UNIT – 4

Performance evaluation or Performance Appraisal or Performance management Performance Evaluation is the process of evaluating the employee’s performance on the job in terms of requirements of the job. Performance evaluation is the systematic, periodic and an impartial rating of an employee’s excellence in matters pertaining to his present job and to his potentialities for a better job. When properly conducted, performance evaluation should not let the employee know how well he is performing, but also influence the employee’s future level of effort, activities, results and direction. Performance evaluation or appraisal involves establishment of a plan of improvement of employee’s performance.

Performance management or evaluation involves establishing clear expectations and understanding about:

� the essential job functions the employee is expected to do.

� how the employee’s job contributes to the goals of the organization.

� what “doing the job well” means in concrete terms.

� how job performance will be measured

� indentifying barriers to performance and removing them

THE PROCESS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL OR EVALUATION

Performance management is an ongoing dialogue between manager and employee that links expectations, ongoing feedback and coaching, performance evaluations, development planning, and follow-up. It is clear by the figure :

Planning

Appraisal

Feedback

Fig. : Process of performance management.

Planning: Planning for each position can include: purpose of the position, key responsibilities - both tasks and duties, conduct expectations, and performance standards, as well as, measures such as quality, quantity, timeliness, initiative, and teamwork for each key responsibility.

Appraisal or Gather Data. Supervisors are encouraged to gather data regarding employee performance in a systematic manner throughout the year. The Performance Record and the Coaching Log are guides that can be used by supervisors, in addition to their own best practices, to gather data throughout the year and provide ongoing feedback to employees regarding performance. This information will then be available to supervisors when drafting the Annual Performance Evaluation.

Feedback. Feedback is a process by which effective performance is reinforced and less-than-desirable performance is corrected. To provide the knowledge of result is feedback.

Purpose of Performance Appraisal

The purpose of performance evaluations is to (1) assure that employees are aware of how they are performing their duties and (2) provide a formal and periodic record of an employee’s performance. Performance evaluations document how well an employee has carried out the duties of the job in a specific period of time and to recommend a course of action for improvement and job enrichment. The evaluation process enable the rating supervisor and employee to review performance, set future goals, and to resolve any questions regarding the duties of the position.

Importance of Performance Appraisal : Performance appraisal is the systematic, periodic and an impartial rating of an employee’s excellence in matters pertaining to his present job and to his potentialities for a better job. Performance appraisal offers competitive advantage to a firm by improving performance, helping make correct decisions, answering legal compliance, minimizing job dissatisfaction and ensuring consistency between organizational strategy and behavior.

Improving Performance: An effective appraisal system can contribute to competitive advantage by improving employ job performance in two ways by directing employee behavior towards organizational goals and by monitoring that behavior to ensure that the goals are met.

Making Correct Decisions: Appraisal is a critical input in making decisions on such issues as pay raise, promotion, transfer, training and completion of probationary period. Right decision on each of these can contribute to competitive strength of an organization.

Ensuring Legal Compliance: Organization can minimize costly performance related litigation by using appraisal systems that give fair and accurate ratings.

Minimizing job Dissatisfaction: Employees tend to become emotional and frustrated if they perceive that the ratings they get are unfair and

inaccurate. Fair and accurate appraisal results in high motivation and increased job satisfaction.

Consistency between Organizational Strategy and Behavior: An organization needs a strategy consistent with the behavior of its employees if it were to realize its goals. Employee engaged themselves in behaviors that they perceive will be rewarded. For example, if the focus is on rewarding productivity, employees will strive for productivity. Thus, the performance appraisal system is an important organizational mechanism to elicit feedback on the consistency of the strategy behavior link.

Relation between performance appraisal and training:

Performance Evaluation is a tool which can use to help enhance the efficiency of the work unit. This tool is a means to help ensure that employees are being utilized effectively. Performance appraisal offers an excellent opportunity - perhaps the best that will ever occur - for a supervisor and subordinate to recognize and agree upon individual training and development needs.

During the discussion of an employee's work performance, the presence or absence of work skills can become very obvious - even to those who habitually reject the idea of training for them! Performance appraisal can make the need for training more pressing and relevant by linking it clearly to performance outcomes and future career aspirations.

The aim of a performance appraisal is to identify employee training needs. It can be identified by using bell curve system of appraisal. Bell curve system of appraisal is a forced ranking system imposed on the employees by the management. Forced ranking has been defined as a workforce management tool based on the premise that in order to develop and thrive, a company must identify its best and worst performers, then nurture the former and rehabilitate and / or discard the

latter. Bell curve system rates the entire workforce by comparing the performance of those engaged in similar activity and ranking them on the basis of their performance. The entire workforce is segregated as the top performers, medium performers and the poor performers. The percentile varies with the company policy; it could be the top 10%, middle 80% and the bottom 10%.

The employees belonging to the higher grade contribute significantly to the enterprise. They are showered with rewards like restricted stock options, bonuses, etc so as to motivate them to continue their excellent services to the business entity. The middle percentile employees are significant in number and their presence ensures uninterrupted work flow within the organization. They generally have some weakness which is negated by the training facilities offered by the company. Similarly training is also provided to enrich their key skills to utilize in a way profitable to the entity. The bottom ranking consists of those whose performance needs significant improvement and whose is unsatisfactory. The ranking acts as a warning system that tells the employee where he stands in relation to his peers. The employees belonging to the lower strata are at times given the opportunity to improve their efforts or are renounced from the system.

Techniques or Methods of Performance Appraisal: The methods of performance management can be classified as comparative standards and absolute standards as shown in following figure :

Old Methods New Methods

Ranking Method Assessment centres

Paired comparison Management by objectives (MBO) Graphic rating scale 360 Degree feedback

Old Methods:

Ranking Method. In group rank ordering the supervisor places employees into a particular classification such as “top one-fifth” and “second one-fifth”. If a supervisor has ten employees, only two could be in the top fifth, and two must be assigned to the bottom fifth.

In individual ranking the supervisor lists employees from highest to lowest. The difference between the top two employees is assumed equivalent to the difference between the bottom two employees.

Paired comparison. In paired comparison the supervisor compares each employee with every other employee in the group and rates each as either superior or weaker of the pair. After all comparisons are made, each employee is assigned a summary or ranking based on the number of superior scores received.

Graphic Rating Scale. This method lists a set of performance factors such as job knowledge, work quality, cooperation that the supervisor uses to rate employee performance using an incremental scale. Types of Rating Scales: All the rating scales can be classified into one of the following four classifications:-

1. Some data are measured at the nominal level. That is, any numbers used are mere labels : they express no mathematical properties. Examples are SKU inventory codes and UPC bar codes.

2. Some data are measured at the ordinal level. Numbers indicate the relative position of items, but not the magnitude of difference. One example is a Likert scale:

Statement: I could not live without my computer.

Response options: Strongly disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly agree

3. Some data are measured at the interval level. Numbers indicate the magnitude of difference between items, but there is no absolute zero point. Examples are attitude scales and opinion scales.

4. Some data are measured at the ratio level. Numbers indicate magnitude of difference and there is a fixed zero point. Ratios can be calculated. Examples include age, income, price, costs, sales revenue, sales volume and market share.

More than one rating scale is required to measure an attitude or perception due to the requirement for statistical comparisons between the categories in the polytomous Rasch model for ordered categories (Andrich, 1978). In terms of Classical test theory, more than one question is required to obtain an index of internal reliability such as Cronbach's alpha (Cronbach, 1951), which is a basic criterion for assessing the effectiveness of a rating scale and, more generally, a psychometric instrument.

New Methods: It is a modern methods of performance management.

Assessment centres. An assessment centre typically involves the use of methods like social/informal events, tests and exercises, assignments being given to a group of employees to assess their competencies to take higher responsibilities in the future. Generally, employees are given an assignment similar to the job they would be expected to perform if promoted. The trained evaluators observe and evaluate employees as they perform the assigned jobs and are evaluated on job related characteristics. The major competencies that are judged in assessment centres are interpersonal skills, intellectual capability, planning and organizing capabilities, motivation, career orientation etc. assessment centres are also an effective way to determine the training and development needs of the targeted employees.

Management by Objectives. MBO evaluates how well an employee has accomplished objectives determined to be critical in job performance. This method aligns objectives with quantitative performance measures such as sales, profits, zero-defect units produced. The emphasis of this method is on the value of the present and future rather than that of the past. The method is applicable to technical, professional, supervisory or

executive personnel and not to the hourly paid workers because their jobs are too restricted.

MBO consists four steps as a way to attain desired performance.

(a) Objective setting—The objectives are set by joint determination of manager and employee for the next calender year, within the context of overall unit goals and resources.

(b) Action planning—It is a participative or independent planning by the employee asto how to reach those objectives.

(c) Periodic reviews—It is a joint assessment of progress toward objectives by manager and employee, performed informally.

(d) Annual evaluation—It is formal assessment of success in achieving the employee's annual objectives, coupled with a renewal of the planning cycle.

360 Degree Feedback. This multi-source feedback method provides a comprehensive perspective of employee performance by utilizing feedback from the full circle of people with whom the employee interacts: supervisors, subordinates and co-workers. It is the process of systematically gathering data on a person’s skills, abilities and behaviours from a variety of sources. It is effective for career coaching and identifying strengths and weaknesses. The product of this multidirectional method is rich feedback (both positive and negative) and useful in performance improvement. The results from 360-degree feedback are often used by the person receiving the feedback to plan their training and development. Results are also used by some organizations in making administrative decisions, such as pay or promotion.

The data gathered from 360-degree feedback throughout the organization can be very useful in providing insight into organization-wide behaviors and competency (or the lack thereof), and what

development and other interventions may be necessary to address weaknesses.

AppraiseeSelf

ExternalCustomers

InternalCustomers

LineManager’s

Peers

Subordinates

Errors in Performance Appraisal :

The following errors are found during the time of performance appraisal:

(a)Errors of Leniency: Each rater tends to carry around his own built in set of standards or frame of reference which he uses in making performance appraisal. Some raters might be easy or lenient, while others may be classed as being hard or severe in their. When a rater is severe he is said to be making an error of negative leniency, while the easy raters make the error of positive leniency.

(b) The Halo Effect : The halo effect is a tendency to let assessment of an individual on one trait influence our evaluation of that person on other specific traits. Symonds has suggested that it is likely to occur with the following traits ;

—traits not easily observed —Unfamiliar traits

—traits not easily defined —traits involving interpersonal reactions

(c) Contrast and Similarity Errors : The contrast errors refer to a general tendency on the part of a rater to judge others in a manner

opposite from the way in which he perceives himself. If he perceives himself as being very honest, his tendency would be to rate others slightly lower than normal on the honesty dimension. In similarity error, the rater rate other people in the same way he perceives himself. For example, if the rater feels himself very honest, he attributes high honesty to all other individuals as well.

(d) Central Tendency Errors: Some judges or raters are very reluctant to make extreme judgments about other individuals this reluctance results in their tendency not to use the extreme scale scores on the rating instrument, and results in a substantial change of shape in the distribution of scores for that rater.

(e) Proximity Errors: It is also referred as an order effect. The surrounding items have on the rating one gives a person on a particular item. For example, if the preceding item was a trait on which the individual was given a very favourable rating, the rater may tend to let the favorable response set carry over to the next item on the list.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Training is a process that develops and improves skills related to performance. Training is an organized procedure by which people learn knowledge and skill for a definite purpose. The purpose of training is to bridge the gap between job requirements and present competence of an employee.

The trainer should be the immediate supervisor when he is qualified. A subordinate can be expected to put more importance on training if it is carried out by the supervisor.

PROCESS OF TRAINING OR SYSTEM APPROACH TO TRAINING

In systems approach one must be concerned with the objectives of the total system rather than objectives of any component within the system. The application of the systems approach to training or process of training can be understand by following figure:

Identifying training needs

Setting Training Objectives and Policy

Designing Training Programme(Company's Training Plan)

Conducting the Training

Follow up and Evaluation

Feed

back

and

Rev

ision

Eval

uatio

n Cr

iteria

Fig.: Process of Training

Types of training :Training is a process that develops and improves skills related to performance. Training is an organized procedure by which people learn knowledge and skill for a definite purpose. The purpose of training is to bridge the gap between job requirements and present competence of an employee. The trainer should be the immediate supervisor when he is qualified. A subordinate can be expected to put more importance on training if it is carried out by the supervisor.

Types of training : A number of different types of training have emerged in industrial situations. Tiffin and McCormick (1958) classify training into the following seven categories :

1. Orientation training—to acquaint new employees with the company.

2. Vestibule training—simulated on the job training.

3. On the job training—actual practice on the job.

4. Apprentice training—formal apprenticeship for a craft.

5. Technical training—training in technical aspects of job.

6. Supervisory training—training in management.

7. Other training—any unusual situation not included in the above such as refresher training (revive and refresh knowledge), promotional training (existing employee are provided training before their promotion).

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Vestibule Training: A vestibule is a large entrance or reception room or area. Vestibule Training is a term for near-the-job training, as it offers

access to something new (learning). A form of training in which new employees learn the job in a setting that approximates as closely as is practicable to the actual working environment. An example is the training of airline pilots in a simulated cockpit. This type of training is generally used when the use of actual equipment by untrained employees would be too risky or when the actual work setting would be un conducive to learning (e.g. because of noise levels).

It is a classroom training that is often imported with the help of the equipment and machines, which are identical with those in use in the place of work. This technique enables the trainees to concentrate on learning new skill rather than on performing on actual job. This type of training is efficient to train semi-skilled personnel, particularly when many employees have to be trained for the same kind of work at the same time. Often used to train – bank tellers, inspectors, machine operators, typists etc. In this, training is generally given in the form of lectures, conferences, case studies, role-play etc. Towards the end of the 1800s, a method that combined the benefits of the classroom with the benefits of on-the-job training, called vestibule training, became a popular form of training. The classroom was located as close as conditions allowed to the department for which the workers were being trained. It was furnished with the same machines as used in production. There were normally six to ten workers per trainer, who were skilled workers or supervisors from the company.

There are many advantages of vestibule training. It is very much useful for the semi-skilled, skilled and executives. With the help of this training process, at a time so many trainees can be trained like trained clerks, bank tellers, machine operators, inspectors , testers, etc. The

workers are trained as if on the job, but it does not interfere with the more vital task of production. Transfer of skills and knowledge to the workplace is not required since the classroom is a model of the working environment. Classes are small so that the learners received immediate feedback and ask questions more easily than in a large classroom. Its main disadvantage is that it is quite expensive as it duplicates the production line and has a small learner to trainer ratio.

TRAINING METHODS

On-the-job training. The most commonly used method of training takes place on the job. It is used in helping personnel to learn new job; may be on an organized, systematic basis, or on a catch-as-catch-can basis. Such type of training places the employees in an actual work situation and makes them appear to be immediately productive. It is learning by doing. These are various types of approach to on-the-job training.

(i) Apprenticeship Programs. People who accepted the job like plumber, electrician etc. are required to undergo apprenticeship training programs. The duration of this training period is two years to five years. Apprentice programs must take into consideration the facts of individual differences in abilities and capacities.

(ii) Job Instruction Training. Another approach to on-the-job training is job instruction training. It consist of four basic steps :

(a) Preparation. Preparing the trainees by telling them about the job and overcoming the uncertainties.

(b) Present. Present the instructions to trainees.

(c) Try out. Have the trainee talks through the job. Let the learner do the job.

(d) Follow up. Placing the workers into the job and check progress frequently at first.

(iii) Learning by Modeling or Role Playing . In this employees learn by watching how other employees perform, or model, a behavior. According to Bandura (1977), for an employee to model another’s behavior, these conditions are necessary, which are summarized as follows :

The ability to reproduce the behavior that

is seen.

Reproduction Process

Learning by ModelingAcquisition of new

information or behavior demonstrated by other employee’s.

Attention Employee must pay

attention to the behavior of other employees.

RetentionThe employee must be

able to retain the information that

is being modeled.

Fig.: Key factors in learning by modelling.

(B) Off-the-job training : It covers a wide range of training activities given by an organization, such as lecture method, audio-visual aids, conferences, case studies and simulation exercise.

Lecture Method :The most widely used method is lecture method. Several persons are trained at a time. If the lecture is well planned, then it covers large amount of information in a short time. Proctor and Thornton (1961) suggested that the lecture method be used in the following circumstances; when presenting completely new material to a group, when working with a large group, when introducing another instruction method, when classroom time limited, and when summarizing material developed by another instruction method. It also can be useful in reducing anxiety about upcoming training programs, job changes, and other changes. The lecture is best used to create a general understanding of a topic or to influence attitudes through education about a topic. By using lecture method, large amount of information can be delivered in a relatively short period of time to a large number of people.

Audio-visual Aids : Audio-visual aids can be a useful training technique. Power-point slides, motion pictures, television etc. are used as an audio-visual aids. Through such types of audio-visual aids, the trainer is able to present a wide range of subject matter.

Conference Method : For active participation of trainees, conference method is useful. It is intended to improve job performance and personnel development. Probably the most important psychological principle is the active participation of those taking part in the conference. In addition, the conference permits ‘reinforcement’ of such participation by the trainer, as pointed out by McGehee and Thayer (1961). Reinforcement should be for the participation as such and should not be verbal rewards or punishments for the nature of the participation; otherwise the conference leader would lose his neutrality.

Simulation Exercise : It is also known as vestibule training. Vestibule Training involves the virtual duplication of work environment in an off-site setting. Simulation exercises, place the trainee in an artificial environment that closely imitates actual working conditions where the trainer demonstrates on the same kind of machine and using the same procedures that trainees will use on the job. The theory is that if managers or employees have faced with similar situations, even if they were simulated, they will be more likely to make the right decisions (Woods, 1995:180).

Any training activity that explicitly places the trainee in an artificial environment that closely mirrors actual working conditions is regarded a simulation. It allows an employee or trainee to work with equipment under actual working conditions without the consequence of mistakes. Some type of simulation exercise is expensive and become difficult to use, e.g. airline simulators. Some of the simulation exercises are inexpensive and easy to use, e.g. simulation exercise used by nurses

to reach patients with diabetes how to administer their insulin shots—the patient practice by injecting water into oranges.

Programmed Instruction (PI) : Programmed instruction is a Computer-based training that comprises of graphics, multimedia, text that is connected to one another and is stored in memory. Programmed instruction is the procedure of guiding the participants strategically through the information in a way that facilitates the most effective and efficient learning. It provides the participant with content, information, asks questions, and based on the answer goes to the next level of information i.e. if the trainee gives the correct answer; one branch moves the trainee forward to the new information. And if the trainee gives the wrong answer then different branch is activated, taking the trainee back to the review relevant information in more elaborate manner.

This method allows the trainees to go through the content according to the individual speed, and capability. Those trainees, who respond better, move through the content rapidly. Programmed Instruction also comes in Printed form i.e. books, tape, interactive Video, other formats. In programmed instruction, trainees receive information in substantial amount and then tested on their retention of information. If the trainees are not able to retain the information, they are referred back to the original information. If the trainees retain the information, they are referred to the next log of information that is to be learned. Programmed instruction (frequently referred to as PI) is computer based training in which material to be learned is presented in a series of steps or units that generally progress from simple to complex. At each step learner make a response and receive feedback in some way so that they know whether their response was correct or not. If the response was incorrect the trainees back up and are guided in some way to learn the correct response (and why it is correct) so that they can proceed further in the program.

The primary advantage of programmed instruction seems to be in term of training time. This suggests that economic considerations are important to considering programmed instruction, specially a comparison between the saving in instruction costs and time of the trainees and the cost of developing programmed instruction materials (which can run into many thousands of dollars). Although programmed instruction seems not to have any general advantage over conventional training in amount or retention of learning. Glidstein (1974) called attention to certain other advantages, such as that the material are easily packaged and can be sent to various training centers, that individual students can take the training when it is most convenient and appropriate, and the possibility that the individualization of the method may be particularly advantageous to high and low ability learners (who might benefit especially from the self-pacing aspects).

Difference between ‘On the job’ and ‘Off the job’ Training: The term training indicates a systematic procedure for transferring technical know-how to the employees so as to increase their knowledge and skills for doing particular jobs. Training may be classified as : On-the-job training and Off-the-job training. On-the-job training involves training whilst the job is being performed e.g. training of bar staff. Off-the-job training sees learning taking place at a college, training centre or conference facility. The difference between on-the-job and off-the-job methods are as follows:

On Job training - in work learning as it happens in real time, whereas, Off the job training is normally in a classroom/workshop covering theory and practical but can include, depending on the learning taking place actual experience of a situation

On-the-job training involves employees acquiring or developing skills without leaving their usual workplace, perhaps by being guided through an activity by a more

experienced member of staff, whereas, Off-the-job training involves employees leaving their normal place of work in order to receive instruction, either within the firm or by using an external organisation such as a college or university.

On-the-job training method regarded as low cost and less time consuming method, while off-the-job method regarded as high cost and more time consuming method.

On-the-job training is a part of job activity and off-the-job training is not a part of job activity.

On-the-job training is informal training and is not systematically organized, whereas off-the-job training is formal training and organized systematically.

On-the-job training is practical in nature and considered to be the most effective method of training the operative personnel, whereas, off-the-job training is theoretical in nature.

The learner may be active in On-the-job training, but, the learner is passive in another type of training.

On-the-job training is associated more with skills, whereas, off-the-job training is associated more with knowledge rather than skills.

Relation in training, development and education

Training and development encompasses three main activities: training, education, and development. Garavan, Costine, and Heraty, of the Irish Institute of Training and Development, note that these ideas are often considered to be synonymous. However, to practitioners, they encompass three separate, although interrelated, activities:

Training: This activity is both focused upon, and evaluated against, the job that an individual currently holds.

Education: This activity focuses upon the jobs that an individual may potentially hold in the future, and is evaluated against those job.

Development: This activity focuses upon the activities that the organization employing the individual, or that the individual is part of, may partake in the future, and is almost impossible to evaluate.

Education and training is any activity that is undertaken with the specific aim of acquiring or improving the public relations, communication and/or business skills necessary to function effectively at work.

Purpose of training is to supplement education. Training goes hand in hand with education. Learning is modification behaviour through training. In all training there is some education and in all education there is

some training . These two processes cannot be separated from development.

Training is concerned with increasing the technical skills and knowledge and operative skills in doing a particular job. Hence, mostly employers train their employees for a particular job. But the scope of education is broader. It includes acquiring not only technical skills and knowledge, but also behavioral skills and knowledge, general knowledge, social knowledge and the like. Thus, the purpose of education is to develop individuals. It is concerned with the changing environmental, political and social developments. Education is not only through formal instruction in the educational institutes, but also through training, observation, awareness and so on and so forth. Training normally has a more immediate and specific utilitarian purpose whereas education has general utility. Though it is difficult to differentiate training from education as they are closely interrelated, it can be said that training is part of education.

In other words, the concept of education, training and development are related to each other if both the organization and employees are to benefit from training. Education is essential for every individual, both for life in general and the work place in particular. Training and development will succeed only if an individual has received an adequate

standard of education. Training is necessary to correct work procedure and to improve poor performance in the individual’s present job. Development, on the other hand, should enrich not only the individual but also the group, the organization and the community. From this it can be said that these three concepts are interrelated. It can be depicted by the following figure:

Education Training

Development

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Training and development offer competitive advantage to a firm by removing performance deficiencies, making employees stay long, minimizing accidents, scrap and damage, and meeting future employee needs. Both terms are used for similar activity, i.e. for improving performance. Though training and development are differ to each other.

The difference between training and development can be explained on the basis of

Meaning—Training means learning new things and refreshing old ones, but development means implementing the learned session and finding new ones.

Utility—Training a designed for non-managers as well as managers but development involves only managerial personnel.

Process—Training is a short term process and development is long term process.

Objective—The objective of training are specific and job related purpose but the objective of development is broad and consider general knowledge or total personality development.

Demand—The demand of training is for present or current situation, i.e., immediate improvement of the employee whereas is development, the demand is for future situation, i.e., to make the employee efficient enough to handle critical situations in the future.

COMPONENTS OF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Development is a planned, systematic and continuous process of learning and growth designed to induce behavioural change in individuals by cultivating their mental abilities and inherent qualities through the acquisition, understanding and use of new knowledge, insights and skills as they are needed for effective management. The essential components of a development programme are as follows:

1. Analysis of Development Needs: The present and future developmental needs of the organization are ascertained. It is necessary to determine how many and what type of executives are required to meet the present and future needs of the enterprise. A critical analysis of the organization structure in the light of future plans will reveal what the organization needs in terms of departments, functions and key executive positions. Then job descriptions and specifications are prepared for all executive positions to know the type of knowledge, skills, training and experience required for each position.

2. Inventory of Executive Manpower: The inventory is prepared to obtain complete information about each executive. Data on the age, education, experience, health and performance appraisal results is collected. This information is maintained on computers

for ready reference. An analysis of this information will show the strengths as well as deficiencies of executives in certain function relative to the future needs of the organization.

3. Appraisal of Present Managerial Talent: A qualitative assessment of the existing executives is made to determine the type of executive talent available within the organization. The performance of every executive is compared with the standard expected of him. His personal traits are also analyzed to estimate his potential for development.

4. Planning Individual Development Programmes:Each executive has a unique set of physical, intellectual and emotional characteristics. Therefore development plan should be tailor-made for each individual. Such tailor-made programmes of development should give due attention to the interests and goals of the executives as well as to the training and development opportunities existing in the organizations.

5. Establishing training and Development Programmes :The human resource department prepares comprehensive development programmes. It identifies development needs and may launch specific courses in fields of leadership, decision-making, human relations, etc. It also recommends specific executive development programmes organized by well-known institute of management. On the basis of its recommendations, the top management nominates the executives who will participate in the programmes.

6. Evaluating Development Programmes: Considerable money, time and efforts are spent on executive development programmes. It is natural to find out to what extent the programme objectives have been achieved. Programme evaluation will reveal the relevance of the development programmes and the changes that

should be made to make these more useful to the organization. Observation of the trainee’s behavior, rating of the training elements, opinion surveys, interviews, tests and changes in productivity, quality, cost, etc. can be used to evaluate development programmes.

What is training? Explain the training need assessment process or needs analysis process.

Ans. Training is a process that develops and improves skills related to performance. Training is an organized procedure by which people learn knowledge and skill for a definite purpose. The purpose of training is to bridge the gap between job requirements and present competence of an employee.The trainer should be the immediate supervisor when he is qualified. A subordinate can be expected to put more importance on training if it is carried out by the supervisor.

Training need assessment process : A training program should be started only after the training need analysis, in which needs are assessed clearly and specifically. The effectiveness of a training programme can be judged only with the help of training needs analysis. There are three types of needs analysis. Organizational analysis, task analysis, person analysis.

(i) Organizational Analysis—The purpose of organization analysis is to determine those organizational factors that either facilitate or inhibit training effectiveness. A properly conducted organizational analysis will focus on the goals the organization wants to achieve, the extent to which training will help achieve those goals, the organizations ability to conduct training (e.g., finances, physical space, time) and the extent to which employees are willing and able to be trained (e.g., ability, commitment and motivation).

(ii) Task Analysis—It is a systematic and detailed analysis of jobs to identify job contents, the knowledge, skills and aptitudes required for task. The purpose of task analysis is to identify the tasks performed by each employee, the conditions under which these tasks are performed and the competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities) needs to perform tasks. The most common job analysis method used for this purpose incude interviews, observations. If an organization has detailed and

current job descriptions already written, the task analysis process is faily easy and does not take much time.

(iii) Person Analysis—The third and final step in the needs analysis process is determining which employees need training and in which areas. Person analysis is based on the recognition that not every employee needs further training for every task performed. To determine the individual training needs for each employee, person analysis uses performance appraisal scores, surveys, interviews, skill and knowledge tests. Performance appraisal scores is the easiest method of need analysis e.g., low ratings on particular dimension for most employees may indicate that additional training in that dimension is needed.

Q. What motivates employees to learn during training sessions? OR

How does a training program become effective?

Ans. For a training program to be effective, employees must be motivated by following strategies.

I. Motivating Employees to Attend Training : To motivate employees to attend training is to require them to attend training “On the

clock.” There are some strategies to motivate employees to attend training.

(i) Relate the training to an employees immediate job, e.g., employees would be more motivated to attend a training session on a computer program that the organization will begin using in two weeks. Thus, training should be provided “just in time” rather than “just in ease.”

(ii) Make the training interesting—Employees are more likely to attend when they known they will have a good time as well as learn something useful.

(iii) Provide Incentives—Common incentives for attending training include certificates, money, promotion opportunities.

(iv) Provide Food—Another motivation strategies in which training sessions, employees is provided lunch. Consultants. Babbie Raynes used pizza as incentives to get employees to attend short raining sessions during lunch or dinner.

II. Motivating Employees to Perform Well in Training: Employees motivated to learn perform better in training than their less motivated counterparts. The various types of incentives that can be used to motivate learning are given in following figure.

The incentives can be made contingent on a variety of factors, including completion of a training course, demonstration of new knowledge, demonstration of new skill, or an increase in actual job performance.

Interest—Employees will be more motivated to learn when the training program is interesting. A topic in training can be made interesting by making it relevant to the employees lives, having activities, using a variety of training techniques, using human and maximizing audience participation.

Utility of Training—Employees will also be motivated to apply what they learned in training, if training program has a utility to him. When employees find a training program useful, they certainly pass that information on to other employees.

Train all the employees in team—Another method for getting employees to apply what they have learned in training is to train all the employees in a work area (team) at the same time. One advantage of during this is that because all employees have been trained, they can help and encourage each other.

III. Motivating Employees to use their training on the job: Once employees have gathered knowledge and skills from a training program, it is essential that they apply their knowledge and skills on the job itself.

Atmosphere—The factors that plays the biggest role in employee motivation to apply training is the atmosphere set by management. It means employees are most likely to apply their new knowledge and skills if supervisors encourage and reward them to do so.

Opportunity—Another important factor in motivating employees is the extent to which they are given the opportunity to apply their skills. Employees should be given the opportunity to use their newly acquired knowledge and skills immediately after completing their training.

Fig. Factors for motivating an employees.

Set Goals—The knowledge and skills learned in training can be apply by setting goals. For example, tellers at a credit union received two days of training on cross-selling new products. This training is useful when each teller might set a goal of daily asking four credit union

members. Goal setting works best when goals are individually set by each employee.

Q. How will you evaluate the effectiveness of training and development programme?

Ans. Training programs can be costly in both time and money, it is essential that they be evaluated to determine if they can be improved. There are various ways to evaluate the effectiveness of a training program. The most simple method is to determine whether significant change is seen in performance of job knowledge. To use this method, performance or job knowledge must be measured twice. The first measurement, a pretest is taken before the implementation of training. The second measurement, a postest is taken after the training program is complete. A diagram of pretest-post test design is as follows :

Pretests Training Post test

This is a simple method, its findings are difficult to interpret because there is no control group against which the results can be compared.

For training purposes, a control group consists of employees who will be treated and tested in te some manner as the experimental group except that they will not receive training. The diagram for a pretest/post test control group design looks like thus

Experimental group : PretestTraining Post test

Control group : PretestNoTraining Post test

Lindhall suggests the following criteria for checking the effectiveness of training.

1.Better quality of production. 2. Increase in number of job operators who pass the job standards. 3.Reduction in time required to do the job. 4. Decrease in absenteeism.

Thus, the only way training effectiveness can be evaluated is by comparing the change in performance of a group receiving training to the change in performance of a comparable group which did not receive the training. It can be explained by :

Figure illustrates the method to determine the effectiveness of training using a control group which did not receive training.