Excellent annual appraisal ratings have become a pattern befuddling not only human resource management in the private sector but now, in the Government as well. So much so that the recurrence of “10/10” ratings for members of the Indian bureaucracy has led to a review of the format of Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) with a new system expected to be in place early next year.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar said there were “inherent shortcomings” in the existing numerical system of annual appraisal for members of the Indian Administrative Service.

“We introduced the numerical system about two years ago but find that a 10/10 rating is being frequently given to officers who are in Ministries or Departments whose performance may be 3 or 4 (on a scale of 10),” he pointed out. “Besides, since senior officers writing the ACRs are now required to show the rating to the officer being appraised, they give them high grades leading to this mismatch between performance of individual officers and the department as a whole.”

For months now, experts from the National Academy of Administration, the IIMs and the Cabinet Secretariat have been working on the new appraisal format to evolve a more “scientific formula” for rating the performance of Ministries and Departments. The idea is for departmental ratings to be in before the season for filling in ACRs so that the present mismatch with individual performances converges to a better match.

Appraisal mechanisms of countries such as USA, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia and Kenya have been examined and the blueprint for reform picked from the 10th report of the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC).

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