Performance Appraisal: In the fast changing trend towards globalization, today many organizations are striving hard to modernize

themselves. One of the most important hallmarks of a modern organization is to have a performance appraisal system

Definition: Performance appraisal can be defined as A process of evaluating anemployee s performance on the job in terms of its requirement According to Flippo, performance appraisal is A systematic periodic and so far as humanly possible. An impartial rating of an employee s excellence in matters pertaining to his present job and to his potentialities for a better job. According to Dale Yoder, Performance appraisal includes all formal procedures used to evaluate personalities and contributions and potentials of group members in a working organization. It is a continuous process to secure information necessary for making correct and objective decisions on employees. Appraisal Procedure Involves: 1. Setting work standards 2. Assessing the employee s actual performance relative to these standards 3. Providing feedback to the employee with the aim of motivating that person to eliminate performance deficiencies or to continue to perform above par. Performance appraisal is variously known as employee evaluation, employee efficiency rating, performance rating, merit rating, employee 7 development program, development report, personnel development employee ability rating etc. and they all mean the same thing. It is a

systematic orderly and objective method of evaluating the present and potential usefulness of the employees to the organization. Objectives Of Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal essentially helps to identify employees who are performing their assigned tasks well and those who are not; and also the reasons for such performance. The main 5 objectives of Performance appraisal are: 1. To assist management in promotion, demotion, and transfer problems. 2. To improve job performance. 3. To increase analytical abilities of supervisors. 4. To reveal areas where training is needed. 5. To prevent grievances. The objectives of performance appraisal could be broadly described as: i) Judgmental ii) Developmental Judgmental objectives focus on evaluation; - Providing feedback to employees to know where they stand. - Developing valid data for administrative decisions concerning placement, pay, promotion, punishment, etc. 8 Developmental objectives focus on helping; - Diagnosing individual and organizational strengths and weaknesses (SWOT analysis). - Counseling, coaching, career and succession planning, employee morale and motivation.

- Developing positive superior-subordinate relationships. Importance Of Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal data is very useful in human resource development in several manners. Ambitious subordinates, who are looking forward to an opportunity for advancement, usually welcome an honest appraisal even if it is adverse. A promotion minded individual can ask for the target programs of a position he seeks and use the information given by performance appraisal to prepare himself for the job and enhance his candidacy. Performance appraisal if used effectively can help the organization to: i) To improve productivity. ii) To promote internal control through appropriate feedback and corrective actions. iii) To diagnose individual and organizational problems. iv) To foster positive work culture. v) To encourage, recognize and reward achievements vi) To seek an all round human resource development. 9 An effective performance appraisal system helps in overall improvement in the quality of work life and overall organizational development.

Need Of Performance Appraisal System In Hospitals: Hospital industry is a service industry, where patient (customer) is the most important person. So tremendous importance of people element has to be given. So all the employees of the hospital has to perform their duties in a better

way in order to get customer satisfaction. As it is important how advanced technology & drugs you use to cure the patient, but it is also very important that how you deal with patient & their relatives (i.e. customer). So it is very important that how the staff of hospital performs their duties in order to make the patient satisfied. If the performance of employees is appraised, then it is very beneficial for both the employees and the management to understand the current performance level and making improvements in it. Also performance appraisal helps to identify training needs so that employees can be trained to enhance their performance. Which ultimately leads to customer satisfaction & overall organizational development. 1. It will make lower post employees to understand how they are performing & how they will be rewarded. 2. As the care of patients who are outsiders to the hospitals is taken; the care of internal customers i.e. Employees is also necessary. 10 3. It gives boost to the employees to perform better in the future. 4. It can give birth to healthy competition among different levels of employees & then they will learn from each other & improve. 5. The total organization effectiveness will be improved & then the hospital will be able to compete with other hospitals. 6. The most important thing is that self-motivation factor will be developed among employees & so they try their hand to perform & excel in their field.

PRESENT STATUS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL IN LILAVATI HOSPITAL The hospital was started in the year 1997 but till January 2004 there was no formal performance appraisal system to evaluate the employee s performances. Till that period there was a very informal evaluation of the employee s performances. At the year ending the supervisors use to make a report about their subordinate & evaluate their performance, but not in a systematic way. The employees who are recruited are kept on training period & probation period. And then depending upon their performance, they are made permanent. So there is a compulsory evaluation of the employees who are on training & on the probation period. But still there is no systematic formal performance appraisal system in the hospital. 24 CHAPTER 6.3 INTRODUCTION OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL IN LILAVATI HOSPITAL In Lilavati hospital, formal performance appraisal was not there earlier. Hospital started in the year 1997 and in the year 2003 the management thought about introducing formal performance appraisal system in the hospital. Hospital employs around 1000 employees & that is why it is very necessary to do their performance appraisal for continuous improvement. As this profession is basically a service industry, so the people element becomes very important for them. The skills of people are as important as the facilities & technology advancement they provide. And this is why it is very important to

keep a close watch on employees, their appraisal and development. So from January 2004 the management started the performance appraisal training programme in the hospital for the employees in order to make them aware about the performance appraisal system. The management decided to start with the appraisal of junior level staff (i.e. attendants, technicians, office assistants, staff nurses.) and in the later stage they will decide about supervisor s appraisal. 25 CHAPTER 6.4 TRAINING FOR PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL For this reason, the hospital started with the training programme for Junior level staff). Because management decided to start the performance appraisal system with junior level staff. As these staff employees are not well versed with the concept of HRD & performance appraisal; so it is very important to explain them the concept of performance appraisal. As we know, performance appraisal activity will be useful & successful only if the employee also understands the concept of performance appraisal & if they respond to the programme in proper manner. It is an interactive activity, which has to be done in co-operation with the employees. So the management started with training programme in January 2004. Training details: i. Trainer- Prof. Murty. (Former Air Force Officer & now consultant). ii. Total employees 25 per session. iii. Total 509 employees have attended the training programmed till 14/9/2005

iv. Each session is on every Thursday from 9am to 5pm. v. Venue of training programme is Conference Room in hospital. vi. Observation period: 3 sessions.