativeness on the job Dependability: Conscientious, thorough, reliable, accurate, with respect to attendance, reliefs, lunch breaks, etc. Cooperation: Willingness and ability to work with others to produce desired goals. (Source: Management of P.M., 2007) Behaviorally anchored rating scales: Also known as the Behavioral Expectations Scale'. This is a combination of the rating scale and critical method. This is a modern method which is gaining popularity day by day. A rating form usually contains six to eight specifically defined performance dimensions on basis of which the appraisal is carried out. The organization follows certain steps such as- identification of important criteria on the basis of which the performance of employees have to be evaluated, classification of the factors of appraisal, setting scale values and then allocating appropriate scale for them. Management by objective: This is a performance technique which is used by maximum number of organization in present scenario. In his method the supervisor and the subordinate come together and set the goals. The organization goal is broken down into divisional goals, then to departmental goals and finally into individual goals which can be allocated to individual employee. This method makes the employees feel that they are not just following orders which are imposed on them by their supervisor, the employees are actively participating in decision making process. This method has a major importance in a target oriented organization like Corporate Success Group. As the employees are actively participating in the goal setting method, hence they justify the target given to them and feel highly motivated to achieve them. This is also help full for the management because they do not have to justify to the employees that the targets are achievable. The Management by Objective method does not suffer with any form of biasness as no information has to be collected from anybody. The performance of each individual is being compared against the standards or the targets which where allotted to the employees. Hence the entire responsibility of the appraisal depends on the employee's performance. The employees can not complain against the target that they are unrealistic as because they themselves participated in the target setting process. So Management by Objective is a transparent method free from any biasness and which also reduces the level of employee grievance regarding performance management method. Also no special training is required for the trainer (Duft K. D. n.d). After carrying out a detail analysis on the data collected through the interview, some draw backs have been identified, henceforth suggestions have been outlined accordingly to9 overcome the identified drawbacks. Corporate Success Group is a small company with limited numbers of employees. So if the company continues with the present performance management method (360 degree method), it is very normal that the problem of biasness among the employee will continue. The company has to invest more on the training of the rater and should have a grievance handling department. Yet this may not solve the problem which the company is facing. In order to take the advantage of their small size, the company can shift its present technique of performance appraisal to Management by Objective. It will be more beneficial. As because of the small size, management and employees know each other quite well. If the organization adopt MBO method, employees will feel more motivated and will feel more involved in the decision making process. The employees will try to set higher targets to prove their potential. This helps the company to increase their business and to grow at a faster rate (Duft K. D. n.d). Bibliography: Buckingham, Marcus & Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D., NOW, Discover Your Strengths, The Free Press, 2001 Collins, Michelle LeDuff, Ph.D. The Thin Book of 360 Feedback: A Manager's Guide, Thin Book Publishing Co., 2000 Peiperl, Maury A., "Getting 360-Degree Feedback Right",Harvard Business Review, January 2001 Jones, John E., Ph.D. & William L. Bearley, Ed.D., "360 Feedback", Strategies, Tactics, and Techniques for Developing Leaders, HRD Press & Lakewood Publications, 1996 References: C.S.G (n.d.), Company Profile", Corporate Success Group, retrieved online on 20th May 2009, from: http://www.corporatesuccessgroup.com.au/CompanyProfile.htm C.S.G (n.d), "our services", Corporate Success Group, retrieved online on 20th May 2009, from: http://www.corporatesuccessgroup.com.au/OurServices.htm Cypert Susan M (n.d), "Performance Evaluation", Using 360 degree evaluation methods in employee evaluations, retrieved online on 20th May 2009, from:http://74.125.153.132/searchq=cache:QKpaGZj0zacJ:www.stlawu.edu/resources/using%2520360%2520degree%2520evaluation%2520methods.slu.ppt+360+degree+method+site:edu&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in&client=firefox Cook C (2008), "Performance Management And Appraisal", The University of West Alabama, retrieved online on 20th May 2009, from: http://74.125.153.132/searchq=cache:XcriH8B2fp8J:www.suu.edu/faculty/calvasina/mgmt3240/Mathis%26Jackson2008/MJ12eCh11.ppt+management+by+objective+method+of+performance+appraisal+site:edu&cd=27&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in&client=firefox-a Duft K. D (n.d)., "Management By Objective", Agri Business Management, retrieved online on 20th May 2009, from: http://www.agribusiness-mgmt.wsu.edu/ExtensionNewsletters/mgmt/MgmtObjective.pdf Management of P.M. (2007) , " Methods of Performance Appraisal", Open Learning World, retrieved online on 20th May 2009, from: http://www.openlearningworld.com/olw/courses/books/Performance%20and%20Potential%20Appraisal/Performance%20and%20Potential%20Appraisal/Methods%20of%20Performance%20Appraisal.html Appendix: Interview- Fig-1 List of question- What they feel about the present method of performance management Are they satisfied with the present method What role do they perform in process of performance management As per them what are the loop holes in the present method How the company can overcome with the loop hole Fig-2 Feed back of the survey: 4/5th of employees said "the present method should be changed." 3/4th of the employees said "the present method of performance management is not satisfactory." 1/2th of employees said "they do not have much involvement in the process." 3/5th of employee said "the performance management method subjective in nature." 5/6th of employees said "their supervisors, subordinates, peers and customers does not provide appropriate information about them." 2/3th of employee said "the ratters are biased." 2/5th of employees said "the ratters does not understand the nature of work, hence questionnaires does not covers the important criteria." 34th of managers said "organization is following the modern method of performance management." 4/5th of managers said "they try to maintain transparency in the process and are ready to bring further improvement. 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