Potential Appraisal

The potential appraisal refers to the appraisal i.e. identification of the hidden talents and skills of a person. The person might or might not be aware of them. Potential appraisal is a future – oriented appraisal whose main objective is to identify and evaluate the potential of the employees to assume higher positions and responsibilities in the organizational hierarchy. Many organisations consider and use potential appraisal as a part of the performance appraisal processes.

The purposes of a potential review are:

to inform employees of their future prospects;
to enable the organisation to draft a management succession programme;
to update training and recruitment activities;
to advise employees about the work to be done to enhance their career opportunities.

Techniques of potential appraisal:

Self – appraisals
Peer appraisals
Superior appraisals
MBO
Psychological and psychometric tests
Management games like role playing
Leadership exercises etc.
Potential appraisal helps to identify what can happen in future so that it can be guided and directed towards the achievement of individual and organizational growth and goals. Therefore, potential should be included as a part of the Performance appraisal in organisations.

Facts

The Potential for Improving Performance, or PIP, measures the performance of the average worker versus the best person performing a particular task. Large differences suggest that performance can be improved by bringing average performance up closer to the best performance. Small differences suggest little potential for improvement.

The following are some of the requirements and steps to be followed when introducing a potential appraisal system:

Role Description: A good potential appraisal system would be based on clarity of roles and functions associated with the different roles in an organisation. This requires extensive job descriptions to be made available for each job. These job descriptions should spell out the various functions involved in performing the job.

Qualities Required: Besides job descriptions, it is necessary to have a detailed list of qualities required to perform each of these functions. These qualities may be broadly divided into four categories -
(1) technical knowledge and skills,
(2) managerial capabilities and qualities,
(3) behavioural capabilities, and
(4) conceptual capabilities.

Indicators of Qualities: A good potential appraisal system besides listing down the functions and qualities would also have various mechanisms for judging these qualities in a given individual. Some of the mechanisms for judging these qualities are -
(a) rating by others,
(b) psychological tests,
(c) simulation games and exercises,
(d) performance appraisal records.

Organising the System: Once the functions, the qualities required to perform these functions, indicators of these qualities, and mechanisms for generating these indicators are clear, the organisation is in a sound position to establish and operate the potential appraisal system. Such establishment requires clarity in organisational policies and systematisation of its efforts.

Feedback: If the organisation believes in the development of human resources it should attempt to generate a climate of openness. Such a climate is required for helping the employees to understand their strengths and weaknesses and to create opportunities for development. A good potential appraisal system should provide an opportunity for every employee to know the results of assessment. He should be helped to understand the qualities actually required for performing the role for which he thinks he has the potential, the mechanisms used by the organisation to appraise his potential, and the results of such an appraisal.

A good potential appraisal system provides opportunities continuously for the employee to know his strengths and weaknesses. These are done through periodic counselling and guidance sessions by either the personnel department or the managers concerned. This should enable the employee to develop realistic self-perceptions and plan his own career and development.
Potential Appraisal vs. Performance Appraisal

Potential Appraisal is forward looking process whether performance appraisal is backward looking process. Any good or worse assessment results of performance appraisal may not be a good factor for potential appraisal. But current performance of an employee could show evidence somewhere whether he/she is flexible for new working conditions.