Process of potential appraisal Includes the following steps as shown in the figure given below:
1. Role Descriptions: Functions and roles of the organization should be precisely mentioned, and the job description for every job should be clearly prepared.
2. Qualities Needed to Perform Roles: According to the job descriptions, the roles (i.e., supervisory, behavioral, technical) that have to be performed by the individuals should be well prepared.
3. Rating Mechanisms: The methods through which the potential of the employees can be judged should be listed, like:
- Rating by Others: The supervisor is the most desired person to evaluate the potential of the employee. This is so because the supervisor is well-versed with the traits of his employee, the previous work culture of the employee, in particular, the mechanical competence and adeptness.
- Tests: There are series of psychological tests that can be carried out in order to evaluate the supervisory and behavioral dimensions of an individual. These experiments help considerably in judging the qualities of an individual.
- Games: In order to discover the unutilized potential of candidate, games and simulation exercises such as in-basket technique, role-playing, etc., can be used.
- Records: Evaluating previous job performance records and ratings on different aspects like creative thinking, problem, solving ability, etc., can be helpful in the evaluation of the future potential of the individual.
4. Organising the System: As soon as the prior groundwork gets accomplished, there are series of complicated questions that need immediate attention.
Therefore the human resource manager has to set up a program that will approve the initiation of the plan in an effortless way, thereby integrating responses to the questions like:
- During the promotion of employees, how much importance should be given to merit instead of seniority?
- Performance dimensions such as mechanical, supervisory, and behavioral traits are provided with what amount of importance to performance range?
- What are the methods and degree of reliability for evaluating the employee on various signs of his potential?
5. Feedback: It is a fundamental duty of each and every worker of an organization to be aware of the outcome of his evaluation so that he might know what are his strengths and weaknesses.
He must be made aware of the competencies that are required by him to achieve the set standards of performance. A proper potential appraisal system should facilitate the worker to take care of these traits.
To cater to this problem, the existing supervisor or the people from the personnel department should lend a helping hand and chalk out a plan to carry-out occasional training and counseling for the workers in the organization.
This helps the worker to cultivate rational self-understanding and design his profession and progression in life.