Indian Banks and Performance Appraisal System:An HR Strategy for Corporate Excellence

Banking in India enjoys the status of an Industry and plays a significant role in socio-economic life of India and its people which is said to be the country's second largest employer employing about 8,00,000 people. It is a people-oriented service industry whose main resources are people who deliver the services to people and therefore, its major strength is considered to be the quality of people within. Their dedicated staff members are seen as a competitive edge. As no service in banks can be delivered without human beings (human resources), the human resources are considered to be their main assets which can be best utilized by them for improving and making the services more efficient and effective through sheer work excellence developed by formulating a strategy of Human Resource Development as a banks' policy. In the process of formulating the development strategy, the performance appraisal system works as a machinery which provides the feedback on human resources. It measures their strengths and weaknesses and it is used as a diagnostic tool by any organization. It determines as to how an employee is performing his job. However, a few studies conducted seeking the opinions of managerial staff of other organizations indicate that they want an Open Appraisal System as they think; it is simply an annual ritual. There is a very little research evidence available about the attitudes of bank officers to performance appraisal system and therefore, it is aimed to investigate as to know whether the system in banks works objectively on the principles of neutrality.

With this in view, an attempt is made by the author in this paper to study the existing pattern of performance appraisal system in banks for officers&managers and gives few suggestions to change the present appraisal system besides some recommendations to boost the morale of talented employees which may definitely help the banks as a strategy for corporate excellence.