Unit 10

UNIT 10 POTENTIAL APPRAISAL, ASSESSMENT CENTRES AND CAREER AND SUCCESSION PLANNING

Potential Appraisal, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Planning

Objectives After going through this unit, you should be able to : l

explain the concept of potential appraisal and its importance;

l

understand what ‘assessment centre’ is and how it functions;

l

differentiate between assessment centres and development centres;

l

discuss the process of career planning and its importance; and

l

define ‘succession planning’ and differentiate it from career planning.

Structure 10.1

Introduction

10.2

Potential Appraisal

10.3

Assessment Centres

10.4

Career Planning

10.5

Succession Planning

10.6

Summary

10.7

Self Assessment Questions

10.8

Further Readings

10.1

INTRODUCTION

Employees aspire to grow and expect this growth to take place at frequent intervals. Achievement of organisational goal, increased productivity and fulfilment of corporate objectives can be possible only if the employees are feeling satisfaction and achievement. To achieve this there is a requirement for a well thought out system of career and succession planning in an organisation. In this backdrop, this unit deals with mechanisms of potential appraisals and ways and means employed by organizations such as assessment centres to provide growth opportunities to employees.

10.2 POTENTIAL APPRAISAL Many companies, which carry out performance appraisal, also keep records on the potential of their employees for future promotion opportunities. The task of identifying potential for promotion cannot be easy for the appraising manager, since competence of a member of staff to perform well in the current job is not an automatic indicator of potential for promotion. Very often the first class salesman is promoted to become a mediocre sales manager, the excellent chief engineer is promoted to become a very poor engineering director, and the star football player struggles to be a football manager. Potential can be defined as ‘a latent but unrealised ability’. There are many people who have the desire and potential to advance through the job they are in, wanting the

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Performance Management and Potential Assessment

opportunity to operate at a higher level of competence in the same type of work. The potential is the one that the appraiser should be able to identity and develop because of the knowledge of the job. This requires an in-depth study of the positions which may become vacant, looking carefully at the specific skills that the new position may demand and also taking into consideration the more subjective areas like ‘qualities’ required. These may be areas where the employee has not had a real opportunity to demonstrate the potential ability and there may be areas with which you, as the appraisers are not familiar. There are few indicators of potential (Box 1) which may be considered. Box 1: Indicators of Potential l

A sense of reality: This is the extent to which a person thinks and acts objectively, resisting purely emotional pressures but pursuing realistic projects with enthusiasm.

l

Imagination: The ability to let the mind range over a wide variety of possible causes of action, going beyond conventional approaches to situations and not being confined to ‘This is the way it is always being done!’

l

Power of analysis: The capacity to break down, reformulate or transform a complicated situation into manageable terms.

l

Breadth of vision: The ability to examine a problem in the context of a much broader framework of reference; being able to detect, within a specific situation, relationships with those aspects which could be affecting the situation.

l

Persuasiveness: The ability to sell ideas to other people and gain a continuing commitment, particularly when the individual is using personal influence rather than ‘management authority’.

Source: Adopted from Philip, Tom (1983). Making Performance Appraisal Work, McGraw Hill Ltd., U.K. Like the Performance Appraisal, potential appraisal is also done by the employees’ supervisor who has had the opportunity to observe the employee for some time. Potential appraisal may be done either regularly or as and when required. Generally last part of appraisal deals with potential appraisal, as this is seen in case of Maruti Udyog Ltd. (Illustration 1). Illustration 1. Potential Appraisal at Maruti Udyog Ltd. Part III of the Performance Appraisal form of Maruti Udyog Ltd. solicits information to assess the future potential and ability of its L8 and above categories of workers to assume a position of higher responsibility (L13) in the following format. 1)

Group effectiveness (Maintaining and improving morale of group and helping its identification with organisational objectives; optimal utilisation of available manpower resources; directing and co-ordinating efforts and effective follow up action to ensure accomplishment of planned objectives).

Outstanding 2)

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Very Good

Good

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

Ability to develop subordinates (Sensitivity to develop subordinate’s mental skills; ability to provide professional guidance to produce group results)

Outstanding

Very Good

Good

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

3) Potential Capability (Overall rating for managerial capability to head a department based on your assessment related to the above two points).

Outstanding

Very Good

Good

Satisfactory

Potential Appraisal, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Planning

Unsatisfactory

Source: Adapted from Tripathi, P.C. (2003). Human Resource Development, Sultan Chand & Sons, New Delhi. Career Path One of the important objectives of appraisal, particularly potential appraisal is to help employees to move upwards in the organization. People do not like to work on deadend jobs. Hence, a career ladder with clearly defined steps becomes an integral component of human resources management. Most HRM practitioners favour restructuring of a job to provide reasonably long and orderly career growth. Career path basically refers to opportunities for growth in the organization. Availability of such opportunities has tremendous motivational value. It also helps in designing salary structures, identifying training needs and developing second line in command. Career paths can be of two kinds: a)

b)

Those where designations changes to a higher level position, job remaining more or less the same. A good example of this is found in teaching institutions, where an assistant professor may grow to become associate professor and a professor, but the nature of job (teaching and research) remains the same. Career path in such situtions means a change in status, better salary and benefits and perhaps less load and better working conditions. Those where changes in position bring about changes in job along with increased salary, status and better benefits and working conditions. In many engineering organisations, an employee may grow in the same line with increased responsibilities or may move to other projects with different job demands.

10.3

ASSESSMENT CENTRES

Employees are not contended by just having a job. They want growth and individual development in the organization. An “assessment centre” is a multiple assessment of several individuals performed simultaneously by a group of trained evaluators using a variety of group and individual exercises. Assessment centers are a more elaborate set of performance simulation tests, specifically designed to evaluate a candidate’s managerial potential. Line executives, supervisors, and/or trained psychologists evaluate candidates as they go through one to several days of exercises that simulate real problems that they would confront on the job. Based on a list of descriptive dimensions that the actual job incumbent has to meet, activities might include interviews, in-basket problem-solving exercises, leaderless group discussions, and business decision games. For instance, a candidate might be required to play the role of a manager who must decide how to respond to ten memos in his/her in-basket within a two-hour period. Assessment centers have consistently demonstrated results that predict later job performance in managerial positions. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) began experiments with Assessment Centre approach in the 1950’s as a part of a wide programme of management development. The AT&T Company designated a particular building where the Assessments were carried out. This building became known as Assessment centre and the name has stuck as a way of referring to the method. The method became established in the industry in the USA during the 1960’s and 1970’s and was introduced in UK during this period.

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Performance Management and Potential Assessment

This method is now regarded as one of the most accurate and valid assessment procedures and is widely used for selection and development. According to IPMA (The International Personnel Management Association), an assessment center consists of a standardized evaluation of behavior based on multiple inputs. They are used to assess the strengths, weaknesses and potential of employees. The specific objective is to reinforce strengths, overcome weaknesses and exploit potential of the employees through training and developmental efforts. Several trained observers and techniques are used. Judgments about behavior are made, in major part, from specifically developed assessment simulations. These judgments are pooled in a meeting among the assessors or by a statistical integration process. In an integration discussion, comprehensive accounts of behavior, and often ratings of it, are pooled. The discussion results in evaluations of the performance of the assessees on the dimensions/ competencies or other variables that the assessment center is designed to measure. There is a difference between an assessment center and assessment center methodology. Various features of the assessment center methodology are used in procedures that do not meet all of the guidelines set forth here, such as when a psychologist or human resource professional, acting alone, uses a simulation as a part of the evaluation of an individual. Such personnel assessment procedures are not covered by these guidelines; each should be judged on its own merits. Procedures that do not conform to all the guidelines here should not be represented as assessment centers or imply that they are assessment centers by using the term “assessment center” as part of the title. The following are the essential elements for a process to be considered an assessment center: a) Job Analysis A job analysis of relevant behaviors must be conducted to determine the dimensions, competencies, attributes, and job performance indices important to job success in order to identify what should be evaluated by the assessment center. The type and extent of the job analysis depend on the purpose of assessment, the complexity of the job, the adequacy and appropriateness of prior information about the job, and the similarity of the new job to jobs that have been studied previously. If past job analyses and research are used to select dimensions and exercises for a new job, evidence of the comparability or generalizability of the jobs must be provided. If job does not currently exist, analyses can be done of actual or projected tasks or roles that will comprise the new job, position, job level, or job family. Target dimensions can also be identified from an analysis of the vision, values, strategies, or key objectives of the organization. Competency-modeling procedures may be used to determine the dimensions/competencies to be assessed by the assessment center, if such procedures are conducted with the same rigor as traditional job analysis methods. Rigor in this regard is defined as the involvement of subject matter experts who are knowledgeable about job requirements, the collection and quantitative evaluation of essential job elements, and the production of evidence of reliable results. Any job analysis or competency modeling must result in clearly specified categories of behavior that can be observed in assessment procedures. A “competency” may or may not be amenable to behavioral assessment as defined herein. A competency, as used in various contemporary sources, refers to an organizational strength, an organizational goal, a valued objective, a construct, or a grouping of related behaviors or attributes. A competency may be considered a behavioral dimension for the purposes of assessment in an assessment center if

36

i)

it can be defined precisely

ii)

expressed in terms of behaviors observable on the job or in a job family and in simulation exercises.

iii) a competency also must be shown to be related to success in the target job or position or job family. b) Behavioural Classification

Potential Appraisal, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Planning

Assessment centre requires that Behaviors displayed by participants must be classified into meaningful and relevant categories such as dimensions, attributes, characteristics, aptitudes, qualities, skills, abilities, competencies, and knowledge. c) Assessment Techniques The techniques used in the assessment center must be designed to provide information for evaluating the dimensions previously determined by the job analysis. Assessment center developers should establish a link from behaviors to competencies to exercises/ assessment techniques. This linkage should be documented in a competency-by exercise/ assessment technique matrix. d) Multiple Assessments Multiple assessment techniques must be used. These can include tests, interviews, questionnaires, sociometric devices, and simulations. The assessment techniques are developed or chosen to elicit a variety of behaviors and information relevant to the selected competencies/ dimensions. Self-assessment and 360 degree assessment data may be gathered as assessment information. The assessment techniques will be pretested to ensure that the techniques provide reliable, objective and relevant behavioral information. Pre-testing might entail trial administration with participants similar to assessment center candidates, thorough review by subject matter experts as to the accuracy and representativeness of behavioral sampling and/or evidence from the use of these techniques for similar jobs in similar organizations. e) Simulations The assessment techniques must include a sufficient number of job related simulations to allow opportunities to observe the candidate’s behavior related to each competency/ dimension being assessed. At least one—and usually several—job related simulations must be included in each assessment center. A simulation is an exercise or technique designed to elicit behaviors related to dimensions of performance on the job requiring the participants to respond behaviorally to situational stimuli. Examples of simulations include, but are not limited to, group exercises, in-basket exercises, interaction (interview) simulations, presentations, and fact-finding exercises. Stimuli may also be presented through video based or virtual simulations delivered via computer, video, the Internet, or an intranet. Assessment center designers also should be careful to design exercises that reliably elicit a large number of competency-related behaviors. In turn, this should provide assessors with sufficient opportunities to observe competency-related behavior. f) Assessors Multiple assessors must be used to observe and evaluate each assessee. When selecting a group of assessors, consider characteristics such as diversity of age, sex, organizational level, and functional work area. Computer technology may be used to assess in those situations in which it can be shown that a computer program evaluates behaviors at least as well as a human assessor. The ratio of assessees to assessors is a function of several variables, including the type of exercises used, the dimensions to be evaluated, the roles of the assessors, the type of integration carried out, the amount of assessor training, the experience of the assessors, and the purpose of the assessment center. A typical ratio of assessees to assessors is two to one. A participant’s current supervisor should not be involved in the assessment of a direct subordinate when the resulting data will be used for selection or promotional purposes.

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Performance Management and Potential Assessment

g) Assessor Training Assessors must receive thorough training and demonstrate performance that meets requirements prior to participating in an assessment center. The training should focus on processing of information, drawing conclusions, interview techniques and understanding behaviour. h) Recording Behaviour A systematic procedure must be used by assessors to record specific behavioral observations accurately at the time of observation. This procedure might include techniques such as handwritten notes, behavioral observation scales, or behavioral checklists. Audio and video recordings of behavior may be made and analyzed at a later date. i) Reports Assessors must prepare a report of the observations made during each exercise before the integration discussion. It is suggested that assessors must prepare the report immediately after the assessment is over otherwise they are likely to forget the details. Not only this, these reports must be independently made. j) Data Integration The integration of behaviors must be based on a pooling of information from assessors or through a statistical integration process validated in accordance with professionally accepted standards. During the integration discussion of each dimension, assessors should report information derived from the assessment techniques but should not report information irrelevant to the purpose of the assessment process. The integration of information may be accomplished by consensus or by some other method of arriving at a joint decision. Methods of combining assessors’ evaluations of information must be supported by the reliability of the assessors’ discussions. Computer technology may also be used to support the data integration process provided the conditions of this section are met.

Uses of Assessment Centres Data generated during the process of Assessment can become extremely useful in identifying employee potential for growth. This data can be used for: a) Recruitment and Promotion: Where particular positions which need to be filled exist, both internal and external can be assessed for suitability to those specific posts. b) Early Identification of Personnel: The underlying rationale here is the need for the organization to optimise talent as soon as possible. High potential people also need to be motivated so that they remain with the organization. c) Diagnosis of Training and Development Needs: It offers a chance to establish individual training and development needs while providing candidates with a greater appreciation of their needs. d) Organizational Planning: Assessment centers can be used to identify area where widespread skill deficiencies exist within organizations, so that training can be developed in these areas. Results can also be integrated with human resource planning data to provide additional information concerning number of people with particular skills needed to meet future needs. 38

Assessment Centres and Development Centres Traditionally an assessment centre consisted of a suite of exercises designed to assess a set of personal characteristics. It was seen as a rather formal process where the individuals being assessed had the results fed back to them in the context of a simple yes/no selection decision. However, recently we have seen a definite shift in thinking away from this traditional view of an assessment centre to one which stresses the developmental aspect of assessment. A consequence of this is that today it is very rare to come across an assessment centre which does not have at least some developmental aspect to it. Increasingly assessment centres are stressing a collaborative approach which involves the individual actively participating in the process rather than being a passive recipient of it. In some cases we can even find assessment centres that are so developmental in their approach that most of the assessment work done is carried out by the participants themselves and the major function of the centre is to provide the participants with feedback that is as much developmental as judgmental in nature.

Potential Appraisal, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Planning

Assessment centres typically involve the participants completing a range of exercises which simulate the activities carried out in the target job. Various combinations of these exercises and sometimes other assessment methods like psychometric testing and interviews are used to assess particular competencies in individuals. The theory behind this is that if one wishes to predict future job performance then the best way of doing this is to get the individual to carry out a set of tasks which accurately sample those required in the job. The particular competencies used will depend upon the target job but one should also learn such competencies such as relating to people; resistance to stress; planning and organising; motivation; adaptability and flexibility; problem solving; leadership; communication; decision making and initiative. The fact that a set of exercises is used demonstrates one crucial characteristic of an assessment centre, namely; that it is behaviour that is being observed and measured. This represents a significant departure from many traditional selection approaches which rely on the observer or selector attempting to infer personal characteristics from behaviour based upon subjective judgment and usually precious little evidence. This approach is rendered unfair and inaccurate by the subjective whims and biases of the selector and in many cases produces a selection decision based on a freewheeling social interaction after which a decision was made as whether the individual’s ‘face fit’ with the organisation.

Differences between Assessment and Development Centres The type of centre can vary between the traditional assessment centre used purely for selection to the more modern development centre which involves self-assessment and whose primary purpose is development. One might ask the question ‘Why group assessment and development centres together if they have different purposes?’ The answer to that question is threefold. a)

they both involve assessment and it is only the end use of the information obtained which is different i.e. one for selection and one for development.

b)

it is impossible to draw a line between assessment and development centres because all centres, be they for assessment or development naturally lie somewhere on a continuum somewhere between the two extremes.

c)

Most assessment centres involve at least some development and most development centres involve at least some assessment. This means that it is very rare to find a centre devoted to pure assessment or pure development. It is easier to think about assessment centres as being equally to do with selection and development because a degree of assessment goes on in both.

d)

Development Centres grew out of a liberalization of thinking about assessment centres. While assessment centres were once used purely for selection and have

39

Performance Management and Potential Assessment

evolved to have a more developmental flavour, the language used to describe them has not. Another problem with using the assessment - development dichotomy is that at the very least it causes us to infer that little or no assessment goes in development centres. While one hears centres being called assessment or development centres assessment goes on in both and to that extent they are both assessment centres. The end result of this is that it is not possible to talk about assessment or development centres in any but the most general terms. A number of differences between assessment and development centres exist are presented below: a)

Assessment centres have a pass/fail criteria while Development centres do not have a pass/fail criteria

b)

Assessment centres are geared towards filing a job vacancy while Development centres are geared towards developing the individual

c)

Assessment Centres address an immediate organisational need while Development Centres address a longer term need

d)

Assessment Centres have fewer assessors and more participants while Development Centres have a 1:1 ratio of assessor to participant

e)

Assessment Centres involve line managers as assessors while Development Centres do not have line managers as assessors

f)

Assessment Centres have less emphasis placed on self-assessment while Development Centres have a greater emphasis placed on self-assessment

g)

Assessment Centres focus on what the candidate can do now while Development Centres focus on potential

h)

Assessment Centres are geared to meet the needs of the organisation while Development Centres are geared to meet needs of the individual as well as the organization.

i)

Assessment Centres assign the role of judge to assessors while Development Centres assign the role of facilitator to assessors.

j)

Assessment Centres place emphasis on selection with little or no developmental while Development Centres place emphasis on developmental feedback and follow up with little or no selection function.

k)

Assessment Centres feedback and follow up while Development Centres give feedback immediately.

l)

Assessment Centres give feedback at a later date while Development Centres involve the individual having control over the information obtained.

m)

Assessment Centres have very little pre-centre briefing while Development Centres have a substantial pre-centre briefing.

n)

Assessment Centres tend to be used with external candidates while Development Centres tend to be used with internal candidates.

10.4 CAREER PLANNING Career is viewed as a sequence of position occupied by a person during the course of his lifetime. Career may also be viewed as amalgam of changes in value, attitude and motivation that occur, as a person grows older. The implicit assumption is that an invididual can make a different in his destiny over time and can adjust in ways that would help him to enhance and optimize the potential for his own career development. Career planning is important because it would help the individual to explore, choose and strive to derive satisfaction with one’s career object. 40

The process by which individuals plan their life’s work is referred to as career planning. Through career planning, a person evaluates his or her own abilities and interests, considers alternative career opportunities, establishes career goals, and plans practical developmental activities.

Potential Appraisal, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Planning

Career planning seeks to achieve the following objectives: a)

It attracts and retains the right persons in the organisation

b)

It maps out careers of employees suitable to their ability, and their willingness to be trained and developed for higher positions

c)

It ensures better use of human resources through more satisfied and productive employees

d)

It ensures more stable workforce by reducing labour turnover and absenteeism

e)

It utilizes the managerial talent available at all levels within the organisation

f)

It improves employee morale and motivation by matching skills to job requirements and by providing job opportunities for promotion

g)

It ensures that promising persons get experience that will equip them to reach responsibility for which they are capable

h)

It provides guidance and encouragement to employees to fulfill their potential

i)

It helps in achieving higher productivity and organizational development

The essence of a progressive career development programme is built on providing support for employees to continually add to their skills, abilities and knowledge. This support from organisation includes: a)

Clearly communicating the organisation’s goals and future strategies.

b)

Creating growth opportunities

c)

Offering financial assistance

d)

Providing the time for employees to learn.

On the part of employees, they should manage their own careers like entrepreneurs managing a small business. They should think of themselves as self-employed. They should freely participate in career planning activities and must try to get as much as possible out of the opportunities provided. The successful career will be built on maintaining flexibility and keeping skills and knowledge up to date. Career anchors Some recent evidence suggests that six different factors account for the way people select and prepare for a career. They are called career anchors because they become the basis for making career choices. They are particularly found to play a significant role amongst younger generation choosing professions. They are briefly presented below: a)

Managerial Competence: The career goal of managers is to develop qualities of interpersonal, analytical, and emotional competence. People using this anchor want to manage people.

b)

Functional Competence: The anchor for technicians is the continuous development of technical talent. These individuals do not seek managerial positions.

c)

Security: The anchor for security-conscious individuals is to stabilize their career situations. They often see themselves tied to a particular organization or geographical location.

d)

Creativity: Creative individuals are somewhat entrepreneurial in their attitude. They want to create or build something that is entirely their own.

41

Performance Management and Potential Assessment

e)

Autonomy and independence: The career anchor for independent people is a desire to be free from organizational constraints. They value autonomy and want to be their own boss and work at their own pace. This also includes an entrepreneurial spirit.

f)

Technological competence: There is a natural affinity for technology and a desire to work with technology whenever possible. These individuals often readily accept change and therefore are very adaptable.

Career Planning Process It is obvious from the foregoing analysis that individuals differ a great deal in term of their career orientation .The career orientation is influenced by the preference for a particular career anchor, the life cycle stage, individual difference in values, goals, priorities, and aspiration. Organization also on the other hand differ in term of career path and opportunities that they can provide given the reality of their internal and external environments .The career system available in organizational depend on their growth potential, goals and priorities. The difference between what the employees look for in their career progression and what career growth opportunities the organization is able to provide, gives rise to situation of potential conflict. If the conflict is allowed to persist, the employee will experience dissatisfaction and withdraw from being actively engaged in the productive pursuit .They might even choose the option of leaving the organization. In either case, the organization is not able to optimally utilize the potential contribution of its employee towards the achievement of its goal. The possibility of conflict between the individual-organization objective calls for career planning efforts which can help identify areas of conflict and initiate such action as necessary to resolve the conflict . Career planning thus involves matching of rewards and incentives offered by the career path and career structure with hope and aspiration of employees regarding their own concept of progression. A general approach to career planning would involve the following steps:

42

a)

Analysis of the characteristic of the reward and incentives offered by the prevailing career system needs to be done and made know to employee .Many individuals may not be aware of their own career progression path as such information may be confined to only select group of managers.

b)

Analyse the characteristic of the hopes and aspirations of different categories of employee including the identification of their career anchor must be done through the objective assignment. Most organization assume the career aspiration of individual employee which need not be in tune with the reality .The individual may not have a clear idea of their short and long term career and life goals , and may not be aware of the aspiration and career anchor .

c)

Mechanism for identifying congruence between individual career aspiration and organizational career system must develop so as to enable the organization to discuss cases of mismatch or incongruence. On the basis of analysis, it will be necessary to compare and identify specific area of match and mismatch for different categories of employee.

d)

Alternative strategies for dealing with mismatch will have to be formulated. Some of the strategies adopted by several organization include the following : l

change in the career system by creating new career path , new incentives, new rewards, by providing challenge through job redesign opportunities for lateral movement and the like.

l

change in the employees hopes and aspirations by creating new needs, new goals, new aspiration or by helping the employees to scale down goal and aspiration that are unrealistic or unattainable for one reason or the other.

e)

l

Seek new basis of integration, compromise or other form of mutual change on the part of employee and organizational through problem solving, negotiation or other devices.

l

A framework of career planning process aimed at integrating individual and organizational needs is presented.

Potential Appraisal, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Planning

Reviewing Career Plans a periodic review of career plans is necessary to know whether the plans are contributing to the effective utilization of human resources by matching employee objectives to job needs. Review will also indicate to employee in which direction the organizations is moving, what changes are likely to take place and what skills are needed to adapt to the changing needs of the organization.

10.5 SUCCESSION PLANNING Succession planning is an ongoing process that identifies necessary competencies, then works to assess, develop, and retain a talent pool of employees, in order to ensure a continuity of leadership for all critical positions. Succession planning is a specific strategy, which spells out the particular steps to be followed to achieve the mission, goals, and initiatives identified in workforce planning. It is a plan that managers can follow, implement, and customize to meet the needs of their organisation, division, and/or department. The continued existence of an organization over time require a succession of persons to fill key position .The purpose of succession planning is to identify and develop people to replace current incumbents in key position for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons are given below: l

Superannuation: Employees retiring because they reach a certain age.

l

Resignation: Employees leaving their current job to join a new job

l

Promotion: Employees moving upward in the hierarchy of the organization.

l

Diversification: Employees being redeployed to new activities.

l

Creation of New Position: Employees getting placed in new positions at the same level.

Succession can be from within or from outside the organization. Succession by people from within gives a shared feeling among employee that they can grow as the organization grows. Therefore organization needs to encourage the growth and development with its employee. They should look inward to identify potential and make effort to groom people to higher and varied responsibilities. In some professionally run large organizations, managers and supervisor in every department are usually asked to identify three or four best candidate to replace them in their jobs should the need arise. However, the organization may find it necessary to search for talent from outside in certain circumstance. For example, when qualified and competent people are not available internally, when it is planning to launch a major expansion or diversification programmes requiring new ideas etc.. Complete dependence on internal source may cause stagnation for the organization. Similarly complete dependence on outside talent may cause stagnation in the career prospects of the individual within the organization which may in turn generate a sense of frustration. Succession planning provides managers and supervisors a step-by-step methodology to utilize after workforce planning initiatives have identified the critical required job needs in their organization. Succession planning is pro-active and future focused, and enables managers and supervisors to assess, evaluate, and develop a talent pool of

43

Performance Management and Potential Assessment

individuals who are willing and able to fill positions when needed. It is a tool to meet the necessary staffing needs of an organization/department, taking not only quantity of available candidates into consideration, but also focusing on the quality of the candidates, through addressing competencies and skill gaps.

10.6 SUMMARY Continuous self and staff development are essential to continuous performance improvement. One’s own self-development needs to be related to your personal strengths and weaknesses and to the career aspirations. This requires planning of career progression and setting career goals. This can be achieved by identifying potentialities of employees with the help of potential appraisal and various methods involved in it viz. assessment centre.

10.7 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 1)

Explain the concept of ‘potential appraisal’ with illustrations.

2)

What is career planning? Discuss its needs, purpose and objectives.

3)

Is assessment centre same with development centre? If not, what are the differences?

4)

Write a comprehensive note on succession planning citing suitable examples.

10.8 FURTHER READINGS Aswathappa, K.: “Human Resource and Personnel Management”, (1999) Himalaya Publishing House, New Delhi. Davar, Rustom: “The Human Side of Management”, (1994) Progressive Corporation. Ghosh, P.: Personnel Administration in India, (1990). Gupta, C.B., “Human Resource Management” (1997), Sultan Chand & Sons, New Delhi. Jucius Micheal, J.: “Personnel Management”,(1995) Richard Irwin. Micheal, V.P.: “Human Resource Management and Human Relations” (1998), Himalaya Publishing house, New Delhi. Monappa, Arun and Saiyadain, Mirza S.: “Personnel Management” (1996), Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. Saiyadain, Mirza S.: “Human Resource Management”(3rd Ed.),2003, Tata McGrawHill, New Delhi. Tripathi, P.C.: “Human Resource Development”, 2003, Sultan Chand, New Delhi. Philip, Tom: “Making Performance Appraisal Work”, 1983, McGraw Hill, U.K.

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