IAR Journal of Business Management Performance Appraisal

Available Online: https://iarconsortium.org/journal-info/IARJBM 42

IAR Journal of Business Management

ISSN Print: 2708-5139 | ISSN Online: 2708-5147 Frequency: Bi-Monthly Language: English Origin: Kenya Website: https://www.iarconsortium.org/journal-info/IARJBM

Performance Appraisal Systems in Public Sector Organisations – A

Case Study of Bsnl Itanagar

Abstract: Human Resources are the most important resource in today’s world for

all Organisations whether it is in the Public or Private Sector in nature. It is the key

to financial results as productivity of an Organisation is directly related to the

efficiency and output of its Human Resources. The key element to determine and

ensure the output of Human Resources is the Performance Management System of

an Organisation. One of the critical components that help to achieve the objectives

of performance management is a comprehensive performance appraisal system. It

has been observed that in many Public Sector Organizations the Performance

Appraisal Process is more or less routine in nature and not really contributing to

improve the productivity of individuals and the organisation. This study was done in

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) one of the largest Public Sector

organisations in India in the Itanagar Branch to understand its effectiveness and to

suggest measures how it could be made more effective.

Keywords: Public Sector Organisations, Performance.

INTRODUCTION A good performance appraisal system is not about only rewarding

employees but will actually help to enable performance by identifying

training and developmental needs as well as giving solutions for increasing

performance and productivity in that Organisation.

A performance appraisal is a systematic and periodic process that

assesses individual’s employee’s job performance and productivity in relation to certain pre-established criteria and

organizational objective. There are certain other aspects of individual employees that are considered as well such as

organizational citizenship behaviour, accomplishments, potential for future improvements, strengths, weaknesses etc.

Performance Management systems are employed “to manage and align” all of an organisations resources in order to

achieve highest possible performance and one of the ways of doing this is by improving the performance appraisal

system for everyone as it is a key element of the Performance Management system. A robust performance appraisal

system would contribute in the following areas:-

Improvement of performance in the individual level as well as the level of the organization.

Provides the base on which employment decisions like promotions, transfers, terminations etc. are taken.

Improves overall communication within the organisation.

Helps in identification of training and developmental needs of employees.

Establishes a clear linkage between performance and compensation.

Links performance to rewards on a fair and equated basis.

Informal discussions with Managers in Public Sector Organisations in India have indicated that one of the reasons

why the employees are not functioning effectively is because of an ineffective Performance Appraisal System in the

Organisation. Appraisals are done more for the sake of it rather than to link it to results.

In most organisations, when the topic of performance in organizations is discussed, generally the focus is only on the

performance of employees. However, Performance Appraisal is not done for merely appraising an employee but is much

more than that. It is about identifying what needs to be done to improve the performance of an employee and providing a

career for the employee from the time of joining an Organization till the time of separation. A good performance

appraisal system is one which should focus not only on employees performance but also on identifying areas and issues

which will help to build the organization, its departments, processes programmes, products or services to internal or

external customers, projects etc.

Article History

Received: 30.10.2021

Revision: 10.11.2021

Accepted: 20.11.2021

Published: 30. 11.2021

Author Details Dr Arindam Garg

Authors Affiliations Associate Professor, Department of

Management, Rajiv Gandhi University,

India

Corresponding Author* Dr Arindam Garg

Copyright @ 2021: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY-NC) provided the original author and source are credited.

DOI: 10.47310/iarjbm.2021.v02i06.006

Research Article

https://iarconsortium.org/journal-info/IARJBM

https://www.iarconsortium.org/journal-info/IARJBM

Arindam Garg; IAR J Bus Mng; Vol-2: Iss- 6 (Nov-Dec, 2021): 42-58


A good performance appraisal system will provide a

sound base to an Organisation to provide the right

environment for employees which will help to increase

the productivity of the individuals and the organisation.

An effective performance appraisal system is even more

important in the Public sector domain to ensure that

employees are performing in lines with expected

standards. The need of the hour in Public and Govt.

Sector Organisations in the India is to increase their

productivity as it will help boost the economy and

accelerate growth in this region.

LITERATURE REVIEW The process of performance appraisal is one of the

key components of an effective performance appraisal

process and a lot of research has been done on the

process of performance appraisal. Jacobs et al., (1980)

defines performance appraisal as the systematic

evaluation of the individual with respect to his or her

performance on the job and his or her potential for

development. Flippo (1984) establishes the linkage of

performance appraisal to the organisation and society,

“Performance appraisal is a structured system of

measuring and evaluating employee's job-related

behaviours and outcomes to discover how and why the

employee is presently performing on the job and how

the employee can perform more effectively in the future

so that the employee, organization, and society are

benefitted.”Performance Appraisal is the main tool on

the basis of which employee performance is linked to

organisational effectiveness. Performance Appraisal

System (PAS) is used as a measure for increasing the

effectiveness of organizations by improving the

performance of the employees and developing the

capabilities of teams and individual contributors (Baron

and Armstrong, 1998). Chouhan and Varma, 2014

defines performance appraisal as the process of

obtaining, analysing and recording information about

the relative worth of an employee.

The ability of organizations to install an effective

performance appraisal strategy helps them achieve

competitive advantage which is required most in the

current competitive era. Mc Gregor Douglas (1957)

says: “Formal performance appraisal plans are designed

to meet three needs, one of the organization and two of

the individual namely,

They provide systematic judgments to back up

salary increases, transfers, demotions or

terminations.

They are means of telling a subordinate how the

person is doing, and suggesting needed changes in

behaviour, attitude, skills or job knowledge. They

let him know where he stands.

They are used as a base for coaching and

counselling the individual by the superior.

According to Cummings (1972), the overall

objective of performance appraisal is to improve the

efficiency of an enterprise by attempting to mobilize the

best possible efforts from individuals employed in it.

Such appraisals achieve mainly four objectives viz. the

salary reviews, the development and training of

individuals, planning job rotation and assistance in

promotions.

There are very few studies that have been conducted

on performance appraisal process in Indian

Organisations and in some of these researches some

aspects of the research topic has been covered.

Mendonca and Kanungo (1990), pointed out the typical

aspects of the Indian way of management wherein

decision process was centralized, allowing less scope

for employees to be updated about different aspects of

management. Similar views about leadership and

supervisory styles of management across Indian

organizations have been detailed by Sinha (1990),

Virmani and Guptan (1991). These studies through

understanding of Indian work cultures and values

emphasize a different perspective towards management

of employees in India.

A detailed study to understand the Performance

Appraisal systems in India by way of a comparison in

around 116 firms in India, comprising public sectors,

private sector and MNC/JV firms was undertaken by

Amba Rao in 2000. The study revealed the impact of

culture and values on the functioning of Indian

managers and their perception towards the process of

performance appraisal. The study revealed that in public

sector organizations objectivity was missing in the

performance appraisal process and was more of a

formality given its rules and adherence to legislations.

Also the focus was more for developmental

perspectives rather than evaluation for assessing value

and worth of an individual. As such performance was

not getting linked to the productivity of the

organisation.

In the year 2009, Sadananda studied the

performance management system of the public sector

undertaking, NALCO (National Aluminium Company

Limited) through a book chapter. The study highlights

aspects of PMS which is based on Management by

Objectives, and is an annual exercise for both

executives and non-executives of the organization. The

survey depicts lacuna in communication of goals,

review of performance and use of key PA techniques

like Assessment Centres for objective analysis of

multiple evaluation parameters. Although NALCO

follows the mode of Coaching and mentoring for

employee development, the system has not been

implemented to great success.

India has traditionally been a country with high

power distance in working relationships, implying

reverence and high authority for the superiors.

Managers in India follow a paternalistic way of

management and hence find it difficult to adhere to the

process of stringent and objective Performance

Appraisal Systems. The general trend is to follow an

adhoc system of appraising performance which is more




subjective and relationship oriented than objective and

statistically measurable. There is a conflict in catering

to their professional role while maintaining balance

with their social role which results in the fact that there

is a superficial commitment to the process of

Performance appraisal and true value determination of

the subordinates (Rai, 2012). This is more pronounced

in the public sector organizations where it is seen that

Managers in Public Sector Units are doing it more as a

routine manner and there is a lot of subjectivity rather

than objectivity.

Thus some research work has been done connected

to the research topic which would be helpful for the

study but it is very limited and there is no research work

that has focused only on the public sector units of North

east India or those units which are primarily operating

out of North east India. The researcher comes with an

overall experience of 12 years plus in the Human

Resources Department of large corporate and hence

based on the findings of the study; recommendations

and suggestions will be made on how to make the

performance appraisal process operate more effectively

in Public Sector Organisations.

Performance Management

Organizations or company in the earlier period of

time, they mostly focused on the performance of the

sales, marketing and supply chains. But over the

courses of time, the management realizes that though

these fields are regularly evaluated but hardly effective

progress could be seen in the organisation in terms of

profits and expansion of the business entities. Lately the

management realized that there are gaps of skilled

employees and there is no such mechanism or lack of

management systems in the organizations. Because of

these attribute the organisation suffers from losses as

employees were lagging in performance.

Even today the majority of the company still employ

simple process for evaluating the performance of the

employees. Where manager individually questioned to

each employee to define the goals and simultaneously

documented or recorded. This type of approaches may

appear to serve the goals of company in terms of

performance management but at the end it is not

adequately sufficient. This approaches leads to

organizational gaps, including inconsistent process,

misinterpretation of information, reliance on tradition

hierarchy, lack of agility etc.

Therefore, it is very urgent needs of the organization

or company to adopt an integrated performance

management system which fills the need of emerging

requirement and organizational gaps and which ties the

strategy and company processes to HR processes. This

helps as an instrument for company in defining

company performance plan which compresses all the

elements together.

Concept & Definition of Performance Appraisal

The history of performance appraisal system dated

back its root in the twentieth century. But the formal

procedure or implementation of performance appraisal

took place during the time of Wold War II. It is an

ancient art. The performance appraisal is needed in an

organisation or a company because each and every

employees right from low level to top level category

have different and unique personality, social,

physiological and psychological traits. Performance

appraisal assesses the performance of the employees in

respect to his/her jobs role. Performance appraisal

brings out the employee’s performance gaps.

Performance appraisal’s a continuous process that helps

in measuring employee’s performance over the period

of times in terms of quantitative and qualitative.

Performance appraisal is an important managerial

tool of an organization or company to help in better

understanding of the performance criteria and to

enhance future individual performance. Performance

appraisal system provides the HR to take a rational

basis decisions such as rewards, career planning,

transfers, training, counselling, mentoring, termination

or promotion etc.

Definition of Performance Appraisal Different

Pioneer’s

Performance Appraisal may be defined as any

procedure that involves (i) setting work standards; (ii)

assessing the employee’s actual performance relative to

these standards; & (iii) providing feedback to the

employees with the aim of motivating that person to

eliminate performance deficiencies or to continue to

perform above par.

Performance assessment is the process that

measures employee performance. It involves deciding

(i) what to assess, (ii) who should make the

assessments, (iii) which assessment procedure to use, &

(iv) how to communicate assessment results.

An Overview of the Organisation - Bharat Sanchar

Nigam Limited

BSNL which is commonly known as Bharat Sanchar

Nigam Limited is a public sector company of

telecommunication operates all across India. Bharat

Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is a Govt. of India

Enterprises and Indian state owned

Telecommunications Company. BSNL has it’s

headquarter in New Delhi. BSNL was founded on 1st

October, 2000. Before its formation as a separate sector,

it was merged with Department of Telecom (DoT). The

branches of BSNL are there in every nook and corner of

India.

The genesis of the BSNL was originally founded by

British Government during its rule in India (19th

Century). In the beginning BSNL was part of erstwhile

Post and Telegraph department (P&T). In the year of

1975 the Department of Telecom (DoT) separated from




its P&T partner. Till 1985 DoT provided telecom

services in the entire country but after 1985 Mahanagar

Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was carved out of

DoT to run out the telecom services in Delhi and

Mumbai.

BSNL provides leading telecommunications

services in all across India. The services such as GSM

cellular mobile services under the brand name Cellone.

BSNL offers different value-added services such as

Free Phone Services (FPH), India Telephone Card

(Prepaid Card), Account Card Calling (ACC), Virtual

Private Network (VPN) etc.

The jurisdictions for providing telecommunication

services in India by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

(BSNL) are decided depending upon teledensity or

telephone density. BSNL has categorized the

jurisdiction as Circle. Circle is name given to the State

of the India where teledensity is huge.

The geographical areas of Northeast have less

population density. Population in Northeast are mostly

scattered or confined to some specific areas especially

Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram,

Tripura and Manipur. But the cases with Assam (Now

Asom) are different. In Assam Population density is

huge as compared to other North-eastern states.

Therefore, Assam is considered as circle by the BSNL.

The rest of states of North East i.e. Arunachal

Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and

Manipur are divided in two circle namely North East-I

& North East-II.

In North-East I telecom circle three states are

constituents i.e. Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. It’s

headquarter is in Shillong, capital of Meghalaya. While

in the North-East II telecom circles constituents of

states i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur.

It’s headquarter is in Dimapur, Nagaland.

Overview of BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar

Arunachal Pradesh

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) provides

telecom services in the state of Arunachal Pradesh as

well like in the other parts of India. Arunachal Pradesh

falls under the North East – II telecom circle. It’s

headquarter is in Dimapur, Nagaland. For operation and

vigilance the BSNL North East – II has its office in

Itanagar, Capital of Arunachal Pradesh which is known

as BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar.

BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar is also officially

known as General Manager Telecom Department

(GMTD) Itanagar. BSNL Sanchar Bhawan was

established in the year of 1979.

BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar has 78 employees

which consists of Group A, Group B, Group C & Group

D. BSNL Sanchar Bhawan has offices in each districts

which is known as SSA i.e. Secondary Switching Area.

SSA is responsible for operation in the each respective

district. All across Arunachal Pradesh Bharat Sanchar

Nigam Limited (BSNL) has employees of more than

300 hundreds of temporary and permanent employees

working.

Process of Performance Appraisal System

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Sanchar

Bhawan Itanagar has its own Performance Appraisal

System where evaluation of performance of an

employee is done on an annual basis through Annual

Performance Appraisal Report (APAP). The employees

are categorized as Group A, Group B, Group C and

Group D.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Itanagar

Arunachal Pradesh has simple Performance Appraisal

System. Basically, the entire appraisal system is

reviewed by two persons who are known as (a) Officer

Reported Upon and (b) Reviewing Officer.

The employees are given a chance to appraise their

performance in the form of report i.e. Annual

Performance Appraisal Report (APAR). The APAR

comprises of some set of questions that the employees

have to fill up and reply. Every employee has to fill the

report annually and based on that reports the

employee’s incentives or rewards will be decided. The

company will decide whether the employee is qualified

for promotion or requires training etc. The employee

has to submit the APAR to the Reporting Officer. Once

the report is submitted by the employees, these reports

are sent to Officer Reported Upon, the Officer Reported

Upon will evaluate whether the employees has filled

based on his/her performance or it is fake. After

completing all the evaluation by the Officer Reported

Upon the report is then sent to higher authority i.e.

Reviewing Officer.

Reviewing officer is generally the head of the office.

In the case of BSNL Itanagar, General Manager is the

Reviewing Officer. Before sending report to New Delhi

office, Reviewing Officer will evaluate the report.

The performance appraisal report are divided into

five parts i.e. Part-I, Part-II, Part-III, Part-IV and Part-

V. The first four parts have to be filled by the Reporting

Officer while the fifth part has to be filled by the

Reviewing officer.

Part-I is basically general information of the

employees such as name of the officer, date of birth,

date of continuous appointment to the present grade,

present post and date of appointment thereto and period

of absence from duty (on training leave etc.) during the

year.

Part-II section has to be filled by the Officer

Reported Upon, related to his/her jobs such as brief

description of duties, targets/objectives/goals (in

quantitative or others terms) and achievements,




shortfalls of the target/objectives/goals, higher

achievements and contribution thereto of employee etc.

Part-III section is details of the employee based on

his/her attitude or behaviours, work output, personal

attributes, functional competency.

Part-IV is that section of the report where the

Reporting Officer has to record regarding the relations

with public, work integrity, strength and weakness,

health conditions etc.

Format of appraisal certificate is attached with the

Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR). This is

signed by in-charge of APAR.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To study the problems faced by Public Sector Units

in their Performance Appraisal systems.

To ascertain whether the Manager and the

employee jointly set the goals that helps to enhance

the link between employee performance and

productivity of the Organisation.

To understand whether the performance appraisal

systems of public sector units are linked to

Rewards and Recognition of employees.

To suggest and recommend, on the basis of this

research, certain measures which would help to

make the performance appraisal process more

effective in Public Sector Organisations.

METHODS Methods of Data Collection

For the purpose of this study data collection method

was done both by collecting primary data and secondary

data.

For collection of primary data a Questionnaire was

prepared and circulated amongst the BSNL employees

of the Itanagar Branch. Secondary Data Collection was

done from company bulletins and the company website.

Sample Size

In the BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar Arunachal

Pradesh, there are about 78 employees working as a

temporary employees and permanent employees.

Employees have been categorized as Group A, Group

B, Group C, Group D employees. For effective results

or outcome of the research study, random sampling

techniques have been used. It means prepared

questionnaires related to the topic was framed and

distributed in the BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar. Out

of many questionnaires distributed only 30 employees

has responded to the questionnaire. Therefore, 30

employees who were randomly selected were

considered for sample size of the study.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Studying performance appraisal system of BSNL

Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar, questionnaires was

distributed among the employees of the organisation

office. The employees were selected randomly from

branches such as MSC, Administration Section,

Planning section, Hindi Section, Account Section of the

office organisation. Responses from thirty employees

were considered for data analysis. Based on the

response from these employees during survey, the

findings have been interpreted. The data is depicted in a

bar-graph, pie-charts and in percentage.

Gender

Table 1

Particulars No. of Respondents Percentage

Male 23 77%

Female 7 23%

Total 30 100%

Interpretation: According to the survey it is found

that large numbers of respondents are male in

comparison to the female counterpart. This may

indicate that majority of the male employees are there

in the organisation.

Age Group

Table 2

Age Group Nos. of Respondents Percentage

18-30 9 30%

31-40 10 33%

41-50 5 16.67%

51 Above 2 6.67%

No Response 4 13.3%

Total 30 100%

Interpretation: According to the survey, the

majority percentage of employees working in the BSNL

Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar are in the age group of 31-40

years and 18-30 years which may indicate that the




employees are mostly from younger generation. Hence,

the growth of the organisation could be positive if

management utilise the employees in the right direction

by providing right motivation on a timely basis.

Setting of Performance Goals/Key Result Areas for the Employees

Table 3

Category No. of Respondents Percentage

Senior Management 5 17%

Line Managers or Team Leaders 4 13%

HR Department 3 10%

Employee and Manager 18 60%

Total 30 100%

Interpretation: - From the data analysed in Table 3,

it is observed that mostly the performance goals/key

result areas are set jointly by the Manager and the

employee as 60% of the employees were of that view.

17% opined that the goals are set by senior

management, 13% gave their views as the Line

Managers or team Managers and 10% gave it as the HR

department. A pictorial representation of the data is

given in the form of a pie chart below (Fig 1).

Figure 1

Utilisation of Skills and Expertise of Employees

Table 4


Yes 19 63%

No 11 37%

Total 30 100%

Interpretation: - From the data analyzed in Table 4,

it is observed that 63% of the employee feels that their

skills and expertise are being properly utilized, whereas

37% of them are not satisfied with their skill utilization

capacity by the organization. A pictorial representation

of the data is given in the form of a bar graph below

(Fig 2)

Figure 2




Imparting of Training on Techniques of Appraisal to All Employees

Table 5


All employees 9 30%

Other managers/team leaders 8 27%

Heads of departments 0 0%

Appraiser 10 33%

HR team 3 10%

Total 30 100%

Interpretation: From the data analyzed in Table 5,

it is observed that 33% of the respondents have opined

that only the appraiser of the organization receives

training in the techniques of performance appraisal

whereas 30% and 27% of them observed that both the

employees and team leaders respectively receives

training as well. Also 10% are of the opinion that only

the HR team receives the training. A pictorial

representation of the data is given in the form of a pie

chart below (Fig 3).

Figure 3

Quality of Training Facilities Offered in the Organization for Improving Performance

Table 6


Good 7 23%

Average 15 50%

Satisfactory 7 23%

Poor 1 3%

Total 100 100%


it is observed that 50% of the respondents feel that the

training facilities offered in the organization for

performance improvement are of average level while

23% of them responded that the training facilities

offered are good. The other 23% of the respondents are

satisfied with the facilities and only 1% has said it is

very poor. A pictorial representation of the data is given

in the form of a bar graph below (Fig 4).

Figure 4




Reasons Why the Performance Appraisal System May Not be Working Effectively

Table 7


Lack of role clarity 12 40%

Interval of appraisal 2 7%

Lack of communication by superiors 10 33%

Others 6 20%

Total 30 100%


it is observed that 40% of the employees are of the

opinion that the main reason behind the ineffective

performance appraisal system of the organization is due

to the lack of role clarity whereas other 33% of them

feels it is due to the lack of communication by

superiors. The other 7% and 20% of the employees

opines the reason to be interval of appraisal and other

reasons respectively. A pictorial representation of the

data is given in the form of a bar graph below (Fig 5).

Figure 5

Stages of Performance Management during which there is a Communication between Employees and Managers

Table 8


Goal setting stage 8 27%

Ongoing throughout 12 40%

Mid-term review 3 10%

Annual review 7 23%

Total 30 100%


it is observed that a majority of 40% feels that there is a

continuous communication between the managers and

employees throughout the performance management

while 27% of the respondent feels it is at the goal

setting stage. A 10% and 23% of them feel that

communication only takes place at the mid-term review

and annual review respectively. A pictorial

representation of the data is given in the form of a bar

graph below (Fig 6).

Figure 6




Working Relationship in the Organization

Table 9


Strongly agree 0 0%

Agree 5 17%

Uncertain 7 23%

Disagree 17 57%

Strongly disagree 1 3%

Total 30 100%


it is observed that a majority of respondents disagree

that the working relationship in their organization are

good whereas a small 3% strongly disagrees. A 17% of

them agree with good working relationship environment

and other 23% are uncertain about it. A pictorial



Figure 7

Challenging Assignments in the Organization

Table 10


Strongly agree 1 3%

Agree 6 20%

Uncertain 6 20%

Disagree 15 50%


Total 30 100%


it is observed that a strong 50% disagrees that there is

any challenging assignments in the organization and 7%

of them strongly disagrees. Although 20% of the

respondents agrees with the provision of challenging

assignment and 3% strongly agrees. The remaining 20%

are uncertain. A pictorial representation of the data is

given in the form of a bar graph below (Fig 8).

Figure 8




Working Conditions in the Organization

Table 11


Strongly agree 0 0%

Agree 7 23%

Uncertain 13 43%

Disagree 8 27%


Total 30 100%


it is observed that regarding the working condition of

the organization a major 43% are uncertain whether it’s

up to the par whereas 23% agrees that there is a proper

working condition, although there are 27% of them who

disagrees with it and 7% who strongly disagree. The

remaining 20% are uncertain. A pictorial representation

of the data is given in the form of a bar graph below

(Fig 9).

Figure 9

Are Assessment Done by the Peers and Colleagues?

Table 12


Yes 16 53

No 14 47

Total 30 100


it is observed that there is divided opinion regarding

whether the assessment is done by the peers and

colleagues, where 53% respondents agrees with it and

other 47% opines otherwise. A pictorial representation

of the data is given in the form of a pie chart below (Fig

10).

Figure 10




Are Assessment Done by Subordinates?

Table 13


Yes 9 30%

No 21 70%

Total 30 100%


it is observed that a majority of 70% does not agree that

the assessment process also involves the subordinates

whereas the remaining 30% agrees with the

involvement of the subordinates in assessment

procedure. A pictorial representation of the data is

given in the form of a pie chart below (Fig 11).

Figure 11

Outstanding/Unsatisfactory Ratings

Table 14


Yes 5 17%

No 25 83%

Total 30 100%


it is observed that a majority of 83% has observed that

they have never got an outstanding or unsatisfactory

rating and 17% has got outstanding or unsatisfactory

rating. A pictorial representation of the data is given in

the form of a pie chart below (Fig 12).

Figure 12




Adequacy of the Present Method of Appraisal

Table 15


Yes 18 60%

No 12 40%

Total 30 100%


it is observed that 60% of the respondents agree with

the adequacy of the present performance appraisal

method adopted in the organization, whereas the other

40% are not satisfied with the present appraisal method.

A pictorial representation of the data is given in the

form of a bar graph below (Fig 13).

Figure 13

Trait for Which Employees Want to be Given Weightage

Table 16


Organizing/Managerial ability 13 43%

Knowledge of profession 8 27%

Personality and character 6 20%

Supervision of work 3 10%

Total 30 100%


it is observed that 43% of the respondents wants their

organizing and managerial ability to be given more

weightage during the appraisal, whereas 27% of them to

be given weightage in their knowledge of profession.

The other 20% and 10% of the respondents have

indicated that they would want weightage to be given

on personality/character and supervision of work

respectively. A pictorial representation of the data is

given in the form of a bar graph below (Fig 14).

Figure 14




Linkage of Promotions to Appraisal

Table 17


Yes 12 40%

No 18 60%

Total 30 100%

Interpretation: From the data analyzed in the Table

15, it is observed that 60% of the respondents agree that

provisions of the promotions are linked to the

performance appraisal, while 40% are of the opinion

that promotions are not linked to appraisals. A pictorial

representation of the data is given in the form of a bar

graph below (Fig 15).

Figure 15

Performance Appraisal System is a Matter of Ritual or Rewards

Table 18


As a matter of ritual 20 67%

As a matter of reward 10 33%

Total 30 100%


it is observed that the majority of respondents of about

67% view the performance appraisal system in their

organization only as a matter of ritual, while only 37%

of the respondents view it as a matter of reward. A

pictorial representation of the data is given in the form

of a bar graph below (Fig 16).

Figure 16




Treatment of Poor Performers

Table 19


Recommends trainings 14 47%

Coaching and counselling 9 30%

Relocation/job transfer 7 23%

Advocates dismissal/discharge 0 0%

Total 30 100%

Interpretation: From the data analyzed in the Table

19, it is observed that 47% of the respondents have

opined that the poor performers of the organization are

recommended for training and 30% has opined that they

are given coaching and counselling, whereas 23% has

said that they are relocated or transferred. It has also

been observed that poor performance does not lead to

the advocacy of dismissal or discharge. A pictorial



Figure 17

Linkage of Rewards/Incentives to the Performance Appraisal Process

Table 19


Strongly agree 5 17%

Agree 16 53%

No comments 4 13%

Disagree 4 13%


Total 30 100%


it has been observed that a majority of respondents i.e.

53% agree that the rewards and incentives are linked to

the performance appraisal process along with the 17%

respondents who strongly agrees with it. 13% of the

respondents had no comments, the remaining 13% and

3% disagrees and strongly disagrees that there is a link

between the rewards and performance appraisal. A

pictorial representation of the data is given in the form

of a bar graph below (Fig 18).

Figure 18

Major Findings




From this research study in the topic Performance

Appraisal System of BSNL Itanagar, the following few

points are the major findings: -

BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar Arunachal

Pradesh has human resources mostly of the

younger generation which is a good sign for the

future.

Employees would like to be given more weightage

in the trait, Knowledge of Profession when their

performance is being assessed.

Most of the employees agree that their skill and

experience have been properly utilised.

In terms of performance goals/key areas for the

employees, mostly Senior Management sets the

goals. In some cases Line Managers or team

leaders, HR department and employee and

managers also collectively set the goals.

Most of the employees do not undertake

performance planning with his/her

superior/manager during setting of the performance

goals.

Majority of the employees are of the opinion that

they would not want to be assessed by their

colleagues/peers or subordinates.

Employees at BSNL Sanchar Bhawan, Itanagar feel

that Annual Performance Appraisal Process is only

a matter of ritual.

According to the survey, it is found that factors

such as salary or income, working environment,

advancement or promotion, authority or power and

responsibility mostly affects the performance of the

employees in the organisation.

Employees were given to tick on certain factors

which affect performance according to them. It is

found that 41% per cent employees agreed that

they receive praise and recognition for work done.

Here 35% per cent employees are uncertain while

6% per cent employees disagree. Employees of

BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar totally agree that

in the organisation there have good working

relationships. On the factor of responsibility to take

proper decisions in employees work, 65% of the

employees agreed with the same. But 17.5% per

cent employees are uncertain and disagree

respectively. 47% per cent employees agreed with

the factor that they are having proper working

conditions in the organisation, 12% employees are

uncertain, while 35% per cent disagreed with the

factor. On the opinion of the factor having

challenging assignments in the organisation, 51%

per cent of the employees agreed but percentage of

employees with uncertain, disagree and strongly

disagree consists of 12%, 12% and 19% per cent

respectively.

Training facilities offered in the BSNL Sanchar

Bhawan Itanagar is found to be satisfactory to

improve the performance of an individual in the

company.

As per the survey, it is found that 47% per cent said

that they got outstanding/unsatisfactory rating in

the annual performance appraisal report while 43%

per cent employees said otherwise.

Majority of the employees find the present method

of performance appraisal adequate but there is a

small section of the employees who feel that

present method is not adequate at all.

Most of the employees said they get appreciation

for the work done from higher ups and the same is

reflected in their appraisal but some employees said

that their work performed has not been reflected in

the annual performance appraisal process.

In BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar there is high

relevance of human judgement rather than

competency based appraisal in the performance

appraisal system.

The lack of role clarity is the major causes for

failure of performance appraisal system in the

BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar. Also lack of

communication by superiors or communication

gaps are causes of the failure.

Data gathering stage, annual reviews and goal

setting stage are the stages of performance

management during which communication mostly

takes place between employees and managers. In

the midterm reviews communication takes place

hardly between employees and managers.

Employee self-appraisal finds to be beneficial to a

certain degree as per the opinion of the employees.

Recommendations & Suggestions Based on the findings from research study, the

following points are hereby recommended or suggested

for better and effective working of performance

appraisal system and thereby for effective

administration of the company.

BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar has employees

mostly of the younger generation which could be a

positive impact on the output of the

company.Therefore, management should utilise

these young employees by proper training in time

to time.

Lack of role clarity in the organisation leads to

failure of the Performance Appraisal process,

therefore management should clearly define the

role of the employees so as to avoid or reduce role

conflict among the employees.

The Annual Performance Appraisal system needs

certain modifications by analysing the current

performance or requirement of the employees.

Employees of the organisation mostly see appraisal

process as a matter of ritual. Management should

implement this process more effectively and

connect it to measure or evaluate the performance

of the employees. It should also be used as a tool to

define incentives rewards for the employees.

Employees would like to assess their performance

based on knowledge of profession therefore while

evaluating Annual Performance Appraisal

emphasis should be given to knowledge of the

profession and skills of the employees in that

regard.




In order to improve the evaluation process and also

for increasing performance of the employees,

performance goal planning should be initiated at

the beginning of the year.

Communication between management and

employees is an important factor for the growth of

the company. Therefore, communication in all

aspects should be initiated.

Present annual performance appraisal process

should be up-graded.

If possible more emphasis should be given to self-

appraisal.

CONCLUSION

Human resources in the organisation are most

essential elements to run smoothly of every

organisation. Without having required human resources,

even implementing latest technology in the company

won’t produce any result or output. This means

company will not generate profit without an effective

and efficient human resource system. In the business

sector it is fundamental for company to generate

minimum amount of profit to survive in the highly

competitive business world. This business world does

not exclude any public sector organisation or company.

So to successfully survive the company over a

period of time, it is necessary to examine or evaluate

available company human resources in the regular

interval of time. The most easily available and effective

tools for examining or evaluate human resources in the

company is Performance Appraisal System. Bharat

Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Sanchar Bhawan

Itanagar Arunachal Pradesh has its own performance

appraisal system for each group of employees. The

performance of the employees in the BSNL Itanagar is

evaluated on an annual basis. This is called Annual

Performance Appraisal Report (APAR).

BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar mostly has

younger generations of the human resources which is

good sign for the company. The company should

effectively mobilise or use these young human

resources so as to serve the public in the greater ways

and could help the state in the telecommunication

sector. If these young human resources are used in the

effective modus by setting targets, then it would not be

wrong to assume that BSNL could became main player

as telecom service provider in the state.

But also by thoroughly studying the performance

appraisal system of BSNL Sanchar Bhawan Itanagar as

part of summer internship, some interesting features of

the company performance appraisal system could be

able to find out. Though the appraisal system of the

BSNL Itanagar is working good but from the study it is

found that Annual Performance Appraisal system of the

BSNL Itanagar needs further serious upgradation. The

present system is out dated. If the present system is

modified in better ways then the company would be

able to assess or evaluate employees in more detail

ways, which will be huge profit for the company in

terms of achieving goals and earning good wills.

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Documents

IAR Journal of Business Management Performance Appraisal