How To Educate The Concepts Of JD And KRA To Line Managers

HI IM ELANCO,
WORKIN AS DY GEN MANAGER ,HR FOR A VERY REPUTED COMPANY IN PUNE.
WE ARE TRYING HARD TO MAKE PMS MORE EFFECTIVE SO THAT A PERFORMANCE CULTURE PREVAILS IN THE ORGANIATION.
WE FIND THAT BUT JD AND KRA ARE VERY ROUTINELY WRITTEN AND DOES NOT REFLECT THE ORGANIATIONAL REQUIREMENTS.
NOW THE TASK IS HOW TO EDUCATE THE PEOPLE ON THE SYSTEM?
ON INFORMAL INTERACTION WITH A CROSS SECTION OF STAFF RECEALS THAT THEY DUNT WAY FAITH IN THE SYSTEM. "I AM DOING MY JOB ,WHY AGAIN I SHOULD PUT IT ON THE PAPER".I DUNT KNOW WHY I HAVE NOT BEEN PROMOTED". SUCH KIND OF REACTIONS WE GET.
MY CEO SAYS ,AS HR MAN U SHOULD ENSURE THAT JDs AND KRAs are WRITTEN PROPERLY AND I SHOULD LOOK MORE MEANINGFUL.
SO I AM JUST TAXING MY BRAIN HOW TO HANDLE THIS ISSUE?
ANY SUGGESTIONS, SIMILAR EXP. PL SHARE,
WITH REGARDS,
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Hello Sir

I am unsure of my expertise in this area since my experience is definitely expected to be lesser than yours. :)

From the post, what i did derive was " there is a misalignment in the objectives of organization and individuals"

To make the organization succesful, the top down approach is seemingly appropriate from the point of view of defining objectives. The process could be

1. Define the organizational objectives (profit,amrket share tec)

2. Break the strategic objectives into measurable and operational units - this is the scorecard for the Business Unit or Functional Heads

3. Further cascade the unit/functional objectives to indvidual objectives

This exercise would result into a meaningful alignment of organizational and individual objectives and the employees feel the contribution as well.

Coming to the PMS aspect - am not sure the PA process followed in your organization. The most critical aspect of a PA would be defining KRAS and measurable indicators which are quantitative to the greatest extent possible

How is the KRAs defined ? Are they decided mutually between the role holder and his appraiser? Else is it a mere top down approach whereby the sheet of paper goes into the hands of the role holder? All illsuatrtion for a HR manager is given beolw:

Performance Criteria

ESS is conducted as an organization diagnosis step and results analyzed

Retention rate of min 80% to be achieved

Employee engagement to be increased to 30% more than the last year

Completion of 2 mandays of training for each employee

Compensation survey to be done to benchkark the compensation structure and relevance

HR cost to be maintained 5% less than the budget approved

Measure / Formula for the corresponding KRAs

before Feb 25, 2005

Attrition rate computation

Engagement Survey to get completed by feb 2005

employee/training matrix - calender

survey to be completed before feb2005

cost budget comparison

JDs and KRAs should necessarily reflect the relevance of the role and its relevance to the organization. The methodlogycould be

1. Senior management meeting discussing and deciding the objectives

2. cascading the objectives to the next levels

3. Goal setting session is carried out for the managers and the next immediate levels( how to set the goals based on the organization or unt level objectives)

4. role holder and appraiser sits together and jointly decide what is expected out of them including competencies

Unless the role holder to agrees to achieve the objective, we can't make them accountable, to which their engagment is very essential

This may more like an academic posting - but this proves to the basis on which you can build the blocks, according to me

tx rajesh for ur response.its true that the objectives should be well defined and individuals jd and kra must be in line with org obj. and in our company kras are discussed and decided by both ie job holder and reporting officer.
but its felt that the system is trasparent and does not result in a "visible" reward/award .and ofcourse no periodic communication takes place. concepts of jd or kra are not very clear ,people get confused between the two . these are some of the root causes for this sad state of affairs.
ok , tx once agn for your time and interest in replaying to my post. keep sharing.
with regards ,
elanco.

hi
Elanco, think the problem you face in your org is quite rampant. I believe that communication is the key in such situations. Although i have very less experience compared to yours, i think the problem arises when an employee speaks of appraisals only during March and there is no flow up for the rest of the year. Hence a bi-annual appraisl sys is better.
Also there needs to feedback on performance at more frequent intervals.
Also training top executives/ managers t understand the PA system is a must since the confusion begins from there and is passed along.
Thats a broad feedback. Hope it helps u in some manner though.
Regards
Shefali

Hi Elanco,
It appears to me that in order to educate and break down the resistance to this HR process your organization may indeed be looking at a change management model(process) to affect a change in attitude/behaviour. This is assuming your JD and KRA processes are solid.
See www.jemmconsultants.com
Director,
JeMM Consultants

Hi there,

Saw your mail & I am going through the same situation here but do not tax your brain too much . There is a simple way of doing this . Even I have faced the same comments from overworked disgruntled employees but not directly (I came to know of the same indirectly from a third person) Anyway that is secondary.

a. design a simple JD in a format that is easily understood by the respective employee.

b. After doing this sit with the respective department head & explain to him the importance of the exercise & its importance. Dont rush him but put a deadline that you need it on a particular date.

c.You might be faced with comments like "Oh this looks like the other Dept job format" but tell him immediately that if that is the case then he can make the necessary changes so that it will suit his dept. For example :I work for a shipping co. where there are numerous depts ranging from Shipping / Cargo / Liner / Finance / Insurance / Warehousing etc . I sorted out this when faced with the above problem.

d. Once you have set thhe ball rolling then as soon as the JD's start coming in (the same should come to you only after the respective dept head approves & signs the same)then you can put one copy in the personal file & the other copy you can make one file (but dept wise for a ready reckoner).

I am not very highly experienced as you are sir but pls do revert if you have found my suggestions worthwhile.

thank you.

Regards,

Sadashiv Rao :)