Question

Case Study

B.R Investments is a reputed finance company having 15 branches in different part of the country. In the home office there are more than 200 employees. This company has a performance rating under which the employees are rated at six months intervals by a committee of two executives. Graphic scales have been used as means of appraisal. The qualities considered are responsibility, initiative, and interest in work, leadership potential, co-operative attitude and community activity. After the performance is evaluated, the ratings are discussed with the concerned employees by their immediate boss who counsels them. The ratings aroused to influence promotions and salary adjustments the employees and also as a criterion for assigning further rating for them.

Recently three employees of the company called on the company’s president to express their dissatisfaction with the ratings they had received. Their scores and composite ratings had been discussed with them. Because their ratings were comparatively low, they had been denied annual increments in salary. Approximately, two thirds of all the employees received such increments. The aggrieved employees argued that their ratings did not accurately represent their qualifications or performance. They insisted that “community activity” was not actually a part of their job and that what they do off the job is none of the company’s business. They expressed their opinion that employees should organize union and insist that salary increase be automatic.

The threat of a union caused concern to the officers of the company. This particular experience convinced the top officers that ratings may represent a serious hazard to satisfactory relationship with employees. Even the chief executive finds that performance appraisal is a dangerous source of friction and its hazards outweigh its values; so it should be discontinued altogether.

Questions:

1.If you were the HR manager, how would you tackle the situation?

The word count for this assignment must be between 300 words

Answer 1

Being the HR manager, maintaining the satisfactory relations with the employees and a growth-oriented organizational culture should be my top priorities.

In the above scenario, the employees who are not satisfied with their performance rating complained about some of the attributes not included in their job duties which formed the part of the rating systems. Employees complained that community service was not a part of their job duty. For this, I should have a look at the job descriptions of those employees and carefully examine it for the claims made by employees. If the community service forms the part of their job description then employees do not stand a chance to argue with the performance ratings. In that case, as an HR manager, I should carefully and cautiously counsel the involved employees and let them know of their job description and ask them to take care of this fact from the next appraisal. If the community activity did not form the part of the job description then I should revisit the norms of the performance review system and then understand the motives behind keeping “community service” as an attribute of measuring performance ratings. After unearthing those motives I should communicate those motives and make sure that employees comply with them.

In the matter of employees threatening to form a union which can be hazardous to any organization, I should understand the demands of the employees and analyze the situation so as to mitigate the problems. The rating system can be given only a portion of weight for determining the promotions or increase in the salary. Letting the promotion and salary increment dependent only on the basis of performance rating can be discarded and only certain percentage of performance rating be responsible for the salary increase or promotion.

I can also devise a salary increment plan which will make sure that every year a certain percentage of increment in salary be awarded regardless of performance rating and promotions be dependent on the basis of performance ratings. This will make sure that people with good performance rating have a good chance of promotions and people with not so good performance rating can still have their salary increment. This can ensure a smooth flow of workflow and employees will also refrain from forming a Union.

These are the steps that I, as an HR manager would take to tackle the problem mentioned above.