DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS

 Communication 
Communication is the activity of conveying information. Communication requires a
sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be
present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication;
thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space. Communication
requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality.
The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the sender.

Downward Communication
Downward communication is communication created by directors and managers and
passed down the hierarchy of workers in the organization. In traditional organizations
this is the preferred method of communication (i.e.) Managers decide what the systems,
rules and procedures will be and then they pass these down to employees they manage
and supervise

Advantages of downward communication

Downward Communication can increase efficiency by synchronizing organizational
procedures and can ensure that everybody is working towards the same overall aims
and
objectives.

Types
 Appraisals/evaluations
 Job Description.
 Organizational policy
 Organizational system

Upward Communication
This is the communication which originates at the lower level of the employment
hierarchy and is then communicated up through the
line. Organizations encouraging upward communication believe
that everybody is capable of generating thoughts and ideas which may help the
organization to progress, particularly when they are working closely.

Advantages of Upward communication

Upward communication may increase motivation and make employees feel valued and
respected whilst enabling managers to understand how employees are
[Link] if problems occur at they are more likely to be
identified earlier by those working closely in the area that they occur

Types of upward communication

 Suggestion Schemes
 Feedback Forum/Surveys
 Grievance Procedures
 Employee-Manager discussion

Difference between upward and downward communication

Upward Downward

 Valuable information.  Valuable feedback.

 Employee responsibility.  Employee satisfaction.
 Authoritarian structure of  Cordial industrial relationship.
communication.
 Structured organization.  Innovative ideas.
 Alert management to spot trouble.  Valuable suggestion.

 Goals

A goal or objective is a desired result a person or a system envisions plans and commits

to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed
development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by
setting deadlines.
It is roughly similar to purpose or aim, the anticipated result which guides reaction, or
an end, which is an object, either a physical object or an abstract object, that has
intrinsic.

 Objective

Undistorted by emotion or personal bias; based on observable phenomena; "an

objective appraisal"; "objective evidence”

 Evaluation

Defined by the American Evaluation Association, evaluation involves assessing the

strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations
to improve their effectiveness.

 Feedback

The communication of responses and reactions to proposals and changes, or of the

findings of performance appraisals, with the goal of enabling improvements to be made.
Feedback can be either positive or negative. In the context of performance evaluation,
or performance appraisal, positive feedback should be delivered to reinforce good
performance, whereas negative feedback should be intended to correct or improve
poor performance. Feedback that is delivered inappropriately can be very demotivating,
so good communication skills are a prerequisite

 Appraisal
Appraisal is the formal and informal process through which an employee is able to
discuss their training and development needs with an appraiser. The appraisal process
enables a two-way communication process between the employee and the
organisation. The employee is able to get a better understanding of the needs of the
organisation, while the organisation gets a better picture of the development needs and
requirements of the employee.
Appraisal can be seen as part of a performance management process. At an appraisal
meeting it is possible to establish individual targets for the year ahead, and to discuss
the achievement of targets established at the previous appraisal meeting. In some
organisations appraisal will be linked to pay.

Performance Appraisal
Performance Appraisal means to evaluate, judge or check the work of employee over
a period of time, and then inform whether the employee achieved the objectives in that
time period.
A performance appraisal, employee appraisal, performance review, or (career)
development discussion is a method by which the job performance of an employee
is evaluated (generally in terms of quality, quantity, cost, and time) typically by the
corresponding manager or supervisor. A performance appraisal is a part of guiding and
managing career development. It is the process of obtaining, analyzing, and recording
information about the relative worth of an employee to the organization. Performance
appraisal is an analysis of an employee's recent successes and failures, personal
strengths and weaknesses, and suitability for promotion or further training. It is also the
judgement of an employee's performance in a job based on considerations other
than productivity alone

Following are the characteristics of the Performance Appraisal:

1. Agreed Objectives related to the assigned job/standard (job and position

description)
2. Time period
3. Skills required to achieve objectives
 4. Check that objectives are achieved or not
5. Inform the employee if the objectives were achieved or not
6. If not achieved why these were not achieved
7. If achieved, reward and motivate In the above characteristics, 6 and 7 constitute
“feedback”

In the above figure the whole process of performance evaluation is shown in

diagrammatic form, indicating that performance evaluation starts with agreed
objectives or performance standards, then the work is performed and then it is checked
if objectives are achieved.

Importance of Performance appraisal
Performance appraisal is important task of managers to help other employees to
improve their performance. The manager who supervises the work of subordinate,
knows the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for accomplishing jobs and whether
these are possessed by employees.
Performance Appraisal of employees is important for the organization because the
appraisal of work completed by each employee determines whether the organization is
moving in the direction of its objectives. However, most managers find it difficult to help
others to coach ( guide) and appraise performance of employee. Judging an
employee’s performance accurately is not always easy, because it requires constant
watch on the work of employees.

Types of Appraisal
There are mainly two types of appraisal in the organization. Which are:
 Formal Appraisal
 Informal Appraisal
Formal Appraisals
Formal systematic appraisal usually occurs semi-annually or annually. Formal appraisal
has four major purposes:

1. To let employees know formally how their current performance is being rated;

2. To identify employees who deserve merit raises;
3. To locate employees who need additional training; and
4. To identify candidates for promotion

How is Formal Appraisal Done?

As we know Human Resource manager have job and position descriptions for all jobs in
the organization. The objectives to be achieved are mutually agreed between the
‘supervised’ and ‘supervisor’. The agreed objectives are written down on a ‘form’. This
form is a special form which contains following information:

1. Name of employee
2. Job title
3. Job/position description
4. Objectives/goals to be achieved in a year or six months or three months
5. training received
6. Training to be received
7. Does the employee require special guidance
8. Strengths and weakness of employee
9. Signature of immediate boss

The performance appraisal forms are different in different organizations but most of the

form will have the above information.

Informal Appraisals
Informal appraisal is a day to day routine appraisal, when managers meet
their subordinate almost daily. In this process they use following methods:

Observe

 Communicate
 Check work
 Give immediate feedback
So informal performance appraisal means continual process of feed back to employees.
It is information about how well employees are doing their work for the organization.
Informal appraisal can be conducted on a day-to-day basis.

Listening

It is the active process of receiving and responding to spoken (and sometimes unspoken)
[Link] is one of the subjects studied in the field of language arts and in the
discipline of conversation analysis.

 There are four elements of good listening:

1. attention--the focused perception of both visual and verbal stimuli
2. hearing--the physiological act of 'opening the gates to your ears'
3. understanding--assigning meaning to the messages received
4. remembering--the storing of meaningful information