Performance Appraisal System Performance Standards example essay topic

Introduction An organisation's long-term success depends critically on its ability to measure how well employees perform and then use that information to ensure that performance meets standards and improves over time. This article seeks to examine the problems that have emerged with the introduction of the New Performance Appraisal System into the Public Service in Trinidad and Tobago and more specifically in the Ministries of Energy and Energy Industries and Enterprise Development, Foreign Affairs and Tourism. While it discusses the merits for the new system it will also highlight the fears or problems, whether real or perceived, of the managers / supervisors and employees. More importantly, it will also show how difficult it is to implement pay by performance appraisal system into an organisation such as the public service.

For, in addition to its size, there is the issue of its structure and culture that are critical to the success of any system being introduced. Public Service The public service consists of approximately eighty one thousand public servants divided into several ministries and departments. It must be noted that some of these ministries are much larger than others and offer more scope to those who are assigned to them as opposed to those assigned to the smaller ones such as the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries. The structure of the public, service although much is heard of devolving of powers to Permanent Secretaries, is still very hierarchical being governed by laws, rules and regulations. The decentralised organisations such as the Regional Health Services have maintained hierarchical structures.

In essence, it is still very much a Weberian's Bureaucracy, hierarchical and governed by rules and regulations. Diagram 1 Structure of the Public Service and Decentralised Units POLITICIANS BUREAUCRACY DECENTRALISED UNITS The organisation also has its fix set of informal codes, norms and behavioural practices called culture. In order to introduce any new system especially one as important as performance appraisal, attention must be paid to these critical areas to ensure any measure of success. Performance Appraisal Appraisals are a crucial link in the human resource management process.

It is the means by which organisations assess how well employees are performing and to determine appropriate rewards and or remedial actions. According to Gordon Draper, a performance appraisal system is a formal system of evaluating an employee's performance on the job in terms of the requirements of the job. Fisher and Shaw's definition of performance appraisal is the process by which an employee's contribution to the organisation during a specified period of time is assessed. Another definition by Byars and Rue is the process of determining and communicating to the employee how he or she is performing on the job and ideally, establishing a plan of improvement.

However, while performance appraisals are useful tools in the evaluation of employees' work output, it is not only limited to this function but also for the development and motivation of the employees. A sound appraisal therefore, can contribute to both organisational as well as personal achievements. Performance Appraisal Objectives A performance appraisal system is generally designed to achieve a number of objectives such as: - ^u Assessing employee's output in terms of meeting agreed targets set; ^u who should be promoted, demoted, transferred or terminated; ^u to determine who needs formal training and development opportunities; ^u to motivate and improve employees' performance; ^u highlight strengths and weaknesses; ^u adequate compensation; and ^u provide feedback. Performance Appraisal Process Before the performance of an employee can be evaluated or a decision be made as to whether or not an employee needs to be trained, what the employee should be doing needs to be identified.

This is achieved through a job analysis that involves the collection of data about the jobs performed in the organisation. The steps to be followed in conducting a job analysis is as follows: - Diagram 1.2 Steps in conducting a Job Analysis Step 1 - Determine the purpose for conducting a Job Analysis Step 2 - Identify the Job to be analysed Step 3 - Explain the process to employees and determine their level of involvement Step 4 - Determine the Data Collection Method and collect Job Analysis information Step 5 - Process the Job Analysis information Step 6 - Review and update frequently The first step, which determines the purpose for conducting a job analysis, should be explicit and tied into the Grand Strategy of the organisation. Therefore organisational goals must be clear. The data from the job analysis can be used for a variety of purposes two of which are: - ^u Job Description, that describes the duties, responsibilities working conditions and activities of a particular job. ^u Job Specification, that describes employees' qualification such as knowledge, skills or abilities that are required to perform a particular job.

Diagram 1.3 Steps in conducting a Job Analysis Determining the pertinent information relating to the nature of the job Job Description Job Specification A written description of a job and A written statement of the necessary its requirements qualification of the job incumbent Job title and location Education; Experience; Training Organisational relationships Mental Abilities Relationships to other jobs Physical Efforts and Skills Machine, tools and materials Responsibilities Working conditions Judgement; Decision Making The results from the job analysis therefore, serve as a foundation for many of the Human Resources functions including selection, compensation, performance evaluation and training. Performance Appraisal System Performance Standards is also developed from the data collected from the job analysis. An employee cannot be appraised on the job in general. Performance Standards must be set for each component of each task of the job. This is achieved by taking each function of the job and breaking it down into tasks and then further breaking down each task into components for example: - Job Description Pay Roll Clerk Functions Prepare Pay Roll... Tasks Code Changes To Be Sent To NISC Request Pay Roll from NISC Update Pay Record Cards Prepare Vouchers for voting and checking...

Component Deadline Accuracy... Now for each component standards are set such as qualitative standards, quantitative standards or time standards as is necessary for the particular component. It must be noted that standards must be written so that anyone who reads them can recognise the differences between acceptable standards as opposed to unacceptable behaviour. Whereas standards should challenge employees they should also be realistic in terms of achievement so as to motivate as oppose to frustrate employees. It is also important that the time frame is specified and the goals can be observable and measurable. Another major factor is the monitoring of this performance of the employee and providing on going feedback.

Managers / Supervisors are to note critical incidentals which are discussed in the periodic reports. Then there is the formal review that is held after a specific period. Finally based on the review need for training and development and or rewards are identified. Old System of Appraisal The system of appraisal used prior to the year two thousand and still being used now by some ministries and departments has its origins under the Crown Colony Administration. Trinidad and Tobago as well as the other islands of the Commonwealth Caribbean was formerly British territories resulting therefore in the introduction of a system of administration similar to that of Britains. Staff Reporting, (copy of form attached at appendix 1) was / is a system whereby employees were / are evaluated once yearly.

However, this system did not appraise output, since, there were no agreed standards on the jobs to be performed. Therefore, employees were and are still being appraised on a general overall performance and conduct. More emphasis was / is placed on the time spent on the job as opposed to actual performance in an era of telecommuting which replaces where work is done as opposed to that work is done within a time frame. A good example of the ineffectiveness of working on the job only to meet deadlines is the preparation of Estimates of Government's proposed spending for the coming year.

This process, it must be noted, entails a lot of tedious and time consuming typing. The Clerk Typist who has to type the statement has to face all the horrors leaving home as early as six o'clock in the morning, some times earlier, then spend two hours hustling for transport to get to the office for eight and then work until four. However, if that same officer, instead of dressing to go to work remains in her comfortable night dress without the stress travellers face at that time of the morning, and started working on her home computer, purchased with an interest free government loan from six or before. Although, the officer is not receiving additional wages, which motivational theorists like Maslow, Al defer and other emphasised is a first or lower level need and not an incentive, the attention being paid to her other needs which from Mayo Etal Hawthorne's Studies revealed that once attention is paid to the employee regardless of the variants, the employee continues to perform. Theoretically, it must be agreed that this makes more sense since the hours spent commuting are better spent working.

The officer then also has the option of going to work later thereby dropping the completed set of work and picking up the set to be done or E-Mailing the completed set and receiving the set to be done also via E-Mail. During the Colonial period when this system of staff reporting was implemented in the Public Service it was realised that it could not provide an accurate record of the performance of its employees. Consequently, other systems of administration such as promotion, and training were not linked to the reporting system and salaries were not linked to performance. This system however, prevailed during colonial times and also after independence. This system of reporting benefited neither the organisation nor the employees. The employees did not benefit because performance output was not appraised and performance incentives as outlined by Taylor, THE Father of Scientific Management, in his Time and Motion study, whereby normal or average performance was rewarded with the regular wage and excelled performance rewarded with normal pay and bonuses.

According to him additional incentives in addition to the application of science to job performance would result in added efficiency. It must be recognised that this is no easy task for an organisation as large as the Public Service to introduce a pay for performance system. Since during Crown Colony when the Public Service was smaller a proper system of Management by Objectives was not implemented but instead a system of staff reporting that continued into post independence as the Public Service grew to accommodate government's developmental policies. The size has always been a problem in determining compensation since already the wage bill takes a very large portion of government's spending.

Therefore offering even an increase in salary, far more any incentives, is considered a drain on the economy. The lack of agreed standards to meet and or exceed and no incentives in place allowing for a general performance appraisal was recognised and the 1950 Civil Service Regulations sought to address this issue as follows: - "The Reports should not be rendered in purely general terms some comments should be made on his suitability for appointment to a higher grade in which he would have to perform additionally or supervisory duties and whether or not he has a particular flair for any type of work". However, promotion was and still is based on seniority. This has contributed largely to the de motivation of employees, since one's output can be excellent yet one had to wait one's turn so to speak. This system of staff reporting and promotion by seniority contributed largely to the un development of individuals, since, if it was not necessary to improve oneself to be promoted, then, why bother. Once one chose to make a career in the public service and got a job in it, all that was necessary thereafter was just to sit and wait ones turn for promotion.

If improving oneself was a necessary ingredient for promotion it would have challenged more people to further themselves academically which would have contributed to the intelligentsia of the organisation and by extension the nation. What it did in fact achieve is a brain drain in the organisation. Since those who are qualified are quickly gobbled up by the private sector. By not being able to offer comparative packages in terms of compensation as the private sector renders the public sector a harmless competitor in the race for choice employees. This is a major problem that plagues the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries. Even those that are sent for training, it is very difficult to keep for prolonged periods, for once they serve they period of scholarship, they are drafted into the private sector, enticed with bigger and better compensation packages.

Constraints In implementing what Hood terms private sector techniques, New Performance Management of which Performance Appraisal is the foundation, into a Weberian structured Public Service gives rise to numerous issues some similar to those experienced with the old system and some that are different. With the exception of Boland and Silbergh in their article Managing for Quality: The Impact of Quality Management Initiatives On Administrative Structures and Resource Management Processes, little research has gone into the implementing of Private Sector techniques in a Weberian Structure. However, Hyde identified five broad problem areas of concern, the environment, method of appraisal, the administrative arena, the individual and future or uncertain terms. The present global environment demands the Public Service be more responsive to the needs of the population. This demand cannot be mete if the Weberian structure persists. What in fact is needed are flatter structures as stated by Drucker who is considered to be the Guru Of Gurus.

However flatter structures means privatisation or decentralisation and not decentralisation as in the case of the Regional Health Authority or the Regional Corporations, which still operate with Weberian structures. The terms privatisation and decentralisation carry very negative connotations. Employees associate them with down sizing, retrenchment, layoff, and therefore for this to take place the government of the day must have the political will to implement such a change. This leads right into the culture of the organisation where it was always the view that there was security in the Public Service as opposed to the Private Sector. Kerauudren considers the two major weaknesses attributed to the failure to implement an appraisal system are structure and culture. He noted that the system did not attain the desired objectives and was often resisted by employees.

In fact a major constraint is promotion by seniority. While it must be agreed that this system has its merits in a population such as Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago where ethnicity is a major factor. The composition of the population of these two islands consists largely of two main groups the Africans and the East Indians. This composition is described by M.G. Smith as a Plural Society which he defines as, groups living side by side but separate they meet in the market place in buying and selling but do not mix. Therefore seniority seemed like a "fair" alternative for promotion given the composition of the population. However based on the history of the Public Service it must be noted that after Emancipation most of the Africans unlike the East Indians removed themselves from the plantations in search of employment elsewhere.

This meant therefore that they joined the Public Service and the educated East Indians were aligned with the professional type jobs such as lawyers and doctors in addition to business. This in effect means that promotion by seniority facilitated promotion to the higher echelon of the Public to be dominated by the Africans although studies by La Guerre and Ryan and others indicate that the actual composition of the Public Service is evenly balanced. They noted the imbalance to be however in the higher echelons. In introducing an appraisal system which includes promotion by merit raises a number of issues. The organisation is moving into a new paradigm where knowledge, skills, ability and performance dictate salary increases and promotion.

The argument put forward by senior members of the public service is that since the old system promoted by seniority it did not matter if one improved by training or performed better than more senior employees they still had to wait on their turn. Now, with the introduction of a system that proposes the opposite they are claiming that they are disadvantaged since they are now becoming overlooked in favour of more qualified younger employees after serving their due time waiting for promotion. Another problem envisaged by employees is that if promotion is based on the New Appraisal system the two groups would try to promote their own group thereby predicting subjective appraising. There is also the perception of marginalisation of one group, namely the African, since it is a perception that based on the results of examination such as Common Entrance, CXC O'levels, and A'level as reflected in the award of scholarships, that the other group, namely the East Indians achieve better results. It has always been the view that the Africans control the Public Sector while the East Indians control the agriculture and businesses. In a recorded interview by Ryan and La Guerre in the study of employment practices in the public sector illustrates this.

"We have built a life-style, a culture that is rooted in the administrative establishment. Indo Trinidadian have built their lifestyle on entrepreneurship... Moving into our sphere of influence will bring about an imbalance in economic distribution. It will create a in equilibrium and lead to an increase in hatred, rivalry and fear between the two major ethnic groups". Therefore, although Hyde identified five areas of concern, peculiarities that are unique to the Caribbean such as ethnicity in the workforce is also a crucial area of concern. The method of appraisal is an area of concern to both managers / supervisors and workers alike.

Firstly for standards to be set a job analysis has to be done. For this to be done accurately the Grand Strategy of the Organisation must be known to allow for synergy. In the case of the Public Service that is the policies of the political directorate who can be quite vague to allow themselves for political maneuvering. Therefore, with no clear objectives; how can smaller goals be developed to acquire synergy? The essence of these views are captured by Strehl (1993) in his examination of the implementation of an appraisal system in the public sector of Austria during the period 1989-1992. According to him the major explanation for the apparent lack of success of such a system was that there was no direct relationship between performance and objective.

In terms of setting standards in the Ministries that I have identified, the Ministry of Enterprise Development Foreign Affairs and Tourism and I am speaking specifically about the part of that Ministry that was formerly Trade, Industry and Consumer Affairs, that the New Appraisal System was introduced without agreed standards being developed. Therefore employees are not clear on their objectives and the standards that are targeted. The employees have no confidence in the new system for several reasons. A major one being, that the appraisal is just a part of the New Performance Management System.

Why only introduce the part that seems to disadvantage workers? Since it is demanding greater output from the worker with no additional rewards. Promotion is still on the basis of seniority and no bonuses or other incentives are proposed. In addition, training and development cannot be afforded by practically all the Ministries considering the small Training Vote they receive, except maybe the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries.

Strehl (1993), in his examination of the implementation of an appraisal system in the public sector of Austria during the period 1989-1992, also observed that tasks were not defined and the appraisal interview was highly subjective and based on personal relationships between an employee and supervisor. In the case of the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, the new system of appraisal was to be introduced this year, two thousand and one. However, the Permanent Secretary has delayed it since standards have not been set. The Ministry is also in the process of having the entire staff trained, both appraisers and appraisees.

Another major issue is one of equity. Employees falling under the same category perceive inequity. For example all thing being equal all Clerks Ones should have fairly equal work schedules. However in reality that is not so dependant on the department that you are in some Clerk Ones are swamped with work and literally across the corridor there is another Clerk One with virtually nothing to do. The officer who is swamped with work may find it virtually impossible to meet all the deadlines and this therefore will be reflected in his / her appraisal. While, the officer with precious little to do has no problems.

Where is the equity? Acting and temporary appointment pose another set of challenges to both worker and manager. It is not unusual for a worker to act or as in the case of a temporary employee to spend very short period in numerous departments within a year. With the Old System a box three marking may have been easily applied.

But with this new system of applying agreed standards; how is such an officer to be appraised? Managers / Supervisors are in the peculiar role of both appraiser and appraised. They see this new system as encroaching on their time. With the new system they have to compile a list of critical incidences of all the employees that they supervise. Then there is the periodic interview before the final appraisal is completed.

They find this very time consuming and if this is to be adhered to strictly, it can prevent them from effectively performing their other functions. Another problem is that they may have to appraise officers who are not in the same location or who are mostly in the field. How do you accurately appraise such officers? There are external factors that can impact negatively on officers meeting their standards. Some of these are natural disaster such as floods, there are also health factors where employees gets ill. This causes them to not meet their standards.

There are also other factors such no electricity, water and no air condition. These all contribute to not meeting agreed set standard. Solutions To devise workable solutions for an organization as large as the Public Service is a task beyond comprehend. The only solution that would guarantee any measure of success of satisfying both the organisation's goals as well as personal achievements would be to reduce the size of the organisation. This would allow for responsiveness to the environment thereby satisfying the customer needs and the organisation becomes more manageable, resulting in its ability to meets the needs of employees in terms of compensation and development. This can be achieved through a restructuring plan.

Firstly, it must be decided what is government's role. If it is that they are to be facilitators then clearly the route to be followed is that of privatisation and decentralisation. Offer a favourable separation package to achieve something thing similar to VSEP. The main difference between VSEP and this new plan is that the posts are not to be abandoned if they are needed if the holder accepts the separation package.

I agree with the present Minister of Finance statement view on the issue of Caroni, where he said that maybe it is better to spend a billion dollars on Caroni and resolve it immediately rather than having to ingest hundreds of millions into it yearly. To me that makes economic sense and that same philosophy can be applied to the rightsizing of the public service. However, this is no easy task in any country and more so one like Trinidad and Tobago, bearing in mind its ethnic composition. What is therefore required is an administration that has the political will to take the bull by the horn to do what has to be done regardless of how it will affect their political future. While I advanced the above as the main solution the reality of that happening is another.

As I see it, the only time that it will take place is if it is forced on the administration similar to how structural adjustment was forced on them. Therefore if the size is to maintain it will most definitely be difficult to fulfill the tenets of Management by Objectives. Managers and supervisors therefore should sought new creative way of making their units more effective and efficient. Maybe each ministry should have in house competition similar to best employee of the month. My view of the idea of best employee is that it promotes a lot of selfishness. However if there is a promotion for best department this would be encouraging teamwork and it is my view that a group of good performers over weighs a good worker.

This would push managers and supervisors to become more creative. At the Ministry of Energy my particular, supervisor is very flexible in her running of our department. We have some officers coming in as early as six in the morning and others as late as nine thirty. Her expectations are that the work is done.

She is not looking to see what time you get in or if you are sitting by your desk or those other trivial things. However whatever the deadline ensure that what has to be done, is done that is the bottom line. It is a small unit of about twelve persons and I must say that the environment for work is relaxing. You have no one breathing down your back and you are allowed to manage your own time. Here is a department with twelve under paid employee but because of the creativeness in the supervisor's method of operating, the employees are happy and performing efficiently.

I think her method help the employee to develop a sense of responsibility and time management. She is even providing free training for the organisation indirectly. I think this is what the managers have to now aspire to. Conclusion This essay sought to highlight the problems emerging as a result of the introduction of the New Appraisal system. Firstly, it look at the impact the system has on a Weberian Structure. With the exception of Boland and Silbergh in their article, Managing for Quality: The Impact of Quality Management Initiatives On Administrative and Resource Management Processes, there is very little research done in terms of the implications of the implementation of private sector techniques in such a structure.

Based on the tenets of this new system it is quite clear of the difficulties that would be encountered in introducing such a system into an organisation as large as the Public Service where there are no clear objectives from which tactical goals are developed. What is also quite clear, is the fact that proper measurable standards were not developed, since the very foundation, proper job analyses, were not done. Therefore there is no clear relationship between performance and the objectives. Secondly there are political issues that impact on the organisation.

The policies of the administration are the grand strategy of the Public Sector and therefore if these are unclear it is very difficult to develop tactical goals that will allow for synergy. Also what is required is an administration determination to rightsize the organisation and for this to be a success it must have the political will regardless of it political future. Then there are the individual concerns. Research done in developed countries by Strehl (1993), Kelley (1993) and Keraudren (1994) all examined the limitations in implementing performance appraisal systems. In addition to the limitations expressed by these writers, Hyde identified five problem areas, and while they are applicable they fail to address the concerns of ethnicity in what M.G. Smith term the Plural Society such as Trinidad and Tobago and by extension the Commonwealth Caribbean. It must be agreed that seniority promotes mediocrity and this contributed to the underdevelopment of the individual and the loss of quality personnel in the public service.

It must be noted that most of the concerns expressed by individual all seem be link to ethnicity such as the fear be it percieved or real of marginalisation of the Africans, promotion of one own group through subjective appraising. Based on the information, the failure of the public service to promote and project the image of success, in addition to its size structure and culture seems to be linked to the performance appraisal system. Therefore in conclusion I reiterate am opening statement from Fisher and Shaw which indicates that an organisation's long term success depends critically on its ability to measure how well employees perform and then use that information to ensure that performance meets standards and improve over time.