Introduction Performance appraisal is a regular process for assessing the performance of employees in a given period conducted by the leadership. The performance is measured against such factors as job knowledge, quality and quantity of output, initiative, leadership abilities, supervision, dependability, co-operation, judgment and versatility. According to Picnicu (2020) the performance appraisal process can have a significant impact on employee morale and engagement. This method often provides valuable insights to managers and employees, helping companies make decisions regarding bonuses, raises, promotions and other rewards. It also allows managers to define medium-term and long-term objectives for their team members and help them grow professionally. Thus, getting an objective evaluation of an employee's performance will help a company identify any existing problems in the workplace. This will help the HR department to solve those problems quickly and with ease. The Case Study Zeta SA is one of the largest retail chains with a network of over 500 stores including Super Markets, Wholesale stores (B2B), Franchise stores and over 14,500 employees. Zeta SA is a member of McCosmos Group that operates a network of 21 companies in 3 continents (11 countries), 375,000 employees and is trusted by more than 50 million customers on a weekly basis. George Papadopoulos, newly appointed HR Performance Appraisal Manager at Zeta SA, faced a tough problem shortly after his career in the company began. Three weeks after he came on board in September, Zeta HR Director, told George that one of his first tasks was to improve the appraisal system used to evaluate inventory clerks at Zeta Super Market. Apparently, the main difficulty was that the performance appraisal was traditionally tied directly to salary increases given at the end of the year. So most line managers were less than accurate when they used the graphic rating forms that were the basis of the clerical staff evaluation. In fact, what usually happened was that each line manager simply rated his or her clerk or as excellent. This cleared the way for all support staff to receive a maximum pay increase every year. But, the current companys budget simply did not include enough money to fund another maximum annual increase for every staffer. Furthermore, Zetas HR Director felt that the custom of providing invalid feedback to each clerk on his or her years performance was not productive, so he had asked the new HR Performance Appraisal Manager to revise the system. In October, George sent a memo to all line managers telling them that in the future no more than half the inventory clerks reporting to any particular line manager could be appraised as excellent. This move, in effect, forced each supervisor to begin ranking his or her clerks for quality of performance. The HR Performance Appraisal Manager memo met widespread resistance immediately from line managers, who were afraid that many of their clerks would begin leaving for more lucrative jobs in the industry; and from clerks, who felt that the new system was unfair and reduced each clerks chance of receiving a maximum salary increase. The caustic remarks by disgruntled line managers, and rumours of an impending slowdown by the inventory clerks made George wonder whether he had made the right decision by setting up forced ranking. He knew, however, that you, a former fellow student of him, own an HR Consulting company and you are expert in performance appraisal issues. Thus, he decided to set up an appointment with you to discuss the matter. He met with you the next morning. He explained the situation as he had found it: The present appraisal system had been set up when the Zeta company first opened 10 years earlier; and the appraisal form had been developed primarily by a committee of inventory clerks. Under that system, Zetas line managers filled out forms similar to the following figure Excellent Good Fair Poor Quality of Work Creativity Integrity This once a year appraisal (in March) had run into problems almost immediately, since it was apparent from the start that line managers varied widely in their interpretations of job standards, as well as in how conscientiously they filled out the forms and supervised their clerks. Moreover, at the end of the first year it became obvious to everyone that each clerks salary increase was tied directly to the March appraisal. For example, those rated excellent received the maximum increases, those rated good received smaller increases, and those given neither rating received only the standard across the-board, cost-of-living increase. Since Zeta company, as a new firm, have paid inventory clerks somewhat lower salaries than those prevailing in the industry, some clerks left in a huff that first year. From that time on, most line managers simply rated all clerks excellent in order to reduce staff turnover, thus ensuring each a maximum increase. In the process, they also avoided the hard feelings aroused by the significant performance differences otherwise highlighted by line managers. You agreed to consider the problem, and in two weeks you came back to the HR Performance Appraisal Manager with an overall performance appraisal plan

Please read the case study above and answer the following question with approximetly 600 words : QUESTION Do you think that HR Appraisal Manager would be better off dropping graphic rating forms, substituting instead with another performance appraisal technique? If so, what technique and why?