Senior Management is not happy with competency based performance appraisal and they are interested for objective based APA. What’s your opinion?

Interesting situation Mr. Saif, you know in our management review meeting, one of senior management employee criticized the objectives based appraisal system and asked for competency based appraisal. Well, in your query and in general I go with objectives based appraisal i.e. KRA/KPIs based.

You need to figure out the level of designations or hierarchy and then club them into3-4 layers and based on each layer define some core traits or competencies and side by side define the department levels KRAs and then individual based objectives. The two components i.e. objectives and appraisal are to be marked for100% each and then club them at end to reach the final ratings. Here, a balance approached could be achieved. The Appraisal will focus on “HOW” part and KRA will present “WHAT” part. Now with the combination of both you’ll have a balance approach but as the level of hierarchy goes up try to narrow down the traits and ask the appraise to narrate their success and practical steps to add value in coming years or during the current year.

In my point of view, the smart way of doing that is combining both the competency based APA and objective based APA. however, you can weigh it based on what is more important to you as a hiring manager, is it the compentecy? or the objective? probably it will be the objective because it is meeting the goal of tthe team, but the competency is meeting the equirement of the organization. Thus, the manager of the perfromance appraisal should really find a way on doing this, i beilieve it will be better to have both in the appraisal and put the objective as the primary, but the competency as an extra credit for those who have acheived it.

It is NOT surprising, that it did not work........Competency models are GUIDE (career development, job design, development feedback etc.), it should NOT be used for measurinig "indivudal JOB performance" for a given period. I am sure you would have faced issues with "measurement" & "setting scales"..........When a business enterprises set annual objectives, it is natural for those people delivering those objectives are measured against those.....!! (of course....casacded into.....objectives/goals/tasks/actions...to atleast5to7 levels down the line). Technically/Practically.......you can measure "TASK performance, Contextual performance & OCB's-organisational citizenship behaviour". you will see SMILES.

I would also say that in such a situation, go for combination which is usually recommended.

There should be a balance. Both theories or approach to performance management are effective when used properly. I will go with a 50 - 50 system or tilt to whichever system suits the businesses strategic objectives.

Which approach is more suitable for a particular organization depends on various factors such as Organizational Culture, Nature of Job Roles, Employee Development, etc.

So, it's essential for the senior management to carefully consider the pros and cons of each approach and assess which one aligns better with their organizational objectives and values.

There needs to be a fine balance between competency based and objective based performance apparaisal. Both are equally important for the success of the organisation. The competency quotiant brings out immediate gains whereas objective quotiant gives the long term contribution.

I agree both of objective base and competency base performance appraisal.