Choosing the Right Performance Appraisal System for a Small IT Team in India: Any Suggestions?

Dear All,

Our company, an IT organization (www.pgmsi.com) in the field of healthcare, opened its first Indian operation in 2001. Currently, only 4 employees are working here to start with. Our Head Office is based in New York. I would like to know what type of performance appraisal system would be suitable for our company. Please bear in mind that any system you suggest should be objective rather than subjective.

I look forward to receiving your valuable response.

Regards,
Rekha
HR Executive
PGMS
www.pgmsi.com

Hi Reena,

I feel that a 180-degree appraisal or a rating scale appraisal might work well with your company as employee strength is low. Try reaching out to Ajmal; he may suggest something of real value with substance.

Regards,
scare_crow

Hi Rekha,

The issue of subjectivity cannot be eliminated 100% in any mode of PMS. This is my understanding. This can be reduced to the greatest extent. And that is the reason why eminent people are against the PA process itself.

The personal scorecard and BSC, etc., will enable you to circumscribe the degree of subjectivity for sure than a 180-degree top-down appraisal.

MBO aligned properly to your organization will be a good bet according to me. But clearly defining organizational objectives and bringing them down to individual objectives is a task needed to be carried out carefully. Any misalignment in this space will lead to the process not serving the purpose.

A competency-based approach can be looked at as well. Based on the process maturity levels at PGMS, you can look for the 360-degree model to eliminate the subjectivity and bias to a larger extent.

Else, 360-degree feedback can be conducted not as a part of the analysis but only from the perspective of mapping the competencies.

We at Valuelanes, do a similar exercise. Do let us know if we can help you in this regard.

Cheers,

Rajesh B
Valuelanes
rajesh@value-lanes.com
Bangalore
98458 41000

Hi Rekha,

I'm attaching a sample performance appraisal form. I don't know whether you can implement this format in your field, but it's a general one that can be used in various fields.

Thanks & Regards

Dear All,

Thank you very much for your valuable response. I'll see whether 180 or 360 will be more effective according to our organization's work culture. I have also been advised by Mr. Leo Lingam, one of the very famous experts/advisors, that 360 is becoming more popular in the Indian IT industry. Whenever I need help, I'll seek your valuable guidance. In the meantime, if you have any good formats or readily available methods suitable for our IT organization, I would highly appreciate it if you could send them to me.

Thanks & regards,
Rekha Singh

Dear Rekha,

Before one jumps into an appraisal mood, one should know the goals of the organization, and management should have a clear vision of where the organization should be in one year from now. The goals should be communicated to all staff, and their roles should be clearly briefed. Having done this, one can proceed with the 360 review, where I am sure a lot of creative feedback will come forth. Take the criticism in a positive spirit and work to achieve the set targets.

Prasad
(:D Sivaprasad113@yahoo.co.in)

Hi Rekha,

I agree with Rajesh that since the number of appraisees is small, you can go ahead with a 360-degree feedback since it emerges as one of the most objective performance management systems to date. However, the biggest challenge in using 360-degree feedback for assessment and evaluation lies in the way it is administered. My suggestion for this is that since the number of appraisees is small, you can invest a significant amount of time in training them on how to use the system effectively and also in orienting them to the objectives of the system.

If you require more information on this system, you may visit the website of T.V. Rao Learning Systems. They are currently doing a lot of work in this area, and you can even get in touch with them. Their website address is www.tvrls.com.