Performance Management: Unit 1

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Unit 1

• Definition converns and scope

• PfM Process
• Features of an effective PfM

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What is work?
Work involves anticipating and
planning; and it involves
adaptability to suit varying needs,
rather than merely using what is
accessible.It is something
performed to meet
• Basic physiological
needs
• Achievement needs
• Self-actualization
needs

Work may be mental or manual, blue collared or white collared…

More important is the way it is done, the commitment and effort that
has been put in and the result/outcome. Mere enjoyment of the work
would not translate to good work. There is always primary objective
and multiple secondary objectives. Striking a perfect balance will be
the factor responsible for the successful accomplishment of the work.

What is performance?
Means outcome achieved or accomplishment at work. Performance
mainly consists of two aspects
• Behavior
• Outcome

Iiccha jnana kriya

Carkhuff’s equation for human productivity

Productivity = Responsiveness+ Initiative+ Processing

Excellence is not a skill. Its is an attitude (Amity Business School)

Efficacy = efficiency + effectiveness

capacity or power to produce a desired effect
the ratio of the output to the input of any system
Ability to achieve stated goals or objectives, judged in terms of
both output and impact

Performance-Potential matrix (effort concentration matrix)

High

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Performance
Low

Low High
Potential
What is performance management PfM
PfM is a way of systematically managing the performance of individual,
group and/or the organization based on the predetermined targets and
measurable objectives. It is a holistic process which envisage setting
performance targets, measuring performance, conduction gap analysis
and root cause analysis and using the resultant leading and lagging
indicators for the performance enhancements techniques like training,
compensating management.

‘PfM is a means of getting better results from the organization, teams

and individuals by understanding and managing performance with in
an agreed framework of planned goals, standards and competencies
requirements. It is a process of establishing shared understanding
about what is to be achieved and an approach to managing and
developing people in a way that increases the probability that it will be
achieved in a short and longer term.’
- Armstrong

Business performance management (BPM):

Business performance management (BPM) is a set of processes that
help organizations optimize business performance. BPM is seen as the
next generation of business intelligence (BI). BPM is focused on
business processes such as planning and forecasting. It helps
businesses discover efficient use of their business units, financial,
human, and material resources.

History
An early reference to non-business performance management occurs
in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Sun Tzu claims that to succeed in war, one
should have full knowledge of one's own strengths and weaknesses
and full knowledge of one's enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Lack
of either one might result in defeat. A certain school of thought draws
parallels between the challenges in business and those of war,
specifically:
• Collecting data
• Discerning patterns and meaning in the data (generating
information)
• Responding to the resultant information

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Prior to the start of the Information Age in the late 20th century,
businesses sometimes took the trouble to struggle to collect data from
non-automated sources. Businesses then lacked the computing
resources to properly analyze the data, and often made commercial
decisions primarily on the basis of intuition.

As businesses started automating more and more systems, more and

more data became available. However, collection remained a
challenge due to a lack of infrastructure for data exchange or to
incompatibilities between systems. Reports on the data gathered
sometimes took months to generate. Such reports allowed informed
long-term strategic decision-making. However, short-term tactical
decision-making continued to rely on intuition.

In modern businesses, increasing standards, automation, and

technologies have led to vast amounts of data becoming available.
Data warehouse technologies have set up repositories to store this
data. Improved ETL and even recently Enterprise Application
Integration tools have increased the speedy collecting of data. OLAP
reporting technologies have allowed faster generation of new reports,
which analyze the data. Business intelligence has now become the art
of sieving through large amounts of data, extracting information and
turning that information into actionable knowledge.

In 1989 Howard Dresner a research analyst at Gartner (until 2005, now

Chief Strategy Officer at Hyperion Solutions Corporation), popularized
"BPM" as an umbrella term to describe a set of concepts and methods
to improve business decision-making by using fact-based support
systems.

The term "BPM" is now becoming confused with "Business Process

Management", and many are converting to the term "Corporate
Performance Management" or "Enterprise Performance Management".

What is BPM?
BPM involves consolidation of data from various sources, querying, and
analysis of the data, and putting the results into practice.

BPM enhances processes by creating better feedback loops.

Continuous and real-time reviews help to identify and eliminate
problems before they grow. BPM's forecasting abilities help the
company take corrective action in time to meet earnings projections.
Forecasting is characterized by a high degree of predictability which is
put into good use to answer what-if scenarios. BPM is useful in risk
analysis and predicting outcomes of merger and acquisition scenarios

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and coming up with a plan to overcome potential problems. BPM

provides key performance indicators (KPI) that help companies monitor
efficiency of projects and employees against operational targets.

Metrics / Key Performance Indicators

BPM often uses Key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the
present state of business and to prescribe a course of action. More and
more organizations have started to make data available more
promptly. In the past, data only became available after a month or
two, which did not help to suggest to managers to adjust activities in
time to hit Wall Street targets. Recently, banks have tried make data
available at shorter intervals and have reduced delays. For example,
for businesses which have higher operational/credit risk loading (for
example, credit cards and "wealth management"), A large multi-
national bank makes KPI-related data available weekly, and sometimes
offers a daily analysis of numbers. This means data usually becomes
available within 24 hours, necessitating automation and the use of IT
systems.

Most of the time, BPM simply means use of several

financial/nonfinancial metrics/key performance indicators to assess the
present state of business and to prescribe course of action. Some of
the areas which top management analysis could gain knowledge from
BPM:

• Customer-related numbers:
o New customers acquired
o Status of existing customers
o Attrition of customers (including breakup by reason for
attrition)
• Turnover generated by segments of the Customers - these could
be demographic filters.
• Outstanding balances held by segments of customers and terms
of payment - these could be demographic filters.
• Collection of bad debts within customer relationships.
• Demographic analysis of individuals (potential customers)
applying to become customers, and the levels of approval,
rejections and pending numbers.
• Delinquency analysis of customers behind on payments.
• Profitability of customers by demographic segments and
segmentation of customers by profitability.

This is more an inclusive list than an exclusive one. The above more or
less describes what a bank would do, but could also refer to a
telephone company or similar service sector company.

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Principles of PfM (Armstron)/ Features of an effective PfM

System?
• Transparency
• Managed development
• Mutual respect
• Fairness and equity
• Organizational climate
• Effective context management

Concerns and scope of Traditional PfM system… PA?

Concerns
• Remedying poor performers and performance
• Bridging gaps on performance expectations
• Securing equitable rewards and punishments decisions from the
management
• Softening performance pressures through appropriate planning,
scheduling and delegation.

Scope
Scope is limited to performance measurement by means of time
and work-study.

A short history of Performance Management

Appraisal systems have been around since the industrial revolution
when they were used to measure the production of a workforce. There
were clear definable objectives, produce x number of widgets by
Friday, they were by default ‘SMART’ and very much tied reward as the
workers salary was often based upon weekly production.

In today’s service economy the connection of objectives to production

starts to look a little bizarre as often there is no direct connection
between service delivery and effort required to produce it. For example
software development is not based upon the number of lines of code
produced but on the quality of the finished product, sales are rarely
based upon the number of calls made but more likely on the
relationship between the salesman and the customer, and the quality
of material produced by a marketing professional will be almost
impossible to quantify.

So Why Do We Still Have Goal Based Appraisal Systems?

This is mostly due to work conducted in the 1950’s and 1960’s around
the area of objectives. Research was done into the effectiveness of

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objectives on individual performance and it was found that by allowing

individuals to set Specific, Measurable and Realistic goals that were
possible to Achieve and had a Time limit imposed upon them then the
chances are they would perform better than being given less defined
sets of objectives.
Much of this work was done in the Psychology lab and involved highly
motivated research students. Although this work has been validated in
real life the results are not as clear cut as were originally thought and a
number of other variables were found that appear to have been left off
of the list

Appraisal Systems – Where Does it All Go Wrong?

So, we have a measurement system based upon 19th century
innovation in mass production and a goal setting mechanism based
upon 1950’s psychology research, not a particularly good start. So
what’s left? There are a whole range of issues around the appraisal
process which also need to be considered, the top concerns are:
1. Halo and Horns – This is something often mentioned in
literature regarding job interviews but appears to be
completely ignored when appraisal time comes around. The
Halo and Horns effect is the appraisers personal view of the
appraised based not upon cold hard facts but on the
unconscious internal appraisal by the appraiser. Two
individuals both with exactly the same production record can
be given widely varying reviews based upon the perception of
the reviewer skewing the results in favour of a particular
personality type.

2. Good cop/Bad cop – The quality of an appraisal system

depends heavily upon the consistency of the reviewers. In an
ideal situation all individuals within an organisation will be
reviewed by one individual, however in anything but the
smallest business this is impractical and you are left with the
impact of human variance.

3. Hearsay or Heresy – One of the biggest issues in large

organisations is history, not of the company although that is
important, but of the individual and like all histories it is
written by the winners and not the losers. In an appraisal
situation the history created around an individual can be very
destructive and will influence the Halo and Horns effect.

4. Voter Apathy – When the psychological work on objective

setting was done in the 1950’s and 1960’s it was based upon
the study of conscientious and motivated individuals. The

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later work on objectives in the organisations highlighted as

one of the critical issues (and one that has been largely
ignored) of the enthusiasm and motivation of the staff for the
appraisal system itself. The concept of buy-in is an important
one and one that is often overlooked by corporations
introducing review systems. The staff being reviewed must
agree with the process and accept it as useful otherwise the
impact of any review will be of little use.

5. R.E.S.P.E.C.T – This is a reversal of the Halo and Horns effect

in that this applies to the reviewer and not the reviewed. For
any feedback to be accepted and effective it needs to come
from a respected source, it needs to be consistent and it also
needs to be timely.

6. Timing is everything – Perhaps the greatest failing of

organisations when reviewing the performance of staff
(whether it be good or bad) often the delay between the
behaviour and the review for both good and bad behaviour
often to a point where the issue is no longer relevant.

7. Feedback, the breakfast of champions – Feedback is always

considered an important part of the review process however
feedback, and it’s counter-part Constructive Criticism have
been overused as ways of telling people how they got it
wrong, rather than what they got right, and often the
feedback process completely misses the point of only focusing
on bad behaviour rather than reinforcing good behaviour
which is a better use of the process.

So, is it all gloomy for the appraisal system? Should they be

scrapped all together? Perhaps measuring staff production is not
the way to go? Maybe there is a better approach.

Building a Better Mouse Trap

There are some simple steps that can revolutionise the way that staff
are managed throughout the year but they do require some effort on
the part of the business however it can pay real dividends in staff
motivation and improving performance.
1. Catch people doing things right – this is old advice and yet in
many organisations it has been ignored or just become
management mantra without embracing the fundamental
concepts. Not only is it about identifying when people do a
good job but actually rewarding it. If your organisation values

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innovation, then reward the innovators even if you don’t like

or agree with the innovation.

2. No-one makes mistakes – if you really want to create an

outstanding appraisal process then start with the premise that
there are no mistakes just learning experiences. This can
sound a little silly, however if you believe that people do the
best they can then this ceases to be a stumbling block and if
someone makes a ‘mistake’ it is probably a misunderstanding
of their capability.

3. PRISM/SMART – Over the years much has been made of

SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time
bound) and these have worked for many however there are
some things that are lacking from this and PRISM© objectives
are much more effective

Personal – For any objective to be effective it needs to be

set by and for the individual. Many organisations like to set
corporate objectives that everyone signs up to, however in
reality unless there is a real motivation to then most
individuals will just pay lip service to the idea. Objectives
set by and for the individual are automatically bought in to
by that individual.
Realistic – In the old SMART world objectives had to be
Realistic and Achievable, in reality for something to be
truly realistic it has to be achievable. In the PRISM© world
for a goal to be realistic it must be achievable.
Interesting – For anyone setting objectives for themselves
or in the corporate space an objective that is interesting
(and enjoyable) is far more likely to be fulfilled than
something that an individual has to do.
Specific – As has been found by all of the goal setting
experiments of the past 50 years a goal needs to be
specific for it to be really effective. For a goal to be truly
specific it needs to include a completion date and is
therefore time bound.
Measurable – In PRISM© terms this means what will you
be, do or have when the objective has been reached. What
tangible thing can you wave in front of people to show you
have achieved your goal.

4. Give real feedback – This means telling people when things

have gone badly or that their behaviour is causing a problem
but it is not ‘constructive criticism’. If someone does a good
job 95% of the time and for 5% of their time they make a hash

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of it then focus on the 95% rather than the 5%. Appraisal

processes and appraisers should think carefully before they
focus on the 5%-10% of an individual that is ‘under
performing’ lest they undermine the 90% that is performing.
Perfection is not something that should be aimed for -
improvement is.

From a tactical role people management and PfM has gained a strategic role.

MERIT RATING

Merit is
• Any admirable quality or attribute; "work of great merit"
• Deservingness: the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving
assistance); "there were many children whose deservingness he
recognized and rewarded"
• Deserve: be worthy or deserving; "You deserve a promotion after
all the hard work you have done"

A method for appraising the performance of an employee with respect

to his or her job. It frequently serves as a basis for making pay
adjustments, promotion decisions, or work reassignments. A system for
measuring the difference of an individual risk by some standard in
order to reflect the difference in the rate.

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A common method which has long been in existence for measuring performance of
employees in organizations is Merit Rating, where performance levels are judged
according to various criteria.

The performance management cycle is an ongoing process that includes:

o establishing expectations and desired outcomes;

o monitoring performance;
o providing feedback and coaching; and
o assessing an employee’s work continuously throughout the year.

The “final annual steps” in the performance management cycle include conducting
performance evaluations, making merit pay determinations, and communicating with
employees about their overall performance including their performance appraisal rating.

The Performance Appraisal Process

The performance appraisal process typically consists of four inter-related steps as

follows:

1. Establish a common understanding between the manager (evaluator) and

employee (evaluatee) regarding work expectations; mainly, the work to be
accomplished and how that work is to be evaluated.
2. Ongoing assessment of performance and the progress against work expectation.
Provisions should be made for the regular feedback of information to clarify and
modify the goals and expectations, to correct unacceptable performance before it
was too late, and to reward superior performance with proper praise and
recognition.
3. Formal documentation of performance through the completion of a performance
and development appraisal form appropriate to the job family.
4. The formal performance and development appraisal discussion, based on the
completed appraisal form and ending in the construction of a Development Plan.

Merit Rating for Academic Faculty

Performance Categories and Merit Steps

Performance Evaluation Categories

Excellent
Commendable
Satisfactory

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Unsatisfactory

Merit Steps

Steps

Excellent 3
Commendable 2
Satisfactory 1
Unsatisfactory 0

1. EXCELLENT:

Met the requirements for “Commendable”: Significantly surpasses expectations in all aspects of
position/responsibilities demonstrates highest knowledge and skills. Achieved the highest
possible levels of excellence in achievements and competence in teaching, research and service.
Examples are: National publications, major research achievement, national recognition, made
exceptional contributions to the department, college or university; considered a leader among
colleagues.

2. COMMENDABLE:

Met the requirements for “Satisfactory”: Successfully met, and in some areas, significantly
exceeded established goals and objectives. Achieved high levels of achievements and competence
in the areas of teaching, research and service.

3. SATISFACTORY:

Met the established goals and objectives for the evaluation period; in a few instances, may have
missed some and exceeded others but, on balance performs competently.

4. UNSATISFACTORY:

Did not meet established goals and objectives for the evaluation period; has not performed
competently or consistently. Experienced productivity and competence in one or more areas of
teaching, research or service.

Suggested Standards of Performance

Outcome

Subject Knowledge
Rating: Excellent  Commendable  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory 

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• Demonstrates understanding of the subject

• Keeps informed about new information
• Learns new routines/assignments willingly

Experience
Rating: Excellent  Commendable  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory 

• Has prior experience as a teaching faculty in reputed institutions

• The number of years of teaching experience

Qualification
Rating: Excellent  Commendable  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory 

• Has the desired qualification for the post from a recognized University
Communication
Rating: Excellent  Commendable  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory 

• Speaks effectively and clearly

• Writes in clear well organized manner
• Communicates the subject matter appropriately
• Communicates effectively when interacting with student population

Behavior
Attitude and Commitment

1. Relationship
Rating: Excellent  Commendable  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory 
• Is accessible and approachable
• Establishes sound working relationships
• Courteous to the student population

2. Creativity
Rating: Excellent  Commendable  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory 

• Initiates creative and innovative skills

3. Keeping schedules

Rating: Excellent  Commendable  Satisfactory  Unsatisfactory 

• Maintains agreed upon work schedule

• Readily available to students
• Follows through to complete projects and meet deadlines

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MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVE

What is MBO?
Management by objectives (MBO) is a systematic and organized
approach that allows management to focus on achievable goals and to
attain the best possible results from available resources. It aims to
increase organizational performance by aligning goals and subordinate
objectives throughout the organization. Ideally, employees get strong
input to identify their objectives, time lines for completion, etc. MBO
includes ongoing tracking and feedback in the process to reach
objectives.

MBO was first outlined by Peter Drucker in 1954 in his book 'The
Practice of Management'. In the 90s, Peter Drucker himself decreased
the significance of this organization management method, when he
said: "It's just another tool. It is not the great cure for management
inefficiency... Management by Objectives works if you know the
objectives, 90% of the time you don't."

Core Concepts:
According to Drucker managers should "avoid the activity trap",
getting so involved in their day to day activities that they forget their
main purpose or objective. Instead of just a few top-managers, all
managers should:

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• Participate in the strategic planning process, in order to improve

the implement ability of the plan, and
• Implement a range of performance systems, designed to help
the organization stay on the right track.

Main Principle:
The principle behind MBO is to make sure that everybody within the
organization has a clear understanding of the aims, or objectives, of
that organization, as well as awareness of their own roles and
responsibilities in achieving those aims. The complete MBO system is
to get managers and empowered employees acting to implement and
achieve their plans, which automatically achieve those of the
organization.
• Cascading of organizational goals and objectives
• Specific objectives for each member
• Participative decision making
• Explicit time period
• Performance evaluation and feedback

Where to Use MBO:

The MBO style is appropriate for knowledge-based enterprises when
your staff is competent. It is appropriate in situations where you wish
to build employees' management and self-leadership skills and tap
their creativity, tacit knowledge and initiative. MBO is also used by
chief executives of multinational corporations (MNCs) for their country
managers abroad.

Setting Objectives (SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable,

Relevant, Timely):
In MBO systems, objectives are written down for each level of the
organization, and individuals are given specific aims and targets. "The
principle behind this is to ensure that people know what the
organization is trying to achieve, what their part of the organization
must do to meet those aims, and how, as individuals, they are
expected to help. This presupposes that organization's programs and
methods have been fully considered. If they have not, start by
constructing team objectives and ask team members to share in the
process.

"The one thing an MBO system should provide is focus", says Andy
Grove who ardently practiced MBO at Intel. So, have your objectives
precise and keep their number small. Most people disobey this rule, try

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to focus on everything, and end up with no focus at all. For MBO to be

effective, individual managers must understand the specific objectives
of their job and how those objectives fit in with the overall company
objectives set by the board of directors. "A manager's job should be
based on a task to be performed in order to attain the company's
objectives... the manager should be directed and controlled by the
objectives of performance rather than by his boss."1

The managers of the various units or sub-units, or sections of an

organization should know not only the objectives of their unit but
should also actively participate in setting these objectives and make
responsibility for them.

The review mechanism enables leaders to measure the performance of

their managers, especially in the key result areas: marketing;
innovation; human organization; financial resources; physical
resources; productivity; social responsibility; and profit requirements.

However, in recent years opinion has moved away from the idea of
placing managers into a formal, rigid system of objectives. Today,
when maximum flexibility is essential, achieving the objective rightly is
more important.

Balance between Management and Employee Empowerment

The balance between management and employee empowerment has
to be struck, not by thinkers, but by practicing managers. Turning their
aims into successful actions, forces managers to master five basic
operations:
• Setting objectives,
• Organizing the group,
• Motivating and communicating,
• Measuring performance, and
• Developing people, including you.

These MBO operations are all compatible with empowerment, if you

follow the main principle of decentralization: telling people what is to
be done, but letting them achieve it their own way. To make the
principle work well, people need to be able to develop personally.
Further, different people have different hierarchy of needs and, thus,
need to be managed differently if they are to perform well and achieve
their potential.

Empowerment recognizes "the demise" of the command-and-control

system, but remains a term of power and rank. A manager should view
members of his or her team much as a conductor regards the players

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in the orchestra, as individuals whose particular skills contribute to the

success of the enterprise. While people are still subordinates, the
superior is increasingly dependent on the subordinates for getting
results in their area of responsibility, where they have the requisite
knowledge. In turn, these subordinates depend on their superior for
direction and "above all, to define what the 'score' if for the entire
organization, that is, what are standards and values, performance and
results."

Managing for Results:

The only place where meaningful management results can be won is
the outside world. Managing for results is expansion of MBO into the
marketplace. It is the theory and practice of how to produce results on
the outside, in the market and economy.

To achieve these results, you should develop a solid, sound, customer-

focused, and entrepreneurial strategy, aimed at market leadership,
based on innovation, and tightly focused on decisive opportunities.

Individual Responsibility:
MBO creates a link between top management's strategic thinking and
the strategy's implementation lower down. Responsibility for objectives
is passed from the organization to its individual members. It is
especially important for knowledge-based organizations where all
members have to be able to control their own work by feeding back
from their results to their objectives.

Management by objectives is achieved through self-control, the tool of

effectiveness. Today the worker is a self-manager, whose decisions are
of decisive importance for results.

In such an organization, management has to ask each employee three

questions:
• What should we hold you accountable for?
• What information do you need?
• What information do you owe the rest of us?

MBO Strategy: Three Basic Parts:

• All individuals within an organization are assigned a special set of
objectives that they try to reach during a normal operating
period. These objectives are mutually set and agreed upon by
individuals and their managers.

• Performance reviews are conducted periodically to determine

how close individuals are to attaining their objectives.

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• Rewards are given to individuals on the basis of how close they

come to reaching their goals.

Six MBO Stages:

• Define corporate objectives at board level
• Analyze management tasks and devise formal job specifications,
which allocate responsibilities and decisions to individual
managers
• Set performance standards
• Agree and set specific objectives
• Align individual targets with corporate objectives
• Establish a management information system to monitor
achievements against objectives

MBO: Key Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages
• MBO programs continually emphasize what should be done in an
organization to achieve organizational goals.
• MBO process secures employee commitment to attaining
organizational goals.

Disadvantages
• The development of objectives can be time consuming, leaving
both managers and employees less time in which to do their
actual work.
• The elaborate written goals, careful communication of goals, and
detailed performance evaluation required in an MBO program
increase the volume of paperwork in an organization.

CRITICAL INCIDENT TECHNIQUE (CIT)

The Critical Incident Technique (or CIT) is a set of procedures used for
collecting direct observations of human behavior that have critical
significance and meet methodically defined criteria. These
observations are then kept track of as incidents, which are then used
to solve practical problems and develop broad psychological principles.

CIT is a job analysis method by which critical job tasks are identified for
job success. Critical job tasks are those important duties and job

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responsibilities performed by the jobholder that leads to success. CIT is

also used as a method of appraisal. A critical incident is an unusual
event that denotes superior or inferior performance in some part of the
job. A favorable critical incident is illustrated by the janitor who
observed that a file cabinet containing classified documents had been
left unlocked at the close of business. The janitor called the security
officer, who took necessary action to correct the problem. An
unfavorable incident is illustrated by the mail clerk who failed to
deliver an Express Mail package immediately, instead putting it in with
regular mail to be routed two hours later. One advantage of the CIT is
that it covers the entire appraisal period (and therefore may guard
against recency error). And because the behavioral incidents are
specific, they can facilitate feedback and development. However,
unless both favorable and unfavorable incidents are discussed,
employees who are appraised may have negative feelings about the
method. Some employees have been known to refer to it as “little
black book” approach. Perhaps its greatest contribution is in
developing job specifications and in constructing other types of
appraisal procedures.

CIT is a flexible method that usually relies on five major areas. The first
is determining and reviewing the incident, then fact-finding, which
involves collecting the details of the incident from the participants.
When all of the facts are collected, the next step is to identify the
issues. Afterwards a decision can be made on how to resolve the issues
based on various possible solutions. The final and most important
aspect is the evaluation, which will determine if the solution that was
selected will solve the root cause of the situation and will cause no
further problems.

History
The studies of Sir Francis Galton (circia 1930) laid the foundation for
the Critical Incident Technique. In its present form however, it can be
accredited to the studies in the Aviation Psychology Program of the
United States Army Air Forcess during World War II. From then it has
spread as a method to identify job requirements, develop
recommendations for effective practices, and determine competencies
for a vast number of professionals in various disciplines.

Principal Use
CIT can be used in a wide variety of areas. In general it is most useful
in the early stages of development of large scale tasks and activity
analysis within existing projects. This is mainly due to the method's
ability to quickly separate out major problem areas that reside in a
system.

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In healthcare CIT is used in situations where direct examination of

clinical staff and researchers can help them better understand their
roles and help them solve practical problems. CIT allows clinical staff to
better understand their role in the clinical setting. Another advantage
is that it helps them gain better knowledge about their interactions
with patients and other clinicians. It also helps clinical staff better
understand their practice from a variety of roles (e.g., physician, nurse,
clinical educator, nurse informatician, faculty member). In healthcare
research CIT can be a good resource in identifying the experiences of a
patient in the health care setting, exploring the dimensions of patient-
provider interactions and determining patient responses to illnesses
and treatments.

Advantages & Disadvantages

By identifying possible problems associated with major user-system or
product complications CIT recommendations try to make it so that the
same type of situations do not result in a similar loss. There are both
advantages and disadvantages to using this method.

Advantages
• Flexible method that can be used to improve multi-user systems.
• Identifies even rare events that might be missed by other
methods which only focus on common and everyday events.
• Useful when problems occur but the cause and severity are not
known.
• Inexpensive and provides rich information.
• Emphasizes the features that will make a system particularly
vulnerable and can bring major benefits (e.g. safety).
• Can be applied using questionnaires or interviews.

Disadvantages
• Situations where you cannot observe behavior due to hazards,
security, or privacy make it difficult to implement CIT.
• Since critical incidents often rely on memory, incidents may be
imprecise or may even go unreported.
• It will emphasize only rare events; more common events will be
missed.

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BEHAVIORALLY-ANCHORED RATING SCALE (BARS)

Behaviorally-Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) - a type of rating

assessment in which judgments about teacher performance are
empirically linked to specific examples of incumbent performance at
each level of effectiveness on the rating scale. See Behavior Summary
Scale, Rating, Scale (Rating). It describe different behaviors that can
be observed for a given work situation and anchors them at points on a
scale.

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) tool expands upon critical incidents. A
group of experts, ideally the people performing the job, identify critical incidents in their
performance. Afterwards these incidents are categorized into performance dimensions.
The experts then agree upon the most salient incidents, and use these to represent a
particular performance level. Similar to critical incidents, the evaluator must keep a
journal of incidents about each employee.

How to construct BARS?

• Collect Critical Incidents

• Identify Performance Dimensions
• Reclassification of Incidents
• Assigning Scale Value to the Incidents
• Producing the Final Instrument

Strengths
If employees are incorporated into this process, then they will deem this process fair, as
they have established the performance levels. In addition, the rating scale will generally
lead to accurate ratings across evaluators, as the definitions for appropriate behavior are
specific.

It is best to use this tool when…

• On the job behavior is more important than results of the job.

• The organization plans significant strategic changes in the near future.

Weakness

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One disadvantage of this approach is that it can bias the performance behaviors that the
evaluator reviews. In many cases, there is a tendency for the evaluator to focus on
behaviors that are represented on the scale. A second difficulty with this tool is that it can
be difficult to identify behavioral anchors for the middle portion of the scale, as it is
easier to define exceptional and deficient behaviors.

It is best to avoid this tool when…

• The organizational environment is in a constant state of flux (and thus the BARS
will constantly change).
• The organization has limited financial and human resources.

Constructing a BARS for a Teacher

The Critical Incidents or the key Performance Indicators for a teacher are
• Sound Knowledge of the subject
• Experience
• Qualification
• Communication
• Attitude and Commitment

The first four critical incidents are attitude based while attitude & commitment are
behavior based.

CRITICAL PERFORMANCE RATING POINTS

INCIDENTS DIMENSIONS
Sound knowledge of
the subject. Also has a
knowledge regarding
Good Performance 3
matters outside the
usual textual
Sound knowledge of curriculum.
the subject Has a fairly sound
Neither good nor poor
knowledge of the 2
performance
subject.
Sticks to the matters
given in the text book Poor performance 1
and not beyond that
Has more than ten
Good Performance 3
years of experience
Has 3-10 yrs of Neither good nor poor
Experience 2
experience performance
No experience/1-2 yrs
Poor performance 1
of experience
Qualification Highly qualified and a
topper from a top most Good Performance 3
institute
Highly qualified from a Neither good nor poor 2
good institute performance

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Only the needed

qualification for the Poor performance 1
job.
Has a good command
over the language and
Good Performance 3
is able to express what
he intends to say
Has a good language
Communication
but at times finds it Neither good nor poor
2
difficult to convey performance
certain matters
Has a communication
Poor performance 1
problem
Positive attitude and is
highly committed and
makes sure that he Good Performance 3
imparts this attitude to
Attitude &
his students
Commitment
Positive attitude but not Neither good nor poor
2
deeply committed performance
Negative attitude and is
Poor performance 1
not at all committed

Behavior Summary Scale (BSS) - a type of rating assessment in which

judgments about teacher performance are related to general or
abstract benchmarks representing various levels of performance.

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales : Similar to graphic rating scales,

but uses specific behaviors to anchor the scale. The development of
BARS requires extensive input from supervisors in order to determine
which behaviors are task relevant and assess some important aspect
of job performance. The care taken in developing the BARS helps to
reduce across supervisor variability.

Behavioral Observation Scales (BOS) : The BOS was developed by

Latham & Wexley (1977) who believed that both graphic rating scales
and BARS require supervisors to make vague judgments. It is a type of
rating assessment in which judgments about performance are related
to a series of statements describing specific examples of observable
behaviors. The BOS is a list of "critical" behaviors which the supervisor
has to rate in terms of frequency. Items indicate either desired or
undesireable aspects of work performance :

E.g.
Worker never needs her/his work to be doublechecked _______
Worker misses workdays ________

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