MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT METHODS

CONSTRUCTION PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT
ON
MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT METHODS

INDEX
1. Compensation
a. Components of Compensation System

2. Wages and Salary

3. Employee Benefits
a. Types of Employee benefits
b. Types of Employer Provided Employee Benefits

4. Employee Appraisal and Assessment
a. Types of Employee Appraisal
b. Types of Assessment Methods

5. Employee Services

6. Safety and Health
a. Measures for Employee safety
b. Identifying Safety and Health Hazards

7. Discipline and Discharge
a. Types of procedures for Disciplining the Employees
b. Types of procedures for Terminating the Employees

8. Performance Appraisal
a. Improving Performance Appraisal
b. Methods of Collecting Data
c. Objectives and Goals of Performance Appraisal
d. Technique/Methods of Performance Appraisal
e. Advantages and Disadvantages of Performance Appraisal
9. Employee Hand Book and Personnel Manual
a. Need for Employee Hand Book

10. Job Descriptions, Organization Structure and Human Relation
a. Creating a Job Description
11. Productivity of Human resources
a. 22 Factors That Influence Individual/Team Performance
b. Enhancing Employee Productivity through HR Practices
1. COMPENSATION
DEFINITION
Compensation is the total amount of the monetary and non-monetary pay provided to an employee by an employer in return for work performed as required.
Compensation is based on: market research about the worth of similar jobs in the marketplace. employee contributions and accomplishments. the availability of employees with like skills in the marketplace. the desire of the employer to attract and retain a particular employee for the value. they are perceived to add to the employment relationship. the profitability of the company or the funds available in a non-profit or public sector setting, and thus, the ability of an employer to pay market-rate compensation. Compensation also includes payments such as bonuses, profit sharing, overtime pay, recognition rewards and checks, and sales commission. Compensation can also include non-monetary perks such as a company-paid car, stock options in certain instances, company-paid housing, and other non-monetary, but taxable, income items. Compensation is the remuneration received by an employee in return for his/her contribution to the organization. It is an organized practice that involves balancing the work-employee relation by providing monetary and non-monetary benefits to employees. Compensation is an integral part of human resource management which helps in motivating the employees and improving organizational effectiveness.

Components of Compensation System Compensation systems are designed keeping in minds the strategic goals and business objectives. Compensation system is designed on the basis of certain factors after analyzing the job work and responsibilities. Components of a compensation system are as follows:
• Job analysis
• Salary structures
• Pay structure

Fig: Components of Compensation system
2. WAGES AND SALARY

Wages is best associated with employee compensation based on the number of hours worked multiplied by an hourly rate of pay.
For example, an employee working in an assembly plant might work 40 hours during the work week. If the person’s hourly rate of pay is $15, the employee will receive a paycheck showing gross wages of $600 (40 x $15). If the employee had worked only 30 hours during that week, her or his paycheck will show gross wages of $450 (30 x $15). Because the paycheck needs to be computed based on the actual hours worked, the employee earning wages will likely receive her or his paycheck five days after the work period. Salary is best associated with employee compensation quoted on an annual basis.
For example, the manager of the assembly plan might earn a salary of $120,000 per year. If the salaried manager is paid semi-monthly (perhaps on the 15th and last day of each month), her or his paycheck will show gross salary of $5,000 for the half-month. Since the salary is the same amount for each pay period, the salaried employee’s paycheck will likely cover the work period through the date of the paycheck. Generally, the hourly-paid employees will earn wages at the rate of time and one-half for the hours in excess of 40 per week. The salaried employees in high pay positions are not likely to receive additional pay for the hours in excess of 40 per week. However, employees with low salaries are entitled to overtime pay.

3. EMPLOYEE BENEFITS Employee benefits and benefits in kind are various non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. In instances where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit is generally referred to as a 'salary packaging ' or 'salary exchange ' arrangement. In most countries, most kinds of employee benefits are taxable to at least some degree. Examples of these benefits include: housing (employer-provided or employer-paid), group insurance (health, dental, life etc.), disability income protection, retirement benefits, daycare, tuition reimbursement, sick leave, vacation (paid and non-paid), social security, profit sharing, funding of education, and other specialized benefits.
The purpose of employee benefits is to increase the economic security of staff members, and in doing so, improve worker retention across the organization.
Benefit Basics the law requires employers to provide employees with certain benefits. You must:
Give employees time off to vote, serve on a jury and perform military service.
Comply with all workers ' compensation requirements.
Withhold FICA taxes from employees ' paychecks and pay your own portion of FICA taxes, providing employees with retirement and disability benefits.
Pay state and federal unemployment taxes, thus providing benefits for unemployed workers.
Contribute to state short-term disability programs in states where such programs exist.
Comply with the Federal Family and Medical Leave (FMLA). Most full-time employees will expect one to two weeks paid vacation time per year. In explaining your vacation policy to employees, specify how far in advance requests for vacation time should be made, and whether in writing or verbally. There are no laws that require employers to provide funeral leave, but most do allow two to four days ' leave for deaths of close family members. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers to give workers up to 12 weeks off to attend to the birth or adoption of a baby, or the serious health condition of the employee or an immediate family member. After 12 weeks of unpaid leave, you must reinstate the employee in the same job or an equivalent one. The 12 weeks of leave does not have to be taken all at once; in some cases, employees can take it a day at a time.
Types of employee benefits: There are some types of employee benefits that are mandated by law, including minimum wage, overtime, leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, unemployment, and workers compensation and disability. There are other types of employee benefits that employers are not required to offer, but choose to provide to their employees. There are other types of employee benefits that are provided by the company as benefits for employees, however the employer is not required to offer them and the employee is not entitled to receive them. These types of employee benefits that are offered are at the discretion of the employer or are covered under a labor agreement, so they will vary from company to company.
Types of Employer Provided Employee Benefits
Hazard Pay
Health Care
Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave
Paid Holidays
Pay Raise
Severance Pay
Sick Leave
Termination
Vacation Leave
Work Breaks and Meal Breaks

4. EMPLOYEE APPRAISAL AND ASSESSMENT Employee appraisal systems help managers evaluate employee job performance and develop a fair system of pay increases and promotions. Appraisals in turn can help staff members improve performance, and assist companies in devising or reorganizing job functions to better fit the position or the employee. In addition, employee appraisals may reveal outdated or inefficient business practices. Effective employee appraisal systems incorporate goals to help improve the employer as well as the employee, through the application of appropriate and timely feedback and training.

TYPES OF EMPLOYEE APPRAISAL
Unstructured Method
Many older performance evaluations relied on the employee and personal qualities as reported by a supervisor. The unstructured method relies directly on the superior subjective opinion without an objective rating scale. The unstructured method is unreliable because it is contingent on personality chemistry, says the Community for Human Resource Management (CHRM).
Straight Ranking
The straight ranking method compares employees to each other, ranking them from best to worst. While it often easy to point out the top and bottom performers, those in the middle can prove harder to put in order. An example of straight ranking would be a customer service center that gave points for completed service tickets. Employers often post ranks anonymously by employee number. Although the ranking criteria are specific, they also are subjective due to the customer input where ticket completion would not always be in the employee s hands. This subjectivity, says CHRM, makes straight ranking unreliable as a tool for evaluating specific employees.
Paired Comparison
The paired comparison method compares each employee with every other employee in a group. According to CHRM, paired comparison is considered more reliable as it is based on a systematic method of comparison and evaluation. Paired comparisons work best in situations where only one employee will be promoted; each is compared and ranked against the others on various factors until one stands out.
Grading and Checklist
The grading method uses standard A to F letter grades in different categories to rate each employee, while the checklist method relies on a list of yes or no questions such as, Is the employee helpful to his peers, In each of these evaluation types, the specific standards are set in advance and defined as categories to evaluate.
Management By Objective
Modern evaluation methods try to remove some the subjectivity and bias inherent in traditional methods. MBO, or management by objective, appraisals require the employee and supervisor to agree on a set of objectives before the evaluation. The process relies on goal setting and constructive feedback to be successful.
Psychological Appraisals
Psychological appraisals assess the employees intellectual ability, emotional stability, analytical skills and other psychological traits using objective psychological evaluation processes. These evaluations are useful in preparing and developing training methods, and for placing employees on appropriate teams. ASSESSMENT: A job position is only as valuable to a company as the employee filling it. Job fit is an important consideration for any organization facing hiring decisions, but evaluating job fit has traditionally been a difficult and incomplete process.
The Right Stuff
Making good hiring decisions is all about having the best data. By utilizing these assessments, hiring managers can get a better sense of an applicant before they even meet for an interview. Assessments can be administered as part of the application process to serve as an early round of evaluation. This can help flag potential employees who may be a poor fit and identifies strong candidates based on criteria not typically gathered through a traditional application.
Various Assessment Methods
Multiple employee assessment methods are available to provide a comprehensive evaluation of a candidate, from cognitive and skills-based assessments to behavioral and interest-based evaluations. Applicants fill out these assessments on their own, and the software automatically scores and evaluates the assessments, providing an in-depth picture of every job candidate without adding any work on the shoulders of hiring staff. Once those assessments are completed, the system administrator can track and record assessment results, thereby determining the best job fit based on the criteria provided.
Hiring for Long-Term Success
In addition to broader assessments of job compatibility, applicants can be assessed in regard to their expertise in a specific industry, their proficiency working with certain software and even their leadership potential. For management-track positions, evaluating long-term potential to perform in higher-level positions is critical for succession planning.

A comprehensive and customizable suite of assessment tools are at your disposal, including:
Job skills tests covering a wide range of performance areas, from software skills to bookkeeping to customer service experience...the list goes on
Custom assessments built to assess an employee 's fit within a specific organization
360-degree evaluations comprising survey reviews by peers, managers, reports and self
Behavioral and cognitive assessments
Sales-specific assessments to gauge performance in a sales environment
Industry-specific assessments, such as those for healthcare and finance
Leadership and workplace team assessments, as well as management potential evaluation
Pre-screening to prevent theft and other work-related incidents
Job-matching assessments to evaluate compatibility in a specific role

5. EMPLOYEE SERVICES

Attention to the mental and physical well-being of employees is normal in many organizations as a means of keeping good staff and attracting others.
The forms this welfare can take are many and varied, from loans to the needy to counseling in respect of personal problems.
Among the activities regarded as normal are:
* Schemes for occupational sick pay, extended sick leave and access to the firm 's medical adviser
* Schemes for bereavement or other special leave;
* The rehabilitation of injured/unfit/ disabled employees and temporary or permanent move to lighter work;
* The maintenance of disablement statistics and registers (there are complicated legal requirements in respect of quotas of disabled workers and a need for 'certificates ' where quota are not fulfilled and recruitment must take place);
* Provision of financial and other support for sports, social, hobbies, activities of many kinds which are work related;
* Provision of canteens and other catering facilities;
* Possibly assistance with financial and other aid to employees in difficulty (supervision, maybe, of an employee managed benevolent fund or scheme);
* Provision of information handbooks,
* Running of pre-retirement courses and similar fringe activities;
* Care for the welfare aspects of health and safety legislation and provision of first-aid training.

The location of the health and safety function within the organization varies. Commonly a split of responsibilities exists under which 'production ' or 'engineering ' management cares for the provision of safe systems of work and safe places and machines etc., but HRM is responsible for administration, training and education in awareness and understanding of the law, and for the alerting of all levels to new requirements.
HealthPoint
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Occupational Health Program
Work/Life Balance Program
Lactation/Quiet Rooms—Read about rooms available for nursing mothers or for those who require a place to rest due to medical reasons involving a non-contagious condition.
Work/Life Balance Services— Your one-stop resource for Work/Life Balance services.
Conflict Management and Dispute Resolution Services
Overview—Resources to resolve your workplace issues.
Grievance Procedure and Dispute Resolution Process—The university provides a fair and efficient process for you to present and resolve complaints and grievance.
Conflict Management Services—The Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management Office provides services to both employees and supervisors to resolve workplace complaints.
Problem Solving Information and Tips—Learn more about conflict and communication stylesand tips on how to address conflict productively.
Strategic Workforce Solutions
Consultation Services—Learn about services designed to help you handle difficult work situations and answer questions about university policies.
How to Have a Difficult Conversation with your Supervisor—Learn how to initiate and conduct a successful conversation with your supervisor on a variety of difficult matters.
Employee Records Services
Employee records and documents
Transfer of Prior State Service and Credit and Leave Balances
Other Campus Services and Resources
The university offers a wide variety of services to faculty and staff.
Child Development Center
Employee Discount Program
ID Cards
Parking and Transportation Services
Shuttle Buses
Staff Educational Benefit
6. SAFETY AND HEALTH The main legislation providing for the health and safety of people in the workplace is the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. This Act consolidates and updates the provisions of the Safety, Health and Welfare Act 1989. It applies to all employers, employees (including fixed-term and temporary employees) and self-employed people in their workplaces. The Act sets out the rights and obligations of both employers and employees and provides for substantial fines and penalties for breaches of the health and safety legislation. (General Application) Regulations 2007: Almost all of the specific health and safety laws which apply generally to all employments are contained in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 which came into effect on 1 November 2007. These Regulations replaced the 1993 General Application Regulations and other secondary legislation in the area of health and safety at work. Fig: Workplace safety standard Boarding
Employer’s duties
Under Section 8 of the Act the employer has a duty to ensure the employees’ safety, health and welfare at work as far as is reasonably practicable. In order to prevent workplace injuries and ill health the employer is required, among other things, to:
Provide and maintain a safe workplace which uses safe plant and equipment
Prevent risks from use of any article or substance and from exposure to physical agents, noise and vibration
Prevent any improper conduct or behaviour likely to put the safety, health and welfare of employees at risk
Provide instruction and training to employees on health and safety
Provide protective clothing and equipment to employees
Appointing a competent person as the organisation’s Safety Officer
To take reasonable care to protect the health and safety of themselves and of other people in the workplace
Not to engage in improper behaviour that will endanger themselves or others
Not to be under the influence of drink or drugs in the workplace
To undergo any reasonable medical or other assessment if requested to do so by the employer
To report any defects in the place of work or equipment which might be a danger to health and safety
Risk assessment and safety statement Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 every employer is required to carry out a risk assessment for the workplace which should identify any hazards present in the workplace, assess the risks arising from such hazards and identify the steps to be taken to deal with any risks. The employer must also prepare a safety statement which is based on the risk assessment. The statement should also contain the details of people in the workforce who are responsible for safety issues. Employees should be given access to this statement and employers should review it on a regular basis. The Health and Safety Authority has published guidelines on risk assessments and safety statements (pdf).
Protective equipment and measures The employer should tell employees about any risks that require the wearing of protective equipment. The employer should provide protective equipment (such as protective clothing, headgear, footwear, eyewear, gloves) together with training on how to use it, where necessary. An employee is under a duty to take reasonable care for his/her own safety and to use any protective equipment supplied. The protective equipment should be provided free of charge to employees if it is intended for use at the workplace only. Usually, employees should be provided with their own personal equipment. There is a range of measures that employers must take in regard to visual display units (VDUs). These include examining the reflection and glare, the operator 's position in front of the VDU, the keyboard and the software used. Operators must be given adequate breaks from the VDU. In addition, employers must arrange for eye tests and, if required, make a contribution towards the purchase of prescription eyeglasses. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has published a list of frequently asked questions about display screen equipment(VDUs).
Reporting accidents All accidents in the workplace should be reported to the employer, who should record the details of the incident. Reporting the accident will help to safeguard social welfare and other rights which may arise as a result of an occupational accident. An employer is obliged to report any accident that results in an employee missing 3 consecutive days at work (not including the day of the accident) to the Health and Safety Authority.

Fig: Responsible Care Functional Areas for Employees Safety
Health and safety leave An employer should carry out separate risk assessments in relation to pregnant employees. If there are particular risks to an employee 's pregnancy, these should be either removed or the employee moved away from them. Under Section 18 of the Maternity Protection Act 1994 if neither of these options is possible, the employee should be given health and safety leave from work, which may continue up the beginning of maternity leave. If a doctor certifies that night work would be unsuitable for a pregnant employee, the employee must be given alternative work or health and safety leave. Following an employee 's return to work after maternity leave, if there is any risk to the employee because she has recently given birth or is breastfeeding, it should be removed. If this is not possible, the employee should be moved to alternative work. If it is not possible for the employee to be assigned alternative work, she should be given health and safety leave. If night work is certified by a doctor as being unsuitable after the birth, alternative work should be provided. If alternative work cannot be provided, the employee should be given health and safety leave.

Time spent on health and safety leave is treated as though the employee has been in employment, and this time can be used to accumulate annual leave entitlement. The employee is not entitled to leave for any public holidays that occur during health and safety leave. During health and safety leave, employers must pay employees their normal wages for the first 21 days (3 weeks), after which Health and Safety Benefit may be paid.
Health and safety and young people An employer should carry out a separate risk assessment in relation to an employee under 18 years of age. This risk assessment should be carried out before the young person is employed. If certain risks are present, including risks that cannot be recognised or avoided by the young person due to factors like lack of experience, the young person should not be employed.
Violence in the workplace The possibility of violence towards employees should be addressed in the safety statement. For example, factors like the isolation of employees and the presence of cash on the premises need to be taken into account. Proper safeguards should be put into place to eliminate the risk of violence as far as possible and the employee should be provided with appropriate means of minimising the remaining risk, for example, security glass.
Bullying
One of the employer’s duties is to prevent improper conduct or behaviour (which includes bullying). An employer should have established procedures for dealing with complaints of bullying in the workplace and deal with such complaints immediately. Ignoring complaints of bullying could leave an employer open to a possible claim for damages by an employee. It is advisable for an employer to have an established grievance procedure to deal with complaints of bullying. An employee who feels that he or she is the victim of bullying can also refer the matter to a Rights Commissioner – see ‘How to apply ' below. The Code of Practice for Employers and Employees on the Prevention and Resolution of Bullying at Work (pdf) sets out guidance notes for addressing bullying in the workplace.
Harassment
The Employment Equality Acts 1998-2011 place an obligation on all employers in Ireland to prevent harassment in the workplace. Under this law, you are entitled to bring a claim to the Equality Tribunal and your employer may be obliged to pay you compensation if you are harassed by reason of your gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, age, disability, race, religious belief or membership of the Traveller community.
Victimisation
Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 the employee may not be victimised for exercising his or her rights under safety and health legislation such as making a complaint. This means that the employer may not penalise an employee by dismissal or in some other way, for example, by disciplinary action or by being treated less favourably than other employees – see ‘Enforcing your rights’ below.
Health and Safety Authority The Health and Safety Authority – see ‘Where to apply’ below is responsible for enforcing health and safety at work in Ireland. It provides information to employers, employees and self-employed people on workplace health and safety. Its publications include a Short Guide to the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (pdf) and a set of Simple Safety leaflets which are aimed at small retail or food businesses in particular. The Simple Safety leaflets are available in other languages.
Identifying safety and health hazards
Hazards, risks, outcomes
The terminology used in OSH varies between countries, but generally speaking:
A hazard is something that can cause harm if not controlled.
The outcome is the harm that results from an uncontrolled hazard.
A risk is a combination of the probability that a particular outcome will occur and the severity of the harm involved.
“Hazard”, “risk”, and “outcome” are used in other fields to describe e.g. environmental damage, or damage to equipment. However, in the context of OSH, “harm” generally describes the direct or indirect degradation, temporary or permanent, of the physical, mental, or social well-being of workers. For example, repetitively carrying out manual handling of heavy objects is a hazard. The outcome could be a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) or an acute back or joint injury. The risk can be expressed numerically (e.g. a 0.5 or 50/50 chance of the outcome occurring during a year), in relative terms (e.g. "high/medium/low"), or with a multi-dimensional classification scheme (e.g. situation-specific risks).
Hazard assessment
Hazard analysis or hazard assessment is a process in which individual hazards of the workplace are identified, assessed and controlled/eliminated as close to source (location of the hazard) as reasonable and possible. As technology, resources, social expectation or regulatory requirements change, hazard analysis focuses controls more closely toward the source of the hazard. Thus hazard control is a dynamic program of prevention. Hazard-based programs also have the advantage of not assigning or implying there are "acceptable risks" in the workplace. A hazard-based program may not be able to eliminate all risks, but neither does it accept "satisfactory" – but still risky – outcomes. And as those who calculate and manage the risk are usually managers while those exposed to the risks are a different group, workers, a hazard-based approach can by-pass conflict inherent in a risk-based approach.
Risk assessment Modern occupational safety and health legislation usually demands that a risk assessment be carried out prior to making an intervention. It should be kept in mind that risk management requires risk to be managed to a level which is as low as is reasonably practical.
This assessment should:
Identify the hazards
Identify all affected by the hazard and how
Evaluate the risk
Identify and prioritize appropriate control measures
The calculation of risk is based on the likelihood or probability of the harm being realized and the severity of the consequences. This can be expressed mathematically as a quantitative assessment (by assigning low, medium and high likelihood and severity with integers and multiplying them to obtain a risk factor), or qualitatively as a description of the circumstances by which the harm could arise.
The assessment should be recorded and reviewed periodically and whenever there is a significant change to work practices. The assessment should include practical recommendations to control the risk. Once recommended controls are implemented, the risk should be re-calculated to determine of it has been lowered to an acceptable level. Generally speaking, newly introduced controls should lower risk by one level, i.e., from high to medium or from medium to low.

7. DISCIPLINE AND DISCHARGE

DISCIPLINE

Do not avoid the unpleasant. Disciplining an employee is one of the most difficult tasks a supervisor must perform, next to terminating an employee. A "wait and see" or "things will get better" approach normally only adds to the problems. Co-employees will resent that another employee is getting away with something, thereby creating a morale problem. By counseling or disciplining an employee as soon as a problem arises, the employer is able to dictate the course of proceedings for existing and subsequent problem employees. By confronting the employee, things may improve immediately. Even if the problems do not improve, the employer has created the necessary "paper defense" in the event the employee is ultimately discharged.

Employees must be aware of the rule or policy for which they are being disciplined. If the employer uses a written policy or handbook to inform employees of work rules, the employee should sign an acknowledgment that he/she received the policy or handbook. The acknowledgment form rebuts any claim that the employee lacked knowledge of the work rule for which disciplinary action was taken.

To ensure consistency and minimize disparate treatment claims, a designated member of management or a Human Resource representative should review all serious disciplinary action. At the very least, prior to taking any action, a supervisor should consult another supervisor to obtain a neutral, unbiased, second opinion. A second opinion may preempt a decision made in the "heat of the moment" or it may confirm that the proposed action is appropriate under the circumstances.

A. Progressive Discipline

Employers have adopted many types of procedures for disciplining employees. One of the more popular methods is the "progressive discipline" model. Progressive discipline is designed to improve employee performance while allowing the employer to document its efforts should discharge be necessary. Progressive discipline provides for a series of steps designed to remedy problems. If the problem is not remedied at the first stage, the next step is implemented until either the problem is resolved or the employee is discharged.

The stages of progressive discipline generally include:
Verbal counseling
Written counseling
Second written counseling
Suspension/Decision-day
Termination Progressive discipline is designed to resolve minor employment problems before they become major ones. Progressive discipline is not appropriate for serious infractions such as illegal or unethical conduct. Such conduct warrants immediate termination provided that in the past the employer terminated employees under similar circumstances.

Progressive discipline requires a lot of documentation. It must be administered consistently. Progressive discipline also requires supervisor training on how and when to administer the various stages. A representative of the employer must monitor the program to ensure that it is being applied uniformly among the departments.

The progressive discipline model has been criticized because some employers feel that it is too structured and eliminates the employer 's flexibility in employment decisions.
Failure to follow the sometimes rigid progressive discipline program has also resulted in liability for employers in disparate treatment cases. Employers with a progressive discipline program must monitor it closely and commit to following the various stages. If a progressive discipline is followed through all the stages, however, the employer has a much better defense when the employee brings a lawsuit challenging the discharge.

B. Suggesstion for Informing Employee of Disciplinary Action

Whether the employer has adopted a progressive disciplinary program or a less structured way of disciplining employees, the following suggestions should assist in the process:
Tell the employee the exact reason for which the employee is being disciplined
Give concrete examples of unacceptable conduct
Give constructive criticism
Set specific goals and expectations for improvement
Tell the employee what will happen if conduct or performance does not improve
Set definite time period for performance or conduct to improve
Follow-up to make sure expectations have been met in a timely manner

DISCHARGE

Discharge decisions are also extremely difficult. After discharge, an employee is normally left with no source of income. Because of the emotions involved in a discharge decision, supervisors tend to let down their guard during the termination meeting. The current job market has prompted many disgruntled former employees to sue their former employers more often than in the past. For this reason, any mistakes in the discharge process subjects the employer to potential exposure for wrongful termination. Therefore, employers must be extremely cautious when making and implementing discharge decisions.

Discharge decisions are generally made for three main reasons:
Illegal or unethical conduct
Performance issues or unacceptable conduct
Reduction in force or job elimination
Discussed below are some of the different factors which should be reviewed for each of these three reasons

Some common recommendations apply, however, for all three types of discharge:
Always require that at least two management employees are present when informing an employee of the decision to discharge
Avoid arguing with the employee and avoid unnecessary discussion. An employee may need to vent some anger. Let him vent; do not get defensive. Tell the employee that a final decision has been made
Be warned that the employee may be tape recording the meeting or subsequent phone conversations
Explain the reason for the discharge decision. Be honest. Never give the employee a false reason for the decision
Make sure the employee understands what the decision means
Inform the employee of the effective date of termination
Tell the employee of any salary continuation or other benefits, including job counseling or assistance with placement, if applicable
Only disclose information about termination decisions on a need-to-know basis. To do otherwise subjects the employer to potential liability for defamation
Consult with Human Resources, upper level management, or another supervisor prior to making discharge decisions
Pay all unpaid wages, accrued vacation, severance, and other benefits in a timely manner. If possible, pay these items at the time of termination

A. Termination for Illegal/Unethical Conduct

Employers need to thoroughly investigate allegations of illegal or unethical conduct prior to making a discharge decision. The investigation should reveal sufficient reliable evidence to conclude that the employee committed the infraction. If a written policy or handbook governs the conduct, it should be followed. The results of the investigation should be compared to prior similar conduct and similar action should be taken. The employers findings should be sufficiently documented in anticipation of a potential law suit.

Under certain circumstances, it may take an employer a short period of time to fully investigate. Employers may suspend the employee pending the investigation. If the investigation reveals sufficient evidence, then the employee should be told that the suspension has been changed to a termination decision. If the investigation does not reveal sufficient evidence, then the employee may be reinstated. Sometimes the investigation will reveal an infraction which is insufficient for termination but still warrants disciplinary action.

B. Performance Issues/Unacceptable Conduct

When discharging an employee based on performance issues or unacceptable conduct, always:
Review policy or handbook
Compare infraction to prior instances involving similar infractions
Review existing documentation in employee 's personnel file. Make sure it is accurate and updated
Consult Human Resources, upper level management, or another supervisor for an objective, impartial second opinion
Determine whether disciplinary policy has been followed

C. Reduction in the Force or Job Elimination When an employer discharges an employee based on job elimination or a reduction in force, whether the employee elects to take an early retirement package or not, the employer should set specific factors for selection. The factors need to be disclosed to the employee. The factors also need to be applied uniformly and consistently. Prior to making any decision, however, the employer should review what impact the decision will have on employees over forty.

If an employer pays severance to a discharged employee, the employer should insist on a release of all claims from the employee. If the employee is over forty, the release needs to contain specific language and must meet additional requirement in order for it to be legally enforceable.

8. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

A performance appraisal (PA), is a method by which the job performance of an employee is evaluated. Performance appraisals are a part of career development and consist of regular reviews of employee performance within organizations. A performance appraisal is a systematic and periodic process that assesses an individual employee’s job performance and productivity in relation to certain pre-established criteria and organizational objectives. Other aspects of individual employees are considered as well, such as organizational citizenship behavior, accomplishments, potential for future improvement, strengths and weaknesses, etc. To collect PA data, there are three main methods: objective production, personnel, and judgmental evaluation. Judgmental evaluations are the most commonly used with a large variety of evaluation methods. Historically, PA has been conducted annually (long-cycle appraisals), however many companies are moving towards shorter cycles (every six months, every quarter), and some have been moving into short-cycle (weekly, bi-weekly) PA . The interview could function as “providing feedback to employees, counseling and developing employees, and conveying and discussing compensation, job status, or disciplinary decisions”. PA is often included in performance management systems. PA helps the subordinate answer two key questions; first, "What are your expectations of me?" second, "How am I doing to meet your expectations?" Performance management systems are employed “to manage and align" all of an organization 's resources in order to achieve highest possible performance. “How performance is managed in an organization determines to a large extent the success or failure of the organization. Therefore, improving PA for everyone should be among the highest priorities of contemporary” organizations. Some applications of PA are compensation, performance improvement, promotions, termination, test validation, and more. While there are many potential benefits of PA, there are also some potential drawbacks. For example, PA can help facilitate management-employee communication; however, PA may result in legal issues if not executed appropriately as many employees tend to be unsatisfied with the PA process. PAs created in and determined as useful in the United States are not necessarily able to be transferable cross-culturally.
Improving Performance Appraisals
Although performance appraisals can be so easily biased, there are certain steps that can be taken to improve the evaluations and reduce the margin of errors through the following:
Training - Creating an awareness and acceptance in the people conducting the appraisals that within a group of workers, they will find a wide range in difference of skills and abilities.
Providing Feedback to Raters - Trained raters provide managers who evaluated their subordinates with feedback, including information on ratings from other managers. This reduces leniency errors.
Subordinate Participation - By allowing employee participation in the evaluation process, there is employee-supervisor reciprocity in the discussion for any discrepancies between self ratings and supervisor ratings, thus, increasing job satisfaction and motivation.
Methods of collecting data
There are three main methods used to collect performance appraisal (PA) data: objective production, personnel, and judgmental evaluation. Judgmental evaluations are the most commonly used with a large variety of evaluation methods.
Objective production The objective production method consists of direct, but limited, measures such as sales figures, production numbers, the electronic performance monitoring of data entry workers, etc. The measures used to appraise performance would depend on the job and its duties. Although these measures deal with unambiguous criteria, they are usually incomplete because of criterion contamination and criterion deficiency. Criterion contamination refers to the part of the actual criteria that is unrelated to the conceptual criteria. In other words, the variability in performance can be due to factors outside of the employee’s control. Criterion deficiency refers to the part of the conceptual criteria that is not measured by the actual criteria. In other words, the quantity of production does not necessarily indicate the quality of the products. Both types of criterion inadequacies result in reduced validity of the measure. Regardless of the fact that objective production data is not a complete reflection upon job performance, such data is relevant to job performance.
Personnel
The personnel method is the recording of withdrawal behaviors (i.e. absenteeism, accidents). Most organizations consider unexcused absences to be indicators of poor job performance, even with all other factors being equal, however, this is subject to criterion deficiency. The quantity of an employee’s absences does not reflect how dedicated he/she may be to the job and its duties. Especially for blue-collar jobs, accidents can often be a useful indicator of poor job performance, but this is also subject to criterion contamination because situational factors also contribute to accidents. Once again, both types of criterion inadequacies result in reduced validity of the measure. Although excessive absenteeism and/or accidents often indicate poor job performance rather than good performance, such personnel data is not a comprehensive reflection of an employee’s performance.
Judgmental evaluation Judgmental evaluation appears to be a collection of methods, and as such, could be considered a methodology. A common approach to obtaining PAs is by means of raters. Because the raters are human, some error will always be present in the data. The most common types of error are leniency errors, central tendency errors, and errors resulting from the halo effect. Halo effect is characterized by the tendency to rate a person who is exceptionally strong in one area higher than deserved in other areas. It is the opposite of the Horns effect, where a person is rated as lower than deserved in other areas due to an extreme deficiency in a single discipline. These errors arise predominantly from social cognition and the theory in that how we judge and evaluate other individuals in various contexts is associated with how we “acquire, process, and categorize information”. An essential piece of this method is rater training. Rater training is the “process of educating raters to make more accurate assessments of performance, typically achieved by reducing the frequency of halo, leniency, and central-tendency errors”. Rater training also helps the raters “develop a common frame of reference for evaluation” of individual performance. Many researchers and survey respondents support the ambition of effectual rater training. However, it is noted that such training is expensive, time consuming, and only truly functional for behavioral assessments. Another piece to keep in mind is the effects of rater motivation on judgmental evaluations. It is not uncommon for rating inflation to occur due to rater motivation (i.e. “organizationally induced pressures that compel raters to evaluate ratees positively”). Typically, raters are motivated to give higher ratings because of the lack of organizational sanction concerning accurate/inaccurate appraisals, the rater 's desire to guarantee promotions, salary increases, etc., the rater 's inclination to avoid negative reactions from subordinates, and the observation that higher ratings of the ratees reflect favorably upon the rater.
The main methods used in judgmental performance appraisal are:
Graphic Rating Scale: graphic rating scales (see scale (social sciences)) are the most commonly used system in PA. On several different factors, subordinates are judged on 'how much ' of that factor or trait they possess. Typically, the raters use a 5- or 7-point scale; however, there are as many as 20-point scales.
Employee-Comparison Methods: rather than subordinates being judged against pre-established criteria, they are compared with one another. This method eliminates central tendency and leniency errors but still allows for halo effect errors to occur. The rank-order method has raters ranking subordinates from “best” to “worst”, but how truly good or bad one is on a performance dimension would be unknown. The paired-comparison method requires the rater to select the two "best" subordinates out of a group on each dimension then rank individuals according to the number of times each subordinate was selected as one of the "best". The forced-distribution method is good for large groups of ratees. The raters evaluate each subordinate on one or more dimensions and then place (or ”force-fit”, if you will) each subordinate in a 5 to 7 category normal distribution. The method of top-grading can be applied to the forced distribution method. This method identifies the 10% lowest performing subordinates, as according to the forced distribution, and dismisses them leaving the 90% higher performing subordinates.
Behavioral Checklists and Scales: behaviors are more definite than traits. The critical incidents method (or critical incident technique) concerns “specific behaviors indicative of good or bad job performance”. Supervisors record behaviors of what they judge to be job performance relevant, and they keep a running tally of good and bad behaviors. A discussion on performance may then follow. The behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) combine the critical incidents method with rating scale methods by rating performance on a scale but with the scale points being anchored by behavioral incidents. Note that BARS are job specific. In the behavioral observation scale(BOS) approach to performance appraisal, employees are also evaluated in the terms of critical incidents. In that respect, it is similar to BARS. However, the BOS appraisal rate subordinates on the frequency of the critical incidents as they are observed to occur over a given period. The ratings are assigned on a five-point scale. The behavioral incidents for the rating scale are developed in the same way as for BARS through identification by supervisors or other subject matter experts. Similarly, BOS techniques meet equal employment opportunity because they are related to actual behavior required for successful job performance.
Peer and Self Assessments
While assessment can be performed along reporting relationships (usually top-down), net assessment can include peer and self-assessment. Peer assessment is when assessment is performed by colleagues along both horizontal (similar function) and vertical (different function) relationship. Self-assessments are when individuals evaluate themselves.
Peer Assessments: members of a group evaluate and appraise the performance of their fellow group members. There are three common methods of peer assessments. Peer nomination involves each group member nominating who he/she believes to be the “best” on a certain dimension of performance. Peer ratings has each group member rate each other on a set of performance dimensions. Peer ranking requires each group member rank all fellow members from “best” to “worst” on one or more dimensions of performance.
Self-Assessments: for self-assessments, individuals assess and evaluate their own behavior and job performance. It is common for a graphic rating scale to be used for self-assessments. Positive leniency tends to be a problem with self-assessments.
360-Degree Feedback: 360-degree feedback is multiple evaluations of employees which often include assessments from superior(s), peers, and one’s self. In general, optimal PA process involves a combination of multiple assessment modalities. One common recommendation is that assessment flows from self-assessment, to peer-assessment, to management assessment - in that order. Starting with self-assessment facilitates avoidance of conflict. Peer feedback ensures peer accountability, which may yield better results than accountability to management. Management assessment comes last for need of recognition by authority and avoidance of conflict in case of disagreements. It is generally recommended that PA is done in shorter cycles to avoid high-stakes discussions, as is usually the case in long-cycle appraisals
Performance Appraisals and Job Analysis Relationship
Job Analysis
Performance Standards
Performance Appraisals
Describe the work and personnel requirement of a particular job.
Translate job requirements into levels of acceptable or unacceptable performance
Describe the job relevant strengths and weaknesses of each individual.
Objectives and Goals of Performance Appraisals
Use of Performance Appraisals
1. Promotions
2. Confirmations
3. Training and Development
4. Compensation reviews
5. Competency building
6. Improve communication
7. Evaluation of HR Programs
8. Feedback & Grievances
4 Goals of Performance Appraisals
General Goals
Specific Goals
Developmental Use
Individual needs
Performance feedback
Transfers and Placements
Strengths and Development needs
Administrative Decisions / Uses
Salary
Promotion
Retention / Termination
Recognition
Lay offs
Poor Performers identification
Organizational Maintenance
HR Planning
Training Needs
Organizational Goal achievements
Goal Identification
HR Systems Evaluation
Reinforcement of organizational needs
Documentation
Validation Research
For HR Decisions
Legal Requirements
Performance Appraisal Process
1. Objectives definition of appraisal
2. Job expectations establishment
3. Design an appraisal program
4. Appraise the performance
5. Performance Interviews
6. Use data for appropriate purposes
7. Identify opportunities variables
8. Using social processes, physical processes, human and computer assistance

Difference between Traditional and Modern (Systems) approach to Appraisals
Categories
Traditional Appraisals
Modern, Systems Appraisals
Guiding Values
Individualistic, Control oriented, Documentary
Systematic, Developmental, Problem solving
Leadership Styles
Directional, Evaluative
Facilitative, Coaching
Frequency
Occasional
Frequent
Formalities
High
Low
Rewards
Individualistic
Grouped, Organizational

TECHNIQUES / METHODS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS
Numerous methods have been devised to measure the quantity and quality of performance appraisals. Each of the methods is effective for some purposes for some organizations only. None should be dismissed or accepted as appropriate except as they relate to the particular needs of the organization or an employee.
Broadly all methods of appraisals can be divided into two different categories.
Past Oriented Methods
Future Oriented Methods
Past Oriented Methods
1. Rating Scales: Rating scales consists of several numerical scales representing job related performance criterions such as dependability, initiative, output, attendance, attitude etc. Each scales ranges from excellent to poor. The total numerical scores are computed and final conclusions are derived. Advantages – Adaptability, easy to use, low cost, every type of job can be evaluated, large number of employees covered, no formal training required. Disadvantages – Rater’s biases
2. Checklist: Under this method, checklist of statements of traits of employee in the form of Yes or No based questions is prepared. Here the rater only does the reporting or checking and HR department does the actual evaluation. Advantages – economy, ease of administration, limited training required, standardization. Disadvantages – Raters biases, use of improper weighs by HR, does not allow rater to give relative ratings
3. Forced Choice Method: The series of statements arranged in the blocks of two or more are given and the rater indicates which statement is true or false. The rater is forced to make a choice. HR department does actual assessment. Advantages – Absence of personal biases because of forced choice. Disadvantages – Statements may be wrongly framed.
4. Forced Distribution Method: here employees are clustered around a high point on a rating scale. Rater is compelled to distribute the employees on all points on the scale. It is assumed that the performance is conformed to normal distribution. Advantages – Eliminates Disadvantages – Assumption of normal distribution, unrealistic, errors of central tendency.

5. Critical Incidents Method: The approach is focused on certain critical behaviors of employee that makes all the difference in the performance. Supervisors as and when they occur record such incidents. Advantages – Evaluations are based on actual job behaviors, ratings are supported by descriptions, feedback is easy, reduces recency biases, chances of subordinate improvement are high. Disadvantages – Negative incidents can be prioritized, forgetting incidents, overly close supervision; feedback may be too much and may appear to be punishment.
6. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales: statements of effective and ineffective behaviors determine the points. They are said to be behaviorally anchored. The rater is supposed to say, which behavior describes the employee performance. Advantages – helps overcome rating errors. Disadvantages – Suffers from distortions inherent in most rating techniques.
7. Field Review Method: This is an appraisal done by someone outside employees’ own department usually from corporate or HR department. Advantages – Useful for managerial level promotions, when comparable information is needed, Disadvantages – Outsider is generally not familiar with employees work environment, Observation of actual behaviors not possible.
8. Performance Tests & Observations: This is based on the test of knowledge or skills. The tests may be written or an actual presentation of skills. Tests must be reliable and validated to be useful. Advantage – Tests may be apt to measure potential more than actual performance. Disadvantages – Tests may suffer if costs of test development or administration are high.

9. Confidential Records: Mostly used by government departments, however its application in industry is not ruled out. Here the report is given in the form of Annual Confidentiality Report (ACR) and may record ratings with respect to following items; attendance, self expression, team work, leadership, initiative, technical ability, reasoning ability, originality and resourcefulness etc. The system is highly secretive and confidential. Feedback to the assessee is given only in case of an adverse entry. Disadvantage is that it is highly subjective and ratings can be manipulated because the evaluations are linked to HR actions like promotions etc.
10. Essay Method: In this method the rater writes down the employee description in detail within a number of broad categories like, overall impression of performance, promoteability of employee, existing capabilities and qualifications of performing jobs, strengths and weaknesses and training needs of the employee. Advantage – It is extremely useful in filing information gaps about the employees that often occur in a better-structured checklist. Disadvantages – It its highly dependent upon the writing skills of rater and most of them are not good writers. They may get confused success depends on the memory power of raters.
11. Cost Accounting Method: Here performance is evaluated from the monetary returns yields to his or her organization. Cost to keep employee, and benefit the organization derives is ascertained. Hence it is more dependent upon cost and benefit analysis.

12. Comparative Evaluation Method (Ranking & Paired Comparisons): These are collection of different methods that compare performance with that of other co-workers. The usual techniques used may be ranking methods and paired comparison method.
Ranking Methods: Superior ranks his worker based on merit, from best to worst. However how best and why best are not elaborated in this method. It is easy to administer and explanation.
Paired Comparison Methods: In this method each employee is rated with another employee in the form of pairs. The number of comparisons may be calculated with the help of a formula as under.
N x (N-1) / 2
Future Oriented Methods
1. Management By Objectives: It means management by objectives and the performance is rated against the achievement of objectives stated by the management. MBO process goes as under.
Establish goals and desired outcomes for each subordinate
Setting performance standards
Comparison of actual goals with goals attained by the employee
Establish new goals and new strategies for goals not achieved in previous year.
Advantage – It is more useful for managerial positions.
Disadvantages – Not applicable to all jobs, allocation of merit pay may result in setting short-term goals rather than important and long-term goals etc.
2. Psychological Appraisals: These appraisals are more directed to assess employees potential for future performance rather than the past one. It is done in the form of in-depth interviews, psychological tests, and discussion with supervisors and review of other evaluations. It is more focused on employees emotional, intellectual, and motivational and other personal characteristics affecting his performance. This approach is slow and costly and may be useful for bright young members who may have considerable potential. However quality of these appraisals largely depend upon the skills of psychologists who perform the evaluation.
3. Assessment Centers: This technique was first developed in USA and UK in 1943. An assessment center is a central location where managers may come together to have their participation in job related exercises evaluated by trained observers. It is more focused on observation of behaviors across a series of select exercises or work samples. Assessees are requested to participate in in-basket exercises, work groups, computer simulations, role playing and other similar activities which require same attributes for successful performance in actual job. The characteristics assessed in assessment center can be assertiveness, persuasive ability, communicating ability, planning and organizational ability, self confidence, resistance to stress, energy level, decision making, sensitivity to feelings, administrative ability, creativity and mental alertness etc. Disadvantages – Costs of employees traveling and lodging, psychologists, ratings strongly influenced by assessee’s inter-personal skills. Solid performers may feel suffocated in simulated situations. Those who are not selected for this also may get affected.
Advantages – well-conducted assessment center can achieve better forecasts of future performance and progress than other methods of appraisals. Also reliability, content validity and predictive ability are said to be high in assessment centers. The tests also make sure that the wrong people are not hired or promoted. Finally it clearly defines the criteria for selection and promotion.
Advantages Of Performance Appraisal
It helps the supervisors to chalk out the promotion programs for efficient employees. In this regards, inefficient workers can be dismissed or demoted in case.
It helps in chalking out compensation packages for employees. Merit rating is possible through performance appraisal. PA tries to give worth to a performance. Compensation packages which include bonus, high salary rates, extra benefits, allowances and pre-requisites are dependent on performance appraisal. The criteria should be merit rather than seniority.
The systematic procedure of PA helps the supervisors to frame training policies and programs. It helps to analyze strengths and weaknesses of employees so that new jobs can be designed for efficient employees. It also helps in framing future development programs.
It helps the supervisors to understand the validity and importance of the selection procedure. The supervisors come to know the validity and thereby the strengths and weaknesses of selection procedure. Future changes in selection methods can be made in this regard.
For an organization, effective communication between employees and employers is very important.
It serves as a motivation tool. Through evaluating performance of employees, a person 's efficiency can be determined if the targets are achieved. This very well motivates a person for better job and helps him to improve his performance in the future.
Disadvantages of Performance Appraisal
If not done right, they can create a negative experience.
Performance appraisals are very time consuming and can be overwhelming to managers with many employees.
They are based on human assessment and are subject to rater errors and biases.
Can be a waste of time if not done appropriately.
They can create a very stressful environment for everyone involved.

9. EMPLOYEE HAND BOOK AND PERSONNEL MANUAL An employee handbook, sometimes also known as an employee manual or staff handbook, is a book given to employees by an employer. Usually, the employee handbook contains information about company policies and procedures. The employee handbook is an excellent place to bring together employment and job-related information which employees need to know, such as holiday arrangements, company rules and disciplinary and grievance procedures. It can also provide useful source of information to new staff as part of the induction process. A written employee handbook gives clear advice to employees and creates a culture where issues are dealt with fairly and consistently.

Fig: A Model of Employee HandBook
Content
While it often varies from business to business, specific areas that an employee handbook may address include:
A welcome statement, which may also briefly describe the company 's history, reasons for its success and how the employee can contribute to future successes. It may also include a mission statement, or a statement about a business ' goals and objectives.

Orientation procedures. This usually involves providing a human resources manager or other designated employee completed income tax withholding forms, providing proof of identity and eligibility for employment (in accordance with the U.S. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986), proof of a completed drug test (by a designated medical center) and other required forms.

Definitions of full- and part-time employment, and benefits each classification receives. In addition, this area also describes timekeeping procedures (such as defining a "work week"). This area may also include information about daily breaks (for lunch and rest).
Information about employee pay and benefits (such as vacation and insurance). Usually, new employees are awarded some benefits, plus additional rewards (such as enrollment in a 401K retirement account program, additional vacation and pay raises) after having worked for a company for a certain period of time. These are spelled out in this section.
Expectations about conduct and discipline policies. These sections include conduct policies for such areas as sexual harassment, alcohol and drug use, and attendance; plus, grounds for dismissal (i.e., getting fired) and due process. This area may also include information about filing grievances with supervisors and/or co-workers, and communicating work-related issues with supervisors and/or company managers.
Guidelines for employee performance reviews (such as how and when they are conducted).
Policies for promotion or demotion to a certain position.
Rules concerning mail; use of the telephone, company equipment, Internet and e-mail; and employee use of motor vehicles for job assignments.
Procedures on handling on-the-job accidents, such as those that result in injury.
How an employee may voluntarily terminate his/her job (through retirement or resignation), and exit interviews.
A requirement that employees keep certain business information confidential. This area usually includes information about releasing employee records and information, as well as who may retrieve and inspect the information.
If the employer is covered by the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 - generally 50 or more employees - a handbook must have information about FMLA.
New employees are usually required to sign a form stating they have read and understand the information, and accept the terms of the employee handbook. Failure to do so within a timely manner may result in termination.。 Revisions to an employee handbook vary from company to company. For instance, at many larger companies, a revised handbook comes out annually or at other regular intervals.

Need for employee handbook
Federal and state laws and the growing number of cases of employee related litigation against management strongly suggests that a written statement of company policy is a business necessity for firms of any size.
For example, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported that in 2005, companies paid out more than $378 million in discrimination non-litigated settlements. In 2007, the EEOC received a total of 82,792 discrimination charges filed against private businesses.
Other examples of litigation against a company stemming from employee actions are the release of a customer 's private information and,of course, the actions of one employee against another; sexual harassment being this type of offensive employee conduct.
An effective Employee Handbook Company Policy Manual is a very obvious, simple and inexpensive answer to the question, "How does a business protect itself against lawsuits based on employee behavior?" There are several key elements that businesses should consider before implementing an Employee Handbook. One of the most important aspects of any Employee Handbook Company Policy Manual is that the Employee Handbook Company Policy Manual is kept current. Laws change, and the Employee Handbook must be updated and kept current. Likewise, if a company chooses to publish its handbook in multiple languages, each version should be updated concurrently. Other key characteristics of an employee handbook that help guard against employee lawsuits are that the Employee Handbook is attorney written and completed, and customized for each state; one size does not fit all. A New Mexico Employee Handbook should not be used in California. State laws may very well be different. For example, if a company wants to implement a Drug-free Workplace, an appropriate policy must be communicated to each employee in the Employee Handbook Company Policy Manual. Each state may have its own rules on how a Drug-free workplace is to be accomplished, and the information that must be communicated to employees. Florida and Texas are such states. In the United Kingdom, the employee handbook may also form part of an employee’s terms and conditions of employment. If five or more people are employed, it is a requirement of the Health and Safety at Work Act to have a written statement of the company 's health and safety policy

10. JOB DESCRIPTIONS A job description is a list that a person might use for general tasks, or functions, and responsibilities of a position. It may often include to whom the position reports, specifications such as the qualifications or skills needed by the person in the job, or a salary range. Job descriptions are usually narrative,[1] but some may instead comprise a simple list of competencies; for instance, strategic human resource planning methodologies may be used to develop a competency architecture for an organization, from which job descriptions are built as a shortlist of competencies.
Creating a job description
A job description is usually developed by conducting a job analysis, which includes examining the tasks and sequences of tasks necessary to perform the job. The analysis considers the areas of knowledge and skills needed for the job. A job usually includes several roles. The job description might be broadened to form a person specification or may be known as Terms Of Reference. The person/job specification can be presented as a stand alone document though in practice, it is usually included within the job description.
Roles and responsibilities
A job description may include relationships with other people in the organization: Supervisory level, managerial requirements, and relationships with other colleagues.
Goals
A job description need not be limited to explaining the current situation, or work that is currently expected; it may also set out goals for what might be achieved in future....
Limitations
Prescriptive job descriptions may be seen as a hindrance in certain circumstances:[2]
Job descriptions may not be suitable for some senior managers as they should have the freedom to take the initiative and find fruitful new directions;
Job descriptions may be too inflexible in a rapidly-changing organization, for instance in an area subject to rapid technological change;
Other changes in job content may lead to the job description being out of date;
The process that an organization uses to create job descriptions may not be optimal.

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
Organizational structure is basically the level of management and the different responsibilities in a company or organization. This structure is often presented by a organizational chart. As the one above
Delegation refers to giving a subordinate the authority to perform a chosen task, it is important to remember that in the end the responsibility is not the subordinate but the manager’s. If the job done by the subordinate is badly done, it is still the manager who has to accept the responsibility for the work although it is not done by him/her.
Advantages of delegation for the manager: Managers cannot do every job by themselves, therefore delegation is a good idea. Managers can measure the performance or success of their staff/workers.
Advantages of delegation for the subordinate. The work becomes more interesting and rewarding, if doing a good job. The employees feel more important and trusted because responsibility is given to them.
But of course there are also some reasons for managers not to delegate, one good example would be the manager actually being afraid of the subordinate to do a better job than the manager. The manager may simply be afraid that the subordinate might fail or maybe the manager just wants all the control for himself.
The organizational chart is a graphic representation of how the managers and subordinates are linked together and who has the responsibility of what within a company or organization.
Advantages of an organization chart: The chart shows how everybody is linked together. All employees can see who they have to talk to, to get a message though to the higher ranked people. Every individual can see their own position in the organization.
Decentralization refers to where the decisions are taken compared to where the managers sit in the organizational chart. If a business is decentralized it means that the subordinates can also take decisions which helps with the time of response to the customers.
Centralization in this case means the opposite of decentralization, which means that most of the important decisions are taken by the manager in the middle of the organization or the highest ranked person.
Advantages of decentralization: Decisions are taken by the manager that is close to the action, which may help the manage to take the right decision because he can see what is happening. Decentralization gives the manager a feeling of being more trusted and will give the manager more satisfaction if doing well.
There are different forms of decentralization, they are Functional decentralization, Federal decentralization, Regional decentralization and Decentralization by project teams.
Functional decentralization means that the different functions of the company or organization is spitted up, the most common functional departments are: Human Resources Marketing Finance Production
Federal decentralization is when authority is divided between different product lines of a business. For example, a vehicle manufacturer could have separate divisions for truck, cars and busses.

Regional decentralization is when a business, such as a multinational, has bases in many different regions or countries. Each base has authority over its own operations.
Decentralization by project teams is when a particular project, for example the design of a new car is given to a team involving people of all the functional departments.

Fig : Role of an Organization Structure

HUMAN RELATION Human Relations is the study of human problems arising from organizational and interpersonal relations in industry. It is meant to help better interpersonal and intergroup adjustments.
Human relation is how humans work together and relate to one another. The term when used in office situations, or HR, is used to mediate conflicts between workers and ensure a smooth environment.
Human relations is important because it is how humans interact that affect their behavior toward each other. In the business world, good human relations make employees more productive.

Fig: Figure indicating Example for Human Relation

11. PRODUCTIVITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES A simple way of looking at productivity in a business organization is to think of it in terms of the productivity model below:
Essentially, productivity is a ratio to measure how well an organization (or individual, industry, country) converts input resources (labor, materials, machines etc.) into goods and services. This is usually expressed in ratios of inputs to outputs. That is (input) cost per (output) good / service. It is not on its own a measure of how efficient the conversion process is. The Productivity Conceptual Model below can be metaphorically described as a 'productivity tree '. The roots denote the inputs to the system, the trunk the conversion process and the foliage and fruits the systems outputs. The successful management of this process is ultimately the key to survival of any organization. It should be the concern of and a development goal for all organizational members, irrespective of their position.

Earlier the role of the HR department in most companies has primarily been recruitment. Their function was restricted to finding the right talent, recruiting them, giving them a basic introduction to the company and addressing issues from time to time. But now this role is growing. With people being a company’s biggest asset, it has become essential, if not critical for companies to keep their employees satisfied and fulfilled in order to achieve maximum productivity from them. This is where HR has a significant and crucial role. Gone are the days when the head of HR department in any company would be perceived in a supporting role or merely an administrative manager. The contemporary HR heads are the essential part of senior management, reporting to the senior line executive and participating in the executive decision process.

Creating a work environment in which employees are productive is essential for the growth and development of any organization. For obvious reasons, Employee productivity usually revolves around two major areas of focus: personal motivation and the work environment (including infrastructural facilities). Personal motivation encompasses a wide range of areas like the current role, career progression, training, appreciation, compensation and benefits, culture, value etc. Infrastructure includes the actual physical layout of an office, facilities, hardware and software, communication equipment, etc.

The biggest challenge that affects employee productivity is when they start thinking
‘Where do I go from here?’ this usually arises when an employee feels stagnant and is not stimulated by the work they are doing”. But having said the above it would not be erroneous to state that happy workers may not necessarily be productive workers. At the individual level, the evidence suggests the reverse to be more accurate that productivity is likely to lead to satisfaction. If we move from the individual’s level to that of the organization, there is renewed support for the original satisfaction –performance relationship. When satisfaction and productivity data are gathered for the organization as a whole, rather than at the individual level, we find that the organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with fewer satisfied employees. It may well be that the reason we have not got strong support for the ‘satisfaction causes productivity’. Studies have focused on individuals rather than on the organization and at individual level measures of productivity do not take into consideration all the interactions and complexities in the work process. So although we might not be able to say that a happy worker is more productive, it might be true that happy organizations are more productive.

If the HR department wants to achieve a strategic role in improving an employee’s productivity, it needs to be sensitive to their requirements, proactive in understanding the issues that employees may face and address them. It should work towards providing an environment that is not only conducive to work in, but also clearly defines roles and responsibilities of each individual and relating his/her contribution to the bigger organizational picture.

The HR staff can play a vital role in making sure employees are psychologically ready to hear and support the mission, values and goals of the organization. Employee productivity is directly related to the growth of the company. The role of HR in such situations is critical. Very often as a company is growing and new recruits come on board the HR team has a crucial role to play in keeping the culture of the company intact and introducing the new joiners to the company’s traditions. We see that today that the transformation of organizations and leadership hold the key to success. For this, the role of the HR strategists as facilitators and catalysts is crucial. It is they who can develop a self sustaining culture of continuous learning, nurturing creativity and shared goals. Hence a strong HR department is essential for the healthy growth and success of the organization.

Enhancing Employee Productivity through HR Practices As you will know, one of the largest costs in any business is payroll. However, are you maximising your return on this costly investment?
Through contemporary and proactive Human Resources policies, practices and effective ‘people’ management companies can enhance employee productivity, thereby maximise their return on investment.
Translating a company’s business strategy into Human Resources practices involves:
Introducing ‘people’ policies that enhance the culture and long term direction of the company,
Attracting (recruiting) the right employees, at the right time, with the right skills and experience and with the right cultural fit for the company,
Rewarding employees fairly for their service and efforts by providing (1) market competitive remuneration and conditions of employment and where possible, (2) rewarding employees when their performance exceeds expectations,
Engaging employees on a personal level so that they are motivated to work for a company they value and speak of with pride,
Aligning the work employees do directly with the outcomes required and in keeping with the direction of the company so that everyone is working together to achieve the same outcomes and managing employee performance against these agreed and set outcomes,
Measuring employee performance and productivity as well as providing effective and constructive regular feedback,
Preparing for the known and unknown. Working abroad is not as simple as just booking flights and packing suitcases. Companies preparing to expand abroad need to plan. If there was ever a time to over prepare, an international expansion is definitely that time as the issues associated with relocating employees and engaging in-country nationals are many and complex, and
When it comes time to separate, treat everyone with respect. Recognise that (1) not everyone is a ‘good fit’ for the company and it may be better for everyone to end the relationship, (2) planning to retain critical skills and experience is needed, (3) that retirement doesn’t have to mean a loss of skills and experience from the company and (4) redundancies should only be effected as a last resort (as they have lasting negative effects).

Increasing productivity is one of the most critical goals in business. Unfortunately, it’s an activity seldom accepted by HR professionals as a legitimate mandate. While most HR professionals acknowledge that their job entails establishing policy, procedures, and programs governing people management, few attempt to connect such elements to increasing employee output (volume, speed, and quality) per each dollar spent on labor costs (or as an easier to measure alternative, revenue per employee). Bonus programs are typically enacted that keep total compensation in line with market trends, regardless of the value of work warranting incentive comp. Training tools are often secured via the lowest-cost provider method with minimal consideration given to which provider would be most effective. Recruiting practices too are more often managed with the primary goal of minimizing cost, not enabling business capability/capacity. Regardless of the function you look at, in the typical organization, HR is more concerned with executing transactions instead of delivering productivity solutions.
22 Factors That Influence Individual/Team Performance
Based on more than 30 years of observational research into what drives high performance organizations, I’ve identified the following 22 factors, broken into six categories that significantly influence (positive/negative) individual/team productivity.
Foundations of Productivity
1. High-performing and innovative employees are the foundation of productivity — by far the most impactful factor in workforce and team productivity is hiring and retaining employees with exceptional capabilities and self-motivation. Working together, managers and HR can attract, hire, develop, and retain individual employees who are agile, high-performing continuous learners and innovators. Unfortunately, even the best employees cannot perform without great managers, proper direction, support, tools, and resources.
2. Effective managers and leaders set direction and execute — a great manager/leader is the second-most important productivity factor. Leaders and managers play a critical role in defining the direction, purpose, priorities, goals, and roles of the workforce. The capability of the manager (with the support of HR) to develop plans, hire effectively, coach, motivate, and develop employees is crucial to success. Unfortunately, many managers are the weak link in the productivity chain, so HR must accept the role of developing great leaders/managers and identifying/removing the ineffective ones.
Direction and Guidance Factors
1. A corporate strategy and plan that builds commitment — a competitive business strategy and strategic plan increases the chances that an organization will be successful and success builds commitment. In addition, if the plan and the strategy are clear and well communicated, not only will your employees be more motivated, but knowing the strategic direction will help them remain focused. Corporate values that are measured and rewarded can also align behavior and build commitment.
2. A defined purpose for teams make roles clear — every business unit and team needs to understand its role. Managers and leaders need to develop a clear and communicated purpose that is both compelling and that makes members feel important. Understand that employees are more likely to be committed to the purpose of the unit or team if they are involved in creating it. An unclear mission will result in a lack of focus and a low level of “engagement” and commitment toward achieving it.
3. Team and individual goals – having clear operational goals lets everyone know what is expected. If these goals are communicated and measurable, employees will understand precisely what is important and what is not. If stretch but reachable goals are set, employees are less likely to become complacent.
4. Prioritization for impactful resource allocation — setting clear priorities helps to ensure that time and resources are allocated to the most important and impactful tasks. Employees must be made aware of both high- and low-priority goals, tasks, processes, and customers. Processes must be developed to ensure that resources are allocated disproportionately to high priority tasks.
5. Performance metrics for continuous improvement – having effective metrics and reporting processes reinforces both team and individual goals. Because whatever is measured and reported gets done, metrics provide focus, feedback and result in continuous improvement.
6. Effective rewards drive performance — when monetary rewards are tied directly to performance and the metrics for each goal, you doubly reinforce the message about what is important. Individual and team monetary rewards, coupled with nonmonetary excitement factors, can play a major role in ensuring focus and consistent performance.
Support Factors
1. Team member support increases individual performance — few tasks in this modern age can be completed by an individual employee working without support. Unless your employees are provided with complementary teammates, as well as the support of managers and employees outside the team, productivity is bound to suffer.
2. Best-practice sharing and collaboration improve productivity — learning by trial and error slows progress and leads to mass duplication of effort and higher error rates. Productivity improves dramatically when others who are outside the team freely collaborate and proactively share best practices and ideas. It is HR’s role to develop formal methods to increase cross-function collaboration and sharing.
3. Support for innovation can dramatically increase productivity – in most industries, the yearly increase in the level of productivity that is required to maintain a dominant position in the industry has increased dramatically. The new reality is that productivity increases of between 10 and 25% are now required each year. What is needed is a continuous level of innovation both in products and in business processes. Increased efficiency for continuous improvement processes are not sufficient to provide that level of double-digit gain, so HR must develop processes, training, measures. and incentives that result in continuous innovation workforce wide.
4. Control and authority can enhance or hinder decision-making — a lack of control and excessive freedom can result in waste, duplication, and a lack of focus. In direct contrast, micromanagement and excessive rules can slow decision-making and employee development. Productivity is maximized when there is enough balance so that employees have enough control, authority, and permissions to make most operational decisions.
5. Non-monetary factors can also excite employees — in addition to formal rewards, managers, leaders, and teammates can provide nonmonetary factors that increase employee excitement, energy, motivation, and loyalty. These factors can include praise, recognition, exposure, challenge, feedback, and learning opportunities. It is HR’s role to ensure that managers know how to effectively use these nonmonetary factors.
6. Not having the appropriate inputs can hinder productivity – in most cases, team and employee work is dependent on the inputs provided from other processes. It is the manager’s role to ensure that these inputs are provided on time and of the right quality. Make sure that the team’s output meets the standards set by the team responsible for the next step in the production process.
7. Barriers to productivity can limit success — often, even when every one of the positive productivity factors are present, productivity can be slowed or stopped by real or imagined barriers. These roadblocks can include individuals resistant to change, corporate politics, personal jealousies, corporate rivalries, as well as powerful people. In addition, there may be perceived or imaginative barriers that keep employees from even attempting any effort aimed at increasing productivity or innovation. In both cases, HR needs to work with managers in order to develop processes for identifying and eliminating any real or imagined barriers to productivity.
Skills, Communications, and Information Factors
1. Employee skills and knowledge must be continually updated to maintain productivity — global competition has created a rapid pace of change which means that current skill sets must be continually updated. It is the manager’s job to identify employees with less than optimal skills. HR’s role is to develop processes to continually increase employee learning, knowledge, and skill development, while minimizing the amount of time that employees are away from their work.
2. Effective communications and feedback reduce errors and frustration — a lack of communications can frustrate employees and make them feel unimportant. Failing to provide effective feedback can lead to wasted efforts, increased error rates, and lower productivity. Communications and feedback mechanisms need to be developed in conjunction with employees to ensure that they fit both the needs of the manager and the employees.
3. Providing the right information improves decision-making – managers and employees need access to all relevant information and data in order to be productive and to make effective decisions.
Resourcing Factors
1. Insufficient budget resources can hamper productivity — even a great team with a great manager will produce lower levels of productivity when with insufficient budget to complete the job.
2. Technology, tools, and equipment can limit or bolster productivity — even highly trained, motivated, and engaged employees can’t be very productive when they are provided with insufficient tools and equipment to do their job. In an era where technology dominates almost every function, a failure to provide the technology, updates, or sufficient training can dramatically slow productivity.
Miscellaneous Factors
1. Integration can increase productivity — when business processes operate independently and not in unison, it can inhibit the work flow and increase delays and error rates. Part of any productivity effort should include integrating interdependent processes, breaking down the silos and barriers, and making interconnected processes appear “seamless” to those involved.
2. Outside-the-workplace factors — although most factors that impact productivity are internal to the organization, on occasion, employee productivity is negatively impacted by things that happen outside of the firm. These factors could include changes in employee’s personal life and external economic, social, political, and even weather-related factors. Excellent productivity processes need to be flexible so that they can adjust when these external factors begin to impact individual or team productivity.

References:
1. Carleton Counter II and Jill Justice Coutler, The Complete Standard Handbook of Construction Personnel Management. Prentice Hall, Inc., 1989
2. Memoria,C,B Personnel Management, Himalaya Publishing Co., 1992
3. Effective discipline & discharge by Kathy A. Peck,” IPMA – HR Conference Portland, 2006
4. Nicholas Bloom, John Van Reenen., Human Resource Management and Productivity - National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2010
5. http://en.wikipedia.org
6. http://www.businessdictionary.com
7. http://www.thefreedictionary.com
8. http://www.ask.com
9. http://www.citehr.com
10. http://blog.accountingcoach.com
11. http://wiki.answers.com
12. http://www.entrepreneur.com
13. http://www.performance-management-made-easy.com
14. http://smallbusiness.chron.com
15. https://www.osha.gov
16. http://www.safetyworksmaine.com
17. http://www.citizensinformation.ie
18. http://www.mmmlaw.com
19. http://corehr.wordpress.com
20. http://www.jethr.com
21. http://www.nber.org
22. http://ideas.repec.org

References: 1. Carleton Counter II and Jill Justice Coutler, The Complete Standard Handbook of Construction Personnel Management. Prentice Hall, Inc., 1989 2 3. Effective discipline & discharge by Kathy A. Peck,” IPMA – HR Conference Portland, 2006 4