INTRODUCTION

HR is considered as the most valuable asset in any organization. It is the sum total of inherent abilities, acquired knowledge and skills represented by the talent and aptitude of he employed persons who comprise executives, supervisors and the rank and the file employees. It may be noted here that HR should be utilized to the maximum possible extent, in order to achieve individual and organizational goals. It is thus the employees performance which ultimately decides the attainment of organizational goals. Performance appraisal makes employees also to be alert. It provides a strong feedback to employees on their performance and analyses their strength and weaknesses. It also throws light on the track on which the employee should move. Thus performance appraisal acts as an employee development tool for both employer and employee. In the process the management becomes a developer of human resources and HR Manager, a coach. Employee takes the benefit of his improvements through performance appraisal and corrective methods. This helps the organization to achieve long term objectives. This topic is selected to assess the present satisfaction of employees under appraisal system by following all the effective methods of research which will give weight age to the study. Meaning: Performance Appraisal may be understood as the assessment of an individuals performance in a systematic way, the performance being measured against such factors as job knowledge, quality, & quantity of output, initiative, leadership abilities, supervision, dependability, co-operation, judgment, versatility, health & the like. Definitions: Performance Appraisal is a systematic, periodic & so far as humanly possible & impartial rating of employees excellence in matters pertaining to his present job & his potentialities for better job.
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Edward Flippo

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Characteristics of Performance Appraisal: 1. Reliability and Validity 2. An Atmosphere of Confidence and Trust 3. Immediate Superior as Appraiser 4. Less Time Consuming and Economical 5. Open Communication 6. Post Appraisal Interview 7. Job Relatedness

Need of Performance Appraisal: The need of an appraisal is concerned with: 1. Creating and maintaining a satisfactory level of performance of employees in their present job. 2. Fixation of salary, allowances, incentives and benefits. 3. Evaluating the effectiveness of training and development programmes. 4. Assessing the strength and weakness of human resources. 5. Performance appraisal helps employees to improve their performance by giving them a feedback. Purpose of Performance Appraisal: Organizations use performance appraisals for three purposes: Administrative: Performance appraisal commonly serves as an administrative tool by providing employers with a rationale for making many personnel decisions, such as decisions relating to pay increases, promotions, terminations and transfers. Employee Development: Performance appraisal for employee development purposes provides feedback on an employees performance. Appraisal data can also be used for employee development process in helping to identify specific training needs of individuals.

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Programme Assessment: it requires the collection and storage of performance appraisal data for a number of uses. The records can show how effective recruitment, selection and placement have been in supplying a qualified workforce.

It is generally accepted that performance appraisal serves one or more of the following purposes: a) To create and maintain a satisfactory level of performance. b) To meet an individuals development needs. c) To bring about better operational or business results. d) To facilitate fair and equitable compensation based on performance. e) To help the superiors to have a proper understanding about their subordinates. f) To provide information useful for man power planning by identifying employees with a potential for advancement. g) To facilitate testing and validating selection tests, interview techniques through comparing their scores with performance appraisal ranks. Who will appraise? The appraiser may be any person who has thorough knowledge about the job content, issues to be appraised, standards of contents and who observes the employee while performing a job. IT is possible for the appraisal to be done by one or a combination of the following: The immediate manager or supervisors The employees peers The employee himself- i.e., self appraisal The employees subordinates Other managers familiar with the employees work A higher-level manager Personnel department specialist
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When to Appraise? Although in day-to-day work, the supervisor continuously appraises his subordinates, the daily appraisal lacks summation and objectivity. To overcome these deficiencies, most management turn to periodic appraisals which are conducted on a regular basis, say for example, every six months or annually. Some important points to be kept in mind when systematic appraisals are conducted on a regular basis are: The frequency of appraisal must fit the purpose for which appraisals are being made. Special appraisals must be done at the end of an employees probationary period or at the time of his promotion. For new employees, more frequent appraisal may be required. In the case of an unsatisfactory rating, the next rating is generally done earlier than usual to assess whether the employees has improved. What is to be appraised? Every organization has to decide upon the content to be appraised. Generally, the content to be appraised is determined on the basis of job analysis. The basic purpose of performance appraisal is to find out how well the employee is doing the job and establish a plan for improvement. The content to be appraised may be in the form of contribution to organizational objectives like production, savings in terms of cost, return on capital etc. The content to be appraised may vary with the purpose of appraisal and type and level of employees.

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PROCESS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL The performance appraisal process follows a set pattern & it consists of the following steps:

Job Analysis, Job Description & Job Specification

Establishing Standards Of Performance

Communication Performance Standards To Employees

Measuring Actual Performance Comparing Actual Performance with Standards & Discussing with Employees

Initiating Corrective Action, if Necessary

1. Job Analysis, Job Description & Job Specification: Performance appraisal is a process not to be undertaken in isolation of various human resources functions. It begins with job
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analysis, job description and job specification. These help in establishing the standard performance. 2. Establishing performance Standards: In order to measure & evaluate the correctness & quality of work, the setting up of standards is a pre-requisite, by which correct or wrong can be decided only when the correct answer is prepared in advance. There should be some criteria & base to decide the level of performance. It is not the one which is done looking to any relation with employee. But, it is done on basis of his work delivery & discharge of duties. It serves as benchmarks against which performance is measured. The standards set for performance must be clearly defined and unambiguous. Performance standards must be clear to both the appraiser and appraise. Goals must be written down. They must be measurable within certain time and cost considerations. 3. Communicating Performance Standards to employees: Performance appraisal involves at least two parties, the appraiser who does the appraisal and the appraise whose performance is being evaluated. The performance standards specified in the second step above are to be communicated and explained to the employees (both appraiser and appraise) so that they come to know what is expected of them. Feedback should also be taken to eliminate any confusion or misunderstanding. As pointed out by DeCenzo and Robbins, too many jobs have vague performance standards and the problem is compounded when these standards are set in isolation and do not involve the employee. 4. Measuring Actual Performance: After the performance standards are set and accepted, the next step is to measure the actual performance. This requires choosing the right technique of measurement, identifying the internal and external factors influencing performance and collecting information on results achieved. It can be affected through personal observation, written and oral reports from supervisors. Performance measures must be easy to use, be reliable and report on the critical behaviours that determine performance. Performance measures may be objective or subjective.

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a) Objective Performance Measures: They are indications of job performance that can be verified by others and are usually quantitative. Objective criteria include: Quality of production Degree of training needed Accidents in a given period Absenteeism Length of service etc.

b) Subjective Performance Measures: They are the ratings that are based on the personal standards or opinions of those doing the evaluation and are not verifiable by others. Subjective criteria include: Ratings by supervisors. Knowledge about overall goals. Contribution to socio-cultural values of the environment.

5. Comparing Actual Performance with Standards and Discussing the Appraisal with Employees: Actual performance is compared with the predetermined performance standards. Actual performance may be better than expected and sometimes it may go off track. Deviations if any from the set standards are noted. Along with deviations, the reasons behind them are also analyzed and discussed. Such discussions will enable an employee to know his weakness and strengths. Weakness is discussed so that employee takes interest in improving his performance. He will be motivated to improve himself. 6. Initiating Corrective Action, if any: The last step in the process is to initiate corrective action essential to improve the performance of employees. Corrective action is of two types. a) The one, which puts outs the fires immediately. Employee can be scolded or warned so that he himself can make necessary attempts to improve his performance. b) The other one, which strikes at the root of the problem permanently. Through mutual discussions with employees, the steps required to improve performance
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are identified and initiated. The reasons for low performance should be probed, take the employees into confidence and motivate him for better performance. Training, coaching, counseling etc are the examples of corrective actions that help to improve performance.

Methods of performance appraisal: So far as the use of performance appraisal is concerned, the expert differs & accordingly, they offer different methods. STRAUS & SAYLES have given the widely used methods as Traditional methods which lay emphasis on rating an individuals personal traits as initiative, dependability, creativity, interest, leadership, judgement, organising skills etc. & Modern methods which lay emphasis on evaluation of work results, achievements etc. these may also be termed as qualitative & quantitative methods. The following chart explains the different methods of appraisal systems:

Methods

Traditional 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Confidential Reports Graphic Scaling Straight Ranking Paired Comparison Grading Method Forced Distribution Weight Check List Critical Incident Free Essay Method Group Appraisal

Modern 1. Assessment Centre 2. H R Accounting 3. BARS 4.MBO or Result Oriented Appraisal 5. 360 Degree Appraisal 6. Psychological Appraisal Method

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11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Field Review Nominations Work Samples Man to man comparison Method Unstructured Method

Factors Influencing Performance Appraisal The following four factors have the direct influence on the performance Appraisal.

Organisational Leadership

Organizational Structure

Performance Appraisal

Environmental Factors

Inter Linking of SubSystems

Organizational Leadership
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Encourage better performance Employees are highly performance conscious.

Environmental Factors: Provision of adequate facilities Supply of suitable equipments Supply of sufficient quality of raw material

Inter linking of Sub-Systems Need for effective & efficient functioning of all the departments of an organization. Any inefficiency in one department shall have adverse effect on performance of other departments employees. Organizational Structure Rigid structure fails free flow of information Participation, open communication, initiation are possible in flexible structure.

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is necessary for the company to study the Performance appraisal of the employees. This is the study done to analyze the Performance appraisal of employees, attitude of employees, organizational behavior and Performance appraisal practices in the KOF,KARNATAKA. This study is taken to gather information and employees behavior in KOF, KARNATAKA with a view to ascertain the level of satisfaction of the employees with the performance appraisal system at KOF, KARNATAKA.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To get the exposure of working of appraisal system.

To know the Performance Appraisal System in the Organization. To know the duties & responsibilities of appraiser & appraise during the process. To carry in depth study on employees awareness about the benefits of Performance Appraisal. To know up to what extent the employees are motivated by the practise of appraisal system. To get justification from the employees about the necessities and Satisfaction of the appraisal system Need for the study With the need for many organizations to be more streamlined and productive a business can sometimes find itself with a group of dissatisfied employees, could lead to low
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morale and a higher turnover of staff. Organizations that have a good performance appraisal system can benefit enormously to the workforce that is both motivated and productive should not be regarded as being mutually exclusive of one another. This study will help the company to evaluate and modify their strategy for performance appraisal system. Scope of the study The study title PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL OF THE EMPLOYEES is carried out among all the employees of the department of KOF, KARNATAKA. The study can provide information on how the employees feel about their performance appraisal system in the organization. This study is the powerful diagnostic instrument for assessing employee problems. It will become easy to management to provide employees requirement so that they can satisfy their work & working conditions to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism and turn over. This will help management to develop policies & practices to increase employee satisfaction.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Performance appraisal Performance Appraisal may be understood as the assessment of an individuals performance in a systematic way, the performance being measured against such factors as job knowledge, quality, & quantity of output, initiative, leadership abilities, supervision, dependability, co-operation, judgment, versatility, health & the like. A formal definition of performance appraisal that, it is the systematic evaluation of the individual with respect to his or her performance on the job & his or her potential for development.

Research design - Research design is the arrangement of condition for

collection & analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research work with economy in procedure. A research design is a logical and systematic plan
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prepared for directing a research study. It specifies the objectives of the study, the methodology and the techniques to be adopted for achieving the objective. It provides a scientific framework for conducting so investigation

Research Research is defined as an activity based on intellectual application in

the investigation of matter. The primary purpose of research is discovering, interpreting and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world wand the universe.

Sample size The sample size for undertaken research is 30. Sampling technique Simple random sampling is undertaken to select the Geographical area The geographical area for the research is restricted to the

respondent.

company only.

Tools for data collection Primary source - the method followed for the data collection for the research are
1) Questionnaire Secondary source 2) Personal interview of employees

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