PDA - A Stagnant Mechanism / Stumbling Block to Quality Culture?

Performance Development Appraisal (PDA) of Staff , is an indispensable tool used by most organisations for the purpose of motivating staff for greater performance to benefit the entire organisation. This paper examines the effectiveness of such mechanism to fulfil such noble intention by research, observation of several large organisations and application of some appropriate models.

Maslow's Model & PDA

Maslow's Model is used to categorise the motivating stages to arrive at the maturity levels of the staff's performance and development. The five maturity levels are 1) Basic Needs 2) Security 3) Socialisation 4) Recognition 5) Self Actualisation. Respectively each level is interpreted in the context of large organisation working / business culture, namely : 1) Basic Needs include salary, allowance, benefits etc.. 2) Security includes loss or opportunity of a job, promotion, fulfilment of expectation 3) Socialisation to mean teamwork that can contribute to greater success of the Business, not just the usual socialisation of 'family day', 'sport events' etc. 4) Recognition to mean respect by the majority for the leadership attributes, not just the official placement of somebody at position of higher authority 5) Self Actualisation, the ultimate expression and realisation of one's potential, talent and inner energy to bring the organisation to a highest platform of Excellence.

Generally, most hierarchical and highly compartmentalised large organisations can only reach the above level 2) and are struggling with level 3) on teamwork. With sincere intention, they invest in TQM, Q_Cirlce, TeamBulding, ABA, ReEngineering, ISO 9000 etc. without knowing that the PDA mechanism has stagnated at level 2). The taken for granted PDA mechanism without review and continuously improvement is actually a resisting rigid structure, blocking any attempt towards level 3).

The evidence of stagnation at level 2) in most organisations is plentiful. One can easily find emotional expression of ideas on Company Business / Work Process / Policy etc. in the form of complaints, frustration, grievances, humour or sarcasm etc. at canteen, corridors, golf fields, etc. but never at the official meeting or discussion with the management concerned. Actually a lot of the above ideas are seeds and inspiration for improvement opportunities of the Business. But there are a lot of reservation and fear on the staff concerned to bring them out to the open. Hence the hidden energy of the ESS (employee suggestion scheme) or Kaizen spirit is left un-tapped by organisation. The breakthrough for level 2) Security remains an illusive dream.

Which aspect of the organisation structure & system bring about the above type of behavioural pattern? The PDA mechanism is examined.

Individual-Performance-Based PDA

The usual stone-age PDA mechanism is a mirror image of the organisation hierarchical and compartmentalised structure. It is basically Frederick Taylor doctrine of "Divide and Manage" "Divide and Rule" "Divide and Appraise" of Individual by another Individual (the Line supervisor). Hence the main focus is Individualism, not TeamWork. It is more an "opinion assessment" of individual's performance in relation to identified fragmented tasks or activities. It cannot be an objective assessment as in the first place, works are designed in fragmented and compartmentalized manner. In some organisation there are some inputs of collectivism like assessing the Individual co-operativeness, ability to work in team etc. In others, a panel of senior managers will review the individually appraised results to examine the overall group performance e.g. ranking exercise, meeting the quota set by organisation etc. However such modified improvement still lacks behind reaching the maturity level of 3) "Teamwork", that can be genuinely felt and recognised by all staff concerned, let alone level 4) and 5) of a larger number of the staff.

Characteristics of Quality Organisation

When organisations have succeeded in using the appropriate Business Models like ISO 9000, ReEnginnering or ABA etc. the outcome is the identification of smooth flow of Business Processes and cohesive and effective system that is documented, implemented, audited, reviewed and improved. Statistical Process Control technique is indispensable for objective measurement of performance of the documented process-flowed Business (not on piece meal fragmented problem, issue, incident, trip, failure handling with corrective action). Institutionalised TEAMs on a permanent basis is, then, no more an option but MANDATORY to effect the above new Business practice in a competitive or demanding environment.

Well before this junction, the PDA mechanism has to be redesigned to integrate with the above new Organisational Change for a new Business culture. An interesting and promising experiment by a veteran organisation (electronic) in Quality culture redesigned the PDA mechanism as follow : 40 % of the input to the staff PDA follow the old methods (i.e. assessment by the line supervisors), but 60 % of the input comes form the institutionalised permanent Quality Team in which the staff is a member. The quality team has a focused Key Business Process (or processes) with use of statistical measurement as objective evidence of performance improvement.

The newly designed PDA mechanism changes the role of the above mentioned "panel of senior managers" as judges of the staff performance to coaches and guidance of the staff. It is the well performed PROCESSES (with appropriate statistical data as objective evidence) that drive the Business, with a lot of opportunity for staff creativity and innovation in a teamwork manner, that will not only achieve Maslow's 3rd level on Socialisation, but lay a sound foundation towards level 4, Recognition and 5, Self Actualisation.

PDA, will be a stagnant mechanism that cannot contribute effectively to the Organisation Quality Vision and a stumbling block to any attempt to effect a Quality culture, if the mechanism is not being reviewed and improved in line with Business Process Change. Hence a properly redesigned PDA can be a liberating mechanism to unleash the power (an empowerment concept), talent and creativity of the staff for the benefit of the entire organisation and society.

End.