ABSTRACT

The Performance Appraisal System (PAS) is a very significant HRD sub system
within all types of organizations. Performance appraisal includes performance review
vis-à-vis short term and long term goals / targets and sincere implementation of this
process itself plays a very crucial role in effective management of organizations,
particularly in today’s competitive world of work and business. Despite the very
importance of PAS, several organizations are however having a fresh look at the
whole process of employee appraisals, by focusing on the historical performance
appraisal methods and while taking the current environmental context into account,
attempt to periodically review and recast the appraisal systems in the context of
changing business needs and work models. And this becomes an overall learning and
development process for organizations and its people and also for the HRD
practitioners, thinkers, academicians and researchers.

It is also well understood that the Performance Appraisal System (PAS) is a very
important HRD sub system within any organization. It is not only an important tool
for review and appraisal of individual performances, but it helps a great deal in
identification and appraisal of future potential as well. If designed well and
implemented efficiently, the whole process of PAS, in fact, contributes greatly
towards overall development of employees within an organization, which in turn
contributes to the combined and continued growth and development of the
organization itself.

In real practice, however, at the individual employees’ level, terms like performance
appraisals, performance review and performance evaluation are not usually liked very
much, as employees would not prefer to hear and accept that they did not discharge
their duties and functions efficiently during the reporting period. Even immediate
supervisors, managers and executives responsible for appraisals, do not always like
these terms because they would also prefer to avoid engaging in any avoidable
unpleasant comments and arguments and thus lower the morale of employees
resulting from such review discussions.

In the overall and current management discussions / practices, it is rightly felt that to
achieve the objectives of employees’ development and organizational improvement,

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organizations should move to a larger and broader frame of performance management
and development system, making it compulsory to make a periodic review and bring
in needed changes from time to time, apart from ensuring total efficiency in the
implementation process of this system. Performance management is after all a joint
process where both the supervisors and the employees identify common goals, which
correlate to the higher goals of the organization. For all this purpose, there is a
justified need and scope for full research on the subject, particularly in the context of
Indian public sector banks where we see high level of technology adoption, rising
customer needs and expectations, a lot of business competition and change, both from
the employees’ and customers’ perspective. It is keeping in view, all these factors and
considerations that this researcher has attempted this research study on PAS in Indian
Public Sector Banks.

Key words: Performance, Appraisal, Employees, Banking, Organization, HRD,

Public Sector Banks