Interview No.

____________________ Interviewed by (Student Name): ___________________

Title/Position: Chief Manager HR at Head Office

Function/Department: HR/Personnel Deptt

Age:45 yrs

Gender: Male

Highest Education Obtained: B.Tech. Comp. Sc. & Engg.

Tenure (Total, in Years): 20 Years

Tenure of this Organization:20 Years

Organization Size (No. of Employees): 8500+

Industry (of the Organization): General Insurance (PSU)

Managerial Experience: 10 years (01 Years in HR Deptt, HO)

Number of Direct Subordinates: 10

1) Are you happy with your organization’s performance management system/process? Give at least two
reasons for your response that are important in your mind.
Response: Yes, I am happy with my organization’s performance management system/process.
The First reason for my view is that my performance management process is multi layered. Every
employee’s performance is done by themselves followed by his/her supervising officer and then by his
Senior. Once this assessment process is done at all 03 layers, final performance review has to be agreed by
Employees themselves and in case of any review. This process enables the Employee participation also in
the performance management process.
Second reason is that the performance management processes are made specific to employee’s cadres and
jobs thereby leading to their more granular assessment through subjective or objective assessment methods.

2) Please describe a recent (last 2-3 years) change in your organization’s performance management
system/process.
Response: In recent years all General Insurance PSUs including my organization have undertaken the
process of Organizational restructuring and Role based Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for Performance
management of employees. The Implementation is in final leg of its implementation.
a) Why was it needed?
Response: The Legacy organizational structure was having multiple layers of office levels. Every office
unit at Lowest level was involved in Business procurement, Claims processing and also some supporting
functions. At each office unit employees were supposed to do the almost all the tasks to achieve the Goals
or targets given at office levels. Such targets were given to employees subjectively. Operation efficiency
was not upto the marks as the work redundance was very high. Performance management and assessment
of employees was subjective and only in upward direction.
After Organizational restructuring the Office levels are reduced from 04 tier to 03 Tier. Common functions
like claims processing, underwriting acceptance and other Support functions like Accounts, HR, IT etc are
centralized at Hubs centers and Business offices are made free for Business procurement and Customer
Servicing.
Employees Performance goals/Targets are linked with Organization Targets and have been assigned to
every employee based on their cadre and officer level. Their work performance is to system generated for
the given and defines KPIs.
b) How did it helped?
 Response: New Performance management system will help in Objective assessment of employees based on
the defined KPIs and Targets. The Achievement figures are system generated for maximum KPIs.
Employees are given KPI dashboard which gives them periodic assessment of their performance. These
grading or assessment from KPI Dashboard are linked with the employees APAR system.
All these initiatives implemented in Performance management system delivered near real time assessment
of employee performance enabling an immediate course correction, if at all required by the management.
The implementation will be live from next FY for assessment of employee performance.
3) Context plays a significant role in designing effective performance management system/processes. Identify
one aspect of either your organization’s culture /values or Indian Culture /values reflected in your
organization’s performance management system /process.
Response: Our Core values of organization is to focus on Best Customer Service. The customer services are
to be provided by the business office which in previous times was overburdened with all kinds of mundane
jobs which could have been easily handled at any centralized location by a group of employees with
specific specializations. The new performance management system in our organization increases the
operational efficiency by enabling the employees at the Business office to cater to Customers and provide
them with the Best of the Customer Services, and thereby strengthening our core value of organization.
4) Based on your experience, what are some practical challenges when implementing a continuous
performance management?
Response: Resistance to any new Idea of Change is inevitable. So it happened with us also. The movement
of excess staff from Business offices to the Centralized hubs and to align with the 03 Tier structure created
confusion in employees along with the introduction of KPI Dashboard for every employee for their near
Realtime performance assessment also added to fear to the employees who were comfortable with legacy
subjective assessment system. But with our managements persistence and guidance the new system is set to
go Live from next FY.
5) According to my professor, “when it comes to performance appraisal the reality is, it is all about ratings
and outcomes and less about developments”? Do you agree? As a Manager how do you redirect your
subordinate’s focus on development?
Response: I partially agree with the above given statements, as for any employee the Performance appraisal
is all about getting best rating and related positive outcomes. But best rating and outcome definitely add to
the personality development of employee, he/she comes out more confident in his approach to work and in
abilities. As, in our organization new performance management system provide for KPI Dashboards for
Employees and as a manager I have to make my Subordinates focus on the Targets and give their best
efforts for their achievements. In the process of achievement of targets, employees have to learn new
things, apply new ideas etc will only adds up to their experience and development.

6) What method do you use to provide feedback to employees outside the formal performance review
process? Do you feel these methods are effective?
Response: I employee regular interaction preferably one-on-one talks, on periodic intervals with my
employees keeps them engaged with their goals and also provide them with a direct communication
channel for my feedback on their performance and also give any new ideas or suggestion from their end,
for the achievement of the given task/targets. Yes, for me it works every time.
I usually interact directly with my subordinates on carrying out with their Tasks and also help in creation of
the processes for completion of such task and after some time/iterations, employees take up such future task
on their own with just a little bit of monitoring/guidance. This helps both ways, to achieve targets in time
bound manner and also development of employee confidence to take up such tasks and related variations,
with confidence.
7) How much input do Employees have in setting their own performance goals? Do you find it better than
goals are more top-down or bottom-up?
Response: For me it is a Collaborative approach. We discuss the goal, plan out for solution, define
processes, then employees take up the task for completion with my little monitoring and guidance. In our
organization, the business goals are Top-Down.
8) In your experience, what is the biggest challenge with managing poor performers? How do you handle
these situations?
Response: The biggest challenge I face with Poor performance (if on regular basis), is their denial to accept
their faults. We provide them with all support to come out of their limitations and perform better but if in
the end, we try to shift such employees to such areas where their poor/non-performance causes less
damages. But obviously such employees are not getting any rewards other than which are obligatory in
nature like Salary.
9) What role does peer feedback play in your performance management process, if any? Do you think
incorporating peer reviews would be beneficial?
Response: Our Organization officially do not have any mechanism to capture Peer Feedbacks for
employees. Peer feedback can help only when such feedback is honest.