A well-written and well documented performance appraisal is of great importance in all organizations, no matter what type of business it is in. Employee appraisal can serve as a platform for employees to bring forth questions and concerns. This can help increase employee perseverance, creativity, and job satisfaction. Reviews allow the organizations to evaluate employees for increased responsibilities and future promotions. The PA acts as a road map for both organization and its employees.

PAs help organizations with useful information such as employee’s skill, knowledge, capability their knowledge up gradation, attitude, aptitude, health changes if any etc. In fact PA helps to improve the communication system of the organization and to review the potentiality of employees so that their future capability is anticipated. It helps in setting marketing and sales goals, operational goals, outsourcing function, infrastructural capability, R&D etc.

Rank and Yank is a term used to describe a process by which a company ranks its employees against each other, and terminates the employment of the people at the lowest end of the ranking (that’s the yank). The term probably came into being to describe the process used at General Electric (GE), and is associated with former CEO Jack Welch. In his view, the real term was “differentiation.” He looked at appraisals for building great thorough consistency, transparency and openness. Welch has written that “It’s about aligning performance with the organization’s mission and values. It’s about making sure that all employees know where they stand.” What happens to the yanks? According to Welch, the employees at bottom line 10% employees (the poor performers) will never feel let down, when PAs are done on regular intervals and are transparent.

A transparent, ethical PA system is never demoralizing or inhuman. What’s inhumane is failing to make the organization’s standards and values clear and transparent and letting people know where they stand. According to Welch, managers owe frankness and sincerity to their subordinates; they must never create environment in which the subordinates keep guessing about what the organization thinks of them. Employees must know exactly what organization feels about them.

During the hiring process, recruiters and hiring managers must tell employees when and how they will receive performance appraisals. Employees trust employers to follow throughout all promises; from paying employees on time, to giving employees holidays, enhancing career, and timely evaluation of their performance. Therefore, conducting systematic and timely performance appraisals is an important consideration when it comes to placing value on the company’s human capital.

Following are some specific tips for drafting better performance evaluations:

• Be specific and avoid generalization: Phrases such as ‘maintain time limit’, ‘work harder,’ ‘increase production’ are not specific. They create ambiguity in minds of employees. Be specific by mentioning exactness. Such as ‘increase sales by 20% in the next three months,’ ‘you need to work from 9am to 5 pm,’ these are measurable objectives, and assist both the employee and employer.
• Focus on what you want the employee to do, not what you want him/her to be: A performance evaluation is not about finding flaws in an employee’s personality or discussing only weaknesses. You cannot change the employee’s basic personality traits in a performance evaluation. Managers must objectively state exactly what is expected out of the employee.
• Use real details: Use the correct and full name of the employee, his joining date, cadre, salary, exact designation, detailed duties, family background etc. Be specific.  Be clear about his Key Result Areas (KRA) what is expected from the employee and the date it is expected. For documenting performance issues, get as detailed as possible instead of merely using phrases such as ‘is a trouble maker’ instead, document incidents where the employee’s attitude was inappropriate, stating the date, place, incident, witnesses, behavior(s), and the unfavorable effect of the employee’s conduct on those around him, as well as the specific organizational policies and procedures to be used when employee’s behavior is violated.
• Set only a limited number of objectives: The employee needs to be able to do the work; people can’t achieve an objective that is not within their scope of influence or current capability. The employee must have the tools, resources, and access required to get the work done. Expectations must be well defined, and the employee must have sufficient time and assistance to meet milestones. Remember, more than seven objectives are excessive.
• Appraisal biases: should be avoided as far as possible. In performance appraisal halo bias is termed as Matthew Effect. It is said to occur where employees tend to keep receiving the same appraisal results, year in and year out judged or based on an early performance evaluation. If an employee did well on the early evaluation, he will be more trusted than other employees and all of his work will be seen in a favorable light. If he did poorly, he will have a very hard time earning trust or a positive evaluation from his boss. Their appraisal results tend to become self-fulfilling: if they have done well, they will continue to do well; if they have done poorly, they will continue to do poorly. The Matthew Effect suggests that no matter how hard an employee strives, their past appraisal records will prejudice their future attempts to improve.

Often organizations overlook importance of timely performance appraisal, though it is  powerful for enhancing employee satisfaction and retention. The timely and accurate performance reviews are a key factor in retaining a satisfied and productive workforce. Feedback, whether positive or negative, can help employees understand the company’s expectations and perceptions and provides a pathway to improvement. Providing timely feedback lets good employees know you appreciate their accomplishments. While identifying what an employee can or needs to do better is a critical function of performance reviews, other equally critical yet often overlooked functions include showing the company’s appreciation for employees who are successful, showing passion and accountability for their work, and letting them know they are important to the success of the company.

Training and development is another area which can be used with help of PA. Training and development are used together to bring about the overall familiarization, improvement, and education of an organization’s employees.  In general, training programs have very specific and quantifiable goals, such as operating a particular piece of machinery, understanding a specific process, or performing certain procedures with great precision. On the other hand, developmental programs concentrate on broader skills that are applicable to a wider variety of situations, such as decision making, leadership skills, and goal setting.
Google schedules their performance reviews twice a year; major one at the end of the year and a smaller one mid-year. Each review consists of a self-assessment, a set of peer reviews, and if an employee is applying for a promotion, reasons for why he should be promoted to the next level.  Each review component is submitted via an online tool.  Around performance review time, it’s not exceptional to see many engineers taking a day or more just to write the reviews through the tool. In the self-assessment, the employee summarizes his major accomplishments and contributions since the last review. He is asked to describe his strengths and areas for improvement; the employee is expected to frame them with respect to the job expectations described in his career ladder.  For peer reviews, employees are expected to choose around 3-8 peers (fellow engineers, product managers, or others that can comment on their work) to write their peer reviews.  Often, managers assign additional individuals to write peer reviews for one of their reports, particularly newer or younger employees who may be less familiar with the process are chosen. Peers comment on an employee’s contribution in a project, on his strengths, and on areas for improvement.  If an employee applies for a promotion, the peer reviews become more relevant for considering his promotion.

An accurate performance reviews is critical because it helps exceptional employees being  rewarded with exceptional performance ratings and the benefits that go along with those ratings, while poor performers should be rated and rewarded accordingly. Employees talk among themselves and share information. It can be extremely demoralizing for a high-performing employee to learn that marginal or poor performers have received the same rating, pay raise, and other benefits.

Finally, change is constant in business; the PA system should also change accordingly.

Rarely do we see resumes tailored to fit a job. Sure, many of the background and academic details tend to remain the same but in a good resumes the tone and accent changes. Rarely does peole pay attention to while writing their resume. You remain the same person, but your description, narrative changes with a new perspective depending on the job you are applying for. It is therefore advisable to constantly re-examine and refine your CV. A CV speaks volumes about us in absentia.

Over some time and with experience, while looking at your CV your presentation skill and technique for language will improve. Couple this to the natural self-confidence you develop during spells of employment and your CV should for sure reflect that. It’s all about refining what you say and how you say it in the most concise way, and you’ll be surprised how your perceptions evolve on different dimensions in CV.

Yes, your CV speaks volumes about who you are, how you think, your strengths and weaknesses – though we do not present our weaknesses. It gives an image of your finesse, your capability, your background, your skills, intelligence etc. Your CV should be confident. Employers not only want to hear about your appropriate successes but also why and how you’ve achieved them. This confidence however should not be presented in an over-stating manner. Nobody can ever be great without any substance. Avoid wordy jargon, exaggeration or buzzwords. Let your CV stand out by giving the helpful facts and figures. Give those hard evidences those which are self-explanatory.  Don’t clutter your CV with too many things about yourself. Don’t lose the purpose in the midst of it. A good CV remains sharp and snappy for quick reference. Adopt the right tone throughout the CV.

Avoid pessimism: If you have had to face adversities, mention it with words such as “challenge”, faced. Also, do not shy to mention how you faced them. Avoid words such as “hate”, “quit”, or “disagreed” Alternative suitable phrases would be “overcame”, “influenced”, or “re-approached.”

If you are applying for a journalist’s job then your skills such as editing, writing, fluency over languages, your grasp to understand things, an eye for detail etc should be highlighted. Remember, one size doesn’t fit all; you will need different versions of your CV depending on whom it is aimed at. I often suggest people to avoid using standard templates. Instead, write it uniquely.  Focus on relevant experience and transferable skills from previous jobs which you have learnt.

The HR manager looks out for some of these traits in your CV: they are enthusiasm, because enthusiasm drives employee engagement and innovation.  Communication skills – no organization is able to compromise on importance communication in today’s globalized marketing environment.  Next is creativity. Organizations crave for creative people. Thinking out of the box is an extraordinary quality. If you have it, write it foremost in your CV.  In today’s age of entitlement and instant gratification, the critical concept of commitment stands out in a CV. Do present it in good words. Team spirit is very important in any field of life because it binds people together of different temperaments, different attitudes. If you can lead and activate people in group, trust me you have again an extra ordinary quality. Highlight it. HR managers look for another quality and that is openness to new ideas, new processes, and new people and so on. As corporations are ever changing entities, your ability to change with it is crucial. Your CV must speak how you adapted in the past and how you can do it again, if required.

One most important advice is keeping your research on; examine not only the work you want to do but where you want to work. When you find a job that you want to do and feel qualified to do, investigate the company, its culture as well as what is said and left unsaid about the company. Be sure about the work culture of the company. You should not land in soup.

And, also one of the hallmarks of your personality is emotional Intelligence. It is your ability to match the communication style with the organization through your CV, on email, on mobile or social media. Pay attention to not only the key words being used by the company in describing a position you are applying for but also how they have placed those words. Match their style so that you can spoon-feed them about your brilliance by helping them to see that you have the qualification, talent and experience they need.

So, let your CV have the following:

Contact details: It’s important to provide a range of up-to-date contact options including your home address, your main phone number and your email address to make it easy for employers to get in touch with you.

Employment history: Include the jobs that are relevant to the position you are applying for. If you haven’t had much applicable experience, be honest about it. However, you may express your interest by stating your grasping and learning abilities or you may want to include your entire work history.

Education and qualifications: Your education and qualifications may not be directly related to the job you are applying for, but they’re still important achievements that any employer will want to see. These days’ organizations are not too obsessed with educational qualifications. They prefer practicality of an individual.

Skills and strengths: Strength is something you’re naturally good at. A skill is something you acquire with education and experience. Make sure to express how your skills and strengths will help you to do well in the job.

References: Give references of people who know you fairly well and those who will speak on your behalf.  You don’t have to include references in your CV and leaving them out will save you space, but make sure to state at the end of your CV that they are available on request.

If your CV is shortlisted and you are called for an interview, the interviewer might ask you to “walk him/her through your resume.”  When you are asked to do so – you should be able to talk about each section of your resume in a linear, lucid, and enthusiastic fashion. Do not go too much in-depth into any one item. Do not bore the interviewer and do not remain superficial either. Touch on your academic, professional, leadership, technical, and personal qualifications, concluding with a statement about why these experiences are important for your industry.

 Lastly, use a good simple format. Check and re-check spelling and punctuation. Keep sentences short to avoid confused punctuation and, if you can, give it to a friend to check it over. Spell check should be the very last thing you do before sending it off.

If you are not applying for some time now for a new job, take some time off and work on your CV – it’s worth it.

Sociology is the study of human social behavior, human development, organizations, and institutions. To understand how societies have developed with different key features, we have to understand what Power is. It is a key sociological concept with several different meanings agreements and disagreement surrounding its connotation and degree. The most common definition of the world power comes from the German Sociologist Max Weber. He defined it as the ability to control others, events, resources, organizations and money. Weber said the rulers call the shorts in spite of impediments, resistance, or opposition. Power goes to head easily. From the beginning mankind and animals have fought for power as it is seized, coveted, detained, taken away, or stolen, and it is used to rule over the opponents and alleys. Power has always created conflicts between those in power and those without it.

Weber was interested in studying the nature of power and authority and its effects on the modern trends of rationalization. Weber went on to study the operational styles of modern large-scale organizations in the political, administrative, and economic realm. He insisted that bureaucratic coordination of activities is the unique mark of the modern era. Bureaucracies are organized according to rational principles.

In contrast, Karl Marx – the German Philosopher, Economist and Sociologist used the concept of power in relation to social classes and social systems rather than individuals. He argued that power rests with a social class as per its position – how much they produce and how much wealth is accumulated by them. Power does not lie in the relationship between individuals, but in domination and subordination of social classes based on the relations of production.

A third definition comes from Talcott Parsons who argued that power is not a matter of social compulsion and command, but instead flows from a social system’s potential to coordinate human activity and resources in order to accomplish goals.

In order to understand those institutions and how humans are organized, it is important to understand how societies are governed.

OLIGARCHY: 

In oligarchy a society is ruled by a small, powerful minority. These are not necessarily the most capable leaders in a society; sometimes oligarchy is passed down by royalty, wealth, family, military, or religious supremacy. Oligarchies are often controlled by politically powerful families whose children are heavily conditioned and mentored to be heirs of the power of the oligarchy. These types of states have been oppressive throughout history, relying on public helplessness and smugness in order to exist. Oligarchies are not at all similar to democracies, but they are also very different from governments ruled by a single dictator. Oligarchies can have both positive and negative effects on the societies they rule.

Although traditional oligarchies were ruled by families that passed down power through generations, most contemporary oligarchies are classified as such based on heavy corporate influence and a large imbalance of wealth that facilitates unbridled corporate lobbying. In India, we see some glaring oligarchies in the corporate world.

As of 2014, two of the top existing examples of oligarchies are China and Russia. Russia has been ruled by corporations that control the majority of the nation’s wealth since the disbandment of the Soviet Union. Many experts call Russia a modern oligarchy. China, on the other hand, is cited as a nation that has converted into an oligarchy as the result of becoming a world financial power that now relies on business. Some experts even argue that the power of corporations and the wealth disparity in the United States make it a nation that much more closely resembles an oligarchy than a democracy; no wonder it ranks at number 17 as per world democracy index.

MONARCHY:

A monarchy is a form of government in which sovereignty is placed in hands of a single individual i.e the Monarch. The forms of monarchy vary widely according to the level of legal autonomy the monarchs hold. The forms differ as in case of governance, the method of selection of the monarch, and encoded limits on the length of their tenure. When the monarch has no or few legal restraints in state and political matters, it is called an absolute monarchy and is a form of autocracy. Cases in which the monarch’s diplomacy is formally limited which is most commonly seen today are called constitutional monarchies. In hereditary monarchies the crown is passed through inheritance within the family, whereas in elective monarchies voting system is used.

Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer customary. Where it exists, it is now usually a constitutional monarchy form, in which the monarch retains a unique legal and ceremonial role, but exercises limited or no political power under the written or unwritten constitution, others have governing authority.

Do you know that at present 44 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state? And 16 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. All European monarchies are constitutional ones. The Vatican City is an exception. It is the smallest state in the world and with absolute monarchy existing. The Pope is its head and it is the only state completely enclosed by a city. The monarchs in the smaller states exercise greater political influence than in the larger. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia “reign, but do not rule” although there is substantial dissimilarity in the degree of authority they exert. Whereas, in Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland  the monarchs continue to exercise more political influence than any other single source of authority in their nations, either by constitutional mandate or by tradition.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC: 

A democratic republic is a country that is both a republic in which power resides in the hands of public and democracy. It is one where ultimate authority and power is derived from the citizens, and the government itself is run through elected officials. However, in recent times it is seen that countries which described themselves as democratic republics have not always held free or fair elections. Two examples of this are the German Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam; in both examples East Germany and North Vietnam are communist states. In another example Democratic Republic of the Congo is not a free country. Ironically it is seen that a “democratic republic” is not democratic and is not a republic. A government when called by this tag usually practices dictatorship. Communist dictatorships have been especially prone to use this term. For example, the official name of North Vietnam was “The Democratic Republic of Vietnam.” China uses an alternative, “The People’s Republic of China.”

DICTATORSHIP:

Dictatorship is a form of government where political authority is controlled by a single person or political entity, and exercised through various domineering mechanisms. It is a type of authoritarianism which is contrast of democracy. Dictatorships and totalitarianism generally employ political half truths and half baked accounts to suppress proponents of alternative governing systems. We have very glaring examples of dictators in world such as Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Omar Bashir of Sudan, Kim Jong – II of North Korea, Than Shwe of Burma and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia all of these are very oppressive in their conduct. And,how can we forget Hitler, Fidel Castro, Mao Tse-tung, and Angusto Pinochet?  As I have mentioned in earlier paragraphs, power goes to head easily and people can go to any extent to retain it. Dictators are usually power obsessive people.

DEMOCRACY:

Churchill said “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” In my opinion, this form of government however rosily defined has many flaws and problems but all the others have more problems. Democratic states always have freer people than autocratic states. They obviously have the right to vote for their government so by extension deciding the policy of their nation and what their nation should be like. They have more freedom of speech and expression than in autocracies. In particular they are free to criticize their own government. Democracy as per definition has to practice transparency of decision-making as it is about elections and the general public throwing governments out of power. In a democracy the parliament, the media and sometimes the judiciary all keep an eye on the executives and what is being done with the people’s money. They are therefore able to see if the executive is doing things that are detrimental to the country, whether the executive is immoral, or even illegal. Norway tops the list of democracies of the world, Netherland at number 10, US at number 17, France at number 31 and India at number 40.

MILITARY JUNTA: 

This is a form of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish word junta, which means committee or meeting; which is like a board of directors. At times it becomes military dictatorship. In 2014 on 22^nd May, Thailand’s military scrapped the old constitution after army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha seized power from Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra who is the sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was also ousted in a military coup in 2006 and has been living in self-imposed exile since then.

The junta in Thailand assigned a newly-formed reform council with the task of drafting a constitution for the nation that has been plagued with political unrest since the past few years. The new body, called the National Reform Council will work alongside the National Legislative Assembly. The new reform council consists of 250 members, 38 of which have served in the military.

Its candidates were chosen through applications from districts and nominations from the public. Military heads gave the final say for who would make up the council. Thailand’s military rulers say that the drafting of the new constitution andits implementation will take place by July next year which will lead to elections. Another example of Military Junta was in Greek from 1967 to 1974.

COMMUNISM:

It is a system of government where the government plans and controls the economy. Also all citizens are considered equal. A communist state is a sovereign state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed adherence to communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state.

In a true communist state you give what you can to the state for distribution, keeping only that required to satisfy your needs. It isa system of social organization in which all economic and social activities are controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.

In a Communist state, the Communist party is the nucleus of society. Other parities may function alongside the Communist party occasionally, but parties advocating the restoration of capitalism are typically prohibited. The Communist party governs according to what the society’s historical and national characteristics demand in order to unleash the productive forces and further advance towards communism. For example, in Russia and the Soviet Union in the 1920s, a regulated market economy was initially implemented due to the country’s lack of infrastructural development and to overcome the devastation of civil war. But in the 1930s, the economy of the Soviet Union was characterized by heavy industrialization. Similarly, the People’s Republic of China operated almost on the lines of communism until the 1980s when it opened its economy to foreign investment, allowing for market development alongside it planned development. Reliance on markets and planning have varied in different Communist states, but most such states are characterized by state monopoly over land ownership, full union representation in the workforce, and social security systems to provide for those unable to work.

REPUBLIC: 

Is a form of government in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. East Timor, Samoa, Nepal, Republic of Kosovo and South Sudan are states which have opted for Republic Form of Government in the 21^st century.

ANARCHY: 

Anarchy is a state of confusion and turmoil due to absence of recognized authority. The Anarchists are self engrossed and self-absorbed leaders. They are over obsessed with their own growth and sustainability. Anarchism is usually short-lived in world. In modern times, in any country by chance, if anarchism prevails it is quickly intruded from outside forces to prevent the problem from spreading further. We often see anarchism when countries go through intense revolutions or civil wars. In fighting among various governing bodies which often destroy law and order in a country usually witnesses anarchism.

The ancient Greeks stated: “Without law, there can be no freedom,” and the Founding Fathers agreed, knowing that some laws would be necessary to protect a civilized society.  To sight an example of recent times of Anarchy, I site the example of Somalia in which due to the fall of government of Siad Barre the country has been experiencing state of anarchy from 1991. Somalia has not settled till date. The fundamentalist Islamic militants are about to take over and perhaps this might trigger a regional war in the process. The country is becoming a breeding ground for terrorists.

Conclusion: Research conducted by neuroscientists has proved it time and again that feeling powerful, dampens a part of the brain which stimulates empathy. It appears that power fundamentally changes how the brain operates. Some more research on the same topic proved that when people feel powerful, they have more trouble in understanding other people’s emotions and sentiments. It appears that when people are in power it becomes increasingly difficult for them to realize other’s problem which is really ironic; power leads to greed, self-indulgence and grabbing therefore the state leaders cannot empathize with the problems of masses. In alert leadership “compassion” is very important. To be compassionate is to be able to value what the other person is going through, in essence, to walk in their shoes.