About the Course and Blog

Performance Appraisal, a major element of Performance Management Systems, are considered an integral part of HR work in today’s MNCs and large local enterprices in Pakistan. Are appraisal working as they are meant to ? here and elsewhere ? Or not ?
This is a question we will aim to address in this blog.

This blog is part of an MBA Elective Performance Appraisal (What’s wrong with it?) being taught at SZABIST Karachi by Mr. Wali Zahid – an international consultant, speaker, trainer and executive coach. He has spoken to audiences in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Western Europe, England and the United States.

Users are welcome to post their insights and comment on the messages posted here.

Below is the copy of the course Outline.

Course Objectives:

Performance Appraisals, a major element of Performance Management Systems, are considered an integral part of HR work in today’s MNCs and large local enterprises in Pakistan. Are appraisals working as they are meant to – here and elsewhere? Or not? This is a question we will aim to address in this MBA course. As the course title suggests, we are biased against the current practice of performance appraisal. But open to be corrected!

This course will have a deeper look at what performance appraisals are meant to do and what they do in reality. In this process, we will challenge and question every notion in the appraisal process in its ability or lack of it to make a meaningful contribution to the organisational and team performance and development. We won’t follow a particular book, rather, we will google. Perhaps, by the end of semester, we can create our own book (or at least a model!).

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, the student will be able to:
1 Understand what performance appraisal is meant to do and what it actually does
2 Become aware of the pros and cons of each element in the appraisal process in theory
3 See how appraisal process is managed in some of Karachi-based large enterprises
4 Attempt to develop an alternative to performance appraisal and test if this might work
5 Become skilled in conducting a better appraisal than their predecessor!

Learning Strategies: Lectures, role plays, movies, small group project, anecdotes, student presentations, guest lectures, peer assessment, reflective journal, debriefs, cases, google

Course Topics
1 Course expectations. Norms. Strategies for making this course successful. Task allocation.
2 Performance appraisal: What’s wrong with it?
3 Performance appraisal: What people feel about this? (focus groups, surveys, interviews)
4 Agreeing job objectives and standards at the outset – does this happen?
5 Appraisal time – Anybody ready? | The politics of appraisal
6 What may go wrong in the appraisal interview? The appraiser, the appraisee and the work
environment
7 The skills required for a constructive appraisal meeting – the lyric, the music and dance
8 The constructive criticism – how it can be given and how it may be received
9 The scary 360-degree feedback!
10 What’s wrong with Performance-Related Pay (PRP)?
11 Personal development plan and action plan arising out of appraisal
12 The role of line manager as coach and mentor
13 Developing Wali’s model of performance appraisal (if the world can afford another one!)
14 Testing Wali’s model of performance appraisal
15 Final group presentations
16 Exam & viva

Grading Policy (criteria explained below):

Marks Distribution Weightage
Hourly 1 15%
Hourly 2: Reviews: Film & Book + Blog 15%
Class presentation + Concern 10%
Final Project Appraisal 30%
Final Exam + Viva 30%

Criterion Expected Marks
Hourly 1 Concise answers. Clarity of understanding. 15
Book/Article Review Read. Grasped key messages. Wrote briefly. 5
Film Review Watched. Understood key message. Wrote briefly. 5
Reflections/Blog Incisive. Intelligent. Wrote in first person. 5
Class presentation Choice of topic. Usefulness of content. Presented well. 5
‘Project Appraisal’ Effort 5
Output – quality 10
Output – completeness 2
Creative approach 3
Presentation – interesting 2
Presentation – professional 5
Surprise for faculty/fellows 3 30
Final Exam Paper Concise answers. Clarity of understanding the concept. Analytical 20
Concern for fellows Did ‘something’ for the class. Contributions to the Project work. Attended. Concentrated. Participated. 5
Viva Understands what appraisal means for me. Sharp & quick. Thinks on feet. Tactful. 10
Total Ready. Team-oriented. Participative. Innovative. 100

Recommended e-Reading:

Google (for brave souls); Armstrong, Performance Management, CIPD (for chicken-hearted!)

Recommended movies: What’s yours…?

Have great fun!

This course outline is for your reference only. For any help you can contact wali.zahid@gmail.com or umerirfan@yahoo.com

You can also refer to http://readiness.wordpress.com for our last semester course Leadership Readiness blog.

Thanks and Have Fun

Performance Appraisal Team