PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND JOB DESIGN

FINAL DRAFT SUBMITTED IN THE FULFILMENT OF THE COURSE

TITLED –

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

NAME:  Rahul Raj

COURSE: B.B.A., LL. B (Hons.)

 ROLL NO: 1845 

SEMESTER: 1st Semester

SUBMITTED TO : DR. S. C. ROY

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my faculty Dr. S. C. Roy whose guidance helped me a lot
with structuring my project.

I owe the present accomplishment of my project to my friends, who helped

me immensely with materials throughout the project and without whom I
couldn’t have completed it in the present way.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to my parents and all those unseen
hands that helped me out at every stage of my project.

THANK YOU

NAME: Rahul Raj

ROLL NO: 1845

SEMESTER – 1st
 INTRODUCTION
1.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
2.
TOOLS FOR PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
3.
BIASES
4.
COMMUNICATION OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
5.
HANDLING OF EMPLOYEE AFTER PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
6.
JOB DESIGN
7.
BENEFITS OF JOB DESIGN
8.
APPROACH TO JOB DESIGN
9.
ISSUES OF JOB DESIGN
10.
FACTORS AFFECTING JOB DESIGN
11.
CONCLUSION
12.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
13.
 INTRODUCTION
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

A performance appraisal is a systematic general and periodic process that assesses an

individual employee's job performance and productivity in relation to certain pre-established
criteria and organizational objectives. Other aspects of individual employees are considered
as well, such as organizational citizenship behavior, accomplishments, potential for future
improvement, strengths and weaknesses, etc.

To collect PA data, there are three main methods: objective production, personnel, and
judgmental evaluation. Judgmental evaluations are the most commonly used with a large
variety of evaluation methods. Historically, PA has been conducted annually (long-cycle
appraisals); however, many companies are moving towards shorter cycles (every six months,
every quarter), and some have been moving into short-cycle (weekly, bi-weekly) PA. The
interview could function as "providing feedback to employees, counseling and developing
employees, and conveying and discussing compensation, job status, or disciplinary
decisions". PA is often included in performance management systems. PA helps the
subordinate answer two key questions: first, "What are your expectations of me?" second,
"How am I doing to meet your expectations?"

Performance management systems are employed "to manage and align" all of an
organization's resources in order to achieve highest possible performance. "How performance
is managed in an organization determines to a large extent the success or failure of the
organization. Therefore, improving PA for everyone should be among the highest priorities of
contemporary organizations".

Some applications of PA are compensation, performance improvement, promotions,

termination, test validation, and more. While there are many potential benefits of PA, there
are also some potential drawbacks. For example, PA can help facilitate management-
employee communication; however, PA may result in legal issues if not executed
appropriately, as many employees tend to be unsatisfied with the PA process. PAs created in
and determined as useful in the United States are not necessarily able to be transferable cross-
culturally.

JOB DESIGN

Job design (also referred to as work design or task design) is a core function of human
resource management and it is related to the specification of contents, methods and
relationship of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well
as the social and personal requirements of the job holder. Its principles are geared towards
how the nature of a person's job affects their attitudes and behavior at work, particularly
relating to characteristics such as skill variety and autonomy. The aim of a job design is to
improve job satisfaction, to improve through-put, to improve quality and to reduce employee
problems (e.g., grievances, absenteeism)
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Performance Appraisal is the systematic evaluation of the performance of employees and to

understand the abilities of a person for further growth and development. Performance
appraisal is generally done in systematic ways which are as follows:

1. The supervisors measure the pay of employees and compare it with targets and plans.

2. The supervisor analyses the factors behind work performances of employees.

3. The employers are in position to guide the employees for a better performance.

Objectives of Performance Appraisal

Performance Appraisal can be done with following objectives in mind:

1. To maintain records in order to determine compensation packages, wage structure,

salaries raises, etc.

2. To identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees to place right men on right
job.

3. To maintain and assess the potential present in a person for further growth and
development.

4. To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status.

5. To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status.

6. It serves as a basis for influencing working habits of the employees.

7. To review and retain the promotional and other training programmes.

Advantages of Performance Appraisal

It is said that performance appraisal is an investment for the company which can be justified
by following advantages:

1. Promotion: Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to chalk out the promotion
programmes for efficient employees. In this regards, inefficient workers can be
dismissed or demoted in case.

2. Compensation: Performance Appraisal helps in chalking out compensation packages

for employees. Merit rating is possible through performance appraisal. Performance
Appraisal tries to give worth to a performance. Compensation packages which
includes bonus, high salary rates, extra benefits, allowances and pre-requisites are
dependent on performance appraisal. The criteria should be merit rather than
seniority.
 3. Employees Development: The systematic procedure of performance appraisal helps
the supervisors to frame training policies and programmes. It helps to analyse
strengths and weaknesses of employees so that new jobs can be designed for efficient
employees. It also helps in framing future development programmes.

4. Selection Validation: Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to understand the

validity and importance of the selection procedure. The supervisors come to know the
validity and thereby the strengths and weaknesses of selection procedure. Future
changes in selection methods can be made in this regard.

5. Communication: For an organization, effective communication between employees

and employers is very important. Through performance appraisal, communication can
be sought for in the following ways:

a. Through performance appraisal, the employers can understand and accept

skills of subordinates.

b. The subordinates can also understand and create a trust and confidence in
superiors.

c. It also helps in maintaining cordial and congenial labour management

relationship.

d. It develops the spirit of work and boosts the morale of employees.

All the above factors ensure effective communication.

6. Motivation: Performance appraisal serves as a motivation tool. Through evaluating

performance of employees, a person’s efficiency can be determined if the targets are
achieved. This very well motivates a person for better job and helps him to improve
his performance in the future
TOOLS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Following are the tools used by the organizations for Performance Appraisals of their
employees.

1. Ranking

2. Paired Comparison

3. Forced Distribution

4. Confidential Report

5. Essay Evaluation

6. Critical Incident

7. Checklists

8. Graphic Rating Scale

9. BARS

10. Forced Choice Method

11. MBO

12. Field Review Technique

13. Performance Test

We will be discussing the important performance appraisal tools and techniques in detail.

1. Ranking Method

The ranking system requires the rater to rank his subordinates on overall performance. This
consists in simply putting a man in a rank order. Under this method, the ranking of an
employee in a work group is done against that of another employee. The relative position of
each employee is tested in terms of his numerical rank. It may also be done by ranking a
person on his job performance against another member of the competitive group.

Advantages of Ranking Method

i. Employees are ranked according to their performance levels.

ii. It is easier to rank the best and the worst employee.

Limitations of Ranking Method

iii. The “whole man” is compared with another “whole man” in this method. In
practice, it is very difficult to compare individuals possessing various
individual traits.

iv. This method speaks only of the position where an employee stands in his
group. It does not test anything about how much better or how much worse an
employee is when compared to another employee.

v. When a large number of employees are working, ranking of individuals

become a difficult issue.

vi. There is no systematic procedure for ranking individuals in the organization.

The ranking system does not eliminate the possibility of snap judgements.

2. Forced Distribution method

This is a ranking technique where raters are required to allocate a certain percentage of rates
to certain categories (eg: superior, above average, average) or percentiles (eg: top 10 percent,
bottom 20 percent etc). Both the number of categories and percentage of employees to be
allotted to each category are a function of performance appraisal design and format. The
workers of outstanding merit may be placed at top 10 percent of the scale, the rest may be
placed as 20 % good, 40 % outstanding, 20 % fair and 10 % fair.

Advantages of Forced Distribution

i. This method tends to eliminate raters bias

ii. By forcing the distribution according to pre-determined percentages, the

problem of making use of different raters with different scales is avoided.

Limitations of Forced Distribution

iii. The limitation of using this method in salary administration, however, is that it
may lead low morale, low productivity and high absenteeism.

Employees who feel that they are productive, but find themselves in lower
grade (than expected) feel frustrated and exhibit over a period of time
reluctance to work.

3. Critical Incident techniques

Under this method, the manager prepares lists of statements of very effective and ineffective
behaviour of an employee. These critical incidents or events represent the outstanding or poor
behaviour of employees or the job. The manager maintains logs of each employee, whereby
he periodically records critical incidents of the workers behaviour. At the end of the rating
period, these recorded critical incidents are used in the evaluation of the worker’s
performance. Example of a good critical incident of a Customer Relations Officer is : March
12 - The Officer patiently attended to a customer’s complaint. He was very polite and prompt
in attending the customers problem.

Advantages of Critical Incident techniques

i. This method provides an objective basis for conducting a thorough discussion

of an employees performance.

ii. This method avoids recency bias (most recent incidents are too much
emphasized)

Limitations of Critical Incident techniques

iii. Negative incidents may be more noticeable than positive incidents.

iv. The supervisors have a tendency to unload a series of complaints about the
incidents during an annual performance review sessions.

v. It results in very close supervision which may not be liked by an employee.

vi. The recording of incidents may be a chore for the manager concerned, who
may be too busy or may forget to do it.

4. Checklists and Weighted Checklists

In this system, a large number of statements that describe a specific job are given. Each
statement has a weight or scale value attached to it. While rating an employee the supervisor
checks all those statements that most closely describe the behaviour of the individual under
assessment. The rating sheet is then scored by averaging the weights of all the statements
checked by the rater. A checklist is constructed for each job by having persons who are quite
familiar with the jobs. These statements are then categorized by the judges and weights are
assigned to the statements in accordance with the value attached by the judges.

Advantages of Checklists and Weighted Checklists

i. Most frequently used method in evaluation of the employees performance.

Limitations of Checklists and Weighted Checklists

ii. This method is very expensive and time consuming

iii. Rater may be biased in distinguishing the positive and negative questions.
iv. It becomes difficult for the manager to assemble, analyze and weigh a number
of statements about the employees characteristics, contributions and
behaviours.
Biases

Managers commit mistakes while evaluating employees and their performance. Biases and
judgment errors of various kinds may spoil the performance appraisal process. Bias here
refers to inaccurate distortion of a measurement. These are:

1. First Impression (primacy effect): Raters form an overall impression about the ratee
on the basis of some particluar characteristics of the ratee identified by them. The
identified qualities and features may not provide adequate base for appraisal.

2. Halo Effect: The individual’s performance is completely appraised on the basis of a

perceived positive quality, feature or trait. In other words this is the tendency to rate a
man uniformly high or low in other traits if he is extra-ordinarily high or low in one
particular trait. If a worker has few absences, his supervisor might give him a high
rating in all other areas of work.

3. Horn Effect: The individual’s performance is completely appraised on the basis of a

negative quality or feature perceived. This results in an overall lower rating than may
be warranted. “He is not formally dressed up in the office. He may be casual at work
too!”.

4. Excessive Stiffness or Lenience: Depending upon the raters own standards, values
and physical and mental makeup at the time of appraisal, ratees may be rated very
strictly or leniently. Some of the managers are likely to take the line of least resistance
and rate people high, whereas others, by nature, believe in the tyranny of exact
assessment, considering more particularly the drawbacks of the individual and thus
making the assessment excessively severe. The leniency error can render a system
ineffective. If everyone is to be rated high, the system has not done anything to
differentiate among the employees.

5. Central Tendency: Appraisers rate all employees as average performers. That is, it is
an attitude to rate people as neither high nor low and follow the middle path. For
example, a professor, with a view to play it safe, might give a class grade near the
equal to B, regardless of the differences in individual performances.

6. Personal Biases: The way a supervisor feels about each of the individuals working
under him - whether he likes or dislikes them - as a tremendous effect on the rating of
their performances. Personal Bias can stem from various sources as a result of
information obtained from colleagues, considerations of faith and thinking, social and
family background and so on.

7. Spillover Effect: The present performance is evaluated much on the basis of past
performance. “The person who was a good performer in distant past is assured to be
okay at present also”.
 8. Recency Effect: Rating is influenced by the most recent behaviour ignoring the
commonly demonstrated behaviours during the entire appraisal period.

Therefore, while appraising performances, all the above biases should be a

COMMUNICATION OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Performance appraisals enable superiors to know what their team members are upto, evaluate
their performances and also give them correct feedbacks so that they know where they are
lacking and work on their shortcomings.

The term “Performance Appraisal” generally causes anxiety among employees, which
definitely should not be the case. You really do not have to worry about your appraisal if
you have worked hard throughout the year.

There is definitely a certain way appraisal need to be communicated among employees. There
are organizations where management tends to create unnecessary hype about performance
appraisal. In such a scenario, trust me, employees think only about their appraisals and find it
extremely difficult to concentrate on their routine affairs. The appraisal process certainly
should not disturb your daily schedule.

Let us understand how performance appraisal needs to be communicated among

employees.

The rating procedure, appraisal form or any other related information ought to be sent to each
and every individual separately. Do not mark a common mail to everyone. If you do not want
to take the pain of sending separate mails to everyone, create a common login id where each
and every individual can register using their passwords and pull out the appraisal form. The
appraisal form generally has information about employee’s designation, grade, level in the
hierarchy, responsibilities and thus must be kept confidential.

Counselling needs to be done on a one on one basis. Address their queries, confusions in
private. Remember, appraisal is a very sensitive subject and should be handled gracefully.
Call the employees one by one either in your cabin or conference room and try to find out if
they need any help or guidance. Trust me, if you call them in a group, they would never open
up. It is unethical to discuss one’s performance or salary in public.

Once the appraisals are done, communicating the same to the employees is another big
challenge. The increment letters or appraisal letters should be handed over to the employees
either by the functional head or human resource team personally.Do not ask your office peon
to distribute the letters. Trust me, it is very insulting. You are not doing any charity. It is their
right.

Employee attrition is one of the major problems faced by organizations after

performance appraisal. Employees who work only for money quit after a salary hike to
negotiate further with any other organization. Individuals who do not get satisfactory
appraisal in any case get demotivated and look for a change. Any employee who does not
agree to his/her appraisal or feel has not got what he/she deserves needs to be addressed at the
earliest. Sit with the individual concerned and try to make him/her understand as to why
he/she has got a certain rating. Employees cannot always be wrong. If you feel, an employee
deserves slightly more than what he has got, kindly reconsider your decision. Remember, it is
always better to give a decent salary hike to talented employees than losing them. After all, if
they leave, you in any case have to spend time and energy searching for a replacement.

Employees need to be motivated after their appraisals. Congratulate each and every one
irrespective of their salary hike or promotion. Appreciate everyone for being consistent and
most importantly loyal towards the organization. Make sure no one feels left out. Sit with
them, give them new realistic targets and guide them as to how can they work together, come
out with more innovative ideas and show better performances in the years to come.

Performance appraisal should not be the only method to evaluate or acknowledge employee’s
performance. Do not be rude to employees who did not perform well. It is absolutely okay to
handhold them and give a second chance.
Handling Employees After Performance Appraisals

Performance appraisal refers to the elaborate process of reviewing one’s performance and
output over a certain period of time and not only give correct feedbacks but also acknowledge
and appreciate the hard work. Appraisal letters cause a lot of anxiety and sometimes
disappointment among employees. Individuals never create problems when they get a good
salary hike but trust me, handling employees after a bad appraisal is a big challenge.

Let us go through few tips on how to handle employees after performance appraisals:

Never forget to congratulate employees who have got a decent appraisal or a promotion and a
positive review from the management. It will further motivate them and also instil a sense of
pride and most importantly responsibility in them. Make them feel important. If someone has

worked really hard all through the year, he/she definitely deserves to be praised for his/her
efforts and encouraged to perform better in the years to come. Celebrate his/her success.

Employees who had an unsatisfactory year and eventually a bad appraisal are the ones
who need most of your attention and care. One of the most common problems with such
employees is that they suddenly become negative about everything, find reviewing authorities
as their biggest enemies and also start hating their organization. Yes, logically such a
behaviour is not expected out of a mature professional but we can’t completely blame the
poor individual also who after slogging for a year did not get appraisal as per his/her
expectations.

As they say “with a little love, we can even change the world”. Such employees need to be
handled with utmost patience. Sit with such employees and first of all try to find out as to
why they failed this time. Try to understand their mood and also what they feel about their
appraisal? It is obvious that they would not be in a great mood but as a superior it is your duty
to cheer them up so that they do not lose their confidence and eventually interest in work and
finally quit. Employees also need to understand that there is always a next time and there is
no point reacting and fighting with people around. After all it would not solve your problem,
instead earn you a bad name in the organization.

Understand where the individual went wrong. All negativities and confusions would
disappear if you make the individual understand where all he/she lacked and why his
counterpart has got a decent appraisal while he/she has not? Yes, employees at this point of
time are really not in a mood to listen to their superiors but you have to assure them that as a
Boss, you are always there with them and would certainly help in future as well. Understand
if at all the individual is facing any problem or not and most importantly try to provide a
solution. Yes, after a bad appraisal, employees tend to become negative but as a Boss it is
your responsibility to change their perception.

Let them speak and come out with their frustrations. Employees should also be careful
with their words. Never cross your limits. Handhold such employees and provide necessary
guidance whenever required. Send them a motivational email. Such small initiatives go a
long way in motivating employees so that they become a little more serious and come back
with a bang. Make them understand that this is just a temporary phase and should not act as a
demotivating factor for them. Encourage them to work in unison with their fellow workers,
read a lot and most importantly believe in the organization and its process.
JOB DESIGN

Job design follows job analysis i.e. it is the next step after job analysis. It aims at outlining
and organising tasks, duties and responsibilities into a single unit of work for the achievement
of certain objectives. It also outlines the methods and relationships that are essential for the
success of a certain job. In simpler terms it refers to the what, how much, how many and the
order of the tasks for a job/s.

Job design essentially involves integrating job responsibilities or content and certain
qualifications that are required to perform the same. It outlines the job responsibilities very
clearly and also helps in attracting the right candidates to the right job. Further it also makes
the job look interesting and specialised.

There are various steps involved in job design that follow a logical sequence, those that
were mentioned earlier on. The sequence is as follows:

1. What tasks are required to e done or what tasks is part of the job?

2. How are the tasks performed?

3. What amount are tasks are required to be done?

4. What is the sequence of performing these tasks?

All these questions are aimed at arriving upon a clear definition of a specific job and thereby
make it less risky for the one performing the same. A well defined job encourages feeling of
achievement among the employees and a sense of high self esteem.

The whole process of job design is aimed to address various problems within the
organisational setup, those that pertain to ones description of a job and the associated
relationships. More specifically the following areas are fine tuned:

 Checking the work overload.

 Checking upon the work under load.

 Ensuring tasks are not repetitive in nature.

 Ensuring that employees don not remain isolated.

 Defining working hours clearly.

 Defining the work processes clearly.

The above mentioned are factors that if not taken care of result into building stress within the
employees.
Benefits of Job Design

The following are the benefits of a good job design:

1. Employee Input: A good job design enables a good job feedback. Employees have
the option to vary tasks as per their personal and social needs, habits and
circumstances in the workplace.

2. Employee Training: Training is an integral part of job design. Contrary to the

philosophy of “leave them alone’ job design lays due emphasis on training people so
that are well aware of what their job demands and how it is to be done.

3. Work / Rest Schedules: Job design offers good work and rest schedule by clearly
defining the number of hours an individual has to spend in his/her job.

4. Adjustments: A good job designs allows for adjustments for physically demanding
jobs by minimising the energy spent doing the job and by aligning the manpower
requirements for the same.

Job design is a continuous and ever evolving process that is aimed at helping employees
make adjustments with the changes in the workplace. The end goal is reducing
dissatisfaction, enhancing motivation and employee engagement at the workplace.
Approaches to Job Design

Job design is the next step after job analysis that aims at outlining, and organizing tasks and
responsibilities associated with a certain job. It integrates job responsibilities and
qualifications or skills that are required to perform the same. There are various methods or
approaches to do this. The important ones are discussed below

Human Approach

The human approach of job design laid emphasis on designing a job around the people or
employees and not around the organizational processes. In other words it recognizes the need
of designing jobs that are rewarding (financially and otherwise) and interesting at the same
time.

According to this approach jobs should gratify an individual’s need for recognition, respect,
growth and responsibility. Job enrichment as popularized by Herzberg’s research is one the
ways in human approach of job design. Herzberg classified these factors into two categories -
the hygiene factors and the motivators.

Motivators include factors like achievement, work nature, responsibility, learning and growth
etc that can motivate an individual to perform better at the work place.

Hygiene factor on the other hand include things like working conditions, organizational
policies, salary etc that may not motivate directly but the absence of which can lead to
dissatisfaction at the work place.

Engineering Approach

The engineering approach was devised by FW Taylors et al. They introduced the idea of the
task that gained prominence in due course of time. According to this approach the work or
task of each employee is planned by the management a day in advance. The instructions for
the same are sent to each employee describing the tasks to e undertaken in detail. The details
include things like what, how and when of the task along with the time deadlines.

The approach is based on the application of scientific principles to job design. Work,
according to this approach should be scientifically analyzed and fragmented into logical
tasks. Due emphasis is then laid on organizing the tasks so that a certain logical sequence is
followed for efficient execution of the same. The approach also lays due emphasis on
compensating employees appropriately and training them continuously for work efficiency.
The Job Characteristics Approach

The job characteristics approach was popularized by Hackman and Oldham. According to
this approach there is a direct relationship between job satisfaction and rewards. They said
that employees will be their productive best and committed when they are rewarded
appropriately for their work. They laid down five core dimensions that can be used to
describe any job - skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback.

 Skill variety: The employees must be able to utilize all their skills and develop new
skills while dealing with a job.

 Task Identity: The extent to which an identifiable task or piece or work is required to
be done for completion of the job.

 Task Significance: How important is the job to the other people, what impact does it
create on their lives?

 Autonomy: Does the job offer freedom and independence to the individual
performing the same.

 Feedback: Is feedback necessary for improving performance.

These are different approaches but all of them point to more or less the same factors that need
to be taken into consideration like interest, efficiency, productivity, motivation etc. All these
are crucial to effective job design.
ISSUES IN JOB DESIGN

As we know, job design is a systematic organization of job-related tasks, responsibilities,

functions and duties. It is a continuous process of integration of content related to job in order
to achieve certain objectives. The process plays a vital role as it affects the productivity of
employees and organizations. However, there are a number of existing issues emerged
recently while designing the jobs in organizations. These are alternative work patterns that
are equally effective in handling organization’s functions.

 Telecommuting / Work from Home: Telecommuting or work from home is

considered as the best alternative of working from the actual office. The concept of
virtual office is gaining more and more popularity because of ease and convenience
associated with it. By using computer networks, fax machines, telephones and internet
connection, employees can communicate and perform the job from home. It
eliminates the need of coming to office everyday and offers employees the
convenience to work at the comfort of their home.

Though there are lots of advantages associated with this working style but it suffers from
many limitations. It allows employees to stay at home and manage their job tasks and
functions without actually being present in the office but it doesn’t allow them to
communicate with other employees and establishing relationships with them. They only deal
with machines whole day, thus lose creativity. Moreover, it is a great hindrance in their way
as it does not allow skill upgradation.

 Job Sharing: It is the second most preferable alternative of traditional working styles
where two or more individuals share the responsibilities of a full-time job. They
divide the tasks, responsibilities and compensation according to their mutual consent.
This option is generally used by women who are on maternity leave or have family
and kids to look after but want to continue their job. These days, organizations are
open to this kind of working style where two or more individuals can share a job.

 Flexi-Working Hours: These days, organizations allow their employees to work

according to the timings that suit them best. There are 3-4 working schedules and
individuals can choose any one of them depending upon their availability. Employees
 can work in early hours as well as night hours. This is good for those individuals who
have colleges or some other engagements during the day or specific hours of the day.
The best part is that unlike telecommuting, flexi-timings give them chance to
communicate with other employees too.

 Alternative Work-Patterns: Companies these days allow their employees to work

on alternate months or seasons. Though the concept is not that common in India but
can be seen in European and American world of work. They also have the option of
working two to three full days and can relax after that.

According to the latest concept, employees can work for fixed number of hours and then can
attend to their personal needs during the left days.

 Technostress: Technostress is the latest technology to keep a check on employees’

performance even when they choose to work from home. Because of the introduction
of new machines, there performance can be electronically monitored even when they
are not aware of it.

 Task Revision: Task revision is nothing but modification of existing work design by
reducing or adding the new job duties and responsibilities to a specific job.
Factors affecting Job Design

A well-defined job will make the job interesting and satisfying for the employee. The result is
increased performance and productivity. If a job fails to appear compelling or interesting and
leads to employee dissatisfaction, it means the job has to be redesigned based upon the
feedback from the employees.

Broadly speaking the various factors that affect a job design can classified under three heads.
They are:

1. Organizational Factors

2. Environmental Factors

3. Behavioural Factors

1. Organizational Factors

Organizational factors that affect job design can be work nature or characteristics, work flow,
organizational practices and ergonomics.

 Work Nature: There are various elements of a job and job design is required to
classify various tasks into a job or a coherent set of jobs. The various tasks
may be planning, executing, monitoring, controlling etc and all these are to be
taken into consideration while designing a job.

 Ergonomics: Ergonomics aims at designing jobs in such a way that the

physical abilities and individual traits of employees are taken into
consideration so as to ensure efficiency and productivity.

 Workflow: Product and service type often determines the sequence of work
flow. A balance is required between various product or service processes and a
job design ensures this.

 Culture: Organizational culture determines the way tasks are carried out at the
work places. Practices are methods or standards laid out for carrying out a
certain task. These practices often affect the job design especially when the
practices are not aligned to the interests of the unions.
 2. Environmental Factors

Environmental factors affect the job design to a considerable extent. These factors include
both the internal as well as external factors. They include factors like employee skills and
abilities, their availability, and their socio economic and cultural prospects.

 Employee availability and abilities: Employee skills, abilities and time of

availability play a crucial role while designing of the jobs. The above
mentioned factors of employees who will actually perform the job are taken
into consideration. Designing a job that is more demanding and above their
skill set will lead to decreased productivity and employee satisfaction.

 Socio economic and cultural expectations: Jobs are nowadays becoming more
employee centered rather than process centered. They are therefore designed
keeping the employees into consideration. In addition the literacy level among
the employees is also on the rise. They now demand jobs that are to their
liking and competency and which they can perform the best.

3. Behavioural Factors

Behavioural factors or human factors are those that pertain to the human need and that need
to be satisfied for ensuring productivity at workplace. They include the elements like
autonomy, diversity, feedback etc. A brief explanation of some is given below:

 Autonomy: Employees should work in an open environment rather than one

that contains fear. It promotes creativity, independence and leads to increased
efficiency.

 Feedback: Feedback should be an integral part of work. Each employee

should receive proper feedback about his work performance.

 Diversity: Repetitive jobs often make work monotonous which leads to

boredom. A job should carry sufficient diversity and variety so that it remains
as interesting with every passing day. Job variety / diversity should be given
due importance while designing a job.

 Use of Skills and abilities: Jobs should be employee rather than process
centered. Though due emphasis needs to be given to the latter but jobs should
be designed in a manner such that an employee is able to make full use of his
abilities and perform the job effectively.
CONCLUSION

Performance appraisal refers to the elaborate process of reviewing one’s performance and
output over a certain period of time and not only give correct feedbacks but also acknowledge
and appreciate the hard work. Appraisal letters cause a lot of anxiety and sometimes
disappointment among employees. Individuals never create problems when they get a good
salary hike but trust me, handling employees after a bad appraisal is a big challenge.

Let us go through few tips on how to handle employees after performance appraisals:

Never forget to congratulate employees who have got a decent appraisal or a promotion and a
positive review from the management. It will further motivate them and also instil a sense of
pride and most importantly responsibility in them. Make them feel important. If someone has
worked really hard all through the year, he/she definitely deserves to be praised for his/her
efforts and encouraged to perform better in the years to come. Celebrate his/her success.

Employees who had an unsatisfactory year and eventually a bad appraisal are the ones who
need most of your attention and care. One of the most common problems with such
employees is that they suddenly become negative about everything, find reviewing authorities
as their biggest enemies and also start hating their organization. Yes, logically such a
behaviour is not expected out of a mature professional but we can’t completely blame the
poor individual also who after slogging for a year did not get appraisal as per his/her
expectations.

As they say “with a little love, we can even change the world”. Such employees need to be
handled with utmost patience. Sit with such employees and first of all try to find out as to
why they failed this time. Try to understand their mood and also what they feel about their
appraisal? It is obvious that they would not be in a great mood but as a superior it is your duty
to cheer them up so that they do not lose their confidence and eventually interest in work and
finally quit. Employees also need to understand that there is always a next time and there is
no point reacting and fighting with people around. After all it would not solve your problem,
instead earn you a bad name in the organization.

Understand where the individual went wrong. All negativities and confusions would
disappear if you make the individual understand where all he/she lacked and why his
counterpart has got a decent appraisal while he/she has not? Yes, employees at this point of
time are really not in a mood to listen to their superiors but you have to assure them that as a
Boss, you are always there with them and would certainly help in future as well. Understand
if at all the individual is facing any problem or not and most importantly try to provide a
solution. Yes, after a bad appraisal, employees tend to become negative but as a Boss it is
your responsibility to change their perception.

Let them speak and come out with their frustrations. Employees should also be careful with
their words. Never cross your limits. Handhold such employees and provide necessary
guidance whenever required. Send them a motivational email. Such small initiatives go a
long way in motivating employees so that they become a little more serious and come back
with a bang. Make them understand that this is just a temporary phase and should not act as a
demotivating factor for them. Encourage them to work in unison with their fellow workers,
Job design follows job analysis i.e. it is the next step after job analysis. It aims at outlining
and organising tasks, duties and responsibilities into a single unit of work for the achievement
of certain objectives. It also outlines the methods and relationships that are essential for the
success of a certain job. In simpler terms it refers to the what, how much, how many and the
order of the tasks for a job/s.

Job design essentially involves integrating job responsibilities or content and certain
qualifications that are required to perform the same. It outlines the job responsibilities very
clearly and also helps in attracting the right candidates to the right job. Further it also makes
the job look interesting and specialised.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://managementstudyguide.com/issues-in-job-design.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_appraisal
http://managementstudyguide.com/performance-appraisal.htm