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its
strategies,
human
resource
objectives
(a) Establish employee recruitment and selection systems for hiring the best possible
employees consistent with the organizations needs.
(b) Maximize the potential of each employee to attain the organizations goal and ensure
individual career growth and personal dignity.
(c) Retain employees whose performance helps the organization realize its goals and to
relieve those whose performance is unsatisfactory.
(d) Ensure organizational compliance with state and federal laws that are applicable to
the human resource management function.
Furthermore, HRM must be particularly sensitive to social and legislative forces as they
impact on the organizations selection and development techniques. Certain factors such
as nature of labor force, Federal and state legislation, labor unions and technological
demands influence human resource management function.
suitable selection technique that can be demonstrated as valid, effective and practical for
In majority of staff
RESEARCH MOTIVATIONS
The present system of promotion starts with assessment from each head of department in
a section of an organization. He or she is charged with the responsibility of evaluating the
personnel department, whose duty is to prepare minutes for each potential candidate. This
will, in turn, be passed to the promotions committee. The committee finally implements
the policies on selection and promotion matters.
For the personnel department and the promotion committee to function effectively, there
is the need for the following:
a An update, accurate, relevant and timely data for decision making.
b An establish standard procedure, which has been agreed and accepted by the staff of
the organization as part of the condition of service.
c A means to provide justice and fairness to all employees regardless of any personal
prejudices.
d A means of cutting down expenses on printing forms and other materials for the
promotion exercise.
The objective of staff performance appraisal in this proposed research are: (1) To
determine the Universitys strategic goal; (2) To identify the performance appraisal
factors for evaluation; (3) To establish overall performance criteria and subdivision of
each criterion; (4) To measure the degree of criteria satisfaction; (5) To establish
evaluation hierarchy; and (6) To evaluate and validate the proposed problem.
1.4
Many criteria must be considered for developing staff performance appraisal method.
Some of the criteria may be quantitative such as process skill; some may be qualitative,
such as self-motivation. Moreover, criteria may be conflicting and may have different
importance weights for different decision makers. How to, thus, properly aggregate these
criteria is and important issue.
Each staff to be evaluated through a performance appraisal system that will be a
systematic process which involved evaluating employees perceived behavior evaluation
and work achievement during the year of evaluation.
The proposed method will be a working knowledge of the surveyed University.
The appraisal system will have the ability to maintain the flexibility of human
judgment.
The structure of the model and the use of cascaded fuzzy logic will be described. The
model is validated using data collected from an actual higher education Institutions,
illustrating its high level of linguistic accuracy.
Information is collected through the survey method. In this study interview method is
conducted personally with a few decision makers who have the responsibility of making
decisions for academic staff promotion.
1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE WORK
The research shall contain five (5) chapters:
Chapter One: This will cover the introduction, background information, motivations,
aims and objective and main proposes. .
Chapter Two: This chapter will focus on the introduction, review of related works,
theoretical review (survey of existing literature on the fuzzy logic , fuzzy
types, fuzzy expert system and its applications) and existing method of
evaluating the performance of individuals..
Chapter Three: This part will discuss propose method, fuzzy block explanation,
parameter membership symbols and the organization of dataset that will be
used.
Chapter Four: This chapter will focus on implementation, results presentation and
discussion of findings.
Chapter Five: This chapter will feature the summary, conclusion and possible
recommendations.
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Many researchers have used AHP in the personnel evaluation problems such as Taylor et
al. and Islam et al. [Islam et al 2006 and Taylor 1998]. Although the aim of AHP is to
capture the decision makers preferences, traditional AHP still cannot reflect the human
thinking style. Following the awareness and understanding of the concept of fuzzy sets,
various studies were conducted to improve the application of fuzzy sets theory and fuzzy
logic in areas of performance appraisal. [Moon. et al. 2007] proposed a methodology
utilizing fuzzy set theory and electronic nominal group technology for multi-criteria
assessment in the group decision-making of promotion screening. The study suggested
that the methodology is a good method for a transparent and fair multi-criteria
performance evaluation in military organizations. [Pepiot. et al. 2005] proposed a
method, based on fuzzy logic, to recognize the value of competencies that are crucial to
an enterprise. [Jing. et al. 2007] developed a computer-based fuzzy group decision
support system (FGDSS), which included three ranking methods to provide more
transparent information and help manager to make better decision under fuzzy
circumstance. Andres et al. [2008] proposed a linguistic performance appraisal from a
competency management perspective, where there are different sets of reviewers taking
part in the evaluation process that have a different knowledge about the evaluated
employees. Paladini [2009] presented basic concepts of fuzzy logic area used to structure
an evaluation process of the performance levels of human resources who operate in both industrial and service providing organizations.
2.1.1 THEORETICAL REVIEW
This Research present a methodology based on Fuzzy Expert System (FES) to enhance
performance evaluation of staff (Non Academic and Academic staff) of a university. In
many real-life applications, a complex process model can be decomposed into simpler,
cascaded subsystems. This partitioning of a process leads to increased modularity and
reduced complexity of the problem, while also making the analysis easier. One of the
main drawbacks to fuzzy modeling of systems is known as the curse of dimensionality,
which is the exponential growth in the number of possible fuzzy rules as a function of the
dimension of model input space. A hierarchical approach in which the original highdimensional model is decomposed into series of low-dimensional sub-models connected
in cascade, has been shown to be an effective way to overcome this problem since it
provides a linear growth in the number of rules and parameters as the input dimension
increases [Raju et al 1991]. A special class of nonlinear dynamic systems type of study
will be executed, that can be de- composed into cascaded subsystems. These subsystems
are represented as Mamdani [1975] fuzzy models. This class of systems is very
important, as many systems are cascaded (e.g., hierarchical large-scale systems).
Cascaded systems are less complex than a single fuzzy system. If a system requires n
input variables each partitioned into m membership functions, the total number of rules
required to model the system by using one single fuzzy inference system is mn. As the
complexity of the problem increases, the number of required inputs increases too,
requiring an exponentially larger number of rules. In order to deal with the problem ruleexplosion, the development of cascaded fuzzy systems has been proposed. In cascaded
systems, the number of rules increases linearly with the number of inputs rather than
exponentially (Lee et al., 2003). Based on the analysis of importance of each input
variable and the coupling between any two input variables, the problem of how to
distribute the input variables to different (levels of) relational modules for incremental
and aggregated hierarchical fuzzy relational systems was addressed (Duan et al. 2002).
Campello and Amaral [2006] presented a unilateral transformation that converts the
proposed hierarchical model into a mathematically equivalent non- hierarchical one
[Rowley 1996]. As a result of the uncertainty about the hierarchical model and non-linear
relationship between different attributes and a goal variable, different cascade hierarchies
will have different performance on decision making procedures. The option of using
fuzzy output from previous layers as fuzzy input for the next fuzzy inference system
presents the advantage of preserving the information about uncertainty. However, when
the fuzzy set is too wide it fires several rules of the new FIS generating therefore a very
uncertain result (i.e., very wide set). As indicated by Driankov and Hellendoorn (1995)
even areas of the fuzzy output (used as fuzzy input) with very low membership degree
will fire rules and the resulting new output will be composed by sets that should not have
been used. When the output is used as a crisp number with no uncertainty, only few rules
will be fired reducing the uncertainty of the new result, but information is lost. As
indicated by Drianlov and Hellendoorn (1995), when the crisp out- put is obtained from
the defuzzification of a non-convex set, the obtained crisp result is associated with a
lower membership degree.
2.2
Artificial Intelligence is a computer science domain involving the study and development of
computer systems that demonstrate some form of intelligence: systems that learn new concepts
and tasks, systems that can reason and draw useful conclusions about the world around us,
systems that can understand a natural language or perceive and comprehend a visual scene, and
systems that perform other types of feats that require human types of intelligence. Irrefutably the
AI systems address thought processing and reasoning or the behaviour. Developing functional
computer systems that are proficient in executing tasks which require high levels of intelligence
is the main objective of AI. It is not essential for the programs emulate human senses and thought
processes. The programs may exceed the human abilities if the tasks are performed in a wellorganized and particular manner. The important thing is that the systems should be capable of
performing intelligent tasks effectively and efficiently. A better understanding of AI can be
achieved by looking at the component areas of study.
TASK DOMAINS OF AI
AI can be applied for the problem solving in wide variety of task domains as in [5]. For instance,
AI can be used in analyzing physical objects and their relationships as well as reasoning about
actions and their effects. Such problems can be categorized as commonsense reasoning.
Perceptual tasks which include vision and speech are difficult because they involve analog
signals, the signals are typically very noisy and usually a large number of things must be
perceived at once. AI can also be used in engineering design, scientific discovery, medical
diagnosis and financial planning. Such specialized tasks require carefully acquired expertise.
EXPERT SYSTEMS
The problem areas where AI is now flourishing most as a practical discipline are primarily the
domains that require specialized expertise without the assistance of commonsense knowledge. A
large number of programs called expert systems are utilized in day-to-day operation throughout
almost all the areas may it be industry or government. Each of these systems attempts to solve
part, or whole of the practical, significant problem that previously required scarce human
expertise. It has been proved effectively that the expert systems can solve problems in various
domains where human expertise is required. Few such domains are law, chemistry, biology,
engineering, manufacturing, aerospace, military operations, finance, banking, meteorology,
geology and geophysics. An expert system can be defined as a set of programs that use the
human expertise as knowledge which is stored in an encoded form and may manipulate it to
solve problems in a specialized domain. An expert systems knowledge must be coded and stored
in the form which the system can use in its reasoning processes performed by the inference
engine. The main sources of expert knowledge are the experts themselves and other sources such as texts, journals, articles and databases. To obtain this type of knowledge, a lot of training
and experience in specialized is required. After obtaining the expert knowledge, it should be
encoded and stored in the knowledge base. Thereafter, it should be tested and enhanced
continuously throughout the system life.
Also, Expert systems provide powerful means for solving different problems, impossible
to be solved by conventional methods. Expert system is also one of the successful
branches of artificial intelligence from commercial aspect [Metaxiotis, et al 2002]. From
another point of view, fuzzy set theory provides a framework for handling the
uncertainties. Zadeh (1965) initiated the fuzzy set theory. Bellman and Zadeh (1970)
presented some applications of fuzzy theories to the various decision-making processes in
a fuzzy environment. In a non- fuzzy set, every object is either a member of the set or it
is not a member of the set, but in fuzzy sets, every object is to some extent a member of a
set ora member of another set. Thus; unlike the crisp sets, membership is a continuous
concept in fuzzy sets. Fuzzy is used in cases there are linguistic variables. Fuzzy theory is
widely applicable to information gathering, modeling, analysis, optimization, control,
decision making and supervision. Fuzzy expert decision support system is such an expert
system that uses fuzzy logic instead of Boolean logic. It can be seen as a special rulebased system that uses fuzzy logic and derives conclusions from users inputs and fuzzy
inference process [Kandel, 2010], whereas fuzzy rules and the membership functions
make up the knowledge-base of the system. In other words a fuzzy ifthen rule is an
ifthen rule in which some of the terms are given with continuous functions [Wang,
2004]. It is obvious that it lacks a system that can combine the advantages of the
aforementioned systems. Thus, it is of great importance to develop a decision support
system which can support the procedure of stock portfolio recommendation considering
the investors parameters, stock market situation and the stored knowledge of the last
recommendations.
2.2.1 FUZZY LOGIC SYSTEM WORKS
Fuzzy logic was invented by Zadeh for handling uncertain and imprecise knowledge in a
real world application (Zadeh 1965). It refers to a mode of reasoning in the presence of
imprecise or ambiguous information. Fuzzy logic is close to human thinking or reasoning
as a natural language. Fuzzy logic provides a simple way to arrive at a definite conclusion
based upon vague, ambiguous, imprecise, noisy, or missing input information. A fuzzy
expert system is comprised of four components: fuzzication unit, knowledge base,
decision making logic, and defuzzication unit which should be embedded in the
architecture detail for fuzzy expert system construction. Figure 1 shows the Fuzzy logic
system and their functioning.
MEMBERSHIP FUNCTION
The membership function is a graphical representation of the magnitude of participation
of each input [www.brighthub.com, 2010]. A graph that defines how each point in the
input space is mapped to membership value between 0 and 1. Input space is often referred
as the universe of discourse or universal set, which contain all the possible elements of
concern in each particular. It associates a weighting with each of the inputs that are
processed, define functional overlap between inputs, and ultimately determines an output
response. The rules use the input membership values as weighting factors to determine
their influence on the fuzzy output sets of the final output conclusion. Once the functions
are inferred, scaled, and combined, they are defuzzified into a crisp output which drives
the system.
FUZZIFICATION
DEFUZZIFICATION
FUZZIFICATION
The Fuzzification comprises the process of transforming crisp values into grades of
membership for linguistic terms of fuzzy sets. The membership function is used to
associate a grade to each linguistic term [www.brighthub.com, 2010].. It also refers to as
the transformation of an objective term into a fuzzy concept.
FUZZY RULE BASE (KNOWLEDGE BASE)
Fuzzy logic classification systems are generally implemented in the form of an expert
decision support system. The rule base contains the rules and forms the major part of the
complete knowledge embedded in the system. Mostly the rules are supplied by the
domain expert.
Performance Appraisal can be broadly classified into two categories: Traditional Methods and
Modern Methods. The performance appraisal methods are: Traditional Methods Traditional
Methods are relatively older methods of performance appraisals. This method is based on
studying the personal qualities of the employees. It may include knowledge, initiative, loyalty,
leadership and judgment.
RANKING METHOD
According to Dessler et al. (2011), ranking method is ranking employees from best to worst on a
particular trait, choosing highest, then lowest, until all ranked [Dessler et al 2011].
GRAPHIC RATING SCALES
In 1922, Paterson working with the employees of the Scott Company developed a graphic scale
to provide the reliability, consistency over time, usefulness and practicality. Bradshaw in 1931
discussed improvements to the graphic rating scale that included behaviorism to anchor the
scales and help better illustrate the trait [Bracken et al 2001]. In 1972, Flynn told that the five to
nine scale points result in the highest quality of ratings. According to Dessler et al. (2011),
Graphic Rating Scale is a scale that lists a number of traits and a range of performance for each.
The employee is then rated by identifying the score that best describes his or her level of
performance for each trait [Dessler et al 2011].
CRITICAL INCIDENT METHOD
The technique was formally codified by the works of Fitts and Jones in 1947 for classifying pilot
error experiences in reading and interpreting aircraft instruments. Fitts and Jones used the term
errors rather than critical incidents. As opposed to Fitts and Jones way of collecting data,
data gathering during task performance is now considered a defining criterion for critical
incident methods. The work of John Flanagan in 1954 became the landmark critical incident
technique, after his title entitled The Critical Incident Technique appeared in the psychological
bulletin. Flanagan (1954) defined the critical incident technique as a set of procedures designed
to describe human behavior by collecting description of events having special significance and
meeting systematically defined criteria. Flanagan originally used trained observers to collect
critical incident identification. Identification of the critical incidents during task performance can
be a individual process or a mutual process between user and evaluator [Castillo 1997].
According to Dessler et. al.(2011),Critical Incident method is keeping a record of uncommonly
good or undesirable examples of an employees work related behavior and reviewing it with the
employee at predetermined times [Dessler et. al.(2011 ].
NARRATIVE ESSAYS
Evaluator writes an explanation about employees strength and weakness points, previous
performance, positional and suggestion for his (her) improvement at the end of evaluation time.
This technique mainly attempt to focus on behavior [Jafari et al 2009].
MODERN METHODS
Modern Methods were devised to improve the traditional methods. It attempted to improve the
shortcomings of the old methods such as biasness, subjectivity, etc.
MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES
In1954, Peter F. Drucker introduced Management By Objective in his book The Practice of
Management. It comprises of three building blocks: object formulation, execution process and
performance feedback [Wu 2005]. In 2000,Weihrich suggested a new model: the system
approach to MBO(SAMBO).SAMBO comprises seven elements: strategic planning and
hierarchy of objects, setting objectives, planning for action, implementation of MBO, control and
appraisal, subsystems, and organizational and management development[Weihrich 2000].
BEHAVIORALLY ANCHORED RATING SCALE (BARS)
BARS were introduced by Smith and Kendall in 1963 with the attention of researchers
concerned with the issue of reliability and validity of performance ratings. Behavioral anchor
scales are more informative than simple numbers. Behaviorally anchored performance
dimensions can be operationally and conceptually can be distinguished from one another [Landy
et al 2008]. Rater will act as observer not the judge. BARS help rater focus on specific desirable
and undesirable incidents of work behavior which can serve as examples in discussing a rating.
BARS use behavioral statements or concrete examples to illustrate multiple levels of
performance for each element of performance [Elverfeldt 2005].
HUMANS RESOURCE ACCOUNTING
The concept of human resource accounting was first developed by Sir William Petty in 1691.But
research into true human resource accounting began in the 1960 by Rensis Likert. Prof.
Flamholtz defines human resource accounting for people as an organizational resource. The main
theory underlying the HRA is: The people are valuable resources of an organization or enterprise,
information on investment and value of human resource is useful for decision making in the
organization[Sharma et al 2010].This paper aims at analyzing the application of human resource
accounting in heavy industries covering the period from 2001-2010.In1965, both Cronbach &
Glaser and Naylor & Shine developed models for estimating the financial utility of personnel
selection and used the concept of utility analysis. In 1966, Grojer and Johnson embrace both
HRA and UA, suggest the concept of human resource costing and accounting (HRCA) [Johanson
et al 1998]. Another method of human resource accounting is human resource value accounting
(HRVA).
ASSESSMENT CENTERS
The assessment center method, in its modern form, came into existence as a result of AT & T
Management Progress Study by Bray, Campbell & Grant in 1974.Common job simulations used
in assessment centers are in basket exercises, group discussions, simulations of interviews with
subordinates or clients, fact finding exercises, analysis/decision making problems, oral
presentation exercises, written communication exercises[Byham1986].
360 DEGREE
It is a popular performance appraisal technique that involves evaluation input from multiple
levels within the firm as well as external sources.360 Degree feedback relies on the input of an
employees superior, colleagues, subordinates, sometimes customers, suppliers and/or
spouses[Jafari et al 2009 ].It provides people with information about the effect of their action on
others in the workplace. It provides a notion of behavioral change might be elicited through a
process of enhanced self-awareness.[ Johanson et al 1998].
720 DEGREE
Rick Gal breath became dissatisfied with 360 degree reviews. Gal breath started using the 720
degree and defined it as a more intense, personalized and above all greater review of the upper
level managers that brings in the perspective of their customers or investors, as well as
subordinates. 720 degree review focuses on what matter most, which is the customer or investor
perception of their work [Mondy et al 2008]. 720 degree approach gives people a very different
view of themselves as leaders and growing individuals. 360 degree appraisal method is practiced
twice. When the 360- Degree appraisal is done, then the performance of the employee is
evaluated and having a good feedback mechanism, the boss sits down with the employee again a
second time and gives him feedback and tips on achieving the set targets [Sapra 2012].
OTHER TECHNIQUES
There are many other techniques such as 90 degree,180 degree,270 degree, balanced score card,
mixed standard scale, human resource costing and accounting, paired comparison, forced
distribution method, behavioral observation scale, mixed standard scale, electronic performance
monitoring, confidential reports etc. are also used for performance appraisal but not discussed in
this paper. Table 1 represents the summary of this methods.
CONCLUSION
From this we conclude that there are many techniques that used for performance appraisal. It is
very difficult to say that which technique is better than other technique because it depends upon
the type and size of organization. Each technique has its own pros and cons.
METHODS
Ranking
KEY IDEAS
Ranking
employees
ADVANTAGES
1.Fastest
Method
2.Transparent
3.Cost
easy to use
particular
trait,
until
DISADVANTAGES
1.Less objective
all
3.
ranked.
Suitable
for
small
workforce.
4.Workers strengths and
weakness
be
be
Graphic Rating
1. Simple. 2. Easily
easily determined.
1. Rating may
Scales
constructed. 3. Ease of
subjective.
range of performance
characteristic is equally
standardized
important in evaluation of
is
cannot
Critical Inciden
then
rated
what
by allows comparison to
employees
be
employees. 5. Reduce
each trait.
Keeping a record of
uncommonly good or
to
and
laborious to summarize
undesirable examples
administer. 2. Based
of
employees
on direct observations.
Difficult
people
provides
the
time.
employee
at
between
the
Each
an
made
2.
develop
more
face
performance.
to
to
convince
share
their
a survey. 3. Provides a
predetermined times.
4
personal perspective of
Narrative
Evaluator writes an
1.
Essays
explanation
about
shows
employees
organizational issues.
actually 1.
Time
consuming.
Report
employees
strength
performance. 2. Can
previous performance,
to find.
positional
Provides feedback.
suggestion
and
for
his
(her) improvement at
the end of evaluation
5
Management
time.
Employees
by Objectives
1. Easy to implement
1. Difficult to employees
and
2.
they accomplished a
Employee
motivated
specific
as he is aware of
expected
Interpretation
been
set
of
measure.
roles
and
of
goals
determined
to
accountability.
in
the
3.Performance
to
successful completion
oriented
employee to employee. 4.
of the job.
system 4. Facilitates
Time
employee
counseling
and guidance.
1.
Job
behaviors
expensive.
1. Scale independence
may
critical
are
combines
diagnostic
manager,
and
consuming,
Behaviorally
BARS
Anchored
describe
Rating Scale
performance
rating
scale
employee
in
not
be
valid/
approaches.
The
supervisor
rates
acceptances
employees according
participation
to
managers
items
on
numerical scale.
7
people
3.
due
to
of
generating
4.
scale.
1. There are no specific &
2.
of
valuable resources of
labor
Accounting(H
an
Development
R A)
enterprise,
turnover.
human resources.
on
BARS.
Resource
Information
employees.
The
or
More
and
Human
organization
are
objective
3.
Planning
human resources of an
and
organization.
execution of personnel
of human resource is
policies. 4. Return on
useful
investment on human
resources. 5. Improve
the
of
for
making
decision
in
the
organization
efficiencies
of
employees.
the
value
employee
to
of
the
the
Assessment
Employees
Centers
evaluated
are
over
1.
Concepts
simple.
2.
are
then
under
seems
unrealistic.
1.Expensive and difficult
3. Helps in selection
observing
their
behaviors
series
exercises
across
of
or
and
promotion
decisions
and
for
selected
diagnosing employee
at
work
development needs. 4.
cognitive
Allow
assessors.
samples.
for
the
measurement
time.
5.
Much
loads
of
multiple attributes. 5.
Exercise is hard to
9
360 Degree
fake.
1. Excellent employee
an
employees
development
superior,
colleagues,
2.Accurate,reliable
to
subordinates,
sometimes customers,
3.Legally
more
damage self-esteem of
suppliers
defensible
More
employees
and/or
spouses.
tool.
4.
organization
and
if
the
feedback is brutal. 4.
rate system.
in
cross-
functional
teams.
6.
Maintaining
confidentiality may pose
challenge
10
720 Degree
in
small
1. Improved feedback
organizations.
1.
Exceptional
method is practiced
Expectations
for
the
twice.
When
degree
appraisal
done,
360-
then
performance
of
is
2.Team Development
process. 2. Insufficient
3.
Information.
Personal
and
3.Design
the
organizational
process
downfalls
4.
the
Performance
employee is evaluated
Development.
4.
Responsibility
for
feedback mechanism,
career development. 5.
understanding. 6. Focus
Reduced
on
with
discrimination risk. 6.
weaknesses.
Improved
customer
commitment
of
top
and
Service. 7. Training
management
and
the
needs assessment.
human
the
employee
gives
him
the
set
process. 5. Insufficient
training
and
process
negatives
and
7.Requires
resources(time,
and
Mamatha S. Upadhya (2012), proposed a method for evaluation of students performance based
on fuzzy logic. This system is dealt with the range of possible values for the input and output
variables determined. These (in language of fuzzy set theory) are the membership function (input
variables vs. the degree of membership function) used to map the real world measurement values
to the fuzzy values. Values of the input variables are considered in term of percentage.
WEB-BASED FUZZY EXPERT SYSTEM
With the innovative trends in the web technology, its use for information sharing and model
analysis is getting more convenient and cost-effective. For instance, internet is being used for
data collection (through electronic surveys), analysis and as publishing tool. The fusion of web
technology and fuzzy expert system can render thorough information and consultation in
interactive and user-friendly approach. More or less, it is open to use by all (unless there is
restriction for authorization), even by geographically separated users.
REVIEWS ON APPLICATIONS OF WEB-BASED FUZZY EXPERT SYSTEM
Jose 2006 shows a tool, ClonEx, which integrates web and expert system technologies, allowing
internet accessible expert systems for multiple problem domains. The tool provides the capability
to develop applications to interact with other expert applications for problem solution. It is based
in quick application development without technical knowledge, using the expert mental model,
and optimizing the components for internet access and is compatible with mobile devices.
Moreover, ClonEx is a domain independent tool: it can be used for industrial applications, ecommerce and so on. Since the knowledge acquisition tool dispossesses the web interface, the
tool can be enhanced in future for collaborative web interface for expert communities. There are
many uncertain risk factors for the heart disease, which makes it difficult for the physicians to
analyze and diagnose patient. A fuzzy expert system has been developed and described in
[Ali.Adel et al 2010] to deal with patient diagnosis. The system can be beneficial to identify the
presence of heart disease. [Jose et al 2006].
Nursazwina 2006 shows that the author has developed Diabetes Diagnosis System, a medical
diagnosing system that can diagnose the diabetes disease. The system is implemented using
Fuzzy Expert system and Sungenos inference technique. Based on the user answers to the
questionnaire of diabetes risk factors and symptoms, the system generates an estimated result
giving some recommendations to prevent or lower the risk, which may in turn be interconnected
with the user life style and medication. The authors in [Fazel et al 2010] have presented a paper
designing a fuzzy rule-based expert system to alleviate asthma, a chronic lung disorder by
diagnosing it at initial stages. The knowledge representation is based on patient perception and is
organized into modular structure. The knowledge was presented as production rules and Meta
rules were used to present relevant questions for patients in the user interface. In context with the
knowledge representation, the fuzzy inference engine was designed involving the modules of
symptoms. The final result of every system is de-fuzzified in order to provide the assessment of
the possibility of asthma for the patient, considering verification and validation criteria
throughout the life-cycle.
Wan Hussain is a research that explores the potential of artificial intelligence techniques
particularly for web-based medical applications. In addition, a model for web-based medical
diagnosis and prediction is proposed with the main features as medical diagnosis and prediction
using artificial intelligence techniques will make the consultation to be more interactive. As
clinical decision making inherently requires reasoning under uncertainty, expert systems as in
[Partridge et al 1996] and fuzzy logic as in [Meng et al 1996] will be suitable techniques for
dealing with partial evidence and with uncertainty regarding the effects of proposed
interventions. For the prediction tasks, Neural Networks have been proven to produce better
results compared to other techniques (such as statistics) as in [Partridge et al 1996], [Machado
1996]. Such techniques are worth to explore and integrate in the system for medical diagnosis
and prediction. The authors also propose that the Internet would be used not only to provide telehealthcare to people but the centralized databases over the WWW may also aid in knowledge and
expertise sharing. Also, researchers in medical applications can use the data for investigating
new medical solution and treatment [Shortliff et al 1996], [Shortliffe et al 1996]. The
International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) provides
codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints,
social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. The Authors have developed an
ICD10 based Medical Expert System that provides advice, information and recommendation to
the physician using fuzzy temporal logic. The paper is more focused on the use of ICD code,
temporal rule into management and fuzzy logic based decision making. The system provides the
possible disease conditions based on the modifications in Elders algorithm using the fuzzy
severity scale for symptoms and rules on diseases. The system can be enhanced by narrowing
the domain to a particular part of human body to get accuracy in decision making.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
PROPOSED FUZZY EXPERT SYSTEM
There are many real world problems like intelligent control systems, process diagnosing, fault
detection, medical diagnosis, site evaluation, strategic planning, for which solutions are
something more than simple reasoning; requiring some expertise to solve. So the use of expert
system, a computer system capable of representing and reasoning about some knowledge rich
domain with a view to solving problems and giving advice [Jackson 1990] became very popular.
The main difference of Expert System over any other conventional software applications is its
effective reasoning capability as they process knowledge instead of data or information
[Darlington 2000]. Expert System are very advantageous where the problem area is vast and
complex and almost impossible to solve with the help of conventional approaches.
Lotfi A. Zadeh (1965) introduced the concept of fuzzy set theory [Zadeh 1965]. Fuzzy logic act
as an wonderful idea to near the interspace between human reasoning and computational
logic.Fuzzy logic can be used to handle vague, ambiguous or imprecise information. Fuzzy
expert systems consist of fuzzy membership functions and rules.
In case of crisp environments, a classical set A, A in X is defined as a collection of elements or
objects xX, where X be space of objects and x is a generical element such that x can either
belong or not belong to the set A. A fuzzy set A in X is defined as a set of ordered pairs
A={(x,A(x))| xX} where A(x) is the membership function for fuzzy set. Here x can have
any value between 0 and 1 such that x has belongingness and non- belongingness upto some
extent [Abraham 2005]. Thus, unlike crisp sets, in fuzzy set membership is a continuous concept.
Generally fuzzy sets are very useful in representing linguistic variables. For example, Speed can
be considered a fuzzy linguistic variable whose members can be Slow, Fast, Very fast etc. Fuzzy
expert system is such an expert system which uses fuzzy logic instead of Boolean logics in its
knowledge base and drives conclusion from user inputs and fuzzy inference process.
Fuzzy Logic rules are generally expressed in the form of IFTHEN and ASANDTHEN.
For example, If it is very humid today and also very hot, THEN there is a higher chance of
rain. Or,
As it is very humid today AND also very hot, THEN there is a higher chance of rain. Clearly,
this type of representation is more valid in real life applications, which is a strength of fuzzy
expert system. Fuzzy Expert System is used for decision making like assigning jobs to
individuals [Hajiha et al 2007], technology transfer from large organizations to small
organizations [Lai et al 2008] and for inventory classification [Rezaei et al 2010].
ARCHITECTURE OF FUZZY EXPERT SYSTEM
A typical fuzzy expert system has following three modules [Fasanghari et al 2010]:
FUZZY KNOWLEDGE BASE:
Knowledge Base is made up of rule base and database where rule base consist of fuzzy If-then
rules and the database defines the membership functions of the fuzzy sets used in the fuzzy rules
[Rezaei et al 2010]. A knowledge base combines the knowledge of multiple human experts.
Knowledge Base stores all relevant information ,data, rules, cases and relationships used by the
expert system.
However , in this research work Fuzzy Toolbox of MATLAB interface is used for this purpose.
The broad architecture of the proposed fuzzy inference system for the performance appraisal of
employees is depicted in the following Fig. 3.1
EVALUATION TEAM
CRITICAL FACTORS
USER INTERFACE
VALUES FOR DIFFERENT PARAMETER
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
Fig: 3.1 Architecture of Fuzzy Inference System for Staff Performance Appraisal
Every organization has a seperate Evaluation Team from HR department to evaluate the
performance of employees in their organization. The team first identifies those critical factors,
which directly or indirectly influenced employees performance for the given period for which
the appraisal is being carried out. After deciding those factors, they set up values for those
parameters for all the employees being appraised. Providing values to some of these parameters
sometimes may be a tedious task, in that case team might have to conduct some test or interview
or they have to mark directly based on the superior remarks. After that all the details are stored in
fact base by using some user interface. Then the parameters are fuzzify and fuzzy knowledge
base is created, which is basically a collection of fuzzy rules. This fuzzy rule construction is the
most important task in this model as the overall performance of the system depends highly on the
robustness of this rule base. To develop this rule base it is always advised to hire a knowledge
engineer who elicits knowledge from the domain experts and transfer those elicited knowledge
into rule base. Then those fuzzy rules are process on the facts in the working memory in the
fuzzy interference engine by applying fuzzification method. At the end of the outcome of the
fuzzy interference engine are defuzzified to rank the employees based on their performance.
DESIGN OF THE FUZZY EXPERT SYSTEM
General design of the proposed fuzzy expert system for employee performance involves the
following steps depicted in Fig.3.2. As mentioned earlier, design and implementation of the
proposed model has been discussed below according to the design procedure depicted in figure
for staffs of the Organization. A. Identification of Critical Factors This is the initial and one of
the most important stages in developing any Fuzzy Expert System. .It is found that there are
many factors that directly or indirectly contribute in evaluating the performance of staffs. Table 1
shows the descriptions of Performance Appraisal influential factors and sub-factors in the study.
Step
6
Step
5
Defuzzifcation
Step
4
Step
3
Step
2
Fuzzifcation
Step
1
General
Performanc
e
Supervisory
Sub-Factors
Individual Quality
Description
It contains qualities of an individual such as adaptability,
motivation, innovation, initiative, responsibility, Work
habits, analytical skills.
Soft Skills
It includes communication skills, stress tolerance.
Job Related Skills It includes customer focus, customer service and job
knowledge.
Management
Extent to which employee demonstrates effective
Skills
management abilities and overall results. It includes
judgment, planning and organizing, problem solving and
decision making, productivity, quality of work, quantity
of work, resourcefulness and time management.
Cost Effectiveness The extent to which employee seeks best use of
materials, equipment, and staff to maximize efficiency
and effectiveness.
Delegation
and The extent to which the employee shows the ability to
Supervisory Skills effectively authorize work and supervise subordinates.
Supervisory
Feedback
In Fig 3:3, all the critical factors considered are depicted as a heirarchy and Table 3.1 gives
sample record of 10 staff..
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
GENERAL PERFORMANCE
SUPERVISORY PERFORMANCE
Individual Quality
Cost Effectiveness
Consensus Building
Soft Skills
Team Work
Staff Relations
Management Skills
Supervisory Feedback
Individual
Quality
Soft
Skills
Job
Related
Skills
Management
Skills
Cost
Effectiveness
Delegation &
Supervisory
Skills
Staff
Relations
Supervisory
Feedback
Consensus
Building
Teamwork
Working with
others/
Cooperation
E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
E6
E7
E8
E9
E10
4.5
8.8
2.2
6.1
7.7
7.8
2.3
7.7
4.5
6.6
4.4
8.8
3.5
7.6
3.3
2.2
3.5
3.2
4.4
3.3
5.8
7.7
4.6
6.5
2.3
1.9
4.6
1.1
5.8
4.3
2.4
5.8
5.7
2.1
6.8
2.2
5.7
6.7
2.4
4.8
1.7
7.3
6.6
2.2
1.1
1.3
7.3
4.7
1.7
6.6
4.8
7.7
4.8
4.7
6.9
3.1
7.7
3.6
1.3
6.8
5.7
6.6
1.2
4.1
1.4
6.6
6.6
6.8
6.3
7.4
6.4
8.3
7.7
5.9
3.5
7.3
8.3
5.4
6.5
7.3
1.4
7.7
5.9
5.9
3.1
2.2
6.1
4.4
6.3
7.7
1.71
7.1
2.3
2.3
4.6
4.6
5.7
4.6
6.7
7.1
1.69
7.4
6.6
6.6
5.4
6.9
3.2
7.7
7.2
7.4
Critical Factors
General
Performance
Supervisory
Team Based
Poor
Average
0-2
Poor
0-2.5
Poor
8.1-10
0-2.3
1.7-5
Average
2-5.2
Average
1.8-5.3
Good
4.6-8
Good
4.7-8.5
Good
4.8-8.3
FUZZIFICATION
Fuzzification is the process of converting crisp inputs to fuzzy values. When uncertainty arises
due to ambiguity or vagueness in dealing with a variable, then that variable is considered fuzzy
and can be represented by a membership function. When the inputs generated from a piece of
hardware or drive from sensor measurement then these crisp numerical values could be fuzzified
in order for them to be used in a fuzzy inference system [Ross 2005]. In this phase, the critical
factors identified for performance evaluation are considered as inputs for the fuzzy inference
system and are represented in the form of fuzzy linguistic variables with their member elements.
Then each variable is assigned with fuzzy membership using triangular membership functions.
Table 3 is prepared after discussion with various staff in the organization.
Excell
7.5
Excell
8.0
Excell
7.8
Fig. 4.2 shows Fuzzification step for final Performance Appraisal based on three main factors as
General Performance, Supervisory and Team Based as inputs and Final Performance Appraisal as
final output of the inference system.
Fig 4.3. Fuzzy Rule Base view for evaluating General Performance Factor.
Fig. 4.3 shows rules for General Performance based on Individual Quality, Soft Skills, Job
related Skills and Management Skills input parameters in MATLAB rule
viewer. Fig. 4.4 shows a sensitive surface view of the same rule base.
Fig. 4.4. Surface view of the rule base for evaluating General Performance factor
Some sample IF-THEN rules for General Performance from the rule base are given below:
i)
If Individual Quality is Poor AND Soft Skill is Poor AND Job Related Skill is Poor and
ii)
iii)
iv)
Fig. 4.5. Fuzzy rule base viewer for final Performance Appraisal
In this fashion, rule bases are prepared for other factors mentioned in figure according to the
specification mentioned in table. Based on the fuzzy outcomes of these intermediate evaluations,
final inference system is designed.
Fig. 4.5 shows the rule base for final appraisal system with three broad factors: General
Performance, Supervisory and Team Based as inputs and Final Performance Appraisal as final
output of the inference system. Fig. 4.6 shows a sensitive surface view of the same rule base.
Fig. 4.6. Surface view of the rule base for Final Performance Appraisal
MOM
Ranks
LOM
(0-10)
E1
5.3
5.6
3.38
4.92
3.0
3.95
E2
7.75
7.98
7.87
8.40
1
8.2
E3
2.35
1.25
4.31
4.8
6
4.5
E4
6.74
5.59
3.31
4.90
2
4.5
E5
6.30
1.26
3.35
1.5
10
1.4
E6
2.80
6.50
5.55
4.82
8
4.8
E7
3.30
8.90
5.54
4.85
9
4.7
E8
2.40
7.85
7.85
4.85
4
4.8
E9
6.25
7.40
6.44
4.84
5
4.7
E10
6.30
7.78
7.78
4.80
7
4.8
Table 4: Rankings of Different employees/ staff after Defuzzification
Ranks
Bisector
Ranks
Centriod
Supervisory (0-10)
General Performance
Staff ID
3
1
3
2
5
3
4
3
3
3
4.80
8.30
4.7
4.70
1.3
4.70
4.60
4.70
4.65
4.65
3
1
4
2
7
5
6
4
3
5
6.3
8.2
5.8
5.9
1.7
5.4
4.8
6.1
6.0
5.0
3
1
5
2
9
7
8
4
4
6
EVALUATING
AND
RANKING
THE
EMPLOYEES
BASED
ON
THEIR
PERFORMANCE
Finally, using different Defuzzification techniques, employees mentioned in Table 3.2 are ranked
based on the defuzzified value of their performance appraisal. The rankings are displayed in
Table 3.4. From Table 4, we can find those employees who were considered for performance
appraisal using this proposed model are ranked based on their performance records mentioned in
Table 2 using different Defuzzification methods. For example, according to the Table 2,
employee E2 had the best scores in the form of General Performance, Supervisory, and Team
Based and as expected, according to the Table 4 he ranked top among 10 faculty members in all
Defuzzification techniques. In the same way Employee, E5 ranked last in all Defuzzification
techniques, which obviously proves the robustness of this model.
CONCLUSION
This research work proposed a novice method for evaluating performances of employees in an
organization. The method can easily be extended to evaluate performances of employees of any
industry, based on some critical factors, which directly or indirectly influence their
performances. As it is always advised to elicit knowledge from any domain expert to construct
the rule bases in developing any expert system, different higher authorities and HR personnel had
been consulted to form those fuzzy rules for our fuzzy knowledge base. Later, after construction
of those fuzzy rules, different personnel from administrative, HR and other higher authorities
verified those. Finally, the results were shown to them again and the response was very
satisfactory.
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Jafari
M.
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