A study on performance appraisal system

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PERFORMANCE
APPRAISAL
SYSTEM
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INDEX
SR.NO TOPIC PAGE NO
1. MEASURING PERFORMANCE V/S 2-3
ACTION
2. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 4-5
3. OBJECTIVES OF PERFORMANCE 6-7
APPRAISAL
4. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND 8-11
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
5. APPRAISAL PROCESS 12-29
6. METHODS OF APPRAISAL 30-41
7. MANAGEMENT BY BJECTIVES(MBO) 42-43
8. LARSEN AND TOUBRO, HUMAN 44--46
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT—
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
SYSTEM
9. ASSESSMENT CENTRES 47-49
10. 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK 50
11. APPRAISE THE PERFORMANCE 51
12. PERFORMANCE INTERVIEW 52
13. GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE 53
APPRAISAL INTERVIEW
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14. USE OF APPRAISAL DATA 54
EDWARD DEMING ON 55
15.
16. CHALLENGES OF PERFORMANCE 56-60
APPRAISAL
17. PIRAMYD MEGASTORE - STORY 61-62
OUTLINE
18. HR VISION OF PIRAMYD MEGASTORE 63-64
19. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 65-70
METHODS USED AT PIRAMYD
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MEASURING PERFORMANCE V/S ACTION
Come appraisal time and one of the most debated aspects of completing the fair-and-
square appraisal revolves around what is 'measured' and what is 'achieved'. And the fable
of the Bees and the Bee Keepers is a very popular paradigm that often gets quoted at such
times. It goes thus:
The Story: Once upon a time there were two beekeepers that each had a beehive.
The beekeepers worked for a company called Bees, Inc. The company's customers loved
its honey and demand for the product was increasing. So Bees, Inc. assigned each
beekeeper a goal for increased honey production. The beekeepers had different ideas
about how to meet their goal and designed different approaches to improve the
performance of their hives.
The first beekeeper established a bee performance management approach that
measured the number of flowers each bee visited. At considerable cost to the beekeeper,
an extensive measurement system was created to count the flowers each bee visited. He
also provided feedback to each bee at mid-season on his individual performance. He also
created special awards for the bees who visited the most number of flowers. However, the
bees were never told about the hive's goal to produce more honey so that the company
could increase honey sales. The second beekeeper also established a bee performance
management approach but this approach communicated to each bee the goal of the hive
for increased honey production. The beekeeper and his bees measured two aspects of
their performance the amount of nectar each bee brought back to the hive and the amount
of honey the hive produced. The performance of each bee and the hive's overall
performance were charted and posted on the hive's bulletin board for all the bees to see.
The beekeeper created a few awards for the bees that gathered the most nectar. But he
also established a hive incentive program that rewarded each bee in the hive based on the
hive's overall honey production the more honey produced, the more recognition each bee
would receive.
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At the end of the season, the beekeepers evaluated their approaches. The first
beekeeper found that his hive had indeed increased the number of flowers visited ,but the
amount of honey produced by the hive had dropped. The Queen Bee reported that
because the bees were so busy trying to visit as many flowers as possible, they limited the
amount of nectar they would carry so they could fly faster. Also, since only the top
performers would be recognized, the bees felt they were competing against each other for
awards. As a result, they would not share valuable information with each other that could
have helped improve the performance of all the bees (like the location of the flower filled
fields they'd spotted on the way back to the hive). As the beekeeper handed out the
awards to individual bees, unhappy buzzing was heard in the background. After all was
said and done, one of the high performing bees told the beekeeper that if he had known
that the real goal was to make more honey, he would have worked totally differently. The
second beekeeper, however, had very different results. Because each bee in his hive was
focused on the hive's goal of producing more honey. This Bess had concentrated their
efforts on gathering more nectar in order to produce more honey than ever before. The
bees worked together to determine the highest nectar yielding flowers and to create
quicker processes for depositing the nectar they had gathered. They also worked together
to help increase the amount of nectar gathered by the poorer performers. Tile Queen Bee
of this hive reported that the poor performers either improved their performance or
transferred to hive No.1, because the hive had reached its goal. The beekeeper rewarded
each bee his portion of the hive incentive. The keeper was also surprised to hear a loud,
happy buzz and a jubilant flapping of wings as he rewarded the individual high-
performing bees with special recognition.
Should you measure performance or mere activities of employees? is the one who
does silent work but does not show of himself/herself or the one who puts up a show but
hardly performs to be recognized and rewarded? This and other related questions are
answered in this chapter.
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An organization’s goals can be achieved only when people put in their best efforts. How
to ascertain whether an employee has shown his or her best performance on a given job?
The answer is performance appraisal. Employee assessment is one of the fundamental
jobs of HRM. But not an easy one though. This chapter is devoted to a detailed
discussion of the nature and process of conducting performance appraisal.
Meaning and Definition
In simple terms, performance appraisal may be understood as the assessment of an
individual's performance in a systematic way, the performance being measured against
such factors as job knowledge, quality and quantity of output, initiative, leadership
abilities, supervision, dependability, co-operation, judgement, versatility, health, and
the like. Assessment should not be confined to past performance alone. Potentials of the
employee for future performance must also be assessed. A formal definition of
performance appraisal is:
It is the systematic evaluation of the individual with respect to his or her performance on
the job and his or her potential for development.
A more comprehensive definition is:
Performance' appraisal is a formal structured system of measuring and evaluating an
employee’s job related behaviors and outcomes to discover how and why the employee is
presently performing on the job and how the employee can perform more effectively in
the future so that the employee organization and society all benefit.
The second definition includes employees’ behaviour as part of the assessment.
Behaviour can be active or passive--do something or do nothing. Either way behaviour
affects job results. The other terms used for performance appraisal arc: performance
rating, employee assessment. Employees performance review, personnel appraisal,
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performance evaluation employee evaluation and (perhaps the oldest of the terms used) merit rating. In a formal sense, employee assessment
is as old
as, the concept of management and in an informal sense; it is Performance
Appraisal
probably as old as mankind. Nor performance appraisal is done
in isolation. It is linked to job analysis as shown in Fig.
Performance
Job Analysis Standards
Describes work and Translate job requirements I
personnel requirement into levels of acceptable or
of a particular job I' unacceptable performance
Describes the job-relevant
strengths and weaknesses of
each individual
Fig. Relationship of Performance Appraisal and Job Analysis
Job analysis sets out requirements, which are translated into performance
standards, which in turn from the basis for performance appraisal.
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OBJECTIVES OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
Data relating to performance assessment of employees arc recorded, stored. and
used for seven purposes. The main purposes of employee assessment are:
1. To effect promotions based on competence and performance.
2. To confirm the services of probationary employees upon their completing the
probationary period satisfactorily.
3. To assess the training and development needs of employees.
4. To decide upon a pay raise where (as in the unorganized sector) regular pay scales
have not been fixed.
5. To let the employees know where they stand insofar as their performance is concerned
and to assist them with constructive criticism and guidance for the purpose of their
development.
6. To improve communication. Performance appraisal provides a format for dialogue
between the superior and the subordinate, and improves understanding of personal goals
and concerns. This can also have the effect of increasing the trust between the rater and
the ratee.
7. Finally, performance appraisal can be used to determine whether HR programmes such
a selection, training, and transfers have been effective or not.
Broadly, performance appraisal serves four objectives-
(i) developmental uses,
(ii) administrative uses/decisions,
(iii) organizational maintenance/objectives, and
(iv) documentation purposes
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Table below outlines these and specific uses more clearly:-
Multiple Purposes of Performance Assessment
General Applications Specific Purpose
Developmental Uses Identification of individual needs
Performance feedback
Determining transfers and job assignments
Identification of individual strengths ad
development needs
Salary
Promotion
Administrative Uses/Decisions Retention or termination
Recognition of individual performance
Lay-offs
Identification of poor performers
HR planning
Determining organization training needs
Evaluation of organizational goal
Organizational Maintenance/ Objectives achievement
Information for goal identification
Evaluation of HR systems
Reinforcement of organizational
development needs
Criteria for validation research
Documentation
Documentation for HR decisions
Helping to meet legal requirements
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PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
The objectives of performance appraisal, listed above, point out the purpose which
such an exercise seeks to meet. What needs emphasis is that performance evaluation
contributes to firm's competitive strength. Besides encouraging high levels of
performance, the evaluation system helps identify employees with potential, reward
performance equitably and determine employee's need for training. Specifically,
performance appraisal helps an organization gain competitive edge in the following ways
(see Fig below)
Improving
Strategy and Performance Making correct
Behavior decisions
Competitive
Advantage
Values and Ensuring Legal
Behaviour Minimizing Compliance
dissatisfaction and
turnover
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Fig: How Performance Appraisal can contribute to Firm's Competitive Advantage?
Improving Performance
An effective appraisal system can contribute to competitive advantage by improving
employee job performance in two ways-by directing employee behaviour towards
organizational goals, as was done by the second beekeeper (see opening case), and by
monitoring that behaviour to ensure that the goals are met.
Making Correct Decisions
As stated above, appraisal is a critical input in making decisions on such issues as pay
raise, promotion, transfer, training, discharges and completion of probationary periods.
Right decision on each of these can contribute to competitive strength of an organization.
If promotion, for example, is made on performance, the promotee feels motivated to
enhance his or her performance.
Ensuring Legal Compliance
Promotions made on factors other than performance might land up a firm in a legal
battle, thus diverting its focus on non-productive areas, as it happened to Williamson
Magar. Organizations can minimize costly performance-related litigation by using
appraisal systems that give fair and accurate ratings.
Minimizing Job Dissatisfaction and Turnover
Employees tend to become emotional and frustrated if they perceive that the ratings
they get are unfair and inaccurate. Such employees find that the efforts they had put in
became futile and obviously get de-motivated.
Dissatisfaction in the job sets in and one of the outcomes of job dissatisfaction is
increased turnover. Fair and accurate appraisal results in high motivation and increased
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job satisfaction. An organization having satisfied and motivated employees will have an
edge over its competitors.
Consistency between Organizational Strategy and Behaviour
An organization needs a strategy consistent with the behaviour of its employees if it
were to realize its goals. A truism of organizational life is that people engage themselves
in behaviours that they perceive will be rewarded. As employees want to be rewarded,
they tend to occupy themselves more with those activities on which the organization
emphasizes. For example, if the focus is on service, employees will behave in ways that
will help them in gaining rewards associated with service delivery. If the focus is on cost
control, employees will seek to control cost and thus be recongnised and rewarded. If the
focus is on rewarding productivity, employees will strive for productivity. The
performance appraisal becomes not only a means of knowing if the employees' behaviour
is consistent with the overall strategic focus, but also a way of bringing to the fore any
negative consequence of the strategy- behaviour fit For example, a single point
productivity focus may include potential negative consequences such as decreased quality
and co-operations. Thus, the performance appraisal system is an important organizational
mechanism to elicit feedback on the consistency of the strategy-behaviour link.
Organizational Strategy and Performance Appraisal
The performance appraisal system serves many organizational objectives and goals.
Besides encouraging high level of performance, the evaluation system is useful in
identifying employees with potential, rewarding performance equitably. And determining
employees' needs for development. These are all the activities that should support the
organization’s strategic orientation. Although these activities are clearly instrumental in
achieving corporate plans and long-term growth, typical appraisal systems in most
organizations have been focused on short-term goals.
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From the strategic management point of view, organizations can be grouped into three
categories defenders, prospectors and analyzers. Performance appraisal has definite roles
in all the three strategies.
Typically, defenders have a narrow and relatively stable product-market domain.
Because of this narrow focus, these organizations seldom need to make major
adjustments in their technology. Structure or methods of operations. They devote primary
attention to improving the efficiency of their existing operations. Because of the
emphasis 011building skills within the organization, successful defenders use
performance appraisal for identifying training needs. Performance appraisal is usually
more behaviour oriented.
Organizations with a prospector strategy continuously search for different product and
market opportunities. In addition, these organizations regularly experiment with potential
responses to new and emerging environmental trends. Prospectors are often the
harbingers of change. Because of the emphasis on skills identification and acquisition of
human resources from external sources, as opposed to skills building with the
organization, prospectors often use the performance appraisal as a means of identifying
staffing needs. The emphasis is on results. Finally, the focus is on division and corporate
performance evaluation as they compare with other companies during the same
evaluation period.
Organizations with an analyzer strategy operate in two types of product-.market
domains. One domain is stable while the other is changing. In their more innovative
areas, managers watch their competitors closely and rapidly adopt the ideas that appear
promising. In general, analyzers use cost effective technologies for stable products and
project or matrix technologies for new product. Analyzers tend to emphasize both skill
building and skill i1cquisilion and employ extensive training programmes.
Thus, these organizations attempt to identify both training as well as staffing needs. The
appraisal systems are considered at the individual, group and divisional levels. Finally,
successful analyzers have a tendency to examine current performance with past
performance within the organization. Cross-sectional comparisons (comparisons among
'companies) may also occur.
Whatever the category, a performance appraisal system has strategic importance to a
firm in three ways:
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1. Feedback mechanism,
2. Consistency between organizational strategy and job behaviour, and
3. Consistency between organizational values and job behaviour.
APPRAISAL PROCESS
Figure below outlines the performance- appraisal process. Each step in the process is
crucial and is arranged logically. The process as shown in Fig. Below is somewhat
idea1ised. Many organizations make every effort to approximate the ideal process,
resulting in first-rate appraisal systems. Unfortunately, many others fail to consider one
or more of the steps and, therefore, have less-effective appraisal system.
Objectives of
Appraisal
Establish job
Expectation
Design an appraisal
performance
Performance
interview
Use appraisal data for
appropriate purposes
1. Objectives of Appraisal
Objectives of appraisal as stated above include effecting promotions and transfers,
assessing training needs, awarding pay increases, and the like. The emphasis in all these
is to correct problems. Theses objectives are appropriate as long as the approach in
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appraisal is individual. Appraisal in future, would assume systems orientations. In the
systems approach, the objectives of appraisal stretch beyond the traditional ones.
In the systems approach, appraisal aims at improving the performance, instead of
merely assessing it. Towards this end, an appraisal system seeks to evaluate opportunity
factors. Opportunity factors include the physical environment such as noise, ventilation
and lightings, available resources such as human and computer assistance and social
processes such as leadership effectiveness. These opportunity variables are more
important than individual abilities in determining work performance.
In the systems approach the emphasis is not on individual assessment and rewards or
punishments. But it is on how work the work system affects an individual’s.
In the systems approach the emphasis is not on individual assessment and rewards or
punishments. But it is on how the work systems affect an individual’s performance. In
order to use a systems approach, managers must learn to appreciate the impact that
systems levels factors have on individual performance and subordinates must adjust to
lack of competition among individuals. Thus, if a systems approach is going to be
successful, the employee must believe that by working towards shared goals, everyone
will benefit.
Not that the role of the individual is undermined. The individual is responsible for a
large percentage of his or her work performance. Employees should not be encouraged to
seek organizational reasons for his failures. The identifications of systems obstacles
should be used to facilitate development and motivation, not as an excuse to poor
performance. The following table displays some of the differences between the traditional
approach and the systems-oriented one.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEMS
Traditional Systems
Guiding value Attribution to individual Attribution to systems
Primary roles Control, documentation Development, problem
solving
Leadership practices Directional, evaluative Facilitative, coaching
Appraisal frequency Occasional Frequent
Degree of formality High Low
Reward practices Individual orientation Group orientation
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2. Establish Job Expectations
The second step in the appraisal process is to establish job expectations. This includes
informing the employee what is expected of him or her on the job. Normally, a discussion
is held with his or her superior to review the major duties contained in the job place of
formal performance evaluation.
3. Design Appraisal Programme
Designing an appraisal programme poses several questions which we need to
answers. They are: -
1. Formals versus informal appraisal
2. Whose performance is to be assessed?
3. Who are the raters?
4. What problems are encountered?
5. How to solve the problems?
6. What should be evaluated?
7. When to evaluate?
8. What methods of appraisal are to be used?
What
methods?
Formal
V/s
Informal
Whose
performanc
e
When to
evaluate?
Appraisal
design What are
the
raters?
What to What
evaluate? problems
How to
solve?
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1. Whose performance should be rated? To the question as to whose performance
should be rated, the answer is obvious—employees, is it individual or teams?
Specifically the rate may be defined as the individual, work group, division, or
organizations. It is also possible to define the rate at multiple levels. For example,
under some condition, it may be desirable to appraise performance both at work-
group level for merit-pay increases and at the individual level to assess training
needs. Two conditions necessitate a group level appraisal—group cohesiveness
and difficulty in identifying individual performance. Description. Individual
should not be expected to begin the job until they understand what is expected
out of them.
2. Formal V/s informal appraisal: - the first step in designing an appraisal
programme is to decide whether the appraisal should be formal or informal.
Formal appraisal usually occurs at specified time periods—once or twice year.
Formal appraisals are most often required by the organizations for the purposes
of employee evaluation. Informal performance appraisal can occur whenever the
superior feels the need for communication. For example, if the employee has
been consistently meeting or executing standards, an informal appraisal may be
in order to simply recognize this fact. Discussions can take place anywhere in the
organizations, ranging from the managers office to the canteen. But care needs to
be taken to ensure that the discussion is held in private. Many organizations
encourage a mixture of both formal and informal appraisal. The formal appraisal
is most often used as primary evaluation. However, the informal appraisal is very
helpful for more performance feedback. Informal appraisal should not take the
Group cohesiveness refers to shared feeling among work-team members. There is
cooperation and clear understanding to accomplish tasks which are
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interdependent. Any attempt to assess individual performance shall undermine
group cohesiveness and tend to promote individualistic or even competitive
orientation. The difficulty in identifying individual contribution is also important
to consider. In some cases, interdependent of tasks is so complete that it is
difficult to identify who has contributed what. There is no other choice but to
view that task as a team effort. But the point to be remembered is that the
performance of all employees must be rated. All must become raters.
3. Who are Raters? Raters can be immediate supervisors, specialist from the HR
department, subordinates. Peers, committees, clients, self appraisal, or a
combination of several.
a. Immediate supervisor is the fit candidate to appraise the performance of
his or her subordinate. There are 3 reasons in support of this choice. No
one is familiar with the subordinate’s performance than his or her
superior. Another reason is that the superior has the responsibility of
managing a particular unit. When the tasks of evaluating a subordinate is
given to another person, the superior authority may be undermined
seriously. Finally, training and development of subordinate is am portent
element in every mangers job. Since appraisal programme are often
clearly linked to training and development, the immediate superior may
be the legal choice to conduct the performance evaluation.
b. Subordinate can assess the performance of their superiors. The use of this
choice may be useful in assessing an employee ability to communicate,
delegate work, allocate resources, disseminate information, resolve intra-
personal conflict, and deal with employees on a fair basis. But the
problem with the subordinate evaluation is that supervisors tend to
become popular, not by effective leadership, but by mere gimmicks.
c. Peers are in better position to evaluate certain facts of job performance
which the subordinates or supervisors cannot do. Such facts include
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contribution skills, reliability and initiative. Closeness of the working
relationships and the amount of personal contacts place peers in a better
position to make accurate assessments. Unfortunately friendship or
animosity may result in distortion of evaluation. Further when reward
allocation is based on peer evaluation, series conflicts among co-workers
may develop. Finally join together to rate each other high.
d. Although clients are seldom used for rating employee performance,
nothing prevents an organization from using this source. Clients may be
members within the organization who have direct contact with the rate
and make use of an output (goods or services) this employee provides.
Interest, courtesy, dependability and innovativeness are but a few of the
qualities for which clients can offer rating information. Clients, external
to the organization can also offer similar kinds of information. Where
appraisal is made by the superior, peers, subordinates and clients, it is
called the 360-degree system of appraisal. First developed at General
Electric, US in 1992 the system has become popular in our country too.
GE (India). Reliance Industries, Crompton Greaves, Godrej Soaps,
Wipro, Infosys, Thermax and Thomas Cook are using the method with
greater benefits. The Arthur Anderson Survey 1997 reveals that 20% of
the organization use 360 degree method. In the 360 degree method,
besides assessing performance. Other attributes of the assess—talents,
behavioral quirks, values, ethical standards, tempers and loyalty are
evaluated by the people who are best placed to do it. Many employees use
rating committees to evaluate employees. These committees are often
composed of the employee’s immediate supervisor and three or four other
supervisors who come in contact with the employee. This choice is
welcome when an employee in the course of his or her job performs a
variety of tasks in different environment. For e.g. 1supervisor may work
with the employee when technical aspects of a job are being performed
and another supervisor may deal with the same employee in situations
where communications skills are crucial. There are several benefits in
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using multiple raters. First there may be objectivity in rating as more than
rater is involved in the assessment. Furthermore where there are
differences in the rater ought ratings they usually stem from the fact that
raters at different level in the organization often observe different facets
of an employee performance-the appraisal to reflect these differences.
The disadvantages of committee rating are that it diminishes the role of
the immediate supervisor in the area of training and development.
e. In self –appraisal employee himself or herself evaluates his or her own
performance. Indian Telephone Industries has been following the self-
appraisal system for executives in grade I to IV. Hewlett-Packard and
Texas Instruments too ask their performance to prepare their own
appraisal. On the positive side it may be stated that in self-appraisal there
is an opportunity to participate in evaluation particularly if it is combine
with goal setti9ng and this should be improve the mangers motivation.
Managers are less defensive in self-evaluation than when supervisors tell
them what they are. Self-appraisal is best suited where executive
development is the main purpose of evaluation as the approach enablers’
managers to clearly assess their areas of differences. Unfortunately self-
appraisal falls short almost by any criterion. They tend to be more lenient
compared to other sources of evaluation, even that of peers who are more
lenient than their superiors. Self-appraisal is also more likely to be less
biased and less in agreement with judgment of others. In practice a
combination of methods is followed for employee. For example
evaluation by self may be followed by a superior, the personal department
or the HR department (following diagram).
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Different Raters of Performance- L&T, Bangalore works
PROCEDURE AND SCHEDULE FOR PERFORMANCE APPRAISL PROCESS
Action by/Date Form/Section
Annual Performance Review
Form 2
Sec:
Employee by
15.4.1999
Form 2
Sec: B, C
From 3
From 1
From 2
Sec C
Sec D
Brief description of Activities
• Describes actual results against
objectives set earlier. Not more than
five
• Carries out self-review highlighting
significant contributions and factors
influencing performance
• Keeps himself or herself ready for
appraisal interview by analyzing
his performance, strengths and
weakness and development needs.
• Prepares for the appraisal interview by
analyzing results against objectives,
strengths and weakness and recalling
significant incidents. Related to
critical attributes.
• Discusses with the employees and
provides feedback on critical attributes
and rate on performance and attributes.
• Carries out development planning
with the employee
• Carries out performance planning for
1994-1995 with employee, selects
and describes role related attributes.
• Describes strengths and weakness and
comments on potential areas for growth
• Records training needs and
apecific developments plans.
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From 2
Sec E
Next superior(s)
By 15.6.1994
• Comments on specific developments
plans
• Makes overall observations on
the employee’s performance
• Forwards the forms if necessary
to his superior to ensure:
1. Covenants are reviewed by a
superiors at least at DGM level
2. Superiors/ executives are
reviewed by covenanted officers.
Immediate From 2 • Notes the comments by the next
superior(s) superiors and conveys significant
By 15.6.1994 observations to employee
• Forwards for convents to HRD depts.
and for superiors/executives to
From 2 • Analyses rating and comments and
Personnel/ furnishes data to all concerned for
HRD dept. necessary actions
• Co-ordinates Development ActionBy 15.7.1994
Proposals at Respective Group/
unit level
• Plans training programme and
From 2
HRD dept. other actions
By 30.7.1994 • Complies Pa data for
aggregate analysis
• Comments on Pa exercise and
send report to GMs and corporate
management
Immediate
Superior
From 1
From 3
• Reviews performance and objectives
and writes comments as necessary
• Reviews development action
taken and records status.
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2. PERIODIC REVIEW (during the year)
Whoever may be the rater two requisites must be fulfilled. First the rater must be free
from bias. Second the rater must have an opportunity to observe the full spectrum of
activities and behavior of the rate over an extended time period.]
4. Problems of Rating: - Performance appraisals are subject to a wide variety of
inaccurate and biases referred to as rating errors. These errors occur in the rater’s
observations, judgments and information processing and can seriously affect assessment
result. The most common rating errors are leniency or severity, central tendency, halo
effect, primary and recency effects, perceptual set, performance dimension behavior, spill
over effect and status effect.
5. Leniency or Severity: - Leniency or severity on the part of the rater makes the
assessment subjective. Subjective assessments defeat the very purpose of performance
appraisal. Ratings are lenient for the following reasons.
• The rater may feel that anyone under his or her jurisdictions who is
rated unfavorably will reflect poorly on his or her own worthiness.
• He or she may feel that anyone who could have been rated unfavorably has
already been discharged from the organization
• He or she may feel that a derogatory rating will be revealed to the rate to
the determinant of the relations between the rater and rate.
• He or she may rate leniently in order to win promotions for the subordinates and
therefore indirectly increase his or her hold over them.
• He or she may be projecting
• He or she feels it necessary to always approve of others in order to gain
approval for him or herself.
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• He or she may be operating on the premise, “whoever associates with me is
meritorious therefore, and I am meritorious”.
• He or she may rate leniently because there exists, in the culture, a response set
approve rather than disapprove.
WC according to a WC according to a lenient rater
Severe rater True amount WC
LOW written communication HIGH
Skills (WC)
4. Central tendency: - this occurs when employees are incorrectly rated near the
average or middle of the scale. The attitude of the rate is to play safe. This safe-
playing attitude stems from certain doubts and anxieties which the raters have
while assessing the ratees. Such doubts and anxieties are :
• “Do I know the man sufficiently well to be able to give a fair assessment
of him?
• “If I rate him the way I think I should what will be its influence on his
relations with me and on his performance in the future?
• “If I rate him the way I think I should what will be its effect on my relations
with the others subordinates?”
• “If I rate him the way I think I should what will be its effect on
his relationship within the group or subordinates?”
• “Will I able to be objective in view of pressures from peers, subordinates
and trade union?”
• “If I rate him the way I think I should will be accused to being partial?”
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• “How will my boss view the appraisal I make and how will that influences the
way he appraises the man?”
• “What standards will my peers adopt to appreciate their subordinates? And
in view of this am I likely to affect adversely the future of my subordinates?”
Naturally the rates use such expressions as satisfactory and average to describe the
performance of the rates. For example the principal of a college while giving character
certificates to the outgoing students describe the character of each student as satisfactory.
Obviously it’s become difficult to distinguish between excellent performance and poor
performance. In small organization it is common to label all employees as an average.
But in large companies errors of this type tend to obviate the value of evaluations.
Close to error of central tendency is the problem of range restriction. Range restriction
may involve clustering all employees around any point on a scale, often in combination
with leniency errors at very top. What is distinctive in the error of central tendency and
the error of range restriction is a failure to note real performance differences, either
intentionally or due to insufficient attention.
Halo Error - it takes place when one aspect of an individual performance influences the
evaluation of the entire performance of the individual just as the assessment of the
performance of a student in his or her examination being influence by the opening
paragraph of every answer. If the introductory paragraph is poorly written the chances of
scoring high marks in that answer are diminished however good the subsequent portion
of the essay may be
In an organization a halo error occurs when an emplopuee who work late constantly
might be rated high on productivity and quality of output as well as on motivation.
Similarly an attractive or popular employee might be given a high overall rating. Rating
employees separately can each of a number of performance and encouraging raters to
guard against the halo effect are two ways to reduce halo effect.
Rater effect: this includes favoritism, stereotyping and hostility. Excessively high or low
scores are given only to certain individual or groups based on the rater’s attitude towards
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the rate, not on actual outcomes or behavior. Sex, age, race and friendship biases are
example of this type of error.
Primary and recency effects: - the rater’s ratings are heavily influenced either by
behavior exhibited by the rate during the early stage of the review period or by outcomes
or behavior exhibited by the rate near the end of the review period (recency). For
example if a salesperson captures an important contract/ sales just before the completion
of the appraisal the timing of the incident may inflate his or her standing even though the
overall performance of the salesperson may not have been encouraging. Likewise a
blunder committed just before the appraisal period may diminish chance of securing a
favorable rating even if the performance is good.
One way of guarding against such an error is to ask rater to consider the composite
performance of the ratee and not to be influenced by one incident or own achievement.
The rater must also be aware of tendency on the part of the rates to improve odds in their
favors or suppress weak points during the rating period.
Perceptual Set: - this occurs when the rater’s assessment is influenced by previously
held beliefs. If the supervisors for example have a belief that employee hailing from 1
particular region is intelligent and hard working his subsequent rating of an employee
hailing from that region tends to be favorably high.
Performance Dimension order: 2 or more dimensions on a performance instrument
follows or closely follow each other and both describe or rotate to a similar quality. The
rater rates first dimension accurately and then rates the second dimension similar to the
first because of their proximity. If the dimension had been arranged in a significant
different order the rating might have been different.
Spillover effect: This refers to allowing past performance appraisal ratings to
unjustifiably influence current ratings. Past ratings, good or bad result for the period
although the demonstrated behavior does not deserve the rating good or bad.
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Status effect: - it refers to overrating of employee in higher-level jobs held in high
esteem, and underrating employees in lower-level-job or jobs held in low esteem.
It is not the rater’s errors alone that are barriers to accurate and valid measurement of
employee performance. Barriers lie deep within the genetic and acquired make-up of all
people concerned with performance appraisal. A wide variety of emotional,
psychological, intellectual and physical factors that at first glance may appear to be
separate and irrelevant may combine in any numbers of ways during the appraisal
process.
Exhibit 10.2
Here is a bizarre case of performance appraisal. A pulp making unit located at Harihae in
Karnataka, hired 40 engineers in 1994, as management trainees. The new hires were fresh
from, REC, Suratkal, and other prestigious institutions. Obviously they were toppers in
their respective branches and institutions.
The management of the plant adopted a freakish policy with regard to performance
appraisal – 10 percent of all the employees were to be rated below average. The
management did not want all the employees to be ranked high, notwithstanding their
excellent performance.
The axe fell on the trainees. The raters rated all the 40 trainees below average.
Humiliated, these 40 put in their papers even before their training period expired.
Solving Rater’s Problems
the best way to overcome the problems is to provide training to the raters. At Hewlett-
Packard, a 2 day training course is organized every year to prepare managers to handle
appraisals better. Not that training is a ‘cure-all’ for all the ills of appraisal systems. From
a practical point of view, several factors, including the extent which pay is related to
performance ratings, union pressure, turnover rates, time constraints and the need to
justify ratings may be more important than training, influencing the ratings they actually
give. This means that improving rating systems involves not just training the raters but
remedying outside factors such ass union pressure. And it means that rater training, to be
effective, should also add real life problems such as the fact that union representatives
will try to influence supervisors to rate everyone high.
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But training can help improve the appraisal system to the extent of distortion that occurs
due to the rater’s error such as halo, leniency, central tendency and bias. In a typical
training, raters are shown a video-tape of jobs being performed and are asked to rate the
workers. Ratings made by each participant are then placed on a flip chart and the various
charts are explained. For e.g., a trainee is rated on all criteria (such as quantity and
quality) about the same, the trainer might explain that halo error had occurred. If, on the
other hand, a trainer rated all video-taped workers very high, this might be explained as a
leniency error. Typically, the trainer gives the correct rating and then illustrates the rating
errors made.
In effect, training of raters must help strengthen the factors that tend to improve accuracy
of ratings and weaken those that lower the accuracy of the performance measurement.
Factors that help improve accuracy:
1. The rater has observed and is familiar with behaviors to be appraised.
2. The rater has documented the behaviors to improve the recall.
3. The rater has a checklist to obtain and review job-related information.
4. The rater is aware of personal biases and is willing to take action to minimize their
effect.
5. Rating scores by raters of one group or organization are summarized and compared
with those by other raters.
6. The rater focuses attention on performance-related behaviors over which the rater has
better control than in other aspects of evaluation.
7. Higher levels of management are held accountable for reviewing all ratings.
8. The rater’s own performance ratings are related to the quality of rating given and the
performance of units.
9. Performance factors are properly defined.
Factors that may lower accuracy:
1. The rater rates ratees only when administrative actions are contemplated.
2. The rater tends to inflate ratings when the ratees receive scores and results
of appraisals.
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3. The rater tends to recall more behaviours known to be of particular interest to higher
level managers, whether or not they are pertinent, when his or her ratings are reviewed by
such authorities.
4. The rater is unable to express him or herself honestly and unambiguously.
5. Appraisal systems, processes and instruments fail to support the rater.
6. The rater has to rate employees on factors that are poorly defined.
7. Finally, the supervisor/rater must be trained to conduct the appraisal interview. For
many raters, this is a difficult task, especially when the appraisal is unfavorable to the
rater. Favorable or unfavorable rating, it is the job of the rater to convince the ratee about
the appraisal, and advise him or her about the future course of action the rate should take.
What should be rated?
One of the steps in designing an appraisal programme is to determine the evaluation
criteria. It is obvious that the criteria should be related to the job. The six criteria for
assessing performance are:
1. Quality: The degree to which the result or process of carrying out an activity
approaches perfection in terms of either conforming to some ideal way of performing the
activity, or fulfilling the activity’s intended purpose.
2. Quantity: The amount produced, expressed in monetary terms, number of units,
or number of completed activity cycles.
3. Timeliness: the degree to which an activity is completed or a result produced, at the
earliest time desirable from the standpoints of both co-coordinating with the outputs of
others and of maximizing the time available for other activities.
4. Cost Effectiveness: the degree to which the use of the organization’s resources (e.g.
human, monetary, technological and material) is maximized in the sense of getting the
highest gain or reduction in loss from each unit or instance of use of a resource.
5. Need for supervision: the degree to which a job performer can carry out a job
function without either having to request supervisory assistance or requiring supervisory
intervention to prevent an adverse outcome.
6. Interpersonal impact: the degree to which as performer promotes feeling of self-
esteem, goodwill and co-operation among co-workers and sub-ordinates.
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These criteria relate to past performance and behavior of an employee. There is also the
need for assessing, as was pointed out earlier, the potential of an employee for future
performance, particularly when the employee is tipped for assuming greater
responsibilities.
Exhibit 10.3
Appraisal of Potential at Philips
More and more number of organizations are trying to assess potential of their employees,
particularly at the managerial level. Cadbury India, Sandoz, Pfizer, Mafatlal, Philips,
National Organic Chemical Industries, Glaxo and P&G are a few of the companies which
seek to top managerial potential.
At Philips a 2 by 2 matrix is used to assess performance and potential to perform. The
vertical axis measures potential while the horizontal, actual performance. Both are further
subdivided into parameters – high and low – resulting in 4 quadrants of classification.
Problem
High Children Stars
Potential
Problem Solid
Low Separation Citizens
Low
High
Performance
The Philips Model
Low Potential-Low Performance: these employees are categorized as question marks.
The company asks such employees to improve their performance levels. Failure to
improve would result in their planned separation.
High Potential-Low Performance: these are the problem children. In order to help them
improve their performance, these employees are shifted to new locations to work and are
closely monitored. If performance levels do not improve, these employees are reclassified
as question marks and the separation process initiated.
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High Potential-High Performance: these are the star performers. They have to be kept
engaged with complex assignments all the time and groomed to take up the top positions.
Otherwise, they might leave.
Low Potential-High Performance: these are called as solid citizens and constitute 70 to
75 % of the total number of employees in any organization. They have skills but lack the
potential to grow beyond their current job-profile. The organization has to constantly
recognize their limitations and take care of their needs.
In order to assess employee potential, Philips has adopted the system that prevails at
Philips NV, Holland. The system at Philips NV uses 4 broad attributes – conceptual
effectiveness, operational effectiveness, interpersonal effectiveness and achievement
effectiveness and achievement motivation. Each attribute has a 5-point grading scale –
excellent, very good, good/adequate, weak and insufficient.
Coming to the six criteria, it may be stated that the first 4 – quality, quantity, timeliness
and cost effectiveness – are objective in nature; and the last 2 - need for supervision and
interpersonal impact – are subjective. Objective measures are quantifiable and are
therefore highly useful in measuring the performance of an employee. But performance
of employees should not always be evaluated against the amount of deposits mobilized
for his or her bank. The effort put in by him/her, the contacts he/she has established, the
image about the bank he/she has created in the eyes of public, and if relationships he/she
has maintained with subordinates speak more reliably about the manager’s performance.
Here comes the relevance of the subjective criteria. However, as subjective measures are
dependent upon human judgments, they are prone to the kinds of errors we noted earlier –
leniency or severity, central tendency, halo and the like. To be useful, subjective
measures must be based on a careful analysis of the behaviors viewed as necessary and
important for job performance.
Of late, there has been a shift in focus of appraisals. This shift is from performance of the
individual to the systems approach. As stated earlier, in the systems approach the
emphasis is on improving one’s performance. Work performance of an individual
depends on organizational factors in addition to his or her abilities. The focus in the
systems approach is, therefore, the entire organization.
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Timing of Evaluation
How often should an employee be assessed? The general trend is to evaluate once in 3
months, or six months, or once in a year. According to a survey conducted in 1997 by
Arthur Anderson, 70 percent of the organizations conduct performance appraisal once a
year. Newly hired employees are rated more frequently than the older ones. Frequent
assessment is better than phased evaluation. Feedback in the latter is delayed and the
advantage of timely remedial measures by the employee is lost. Frequent evaluation gives
constant feedback to the rate, thus enabling him or her to improve performance if there is
any deficiency. The performance of trainees and probationers should be evaluated at the
end of respective programmes.
METHODS OF APPRAISAL
The last to be addressed in the process of designing an appraisal programme is to
determine methods of evaluation. Numerous methods have been devised to measure the
quantity and quality of employee’s job performance. Each of the methods discussed
could be effective for some purposes, for some organizations. None should be dismissed
or accepted as appropriate except as they relate to the particular needs of the organization
or of a particular type of employees. Broadly, all the approaches to appraisal can be
identified into (i) past-oriented methods, and (ii) future-oriented methods. Each group has
several techniques as shown in the figure below:
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Appraisal
Methods
Past-Oriented Methods
Rating Scales: This is the simplest and most popular technique for appraising employee
performance; the typical rating-scale system consists of several numerical scales, each
representing a job-related performance criterion such as dependability, initiative, output,
attendance, attitude, co-operation, and the like. Each scale ranges from excellent to poor.
The rater checks the appropriate performance level on each criterion, then computes the
employee’s total numerical score. The number of points scored may be linked to salary
increases, whereby so many points equal a rise of some percentage.
RATING SCALE
Instructions: For the following performances factors, please indicate on the rating
Scale your evaluation of the employee named below:
Employee’s Name: Department
Rater’s Name Date.
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Excellent Good Acceptable Fair Poor
5 4 3 2 1
1. Dependability------ ------ ------ ----- -----
2. Initiative------ ------ ------ ----- -----
3. Overall Output------ ------ ------ ----- -----
4. Attendance------ ------ ------ ----- -----
5. Attitude------ ------ ------ ----- -----
6. Co-Operation------ ------ ------ ----- -----
------ ------ ------ ----- -----
------ ------ ------ ----- -----
------ ------ ------ ----- -----
20. Quality of Work ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
TOTAL + + + +
TOTAL SCORE
Rating scales offer the advantages of adaptability, relatively easy use and low cost.
Nearly every type of job can be evaluated in a short time, and the rater does not need any
training to use the scale.
The disadvantages of this method are several. The rater’s biases are likely to influence
evaluation, and the biases are particularly pronounced on subjective criteria such as co-
operation, attitude and initiative. Furthermore, numerical scoring gives an illusion of
precision that is really unfounded.
Checklist: Under this method a checklist of statements on the traits of the employee and
his or her job is prepared in 2 columns – viz., a ‘Yes’ column and a ‘No’ column. All that
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the rater (immediate superior) should is tick the ‘Yes’ column if the answer to the
statement is positive and in column ‘No’ if the answer is negative. A typical checklist is
given in the table below. After ticking off against each item, the rater forwards the list to
the HR department. The HR department assigns certain points to each ‘Yes’ ticked.
Depending upon the number of ‘Yes’ the total score is arrived at. When points are
allotted to the checklist, the technique becomes a weighted checklist. The advantages of
as checklist are economy, ease of administration, limited training of rater, and
standardization. The disadvantages include susceptibility to rater’s biases (especially the
halo effect), use of personality criteria instead of performance criteria, misinterpretation
of checklist items, and the use of improper weights by the HR department. Another
disadvantage of this approach is that it does not allow the rater to give up relative ratings.
Table: - Checklist for Operators
SR. QUESTIONS YES NO
NO.
1. Is the employee really interested in the job? - -
2. Does he or she possess adequate knowledge about the job - -
3. Is his or her attendance satisfactory? - -
4. Does he/she maintain his/her equipment in good condition? - -
5. Does he/she co-operate with co-workers? - -
6. Does he/she keep his/her temper? - -
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7. Does he/she obey orders? - -
8. Does he/she observe safety precautions? - -
9. Does he/she complete what he/she commences? - -
10. Does he/she evade responsibility? - -
Forced Choice Method: In this, the rater is given a series of statements about an
employee. These statements are arranged in blocks of 2 or more, and the rater indicates
which statement is most or least descriptive of the employee. Typical statements are :
1. Learns fast _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ works hard
2. Work is reliable_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ performance is a good example for
3. Absents often_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ others usually tardy.
As in the checklist method, the rater is simply expected to select the statements that
describe the rate. Actual assessment is done by the HR Department.
This approach is known as the forced choice method because the rater is forced to select
statements, which are readymade. The advantage of this method is the absence of
personal bias in rating. The disadvantage is that the statements may not be properly
framed – they may not be precisely descriptive of the ratee’s traits.
Forced Distribution Method: One of the errors in rating is leniency – clustering a large
number of employees around a high point on a rating scale. The forced distribution
method seeks to overcome the problem by compelling the rater to distribute the ratees on
all points on the rating scale.
The method operates under an assumption that the employee performance level conforms
to a normal statistical distribution. Generally, it is assumed that employee performance
levels conform to a bell shaped curve. For example, the following distribution might be
assumed to exist – excellent 10 %, good 20 %, average 40 %, below average 20 %, and
unsatisfactory 10 %.
The major weakness of the forced distribution method lies in the assumption that the
employee performance levels always conform to a normal distribution. In organizations
that have done a good job of selecting and retaining only the good performers, the use of
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forced distribution approach would be unrealistic, as well as possibly destructive to the
employee morale.
The error of central tendency may also occur, as the rater resists from placing an
employee in the lowest or in the highest group. Difficulties also arise for the rater to
explain to the rate why he or she has been placed in a particular group. One merit of this
approach is that it seeks to eliminate the error of leniency. However, the forced choice
method is not acceptable to raters and ratees, especially, in small groups or when group
members are of high ability.
Critical Incidents Method: The critical incidents method of employee assessment has
generated a lot of interest these days. The approach focuses on certain critical behaviors
of an employee that make all the difference between effective and non-effective
performance of a job. The supervisors as and when they occur record such incidents.
Examples of critical incidents of a plant manager are given in the following table:
Examples of Critical Incidents for an Assistant Plant Manager
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One of the advantages of the critical incidents methods is that the evaluation is based on
CONTINUING TARGETS CRITICAL
DUTIES INCIDENTS
Schedule Production for Plant Full Utilization of Instituted new production
personnel and scheduling system;
machinery in the plant, decreased late orders by
order delivered on time 10% last month;
increased machine
utilization in plant by20%
last month
Supervise procurement of raw Minimize inventory Let inventory storage costs
materials and inventory control costs while keeping rise 15% last month;
adequate supplies on Over – Ordered parts “A”
hand and “B” by 20%;
Under – Ordered part “C”
by30%
Supervise machinery No shutdowns due to Instituted new preventive
maintenance faulty machinery maintenance system for
plant;
Prevented a machine
breakdown by discovering
faulty part.
actual job behavior. Further, the approach has descriptions in support of particular ratings
of an employee. Giving job-related feedback to the ratee is also easy. It also reduces the
personal biases, if raters record incidents throughout the rating period. Finally, this
approach can increase the chances that the subordinates will improve because they learn
more precisely what is expected of them. The method however has significant limitations.
These include:
1. Negative incidents are generally more noticeable that positive ones.
2. The recording of incidents is a chore to the supervisor and may be put off an easily
forgotten.
3. Overly close supervision may result.
4. Managers may unload a series of complaints about incidents during an annual
performance review session. The feedback may be too much at one time and thus
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appearing as a punishment to the rate. More appropriately, the management should use
incidents of poor performance as opportunities for immediate training and counseling.
Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales:
Behaviorally Anchored Scales, sometimes called behavioral expectation scales, are rating
scales whose scale points are determined by statements of effective and ineffective
behaviors. They are said to be behaviorally anchored in that the scales represent a range
of descriptive statements of behavior varying from the least to the most effective. A rater
must indicate which behavior on each scale best describes an employee’s performance.
Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) have the following features:
1. Areas of performance to be evaluated are identified and defined by people who will
use the scales.
2. The scales are anchored by descriptions of actual job behavior that, supervisors agree,
represent specific levels of performance. The result is a set of rating scales in which both
dimensions and anchors are precisely defined.
3. All dimensions of performance to be evaluated are based on observable behaviors
and are relevant to the job being evaluated since BARS are tailor-made for the job.
4. Since the raters who will actually use the scales are actively involved in the
development process. They are more likely to be committed to the final product. BARS
were developed to provide results which subordinates could use to improve performance.
Superiors would feel comfortable to give feedback to the rates. Further, BARS help
overcome rating errors. Unfortunately, this method too suffers from distortion inherent in
most rating techniques.
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Field Review Method
This is an appraisal by someone outside the, assessor’s own department. Usually
someone from the corporate office or the HR department. The outsider reviews Employee
records and holds interviews with the ratee and his or her superior.
This method is primarily used for making promotional decision at the managerial level.
Field reviews are also useful when comparable information is needed from employees in
different units or locations. Two disadvantage of this method are:-
1. An "outsider" is usually not familiar with conditions in an employees’ work
environment which may affect the employee's ability or motivation to perform.
2. An 'outsider' review dose not have the opportunity to observe employee behavior of
performance over a period of time and in a variety of situations. But only in an artificially
structured interview situation which extends over a very short period of time.
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Extremely good
7 performance
Good
performance
Slightly good
performance
Neither poor
nor good 4
performance
Slightly poor
performance
3
Poor
2
performance
By knowing the price of items. This checker would be
expected to look for mismarked and unmarked items.
You can expect this checker to be aware of items
that constantly fluctuate in price.
When in doubt. This checker would ask the other
clerk if the item is taxable.
This checker can be expected to verify with another
checker a discrepancy between the shelf and the marked
price before ringing up that Item.
When operating the quick check. If the lights are flashing
this checker can be expected to check out a customer
with 15 items.
You could expect this checker to ask the customer
the price of an Item that he or she does not know.
In the daily course of personal relationships, he or she may
be expected to linger in long conversations with a
customer or with another checker.
Extremely poor
performance
1
In order to take a break. this checker can be expected to
block off the check stand while people wait in line.
A BARS Scale for the Knowledge and Judgement Dimension of a
Grocery Checker's Job.
Raters, making field reviews normally receive training on how to conduct the interview
and develop their writing skills. Being independent of the work scene they normally have
less bias for or against the ratee than docs the immediate supervisor. Even when a
supervisor or others concerned supply biased information the rater may he able to
pinpoint areas requiring training and development assistance.
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Performance Tests and Observations
With limited number of jobs, employee assessment may be based upon a test of
knowledge or skills. The test may he of the paper-and-pencil variety or an actual
demonstration of skills. The test must he reliable and validated to be useful. Even then,
performance tests are apt to measure potential more than actual performance. In order for
the test to be job related, observations should he made under circumstances likely to be
encountered. Practicality may suffer if costs of test development or administration arc
high.
Confidential Records
Confidential records arc maintained mostly in government Departments. though its
application in the industry .not ruled out. ITI. for example. had followed this method for a
long time. Called the Annual Confidential Report (ACR). the approach had 14 items-(i)
attendance. (ii) self-expression (written or oral). (iii) ability to work with others. (iv)
leadership. (v) initiative. (vi) technical ability (job knowledge). (vii) ability to understand
new material. (viii) ability to reason, (ix) originality and resourcefulness. (x) areas of
work that suits the person best. (xi) judgement. (xii) integrity. (xiii) responsibility and.
(xiv) and defect-indebtedness. Memo served. etc. Twelve of these were filled on a four-
point grade scale (Excellent. Good. Fair and Poor).
For integrity. there were special instructions from the management. Justification was
required for outstanding or poor rating. Over:!!! rating on a five-point scale was
separately given (Outstanding. Very good. Good. Average, Poor). again with justification
for rating as outstanding or poor. Recommendations for promotion were also given. The
ACR contained recommendations and signature of the rater. the head of the department
and the CMD.
The system was highly secretive and confidential Feedback to the assessee was given
only in case of an adverse entry. The AC'R was highly subjective. Ratings were easily
manipulated because the evaluation was linked to promotion. Even ITI has discontinued
ACR system for these reasons.
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Essay Method
In the essay method the rater must describe the employee within a number of broad
categories such as (i) the rater's overall impression of the employee's performance. (ii),
the promo ability of the employee (iii) the jobs that the employee is now able or qualified
to perform (.iv) the strengths and weaknesses of the employee. and (v)the training and the
development assistance required by the employee. Although this method may be used
independently, it is most frequently found in combination with others. It is extremely
useful in filing information gaps about the employees that often occur in the better
structured checklist method.
The strength of the essay method depends on the writing skills and analytical ability
of the rater.
However many raters do not have good writing skills. They become confused about
what to say. How much they should state and the depth of the narrative The essay method
can consume much time because the rater must collect the information necessary to
develop the essay and then he or she must write it The essay method also depends on the
memory power of the rater.
A problem with this method is that the rate may be rated on the quality of the
appraisals that they give. The quality standard for the appraisal may be unduly influenced
by appearance rather than content. Thus. a 'high quality' appraisal may provide little
useful information about the performance of the rate.
Cost Accounting Method
This method evaluates performance from the monetary returns the employee yields to
his or her organisation. A relationship is established between the cost included in keeping
the employee and the benefit the organization derives from him or her. Performance of
the employee is then evaluated based on the established relationship between the cost and
the benefit.
Comparative Evaluation Approaches
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These are a collection of different methods that compare one worker's performance
with that of his/her co-workers. Comparative appraisals are usually conducted by
supervisors. As these appraisals can result in a ranking from best to worst, they are useful
in deciding merit-pay increases, promotions and organisational rewards. The usual
comparative forms used in this kind of evaluation are the ranking method and the paired
comparison method.
Ranking Method
In this, the superior ranks his or her subordinates in the order of their merit, starting
from the best to the worst. All that the HR department knows is that A is better than B.
The, 'how' and 'why' are not questioned, nor answered. No attempt, is made to
fractionalise what is being appraised into component elements. This method is subject to
the halo and recency effects, although rankings by two or more raters can be averaged to
help reduce biases. Its advantages include ease of administration and explanation.
Paired-comparison Method
Under this method the appraiser compares each employee with every other employee
one at a time. For example there are five employees named A, B. C. D and E. The
performance of A is first compared with the performance of B and a decision is made
about whose performance is better. Then A is compared with C. D and E in that order.
The same procedure is repeated for other employees. The number of comparisons may be
calculated with the help of a formula which reads thus: N(N-1)/ 2 where N stands for the
number of employees to be compared. If there are 10 employees, the number of
comparisons will be 10(10-1)/2 = 45.
After the completion of comparison, the results can be tabulated and a rank is created
from the number of times each person is considered to be superior.
Future-oriented Appraisals
Is it not enough if only the past performance is assessed . How an employee can
perform in the days to come is equally important. This can be assessed by focusing on
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employee potential or setting future performance goals. The commonly used future-
oriented techniques are MBO, psychological appraisals, and assessment centres.
MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES
It was Peter F. Drucker who first gave the concept of MBO to the world way back in
1954 when his The Practice of Management was first published. The MBO concept, as
was conceived by Drucker, reflects a management philosophy which values and utilizes
employee contributions. Application of MBO in the field of performance appraisal is a
recent thinking.
Four Steps in the MBO Process
How MBO works can be described in four steps:
The first step is to establish the goals each subordinate is to attain. In some
organisations, superiors and subordinates work together to establish goals. In others.
Superiors establish goals for subordinates. The goals typically refer to the desired
outcome to be achieved. These goals can then be used to evaluate employee performance.
The second step involves setting the performance standard for the subordinates in a
previously arranged time period. As subordinates perform, they know fairly well what
there is to do, what has been done, and what remains to be done.
In the third step, the actual level of goal attainment is compared with the goals agreed
upon. The evaluator explores reasons for the goals that were not met and for the goals
that were exceeded. This step helps determine possible training needs. It also alerts the
superior to conditions in the organization that may affect a subordinate but over which
the subordinate has no control.
The final step involves establishing new goals and, possibly new strategies for goals not
previously attained. At this point, subordinate and superior involvement in goal-setting
may change. Subordinates who successfully reach the established goals may be allowed
to participate more in the goal setting process the next time. The process is
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repeated. As with other approaches. MBO too has been criticised. One comment made
against the approach is that it is not applicable to all jobs in all organisations. Jobs with
little or no flexibility. Such as assembly-line work, are not compatible with MBO. An
assembly-line worker usually has so little job flexibility that the performance standards
and objectives are already determined. The MBO process seems to be most useful with
managerial personnel 'and employees who have a fairly wide range of flexibility and self-
control in their jobs. Besides, when the result of an MBO system are to be used to
allocate organisational rewards, employees may be less likely to establish challenging
goals-goals they are confident that they can accomplish. Further, the allocation of merit
pay on a semi-annual or annual basis may encourage the setting up of goals with short
time horizons to the disadvantage of important long-term goals.
The performance appraisal presently followed in L&T reflects the principles of MBO.
Psychological Appraisals
Large organization employs full-time industrial psychologists. When psychologists are
used for evaluations. They assess an individual’s future potential and past performance.
The appraisal normally consists of in-depth interviews, psycho1ogical tests. Discussions
with supervisors and a review' of other evaluations. The psychologist then write an
evaluation of the employee's intellectual, emotional, motivational and other-related
characteristics that suggest individual potential and may predict future performance. The
evaluation by the psychologist may be for a specific job opening for which the person is
being considered. Or it may be a global assessment of his or her future potential. From
these evaluations. Placement and development decisions may be made to shape the
person's career. Because this approach is slow and costly, it is usually required for bright
young members who, others think. May have considerable potential within the
organisation. Since the quality of the appraisal depends largely on the skills of the
psychologists, some employees object to this type of evaluation, especially if cross-
cultural differences exist.
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LARSEN AND TOUBRO, HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT—
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM
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CONFIDENTIAL NAME EMS. PS. NO CADRE GROUP DEPT.
PA FORM:28
EXECUTIVES &
SUPERVISORS
LARSEN &TOUBRO LIMITED
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT-PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
SYSTEM
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS AND REVIEW
APRIL 1993 TO MARCH 1994
NAME
DATE
SIGNATURE
EMPLOYEE
IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR
NEXT SUPERIOR 1.
2.
PERSONNEL/ HRD DEPT.
A]PERFORMANCE REVIEW AGAINST B1] BY IMMEDIATE
OBJECTIVES SUPERIOR
A1] BY EMPLOYEE
V.GOOD
OUTSTANDING
GOOD
ADEQUATE
INADEQUATE
AGREED RESULTS
OBJECTIVES AND ACHIEVED
TARGETS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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A2] SELF REVIEW (by employee)
SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTORS (JOBS OR PROFESSION RELATED –NOT COVERED ABOVE)
IMPORTANT FACTORS FACILITATING PERFORMANCE
IMPORTANT FACTORS HINDERING PERFORMANCE
B2] PERFORMANCE AGAINST OBJECTIVES(BY IMMEDIATE SUPERIOR)
OUTSTANDING V. GOOD GOOD
C1] Appraisal of Critical Attributes(by immediate
superior)
C2] CRITICAL ATTRIBUTES
INNOVATIVENESS Ability to think new and better
ways of doing things that results
in introduction of new ideas or
improvements of the systems
and operations.
2. INITIATIVE Ability to determine and initiate
actions that result in improve
handling of jobs, without
waiting to be told.
3. INTERPERSONAL & Ability to interact effectively
TEAM RELATIONSHIP with people at all levels to gain
their confidence and respect and
work in a collaborative and
participative manner.
4. RESOURCEFULNESS Ability to muster resources to
achieve desired resultsand
device ways and means of
solving problems in difficult
5.
situations.
COMMUNICATION
Ability to convey thoughts and
feelings clearly both through
SKILLS oral as well as written
expressions for better
understanding.
ADEQUATE INADEQUATE
OUTSTANDING
V.GOOD
GOOD
ADEQUATE
C2] AREAS OF STRENGTH AND IMPROVEMENTS (by immediate superior)
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C3] Potential Areas Of Growth (By Immediate Superior)
D] Recommendations For Training And Development( By Immediate Superior)
D1] IN-COMANT TRAINING PROGRAMMES
Description Code Description Code
1. 2.
D2] OTHER TRAINING PROGRAMMES
1. 2.
D3] SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PLANS
Proposed action Details of Actions Required
(tick as applicable)
Job rotaion
Job enlargement
Special assignment
Deputatiomn of other dept
Others(please specify)
E ] COMMENTS BY NEXT SUPERIOR(S)
E1] ON SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PLANS STATED ABOVE IN D3
E2] OVERALL OBSERVATIONS:
F] FOR USE BY PERSONNEL/ HRD CO -ORDINATOR
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ASSESSMENT CENTRES
Mainly used for executive hiring, assessment centre are now "being used for evaluating
executive or supervisory potential. An assessment centre is a central location where
managers may come together to have their participation in job-related exercise evaluated
by trained observers. The principal idea is to evaluate managers over a period of time say
one to three days, by observing (and later evaluating) their behaviour across a series of
select exercises or work samples. Assesses are requested to participate in in-basket
exercises, work groups (without leaders), computer simulations, role paying, and other
similar activities which require the same attributes for successful performance, as in the
actual job. After recording their observations of ratee behaviors, the raters meet to discuss
these observations. The decision regarding the performance of each assessee is based
upon this discussion of observations. Self-appraisal and peer evaluation are also thrown
In for final rating.
The characteristics assessed in a typical assessment centre include assertiveness,
persuasive ability, communicating ability, planning and organisational ability, self –
confidence, resistance to stress, energy level, decision – making, sensitivity to the
feelings of others, administrative ability, creativity and mental alertness. It is a
formidable list which is quite difficult to measure accurately over three days, though
there would be sizable number of trained observers and psychologists.
First developed in the US and the UK in 1943, the assessment centre is gaining
popularity in our country, Crompton greaves, Facher, HLL and Modi Xerox are using the
technique with results being highly positive.
Assessment Centre - Many Takers
• Ranbaxy retained the services of a team of psychologists from the UK-based
Kelly& King to take the executives (of Ranbaxy) through an assessment center.
20 star manager went through the exercise.
• Santrupt Misra, Director- Birla Management Corporation had plans for a similar
exercise to be held at Gyanodaya, the Aditya Birla learning centre. Misra first
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used the assessment centre concept four years ago on 150 middle and senior level
managers.
• Old timers like Tata have created their own assessment centers, and so have the
talent centric companies' like Wipro and Cognizant.
• SHL, a HR consulting firm has worked with over 100 companies conducting
dose to 1,000 assessment centers.
• Consulting firm ECS (formerly known as Eicher Consulting Services) does a
number of assessments in a month for a variety of clients like Tata Steel, ING
Vysya and the host of BPO outfits.
• ICICI Bank uses assessment centre as a recruitment and selection tool to find the
best talent, while GE India subsidiary GECIS has used it on 20% of it5 middle
managers.
The problem with the assessment centres is their cost Not only are the asses sees away
from their jobs while the company pays for their travel and lodging, but the evaluators are
often company managers who are assigned to the assessment centre for short durations.
These managers are often supplemented by psychologists and HR specialists who run the
centre and also make evaluations. Hence this approach is cost - effective only in large
organisations.
Assessment-centre staff is often influenced by subjective element; such as personality
of the candidates: Raters tend to evaluate the quality of the individual's social skills rather
than the quality of the decisions he/she makes. Assessment -centre ratings seem to be
strongly influenced by the participant's interpersonal skills.
The approach also involves real hazards. One of the most obvious is the examination-
taking syndrome. Solid performers in day-to-day operations feel suffocated in the
simulated environment. Another drawback is its potential adverse effect on those not
selected to participate in the exercise.
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Employees who receive a poor report from the centre may react in negative ways.
Ideally, a rejected employee would return to his or her former job, satisfied that he or she
would not be promoted to a job he or she could not handle. However, a good performer at
one level may leave the organisation in order to remove the bad assessment report from
his or her work record. Thus, a poor report can demoralize an employee who was once an
asset.
Other problems include-strong and unhealthy sense of competition among
assesses; Difficulty of conducting the test frequently; and the possibility of
overemphasizing the test performance.
But a well-conducted assessment centre can and does achieve better forecasts of future
performance and progress than other methods of appraisal. Also, reliability, content
validity, and predictive validity are said to be high in the assessment centres.
The test also makes sure that the wrong people are not hired or promoted. Finally, the
Assessment centre test clearly defines the criteria for selection and promotion.
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360-DEGREE FEEDBACK
As stated earlier, where multiple raters are involved in evaluating performance, the
technique is called 360 degree appraisal. The 360 degree technique is understood as
systematic collection of performance data on an individual or group, derived from a
number of stakeholders--the stakeholders being the immediate supervisors. team
members, customers, peers, and self. In fact, anyone who has useful information on how
an employee does the job may be one of the appraisers.
The 360-degree appraisal provides a broader perspective about an employee's
performance. In addition, the technique facilitates greater self-development of the
employees. For one's development, multi-source feedback is highly useful. It enables an
employee to compare his or her perceptions about self with perceptions of others.
Besides, the 360-dcgree appraisal provides formalized communication links between an
employee and his or her customers. It makes the employee feel much more accountable
to his or her internal or external customers. The technique is particularly helpful in
assessing soft skills possessed by employees. By design, the 360-degree appraisal is
effective in identifying and measuring interpersonal skill, customer satisfaction, and
team-building skills.
However, there are drawbacks associated with the 360-degree feedback. Receiving
feedback on performance from multiple sources can be intimidating. It is essential that
the organisation create a non - threatening environment by emphasizing the positive
impact of the technique on an employee's performance and development. Further, firms
that use the technique take a long time on selecting the rater, designing questionnaires,
and analyzing the data. In addition; multiple raters are less adept at providing a balanced
and objective feedback than the supervisors who are sought to be replaced. Raters can
have enormous problems separating honest observations from personal differences and
biases.
Pitfalls notwithstanding, more and more number of firms are using the 36O-degree
appraisal technique to assess the performance of their employees.
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APPRAISE THE PERFORMANCE
The next step in the appraisal process is to measure the performance. We revert to the
moral of the story narrated in the beginning of this chapter. The moral taught us that we
need to measure the performance and not mere activities.
What then is performance? Performance is essentially what an employee does or does
not do. Employee performance common to most jobs include the following elements:
• Quantity of output
• Quality of output
• Timeliness of output
• Presence at work
• Cooperativeness
In addition to these, other elements that deserve assessment are job knowledge,
leadership abilities, judgement, supervision, versatility and health. Assessment should
also include one's potential to perform and not just actual performance.
Performance measurement needs to be based on the benchmarks listed above. These
benchmarks vary from job to job. The job of a professor needs to be assessed against
parameters that are different to those used to evaluate the performance of a sales
representative.
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PERFORMANCE INTERVIEW
Performance interview is another step in the appraisal process. Once appraisal has been
made of employees, the raters should discuss and review the performance with the ratees,
so that they will receive feedback about where they stand in the eyes of superior.
Feedback is necessary to effect improvement in performance, especially when it is
inadequate. Specifically, performance interview has three goals: (i) to change behaviour
of employees whose performance does not meet organisational requirements or their own
personal goals. (ii) To maintain the behaviour of employees who perform in an
acceptable manner and (iii) to recognize superior performance behaviours so that they
will be continued.
Raters offer feedback to the ratees through several methods-tell and sell, tell and listen,
problem solving and mixed. In tell and sell, also called directive interview, the
interviewer let assesses know how well they are doing and sells them on the merits of
setting specific goals for improvement, if needed. The tell and listen interview provides
the subordinates with chances to participate and establish a dialogue with their superiors.
Its purpose is to communicate the rater's perceptions about the ratee's strength and
weaknesses and let the subordinates respond to these perceptions. In the problem -solving
or participative interview, an active and open dialogue is established between the superior
and the subordinate. Not only are perceptions shared, but also solutions to problems are
presented, discussed, and sought. Mixed interview is a combination of tell and sell and
problem solving interviews.
Whatever be the approach followed, the emphasis in the interview should be on
counseling and development and not on criticism, witch-hunting and buck passing.
Because of the significance of appraisal interview, every effort must be made to make it
effective. Guidelines given in Table below will help make the interview successful.
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GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE APPRAISAL INTERVIEW
• Select a good time
• Minimize interruptions
• Welcome, set at ease
• Start with something positive
• Ask open – ended questions to encourage discussion
• Listen
• Manage eye contact and body language
• Be specific
• Rate behaviour, not personality
• Layout development plan
• Encourage subordinate participation
• Complete form
• Set mutually agreeable goals for improvement
• End in a positive, encouraging note
• Set time for any follow – up meetings
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USE OF APPRAISAL DATA
The final step in the evaluation process is the use of evaluation data. The data and
information generated through performance evaluation must be used by the HR
department.
It may be recollected that the most significant rewards employers offer to employees
are:
1. Money to purchase goods and services required not only for current and
future survival, but also for the luxuries modern life has to offer.
2. The opportunity to use innate and learned skills and talents in a productive manner that
the individual and his or her managers and co-workers recognize as valuable.
3. Opportunities to interact with other people in a favorable working environment.
4. Opportunities to learn, grow, and make full use of their potential.
5. A sense of performance and stability through the continuing existence of
the organisation and the job.
6. The opportunity to perform work assignments within an environment that not
only protects. But promotes physiological, emotional and psychological health.
In one way or another, data and information outputs of a performance-appraisal
programme can critically influence these coveted employer-employee reward
opportunities. Specifically, the data and information will be useful in the following areas
of HRM:
I. Remuneration administration
2. Validation of selection programmes
3. Employee training and development programmes
4. Promotion, transfer and lay-off decisions
5. Grievance and discipline programmes
6. HR planning
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EDWARD DEMING ON PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
Towards the end of this section, it is worthwhile to note Edward Deming's views on
performance evaluation. Deming is opposed to employee assessment, because it:
I. Rewards people for manipulating the system rather than improving it,
2. Is often self-defeating,
3. Is inconsistent with team-work,
4. Acts as a substitute for proper management, and
5. Is inherently unfair.
His alternatives to performance appraisal are:
1. Meticulous selection of leaders,
2. Educating workers about their obligations, and improved training and education after
selection,
3. Getting leaders to function as colleagues rather than as judges,
4. Subordinate performance to be assessed using statistical data,
5. Three to four hours interview annually, with subordinates aimed at support and
encouragement, and
6. Accommodation to lone workers.
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CHALLENGES OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
With the increased significance of performance appraisal, challenges confronting the
system are mounting. One serious challenge facing the performance appraisal system
relates to assessment of self-managed teams. Popularly called empowered teams, these
self-managed teams create special challenges for performance appraisal-empowered
teams perform without supervisors. Historically, if one recalls, it is the supervisor who
assesses the performance of his or her subordinates. Another challenge is that both,
individual and team performance, need to be measured. A suitable device needs to be
developed to assess the performance of empowered teams because more and more firms
use such teams to enhance productivity. Figure below contains a typical model of team
appraisal.
Identify KRAs Set tangible targets for Determine intangible
critical to business each KRA. Incorporate parameters (like
during the year stretch elements for each initiative), which indicate
target. Fix the minimum pockets of individual
acceptable target excellence with the team
Evaluate performance of Communicate the Measure the
the team against results to ensure performance of the
predetermined targets transparency team (actual versus
targets) every month
Identify individuals who have excelled.
Discount subjective factors by including
assessors from outside the team to
identify outstanding individuals.
Figure: Appraising Teams
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The Following table contains challenges of Performance Appraisal -
Challenges of Appraisal:
• Create a culture of excellence that inspires every employee to improve and
lend himself or herself to be assessed
• Align organizational objectives to individual aspirations
• Clear growth paths for talented individuals
• Provide new challenges to rejuvenate careers that have reached the plateau stage
• Forge a partnership with people for managing their careers
• Empower employees to make decisions without the fear of failing
• Embed teamwork in all operational processes
• Debureaucratise the organization structure for ease of flow of information.
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LEGAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH
Performance appraisal data as stated earlier, are used to make many important HR
decisions (e.g. Pay, promotion, training, transfer and termination). The appraisal system
is a common target of legal disputes by employees involving charges of unfairness and
bias. An employee may seek the legal recourse to obtain relief from a discriminatory
performance appraisal. One such case goes back to 1980s. In 1981, three junior
employees of Williamsons Magor were promoted superseding 15 of their senior
workmen. The basis for promotion was recommendations of the departmental heads and
other authorities. The 15 workmen challenged the promotion to the three workmen in the
Supreme Court and the court upheld the contention of the petitioners on the ground that
he said recommendations of departmental heads and authorities were arbitrary and could
not be the main basis for effecting promotions.
There are several recommendations 10 assist employees in conducting fair performance
appraisal and avoiding legal suits. Gleaned from case laws, these recommendations are
intended to be prescriptive measures that employers should take to develop fair and
legally defensible performance appraisal systems.
1. Legally Defensible Appraisal Procedures
• All personnel decisions should be based on a formal standardized performance
appraisal system.
• Any performance appraisal process should be uniform for all employees within a
job group, and decisions based on those performance appraisals should he
monitored for differences according o race, sex. national origin. Religion or age
of the employees. While obtained differences as a function of these variables are
not necessarily illegal. an organization will have more difficulty defending an
appraisal system with ratings related to these variables.
• All specific performance standards should be formally communicated
to employees.
• All employees should be able to review their appraisal results.
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• There should be a formal appeal process for the rate to rebut rater judgments.
• All raters should be provided with written instructions and training on how to
conduct appraisals properly to facilitate systematic, unbiased appraisals.
• All personnel decision-makers should be well informed of anti-discrimination
laws.They should be made aware of the fine distinctions between legal and illegal
activities regarding decisions based on appraisals.
2. Legally Defensible Appraisal Content
• Any performance appraisal content should be based on a job analysis.
• Appraisals based on traits should be avoided.
• Objectively verifiable performance data (e.g. sales, productivity, not ratings)
should be used whenever possible.
• Constraints on an employee's performance that are beyond the employee's control
should be prevented from influencing the appraisal to ensure that the employee
has an equal opportunity to achieve any given performance level.
• Specific job-related performance dimensions should be used rather than global
measures or single overall measures.
• The performance dimensions should be assigned weights to reflect their relative
importance in calculating the composite performance score.
3. Legally Defensible Documentation of Appraisal Results
• A thoroughly written record of evidence leading to termination decisions should
be maintained(e.g. performance appraisal and performance counseling to advise
employees of performance deficit, and to assist poor performers in making needed
improvements)
• Written documentation (e.g. specific behavioural examples) for extreme ratings
should he required and they must be consistent with the numerical ratings.
• Documentation requirements should he consistent among the raters.
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4. Legally Defensive Raters
• The raters should be trained in how to use an appraisal system
• The raters must have the opportunity to observe the ratee first hand or to
review important ratee performance products
• Use of more than rater is desirable in order to lessen the amount of influence of
any one rater and to reduce the effects of biases. Peers, subordinates, customers,
and clients are possible sources.
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PIRAMYD MEGASTORE - STORY OUTLINE
Crossroads at Mumbai created a revolution pioneering the concept of shoppertainment
in the country. It was an attempt to give the citizens of Mumbai a truly international
shopping experience, a destination where the entire family can enjoy a day together
shopping or browsing, eating and playing games in an unmatched ambience.
Of the three ingredients, i.e. shopping, dining and entertainment, Shopping was the main
ingredient. It had to be world class and had to incorporate global standards in terms of
retail management, technology and design. Mrs Urvi Piramal, Vice Chair person of
Piramal Group, had a strong viewpoint on shopping- “True shopping is browsing,
enjoying, indulging and making choices. It is an expression of lifestyle and makes an
affirmative statement”. This was the thought, which translated into Piramyd, India's first
Megastore for lifestyle products. Piramyd spreads across 3 levels in the mall and has over
30000 sqft of space in Crossroads.
To a typical Mumbai Women, shopping normally meant endless rounds of bargaining,
endless trips back and forth from store to store, pushy sales people and scarcely enough
space to push their elbow. Piramyd Megastore broke all these conventional hassles of
shopping for women.
In terms of product offering, Piramyd has everything that a woman would want to buy
and more less than one roof. It has the widest range ethnic wear, western wear, lingerie,
nightwear, leather accessories, sunglasses, fine jewelry, and saris. The idea is to provide
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