Happy Diwali!

Wishing Indians and global management guys all over the world a happy and prosperous festival of lights!

May this Diwali bring great cheer, joy and renewed hope to us all!

Best Regards,

Pankaj

Maybe It's Time For a PIP Talk?

No, PIP is not an acronym coined by an underground rock band or a banned drug. For the uninitiated, PIP stands for Performance Improvement Plan.

Although globally, structured Performance Appraisal exercises have increasingly become a norm, there has still been a glaring lack of 'Performance Management'. 

Infact in many small to mid-sized firms (and even some large ones) that I have come across, Performance Appraisal time is treated more like a fault finding mission or worse still, a witch hunt. The reason is very apparent: many organizations have in the recent past used Performance Appraisal time to initiate and justify layoffs. This is fine when there is a strong performance related reason to retrench an employee, but when an employee has every reason to believe and is also possibly able prove that his/her performance has been as per or above the required standards, then the management is rightly perceived as playing the employees 'for a fool'.

Over time, the value of the PAS within the organization declines significantly 

Why does this happen you ask?

There are a variety of reasons:

1. The Performance Appraisal exercise, as already mentioned, becomes more of an annual or semi-annual 'fault finding' mission, rather than an objective overview of an individuals' performance.

2. The phenomenon of 'Halo Effect' influences the ratings contained within appraisal quite overtly at times, thus negating the actual of performance and creating discontent/distrust of the system amongst the less fortunate employees.

3.  A partial or complete absence of any linkage of the appraisal exercise to a PDP or a PIP, thus defeating the whole concept of 'Performance Management' of which the appraisal exercise is just one part.

4. Lack of  initiation of Learning and Development programs to fill the lacunae that are uncovered during the appraisal exercise and the legitimate need for training expressed by various employees.

Now, most of us would know that a Performance Improvement Plan is usually put into place after an employee has secured a low or a border line rating during the appraisal exercise or if his/her performance is clearly seen to be below par even outside of an official performance review, thus giving him/her a mutually agreed, finite amount of time to get his/her performance back on track or to the required levels. 

However, my contention is that a Performace Improvement Plan need not merely be a reaction to low performance ratings but should be a regular exercise ingrained very much into the organization's way of working. Afterall, overtime an individual's job satification has less to do with the monetary aspect and increasingly more to do with his/her ability to perform (or outperform) consistently. 

More on PIP in a few days......

Index of Terms Used:

PIP = Performance Improvement Plan

PDP = Performance development Plan

My Other Blog : The Job Blog

Hello Readers,

I request all those who made the effort to come to The HR Story and spend time here, to also spend a few minutes on my new blog : The Job Blog . 

I started The Job Blog after scores of people told me that there aren't enough recruitment/job related blogs in the blogsphere that provide down-to-earth, practical information and advice. The Job Blog intents to be a site which anyone, anywhere in the world can refer to and gain practical information + motivation just before a Job Interview or those in the 'Transition Phase'.

So please visit the blog and let me know what you feel about it and if you have any suggestions about the content and on improving the blog further, so it can be as useful to you as possible. 

Cheers!

Pankaj 

Sorry For being Away....

Hello folks,

Sorry for being inconsistent with my blogging lately. A host of things both at work and in my personal life cropped up all of sudden over the last couple of months which made quality blogging a distinct impossibility!

Whew! Talk about work-life balance!

I will henceforth endeavour to be a lot more consistent with my blogging and provide you with high quality articles worth every second of your time that you are kind enough to spend on the HR Story!

Cheers!

Pankaj

Asian HRD Congress: July 2008

The Asian HRD Congress is going to be held at the Jakarta Convention Centre, Indonesia, between 22nd and 24th July, 2008.

The Theme this year is:

Leading Human Capital, Leading Organisations.

All those interested can contact Mr.Kalai at kalai@hrdcongress.com

Tel : 603.2279.9199

Fax : 603.2279.9099

Cheers!