Objectives

In the current age of competitive environment, numerous organisations are struggling to bring the improvement in the performance of employees. The organisations are improving the performance of employees by putting the additional efforts. This effort also includes the employee’s performance appraisal strategy through which managers make the employee inform about the level of performance and also define the problems that are associated with the performance so that improvement can be done. The company on which the paper focuses is Accenture and reflects the ways through which the tools are used by the company to evaluate the performance. Accenture has designed a software which is known as Performance Multiplier which they make use for performance appraisal. The paper includes the research which draws the attention towards the software to evaluate either it can measure the attitude and behaviour of employees that can contribute in organisational goals.

• The objective of the research paper is to analyse the effectiveness of the performance multiplier as a tool for the performance appraisal system in Accenture.
• To review the feedback that has been collected through the employees and management related to the performance appraisal method.
• The paper explains the drawback or shortcomings related to the software of performance multiplier.
• The objective of the paper is to draw the recommendation on the basis of employee’s feedback to enhance the process in the organisation.

In the current era, the rise in competition is enforcing the company to think for different strategies. This, the company take the appropriate strategy related to the performance appraisal which is referred to like the ways to review and evaluation of the employee’s performance (DeNisi & Gonzalez, 2017). The employees in the company get the appraisal in terms of hike in salary or designation. This section includes the analysis related to the effectiveness of the Performance Multiplier which is used by the company as a tool for appraisal of the employees within the organisation. Accenture makes use of this software which helps them in understand the behaviour and attitude of the employees towards the work and to meet the goals of the company (Iqbal, Akbar & Budhwar, 2015). The multiplier work offers an opportunity for employees reflects their objective towards the work profile as this is the only way through which the manager can analyse that it has been aligned with the objectives of the company. The tool helps the company to multiply the appraisal with their objective that can be evaluated by them with the help of this software.

This has been found by the researcher that companies are making uses of the social networking based Performance appraisal system internally (Ikramullah, Van Prooijen,  Iqbal & Ul-Hassan, 2016). This made the Accenture realised that there is a need for effective performance appraisal system due to which they brought the performance multiplier which helps the companies to conduct the process in an effective manner. Further, the researcher has put in efforts to explain the effectiveness of the tool by evaluating the feedback given by the employees and management for implementing the tool in the Accenture Company (Chouhan & Verma, 2014).

Background

Drawbacks and shortcomings of “Performance Multiplier” in Accenture

Performance Multiplier in Accenture is considered as one of the advantages for the company as this is the way through which company can analyse the behaviour and willingness of employees to meet the goals. The achievement of goals leads to the success of the company and helps the employees to grow in the organisation by participating in the appraisal. According to the feedback shared by the management of Accenture, this has been found that the performance multiplier tool helps the company to evaluate the set standards are met by the company or not (Accenture, 2018). In addition to this, the new system motivates the employees to meet their set objectives so that they can get a good amount of appraisal. In this performance multiplier, the feedback has been given to the managers and employees on a real-time basis (Accenture, 2018).

Though, the system has some loopholes as most of the employees understand that this system of performance multiplier improves the appraisal of employees which might contribute in increasing the budget of the company. In addition to this, the method is one of the time-consuming methods because understanding the behaviour of employees is one of the difficult tasks. Another shortcoming of this software is the implementation of the tool is difficult to be done as it requires an expert for the same.

Research methodology is referred to as the procedure which is mainly used for collecting the facts and figures with the intention to collect the research in an effective methodological manner (Smith, 2015).

Data collection method is one of the effective techniques that exercise with the motive to pool and access the facts that are related with the issues related to research (Hair, Wolfinbarger, Money, Samouel & Page, 2015). The researcher makes use of the two types of data collection method which include a primary method and secondary method. The primary method is gathered by a researcher with the help of a survey of 100 employees from different departments like Marketing, HR, Manufacturing, Finance, Export, Research & Development and QA. On the other hand, the data can be collected by the company with the secondary data that is pooled majorly from the database from Accenture. This can include the use of company article, annual reports and many others (Lewis, 2015).

The research tool includes the tool that has been used with the motive to collect the data. In the research of Performance multiplier effectiveness for Accenture company. The research tool that has been used is the self-developed questionnaire that helps in collecting data from different employees (Mackey & Gass, 2015).

Drawbacks and shortcomings of Performance Multiplier in Accenture

The research sampling is a process through which the implementation can be done to select the respondents from the wide group of population (Saks & Allsop, 2012). The researcher can make use of two different sampling techniques which include non-probability sampling and probability sampling. Out of these, the researcher has selected the probability sampling method has been selected which include the simple random sampling method in which the research participants are selected on a random basis (Silverman, 2016). The use of the method by the researcher has been done for the survey that can reduce the biases while selecting the candidate. (Refer to Appendix 1)

This section includes the analysis of the feedback that has been taken by the researcher with the help of the survey through a questionnaire (Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015).

Table 1: Gender

Gender
Feminine	50
Masculine	50

Chart 1

The researcher has conducted the survey with the equal number of male (50%) and female (50%) that are present in the organization with the objective to promote diversity and equality among the employees.

Table 2: Age-group

Age-group
Less than 1 year	15
1-3 years	30
4- 6 years	26
More than 6 years	29

Chart 2

The feedback of the employees shows that most people have the experience of 1-3 years or more than 6 years with 30 and 29 employees respectively. This shows that the employees who participated in the survey of Accenture are more mature and experience rather than of fresher and these employees are aware of the performance appraisal system that is followed by Accenture.

Table 3: Work is satisfying, worthwhile and helps contribute to the success of the organisation and personal objectives

Work is satisfying, worthwhile and helps contribute to the success of the organisation and personal objectives
Strongly agree	30
Agree	15
Neither agrees nor disagrees	9
Disagree	28
Strongly disagree	18

Chart 3

Further, the researcher talked about work satisfaction, worthwhile and its contribution to the success of personal and organisation objectives. The researcher finds in the survey that 30 employees agree and 28 disagree for work that is offered by Accenture to their employees. This shows that there are partial employees who are able to meet their personal objectives and organization objectives. In addition to this, there are remaining 28 employees who are not able to contribute to success.  

Table 4: an Annual set of performance standards

Annual set of performance standards
Strongly agree	30
Agree	43
Neither agrees nor disagrees	7
Disagree	11
Strongly disagree	9

Chart 4

The survey reflects that the employees are able to maintain the annual set of performance standards and this is possible with the help of the performance multiplier which clears the objective of the company which makes them set the standards that they are willing to meet to get the effective appraisal.

Research methodology

Table 5: Duration of filling the performance appraisal form

Duration of filling the performance appraisal form
Fortnightly	10
Monthly	9
Half Yearly	16
Annually	40
Not fixed	25

Chart 5

This chart shows that 40 employees have accepted the fact that the duration of filling the performance appraisal form is annual. This means that employees receive the performance appraisal on an annual basis which include the evaluation of their objective that leads to the success of the organisation.  

Table 6: Basis of performance appraisal

The basis of performance appraisal
Merit cum seniority (Merit is given preference over seniority)	28
Seniority cum merit (seniority gave preference over merit)	24
Merit only	30
Seniority only	18

Chart 6

The researcher raised the question with the motive to analyse the basis of performance appraisal in Accenture. The result of the survey reflects that 30 employees believe that performance appraisal of employees has been done on merit basis. Though, 28 employees believe that appraisal of performance is done through merit cum seniority as Accenture company has employees who are working for the company since long.

Table 7: Methods are being used for performance appraisal

Methods are being used for performance appraisal
Forced choice distribution technique	17
Essay method	18
Ranking method	45
Critical incident method	20

Chart 7

There are different types of methods that are majorly used by the Accenture for the appraisal of employees. The survey of employees reflects that the company generally make use of a ranking method which is shared by 45 employees present in the company. The ranking has been done by the company with the help of the performance delivered by employees.

Table 8: Rate the overall assessment of performance appraisal through Performance Multiplier

Rate the overall assessment of performance appraisal through Performance Multiplier
Outstanding	38
Very good	24
Good	18
Satisfactory	14
Poor	6

Chart 8

The chart shows that the employees have shared their rating for the performance appraisal through performance multiplier in which it has been found that 38 employees accepted that performance multiplier software is effective for the appraisal of employees.

Table 9: Compensation linked with performance

Compensation linked with performance
Strongly agree	41
Agree	28
Neither agrees nor disagrees	8
Disagree	14
Strongly disagree	9

Chart 9

The chart reflects that 41 employee’s belief that there is a link between the compensation with the performance of the employees in the company. This is possible because Accenture offers the compensation to the employees with the performance in the organisation which motivate them to perform well and to gain a good appraisal.

Table 10: Remedial measures are taken for the betterment of the employee

Remedial measures are taken for the betterment of the employee
Job rotation	41
Sent to the training program	35
Counselled	24

Chart 10

The chart shows that 41 employees with the majority believe that job rotation is one of the remedial measures that have been taken for the betterment of employees. Though, 35 employees believe that company sent the employees for the training program and remaining 24 employees believe that they counselled for betterment.

It is suggested to the company to relate the performance with the profitability of the company. In the company, every employee looks for the best appraisal as much as possible. Though, the Accenture Company might not be able to offer a good amount to every company due to which they should relate the performance with the profitability (Johnson, 2018). In which the company should ask from the company for the amount of profit that they have contributed will make the employee think from an organization point of view.

It is recommended to the company to maintain the documentation within the organisation for the employees. The company offer the documentation to the employees which include task and skills that are required to be followed by employees. Similar to this, the Accenture should give the documentation to the employees that include the description related to the appraisal and process of appraisal.

References 

Accenture. (2018). About Accenture. Retrieved from: https://www.accenture.com/in-en/company

Accenture. (2018). News Release. Retrieved from: https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/goodbye-annual-performance-appraisals.htmv 

Chouhan, V., & Verma, P. (2014). Improving the effectiveness of Performance appraisal tool: Who thinks that it uses improved techniques. Business Spectrum, 4(1), 71-82.

DeNisi, A. S., & Gonzalez, J. A. (2017). Design performance appraisal systems to improve performance. The Blackwell Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behaviour, 63-75.

Hair Jr, J.F., Wolfinbarger, M., Money, A.H., Samouel, P. & Page, M.J. (2015). Essentials of business research methods. New York: Routledge.

Ikramullah, M., Van Prooijen, J. W., Iqbal, M. Z., & Ul-Hassan, F. S. (2016). Effectiveness of performance appraisal: Developing a conceptual framework using competing values approach. Personnel Review, 45(2), 334-352.

Iqbal, M. Z., Akbar, S., & Budhwar, P. (2015). Effectiveness of performance appraisal: An integrated framework. International Journal of Management Reviews, 17(4), 510-533.

Johnson, K. (2018). Performance Evaluation Strategy. Retrieved from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/performance-evaluation-strategy-63761.html 

Lewis, S. (2015). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.

Mackey, A. & Gass, S.M. (2015). Second language research: Methodology and design. New York: Routledge.

Saks, M. & Allsop, J. eds. (2012). Researching health: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods. California: Sage.

Silverman, D. ed. (2016). Qualitative research. California: Sage.

Smith, J.A. ed. (2015). Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. California: Sage.

Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. & DeVault, M. (2015). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.