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.

The Parkinson’s Law is the notion that ‘work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion’. It’s an adage. And it means that people work out their tasks of personal and professional life based on time available. Whatever size is your assignment, if you are given two week for it your will complete it in two weeks and if you are given two months for it, you will take two months for the same job. Time pressure forces people to complete tasks in the given time. If there is no pressure attached to a task then it continues forever to come to an end. Therefore, the more time a person gets to complete a job, the more time he takes to complete it. And, the person gets used to mixing personal and professional work in all the time he gets.  The moment he is assigned more work he starts cribbing about the workload. A task that has to be finished within an hour isn’t perceived important, but a task that’s to be finished in 2 months will become a mental outrage.

Complexity also rises in relation to the allocated time, the more time allocated, the better the perceived quality of the task – well this is what our mind perceives. While people crib about being overburdened with workloads, some people silently complete their own as well as other’s work also. Parkinson Law describes how people keep postponing (try to procrastinate) work till last moment. If only we embrace deadlines and checks, we can do a clear-cut job. It’s always better to force ourselves to work against the clock. When we are given a task without a deadline, it’s always better to set the deadline for self and hold on to it. And, as managers we must learn to always state a deadline while delegating a task, the shorter the deadline – better the outcome.

People always work better under time pressure. They are more focused when a task needs to be completed in constrained time since we all keep procrastinating assignments till the last moment. We vacillate with the time doing some stupidest things. But, if we like a job, we try to complete it in record time.

We need to free our company of the bad effects of Parkinson’s Law. Get more production in order to pay more by reducing or eliminating loss-making and unnecessary tasks and their associated expenses. Hiring more people is seldom the solution to manage inventory, assembly, purchases, sales, accounts etc. Work expands to fill the time available for its completion. This interesting statement was made by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, the famous British historian and author, in 1955. It appeared as the opening sentence in an article for The Economist and later became the focus of one of his books, Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuit of Progress.

Parkinson made observations on bureaucracy: he said that bureaucracy swells not because workload increases, but because bureaucrats have the capacity and resources that allow for bigger workload even if the workload does not in fact increase. People without any work find ways to increase the amount of imaginary work and therefore add to the size of their administration. Bureaucracy takes a beating because the wrong person fills the wrong role, the role exists only to minimize damage control, or the role swells unnecessarily simply because it can. How true!! We see it all Government departments, post offices, railways, government run hospitals and universities.

Parkinson also observed that organizations give disproportionate credence to trivial issues. One example he quotes is of a committee whose job was to approve plans for a nuclear power plant, spent the majority of its time with futile discussions on relatively trivial and insignificant but easy-to-grasp issues, such as what materials should be used for the staff bike-shed, while neglecting the most important matter of proposed design of the nuclear power plant itself. We usually assume that those persons working on panels and committees it comprehend it. On the other hand, everyone involved get engaged in endless discussions on a trouble-free issues to show their personal contribution. No wonder, committees appointed by government waste precious time without much outcome.

Let me tell you, Parkinson’s Law does not apply to only time management but it applies to everything in our life.

Our needs keep increasing and if we don’t keep a check on them, they add on. We crave for a big house, a big car, a big bank balance, more and more belongings and so on. When we buy a bigger home, a bigger bag, a bigger cupboard, bigger storage within a short time every nook and corner gets stacked. The bigger the available space, the more junk it can hold. So when people buy bigger houses they need to fill it with most unrequited items, and most of the times people buy big houses even when they don’t need them.  The more money we earn the more money we spend. Only people who want to become rich understand that they need to save money. They break the law and resist the urge of spending unnecessarily. When we start earning more, our needs start expanding so that we spend all of the money that is available. Similarly, our appetite increases when too much food is served on the plate. We end up eating up everything that’s on the plate. Rarely do people resist overeating. The end result of the application of Parkinson’s Law is that we don’t have enough time to do everything that we need to get done; we don’t have any money left over at the end of the month; we are surrounded by clutter; and, since we are constantly overeating, we put on more and more weight which makes us unwell. By the time we realize this fact, it becomes a vicious circle of our life.

It is therefore important to break Parkinson’s Law by setting time, money, storage, and portion limits. If we do this successfully it radically improves our life. We must learn to avoid cluttering our life; we must learn to give away things including books and clothes to de-clutter our home.

Set limits: decide what tasks you need to get done, and then set a limit on the amount of time that is available to perform each task. Set a limit on the amount of money that you have available for spending. Set a limit on how much storage space you really require and have available. Set a limit on the size of your food consumption. Excessive clutter is often a cause of stress and can affect every facet of our life. Clutter can distract you, pull you down, and in general it invites chaos into your life. Break Parkinson’s Law as far as possible.

How do you introduce yourself when you meet a visitor, a guest in your office or home, in an interview or when you are introduced to someone for the first time? Are you shy, are you aggressive, are you assertive, or are you to the point? It is important how one introduces himself/herself in person or in correspondence because it matters a lot in developing relationships. When we are asked to introduce ourselves, it matters how crisply and assertively we introduce our self.  Assertiveness is a skill regularly referred to in social and communication skills training.  Often it’s wrongly confused with aggression; assertive individuals aim to be neither passive nor aggressive in their interactions with other people.

Assertiveness helps in being able to express feelings, wishes, wants and desires appropriately and is an important personal and interpersonal skill. One needs to be assertive in all interactions with other people, whether at home, in a party, in a concert, or at work, with employers, customers or colleagues it avoids ambiguity of any sort.

I think we introduce and re-introduce ourselves to the world around us time and again; in all relationships of ours and in many situations we introduce our new traits, attributes to maintain validity of situation, action taken and for logical inference. And each time, assertiveness can help in expressing our self in a clear, open and reasonable way, without undermining the rights of our self or of others.

When people adopt a passive response in any situation they do it because they have a strong need to be liked by others.  Such people do not regard themselves as equals because they seek attachment with someone for a selfish reason, and also because they place greater weight on the rights, wishes and feelings of others.  Being passive results in failure to communicate thoughts or feelings and results in people doing things they really do not want to do in the hope that they might please others.  This also means that they allow others to take responsibility, to lead and make decisions for them. I call such people slimy. They are dangerous to organizations and society.

Passive responding can encourage treatment that underpins a submissive role.  While the underlying causes of passive responding are often poor self-confidence and self-esteem, therefore passive introduction responds itself in yet further reducing self-worth.

It’s very important to share relatable information every time you are introducing yourself. For example when you meet a physician for the first time you will share information regarding your age, health condition and duration of the persisting condition; when your friend introduces you to her friend you will share your name, profession etc; when you enter a police station you will share information regarding the purpose of your visit, your address, and the problem faced by you. As a student in a class room it is important for you to share unique information about yourself that will help the other students (and the teacher) to remember who you are and also to feel like you’ve got something in common with them. So, each introduction in life has a different relevance. And, each introduction establishes credibility and likability of building bond.

It is all up to us to avoid awkward conversation-stoppers like giving unwarranted details about ourselves. We should know where to draw lines – I recall this person I met in a party who dragged his information to no end; he told the group, many of whom he was meeting for the first time about his political connections, his messy divorce, and that though he looked old he was only 33 years old. He became nothing but laughing stock in the party. So cut short your introduction according the situation. Remember your actions speak louder than words do.

Some people brag about themselves while introducing and some are very sloppy. I have seen this – both make others uneasy. So it’s worth investing in learning how to introduce you to the world. A fun way to make introductions a little more comfortable is to have some fun with people around in casual situations.

When you go for a job interview, your introduction should be concise enough to hold the interest of the interviewer. Make a quick recap of your most compelling qualifications, your achievements and connectivity with the applied post and this would suffice. You could also throw in a couple of tidbits which are not essential to the job, but reflect your qualities like the fact that you are an avid reader, would throw light on your studiousness. Or, you like mountaineering shows your spirit of adventure. Your goal is to connect personally with the interviewer as well as to show that you’re qualified for the job.

Of course, your initial conversation should show your enthusiasm for the job and your interest to work in the organization. However, don’t overdo it and don’t spend too much time talking about yourself. The interviewer has an agenda and limited time; so keep it short so you can move on to the next question.

Remember, the interviewer may follow up your introduction with supplementary questions, so it’s important to remember that you will need to support whatever declaration you make during your introduction. Be prepared to provide specific examples of how and where you have utilized your characteristics and assets successfully so far in your career.

When people are in hurry to grab the limelight in get-togethers and parties – when they tell   too much about themselves – they are labeled as “bore.” You might have a lot about yourself which you want the world to learn. Don’t be in hurry.  Introduce yourself sophisticatedly. You can exchange your visiting card; design your card elaborative by giving all details of your professional networking such as your LinkedIn account, Facebook account details, and your professional memberships. I think all those who want to get connected with you for whatever reasons will get connected with you anyhow, hence be brief.

Some golden tips: brief introductions are always best. Provide the bare minimum the other person needs to know. Do not maintain distance or a cold approach – converse politely and you’ll see that during the conversation more can be revealed in a natural way. Be appropriate while introducing you. Don’t make an unnecessary fuss; you might lose some golden chances. And most importantly focus on others because to become successful you require them.

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