Personnel Evaluation: Organizational, Methodological And Practical Aspects

Abstract

In the course of the study, the authors compared the main parameters of personnel certification and business evaluation, which are carried out in state and large commercial organizations. The authors propose a comprehensive method for analyzing the effectiveness of the personnel evaluation system, which involves its element-by-element analysis. Based on an expert survey of employees of HR services and representatives of top management of organizations of various profiles located in Irkutsk Region, the weaknesses of this method were identified. The article presents the results of a survey of experts, as well as a comparative analysis of the features of personnel evaluation in state and commercial organizations in terms of goals, functions of personnel evaluation, regulatory documentation, types and levels of personnel evaluation, subject, methods, subject and evaluation criteria, as well as management decisions made based on the evaluation results. In addition, the authors analyzed the existing judicial practice in cases of reinstatement of persons dismissed as a result of personnel certification, and identified a number of errors made by employers when conducting personnel certification. In the article, along with this, the main difficulties faced by employees of personnel management services in the practical conduct of personnel assessment are identified. In conclusion, the article offers recommendations for improving the effectiveness of personnel evaluation in commercial organizations and certification of personnel in government agencies.

Keywords: personnel evaluation, elements, methodology, system, error

Introduction

Changes that occur under the influence of scientific and technological progress in the organization of production and management technologies are placing ever higher demands on the quality of the workforce and the qualifications of employees. Modern employers, assessing the professional qualifications of employees, are guided by the requirements of professional standards developed within the framework of the national qualifications system. This requires the introduction of business assessment procedures that allow employers to identify the level of compliance with the requirements of professional standards and workplace requirements, detect deficiencies in professional competencies and build further work with staff on this basis. Achieving compliance of the professional and qualification structure of personnel with the structure of jobs is the main task of the company's personnel support.

Problem Statement

Regular business evaluation of personnel provides employers with a number of advantages, including making more effective management decisions related to recruitment and selection, training of personnel, their motivation and remuneration, professional promotion and release.

There may be some difficulties in organizing and conducting staff evaluations. First, such difficulties are related to the choice of evaluation methods that correspond to the strategic guidelines of the organization. Despite the existence of a large number of methods of business evaluation of personnel used in domestic and foreign practice, not all of them are universally applicable. In addition, they have different degrees of effectiveness and objectivity of the obtained results. In the scientific literature, researchers sometimes express diametrically opposite points of view regarding the expediency and validity of using certain methods of business evaluation of personnel. Secondly, the development of an assessment methodology is a rather complex problem in the field of personnel management, which requires a qualified approach. It can be stated that this problem remains insufficiently studied.

However, despite these difficulties associated with the procedures, the methodology and practical application of evaluation in personnel management, it should be noted that still better business periodically conduct evaluation of staff than it is to abandon its holding in the organization.

Research Questions

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the organization and conduct of personnel evaluation in state and commercial organizations from the standpoint of goals, functions, documentation, types, levels and subjects, methods, subject, indicators and criteria for personnel evaluation. This includes research in practice of analyzing the effectiveness of the personnel evaluation system based on a survey of personnel services employees and top management representatives of organizations in Irkutsk Region; based on the results of the analysis of judicial practice in cases of reinstatement, a description of typical mistakes made by employers during certification in order to prevent them.

Research Methods

The main research methods were the analysis of scientific literature on the problems of personnel evaluation and certification; analysis of judicial practice in cases of reinstatement at work; expert survey conducted in organizations of various profiles located in Irkutsk Region. Employees of such organizations as state civil registration authorities, Treasury, state employment service, tax service, correctional colony, general education schools in Irkutsk and Shelekhov, as well as employees of commercial organizations were in the field of trade and employees of industrial enterprises. 41 people took part in the expert survey.

Findings

Organizational aspect.

In organizations, staff evaluation can be performed in different ways. But in practice, it happened that in large commercial and state organizations, personnel certification is carried out. In small commercial organizations there is personnel evaluation. Or, as it is also called, business evaluation of personnel is held (table 1).

Methodical aspect

The authors proposed a comprehensive methodology for analyzing the effectiveness of the personnel evaluation system (Nosyreva, Balashova, 2019).

The method proposed by the authors has been tested in state organizations, educational structures, commercial trade structures, and industrial associations.

Evaluation purpose. Since certification is a mandatory procedure in state structures, the experts noted that they have accumulated a lot of experience in conducting personnel evaluations. However, all the goals that the experts noted can be attributed to administrative goals of personnel management. The trade organizations noted that the personnel assessment is aimed at creating or changing financial incentive systems, as well as the assessment is carried out to monitor the effectiveness of staff work. It was difficult to assess this parameter in educational structures, since the goals set are often not quantifiable. Employees of production associations noted that the assessment can be carried out for various purposes.

Regulatory and legal documentation. The procedure for evaluating personnel in most organizations (86%) is regulated by law: regulations on personnel evaluation (Or regulations on personnel certification) have been developed. With this approach, the evaluation procedure is mandatory for all employees. In trade organizations, evaluation is more often informal. At the same time, there were no disputes about the correctness of personnel certification.

Types of personnel evaluation. Mostly regular certification is carried out, but sometimes certification is possible for promotion (state structures – 30%, in education – 23%).

Subject of assessment. As a rule, direct managers act as the subject of evaluation in organizations. In some cases, experts are involved. This becomes mandatory if the expert's membership in the Commission is stipulated in the certification Regulations. During the survey, representatives of industrial associations and educational institutions gave a negative assessment.

Evaluation method. To date, quite a large number of methods for evaluating personnel are known. We decided to consider this element from the point of view of determining the degree of objectivity. The use of attestation as an effective way to conduct quality assessment in the public sector, in industrial associations. Employees of the trade sector mark the MBO method as the most effective and objective.

Entity of evaluation. When conducting certification, the emphasis is placed on the assessment of professional qualities. And such an indicator as "achievement of the goals set for the estimated period" can only be evaluated if these goals have been defined.

When analyzing the results of the survey, a fairly high level of achievement of goals was noted in the public sector and in trade organizations (80-100%). In public sector organizations – significantly lower. But it is marked at a very low level in educational organizations and industrial enterprises.

Evaluation criterion. In our opinion, it is very important that the indicators and criteria for evaluating personnel correspond to the work performed. The experts evaluated it as follows (table 2).

We evaluated also the question about the number of employees who have passed the assessment. The indicator was at a high level, which indicates that the certification is not conducted for the purpose of determining applicants for dismissal. But it is based on the results of certification that dismissal is possible. However, no such cases were recorded in the organizations surveyed.

Integration with other HR management subsystems. Such element as "integration with other subsystems of personnel management" in our methodology included seven different performance indicators of the evaluation system. Let's present the main ones.

It was proposed to estimate the proportion of employees enrolled in the organization's personnel reserve based on the results of certification. Respondents noted that the majority of employees who successfully passed the assessment are enrolled in the personnel reserve – in industrial associations and educational structures (75% and 82%, respectively). This relation is almost completely absent from the sphere.

The indicator "proportion of employees who received promotion in professional development" was at a high level in the public sector (43%). Respondents from other organizations also noted this indicator at an unsatisfactory level.

According to the indicator "the share of employees who are sent for training based on the results of evaluation" in public sector organizations, 80% indicated that there was a relationship, and in educational structures and organizations in the trade sector, no one was sent for training. Respondents of industrial enterprises (50%) noted that this is possible with planned financing.

A comparison of personnel evaluation in different organizations is presented in table 03.

Practical aspect. After analyzing the judicial practice on dismissed employees based on the results of certification, we can conclude that employers make mistakes, mainly in the certification procedure. And, as a result, employees are restored to work.

According to the normative documents regulating personnel certification, namely the Labour Code of the Russian Federation, article 81 of the TC RF (part 2 of article 81 of the labour code) States that the procedure for certification shall be established by normative legal and local acts. Based on the summary of the results of the reviewed court cases, we have compiled a table 04 that presents the grounds for reinstating an employee in the workplace who was dismissed based on the results of certification.

Along with the analysis of judicial practice, the authors of the article analyzed other practical aspects of the organization and conduct of personnel evaluation at enterprises, the generalization of which allowed us to formulate the following difficulties:

– Complexity of formalizing and measuring the results of work of specialists and managers for personnel evaluation.

– Difficulty in assessing the contribution of each individual employee to the overall end results.;

– The presence of a time interval between the adoption of management decisions by the evaluated employees and the appearance of a measurable result of this decision.

– Discrepancy between the level of qualification of employees, confirmed by documents on the assignment of qualifications, and the qualification requirements prescribed in the professional standard.

– Subjective nature of personnel assessment.

– Pursuit by the organization's management, in addition to the stated goals of personnel evaluation, goals to get rid of unwanted employees.

– The presence of socio-psychological problems in the evaluated employees (fear of being caught in incompetence, fear of being dismissed based on the results of certification and, as a result, an increase in staff turnover on the eve of the certification or personnel evaluation procedure).

Consequently, when evaluating personnel in organizations in practice, it is necessary to take into account the possible difficulties and far-reaching consequences associated with legal actions.

Conclusion

The results of the study allowed us to formulate a number of recommendations for improving the effectiveness of personnel evaluation. Since the personnel assessment procedure is more regulated in state organizations (Khokhlova, 2013), the authors suggest using the following stages of its implementation in order to improve the effectiveness of personnel assessment in commercial structures:

1. Description of the work functions performed.

2. The definition of requirements for competences.

3. The evaluation of a particular employee on a selected criteria.

4. Determining the employee's performance.

5. Comparison with the requirements of a professional standard.

6. Comprehensive assessment of the employee's compliance with the requirements.

7. Establishing feedback with the evaluated employee, discussing the results of the evaluation with him.

In addition, in order to prevent employees from contacting the labor inspectorate and the judicial authorities, it is necessary to prepare more carefully the documents accompanying the certification of personnel. In particular, when serving a notice of transfer to another job due to non-compliance of the employee's qualifications with the requirements of professional standards, explain to employees the reasons for this transfer. Implementation of the proposed recommendations will improve the efficiency of personnel certification and reduce the number of labor disputes between employees and employers.

Acknowledgments [if any]

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