360 Degrees Performance Appraisal in Civil Services

Recently there has been a proposal from the Prime Minister’s Office to introduce a 360-degree feedback mechanism for the empanelment of secretaries from the 1983 batch of civil servants to introduce corporate best practices to streamline government functioning and maximise efficiency. Here is a backgrounder on the same.

Important Facts

Meaning and Advantages of Performance Appraisal

In Performance Appraisal, assessment of performance of employees is undertaken periodically for determining their output and their abilities. Performance appraisal is carried out to serve many purposes such as promotion / demotion, compensation, training and so on. It also helps the higher authorities to determine the effectiveness of selection procedure of the employees.

Management Text Book meaning of 360-degree Performance Appraisal

Originated in 1940s, this system of assessment of employees is considered a best practice in the corporate and business world. Under this process feedback of the employee is received from all those who are a part of his/her professional life. It is a holistic approach for obtaining information from peers, subordinates, and internal and external customers, about the employee’s performance. It is based on the assessment of an individual’s management styles, competencies and behaviour by colleagues horizontally and vertically by involving his boss, peers and direct reports in the organization.

Sources of Feedback

Under this system assessment of the employees’ performance is drawn from multiple sources that include:

• The manager him/herself
• Senior management
• Peer (fellow managers)
• Subordinates (employees who work for the manager)
• External sources like customers, suppliers etc.

This assessment tool is mostly used for middle and senior level management. The complexity of their roles enables the organisation to generate sufficient data from all stakeholders for a meaningful assessment.

The assessment in 360 degree system is conducted through a set of questionnaire based on different parameters involving the targeted employees.

Questions for Analysis

• What is the current method of performance appraisal of Bureaucrats in India? Is 360° performance method suitable for bureaucracy?
• Critically examine the performance Appraisal in governance system in India.

What is the current method of performance appraisal of Bureaucrats in India? Is 360° performance method suitable for bureaucracy?

Currently the performance of civil servants is assessed through Annual Confidential Report (ACR) prepared by superior authority. If the 360 degree performance appraisal report supplements the ACR, it will lead to a hazy conclusion on the performance of the employees evaluated. The questionnaire meant for evaluation must be based on relevant aspects the employees are associated with. In the corporate world the system of 360 degree performance appraisal fits well assessment is done on specific metrics such as sales growth, targets, customer satisfaction etc. However, bureaucracy in India cannot be evaluated on such metrics as it involves intricacies of public service. Further, bureaucracy in India is said to be infatuated with unfounded apathy to the existing work culture and suffer from lack of values and ethics. The second Administrative Reform Commission highlighted this deficiency in the existing performance appraisal system. As such bureaucracy in India suffers from sense of closely-knit fraternity, where assessment of the subordinates by the superior authorities’ remains always biased. Moreover, the 360 degree performance appraisal system is less an instrument to facilitate promotion than to enhance performance and efficiency. The validity of the system in bureaucratic performance evaluation in India cannot be fully assessed unless it is implemented properly.

Critically examine the performance Appraisal in governance system in India.

Performance evaluation holds a great importance in every organization i.e. corporate, business and also government organization. It is an essential medium through which the organization concerned prepares blueprint for future development and growth. The performance of every government servant is evaluated on an annual basis through his/her Annual Confidential Report (ACR). ACR is an important document providing the basic and vital inputs for assessing the performance of the Government servant and his/her suitability personal advancement, promotion, deputation, foreign or any other important assignments purported to be undertaken by him/her. The system of confidential reports about the performance of government servants is a means to an end, and not an end in itself.

It is not a fault-finding process, but a development one.The main performance measure is the amount of money spent and the success of the schemes, programmes and projects is generally evaluated in terms of the inputs consumed. Its primary objective is to realize successful utilization of government policies and programmes. As the appraisal process is solely conducted by the superior authorities, chances for biased opinions are many in the final report. If the evaluated employee is not found in the good book of the evaluator, the report may be antithetical to the fact. If the true intent of personnel performance evaluation is meant to increase efficiency and boost morale of the employees, ACR practised in government sector does not fit the bill. A greater weightage is given to subjective factors than objective in the performance appraisal, from which promotions and postings flow. The current system assigns 60% weightage to personal attributes and functional competency (a subjective assessment) and just 40% to work output (an objective assessment).

The need of the hour is to infuse corporate blood into the bureaucracy by giving more weightage to results than to the personalities of the employees. The performance appraisal system should be tuned with the demands of changing time when competency of the employees matters a lot for improving the quality of bureaucracy. It should aim at enhancing core competencies of the civil servants in order to make them essential for carrying out good governance in India.