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CAREERS TODAY Best Jobs Managerspeak Himanshu Jani, Director (HRD), Asia Pacific, Agilent Technologies, deliberates on the pitfalls of performance evaluation. Define and communicate performance standards Managers tend to define their performance expectations at the end of a performance cycle, often leading to misunderstanding and bitterness. Instead, describe performance standards clearly at the beginning while setting out the goals. And, revisit your standards periodically. Avoid the halo effect Do not allow your personal impression of the employee, her background or educational qualifications to influence your evaluation. It is performance that needs to be judged, not personal attributes. Strive for fairness at all cost. Make relative comparison It is always easy to evaluate high-fliers as well as non-performers. But judging employees who without being exceptional, meet their job requirements is difficult. In such cases, always compare them with people doing similar jobs in other organisations or departments, to bring about distinction. Eschew immediacy Consider performance during the entire appraisal period and not only in the last quarter, before arriving at any decision. Further, do not allow critical incidences-one mega-success or failure-to influence your final rating. Best CEO Picks CEO; Urban mass transit company;
Delhi; MBA and relevant experience in business planning and business
management; Core 4B, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi-110003. CEO; Lobo Management Consultants;
Chennai; IIT/IIM equivalent with relevant experience; Lobo Management
Consultants; 8, Nehru Street, T. Nagar, Chennai-600017. CEO; Apollo Hospitals; Delhi; Relevant
qualifications and experience in the industry; Greams Lane,
Chennai-600006. CEO; Reputed Heavy Engineering
Company; Vadodara; Engineers, preferably with management degree, and 20
years of experience; Best CFO Picks President (Finance); Sunlife
Technologies; Delhi; Graduate with a degree in Chartered Accountancy and
20 years of relevant experience; Sunlife Technologies; M-61, Greater
Kailash-II, New Delhi-110048. Vice-President (Finance); Sunlife
Technologies; Graduate with a degree in Chartered Accountancy and 15 years
of relevant experience; Sunlife technologies; M-61, Greater Kailash-II,
New Delhi-110048. Head (Central Accounts); Lord Krishna Bank; Kochi; Chartered Accountant with 10-15 years of relevant experience; Age 35-40 years; Lord Krishna Bank, Indian Express Building, Kaloor, Kochi-682017 (Kerala). Commercial Manager; Colgate-Palmolive; Nepal; Graduate/ACA/ ICWA with seven years of relevant experience; Colgate-Palmolive (India); P.O. Box: 8470, IIT Powai, Mumbai-400076. Best Overseas Picks Managing Director; Personalised Corporate Bank; Kenya; Degree in Commerce, Business Administration, Economics or Finance from recognised university with 10 years of relevant experience; Position carries an attractive remuneration package with a wide range of benefits; Suchak's Consultancy Services, 6, Gopal Bhavan, Kakasaheb Gadgil Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai-400025. General Manager; Oman; Relevant
qualifications with three years experience in Accounting/
Finance/Marketing & Sales; Vira International, 404/C, Twin Arcade,
Military Road, Marol, Andheri (E), Mumbai-400059. Manager; Medical Equipment Services;
Oman; Biomedical engineers with specialisation in medical equipment and 15
years of relevant experience; Ebin Rushed Pharmacy, P.O. Box-169, Muscat,
Sultanate of Oman; Who Should Assess Performance? Are you a supervisor or a manager? Or more importantly, a functional or divisional head? Then rating subordinates, even peers, must be a part of your responsibilities. That it is not an easy job, is it? For, appraising performance does not only mean relating it to the accomplishment of business and functional goals. Or deciding on the appropriate reward or reprimand. It also includes gauging the developmental needs of individuals, plugging skill gaps, and assessing leadership potential. In all this, an assessor has to be extremely careful so as to not let lack of objectivity, bias-personal, racial, gender or any other-and personal expectations influence the process of appraisal in any way. Training in appraisal communication may be effective as would be frequent interaction between the assessor and the assessed. Here's a handy guide to effective assessment . Prepare for the process. Research shows that managers and supervisors who spend more time before appraisal, analysing their subordinates' and their own job responsibilities, duties, and performance vis-a-vis goals, are likely to get more out of the appraisal process. They are likely to be more motivated and energised to achieve individual goals as well as organisational ones and will try and improve their juniors' performance if they are not fixated on ratings alone. Such individuals are also less likely to be negative or biased. Encourage participation. Managers or supervisors who regard appraisal as a two-way process, usually turn out to be more effective and objective assessors than others. For, in encouraging their juniors to participate, they generate a perception of ownership of the appraisal process among the latter. This, in turn, leads the subordinate to regard appraisal as a positive exercise where her suggestions are also welcomed, and given due consideration. Listen carefully. Even if you are convinced about a subordinate's performance-or the lack of it-being an active listener usually helps. It not only demonstrates interest in the process, but can also throw up interesting insights, which could influence the rating. Listening, here, means disallowing interruptions like phone calls, maintaining eye contact, picking up verbal and non-verbal cues and desisting from arguments in case of a disagreement. Judge performance, not person. Assessors often end up judging persons and not performance and allow their own preferences to dominate the assessment. Rather than becoming fixated on the personality of the subordinate and trying to change it, you should maintain a job-focused and problem-solving approach in order to keep the process constructive. Avoid negativity. Destructive criticism never helps. On the contrary, it may give rise to negative feelings among subordinates and further demotivate them. All this may alter the complexion of any future supervisor-subordinate communication irrevocably and have negative organisational fallouts-which may finally even affect the assesor personally . Set mutually acceptable goals. Setting goals together would help focus your juniors' attention on the specifics of job performance and clearly delineate expectations, without any possibility of misunderstanding. Their involvement would make sure that they mobilise efforts to meet the goals and maintain necessary performance levels. Relate rewards to performance. Relating employment and staffing decisions to performance ratings and making rewards or reprimands contingent on them would help reinforce the appraisal process' consistency. It would also make your juniors strive harder to achieve performance goals. Remember, as a performance assessor, you are responsible for your subordinates' professional destiny to a large extent. You would do well to take the exercise seriously. -Paroma Roy Chowdhury Best practices in performance appraisal:
evaluator training Electrolux India Siemens Public Communications Escorts -compiled by Jaya Basu & Paroma Roy Chowdhury HELP, TARUN!!! I am a 28-year-old professionally qualified individual, and am currently working with a transnational consulting organisation. I have always been driven and have reaped rich career dividends for that. I am now being considered for a global posting. But I am newly-married, with a spouse who is a first-generation entrepreneur and as such neither willing nor able to relocate. Should I turn the offer down for now? Could it put my long-term career plans here in jeopardy. I could always shift, but should I? You have not mentioned your gender and that is interesting. This is not so much a career problem as a personal dilemma. The macro-questions to ask yourself would be: How committed are you to your career? Would you and your spouse be able to work this out without affecting your marriage? At the micro-level, you could consider a short-term posting and opt for a long-distance relationship for the time being. A lot of young couples are faced with such choices and often succeed in finding optimal solutions. I am a mechanical engineering graduate and have just applied to a US B-school for an MBA. I have given myself six months to obtain admission and would also like to work as an intern with a premier investment bank during this period. Eventually, I would like to become an investment banker. I am currently based in Karnataka. How do I get across to firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley? Would I be considered at all? You could write to them with your resume or visit them personally to get a hearing. However, it will be difficult for you to get an internship immediately as: a) Most of the investment bankers are based in Mumbai and you are in Karnataka. b) They may not take interns. c) Even if they do, this may not be the right time. d) You really do not have any relevant qualification yet. You could get someone who is closely involved to recommend your name-this will ensure that you will at least get considered. I am an electrical engineer from a regional engineering college in West Bengal. I have also completed my MCA. I am keen on an overseas career in software development. Is it worthwhile to register resumes with Web-based job sites? Further, while posting resumes on the Net, should you opt for a chronological or a functional style? What kind of skills should I highlight? Should I opt for a ms-Word, a Rich Text or a Plain text format or any other? Please advise. It is always useful to place your resume on leading job sites. Most of them have a resume-building format which allows you to format your resume as per the requirements of these sites. You should also mention your skill sets in software as well as highlight the projects undertaken during your MCA. If you have done well academically, it would be good to mention your grades. If you have a ready-made resume, again it should give the information in a chronological fashion. Many sites specify the format (Word or Text) that they prefer for ready-made resumes, and you can choose accordingly. I am a post-graduate in English with a diploma in Communications. I have been teaching in a reputed public school for the last five years, where I have gained some administrative experience as well. I have completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Resources Management through correspondence. Could I contemplate a worthwhile career in the Human Resources function? If so, what kind of organisations should I apply to? Would my experience be relevant? You can certainly make an entry into the Human Resources field, but you must be prepared to begin at the bottom and work your way up. Small or medium-sized companies needing an assistant to the human resources manager may be the ones to target initially. This would enable you to learn the ropes. Larger companies may have qualifications as an entry barrier and may be reluctant to recruit you right now. While your teaching experience will not be an impediment, it may not be considered relevant either. Tarun Sheth, the senior consultant at the Mumbai-based recruitment and training consultancy firm, Shilputsi, addresses your career concerns every fortnight. Write to help, tarun!!! c/o Business Today, F-26, Connaught Place, New Delhi-110001.
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