Evaluation criteria of the human resources' performances in the S.M.E.-s.

Popescu, L. ; Popescu, V. ; Iancu, A. 等

1. Introduction

The economy of a country needs a strong component of large enterprises in order to be performing. But it must not be neglected the fact the S.M.E.-s, by complementarity's relations they develop with the large firms, have also an essential role in the construction of a "healthy" economy. The small and middle enterprises represent in fact the most numerous and important part of the enterprises, because they fulfill multiple economic, technical and social functions.

The small and middle enterprises adapt easily at the consumers' exigencies and preferences and, at the same time, can evolve in the posture of suppliers of components, subassemblies and services for the large enterprises, through the activity of sub-contracting. These products and services are offered at prices lower than the ones the large firms will be able to offer.

An important trump of the organizations of small or middle dimension is referring to their innovative potential in technical, technological and managerial plan. After the Second World War, 95 % of the fundamental inventions were realized by this type of firms (Timmons, 1990). Well anchored and integrated in the social environment, the small and middle enterprises create and innovate constantly a large diversity of products and services able to satisfy the growing needs of the clients. They are situated closer to the market and permit a better regulation by quantity, but especially by the qualitative differentiation of these quantities. (Gavrila & Gavrila, 2003).

Another advantage of the S.M.E.-s is represented by the reduced number of hierarchical levels and the strong cohesion between management and employees, fact that creates an organizational climate that stimulates the obtaining of economic results of high performance. There is a good communication between the organization's subdivisions and the employees involved in the process of decisions taking and adopting regarding the firm's current and future problems. They have the liberty of decision and action necessary to excel and therefore they achieve a high level of professional satisfaction.

The harmonious climate from the small and middle enterprises makes possible the successful experimentation of certain systems, methods and techniques taken over from the managerial theory. These firms offer a favorable frame not only for the putting in practice of the scientific management, but also the conception of some managerial methods and procedures.

2. Information

At the reliance economic growth should, on the hand, an economic policy that promotes increased efficiency, with a maximum simplification of the legal framework, in order not to be hindered economic freedom and free initiative, on the other hand, need a greater willingness to save and invest as much in profit, with an increased desire to work (Enescu & Enescu, 2009).

In the present days a new model of economic growth is manifesting worldwide -Knowledge based economy, and its main pawn is the small and middle enterprise.

The model is based on the revolution of information, that marks the passing from the economy based mainly on physical resources to the knowledge based economy. (Jones, 1999).

In this context, the continuous training of the personnel has become a fundamental feature of the knowledge based economy. J. Naisbitt and P. Aburdene affirm that "in the new informational society, the human capital has replaced the financial capital, as strategic resource" (Naisbitt & Aburdene, 1990). C.H. Besseyre considers that a firm's human resources must be trained and developed continuously since "they are the first and most important strategic resources of the organization" (Besseyre, 1988).

In some developed countries, the university education has gained an entrepreneurial dimension, meaning that students (who, in the future, will be active in small and middle enterprises) are educated in the direction of developing an entrepreneurial spirit, identifying the opportunities existent on the market and putting them in practice, either by creating a small enterprise, or by getting involved in an already existent organization of this kind. In the present period, the people's vision on economy and business is more and more flexible, dynamic and creative, fact which favors the human resources natural inclination to capitalize on their potential within small and middle enterprises. The decisive contribution of the human resources to the gaining of the competitive advantage is given by their ability to produce and combine all the other resources of the firm-technological, material, financial, informational, managerial, juridical etc. (Ivanus, 2008).

All the existent organizations, either large firms or small and middle enterprises, develop they activities in an environment characterized by permanent changes and, more than that, in a world in which the phenomenon of globalization and internationalization manifests itself in all the fields of activity. For this reason, the manager must be permanently informed upon the technological progresses and must understand the dynamic of the market's changes and clients' requirements.

The impact of the economic activities' internationalization on the small and middle enterprises must be approached from a double perspective. on one hand, these firms have access to new markets, to raw materials of higher quality and have the possibility to hire manpower with a high level of education, in the conditions of lower salaries. The other opportunities from which the small and middle enterprises benefit in the context of the economy's internationalization are referring to the acquisition of new and modern technologies, to the transferring of managerial knowhow in all the areas of the organizational activities(production, research-development, commercial etc and to the achievement of strategic partnerships and alliances with foreign firms.

An organization's success or failure depends decisively on the manner in which the human resources it has act. So, the managers must motivate constantly their employees and determine their desire of action necessary for solving problems, stimulating creativity, increasing the competitiveness of the organization.

The evaluation offers to the employee the occasion to find out how well he fulfilled his tasks or at least how well the management of the firm considers he has respected the role that was attributed to him within the organization.

The evaluation of the personnel was considered for a long time a system of actions that assure a good management of the human resources, but, in the present, it represent for the organizational a competitive advantage next to the communication. (Rosca et al., 2005).

In conformity with the work legislation, the evaluation of the performances is the activity through which is determined in which degree the employees of an organizations fulfill their tasks or responsibilities. In other words, it is the process by which is evaluated the contribution of an employee during a certain period of time.

The global contribution of an employee at the achievement of the organization's objectives can not be exactly quantified, since it represents such a complex criterion. For this reason, it must be transposed in more concrete criteria , easily noticeable and measurable. The evaluation criteria of the employees' activity used can aim to: personality characteristics, behaviors or results.

The evaluation of performances leads to an appreciation of the employees' activity results, to the identification of their objectives for the next period of time and the establishing of an improvement plan for the employees' future results.

Unlike the analysis of the post/job-which is referring to the contents and the requirements of the post, implying therefore an impersonal description of the post's objectives, tasks and responsibilities, or unlike the evaluation of the post-which implies the determination of a post's relative value, the evaluation of the performances is focusing on the achievement of post's objectives, tasks, responsibilities or requirements by the one that occupies it.

The evaluation of performances objectives focus on the entire organization and point out the most important activities of the human resources management. The type of objectives of priority characteristic for the evaluation of performances are:

* The determination of the salaries' level proper for the human resources of the

firm;

* The revelation of the performance's feedback;

* The establishing of the human resources' training and promotion program;

* The motivating of the human resources;

* The effectuation of re-structuring, reorganizations or dismissals regarding persons or departments within the enterprise;

* The integration of the human resources within the enterprise according to some specific profiles.

The human resources' evaluation of performances has some distinct features in the case of the S.M.E.-s, such as:

* The assuming by the entrepreneur-manager of the responsibilities of the human resources management, therefore he determines the modalities in which the employees' performances and the manner of rewarding are differentiated;

* The activities are seldom executed by employees that do not have the necessary competences;

* The performances of the employees are not rigorously evaluated.

In order to be able to make the process of performances' evaluation, each organization must set standards of performance for all the posts. By a standard of performance are defined the performances that are expected from the titular of the respective post (Pell, 2007). It is essential that each and every employee to acknowledge in time the requirements of the standard, this thing being possible only if the employees are involved in the standards' elaboration process.

The standards of performance are elaborated starting from the post's requirements and, they are usually based on the experience of workers with a satisfactory activity, that have fulfilled that post for a certain period of time. No matter if they make reference to the quality or the quantity of an employee's work, all standards must respect some conditions:

* To be specific, meaning that each individual must be aware of what exactly is he expected to make;

* To be measurable/quantifiable, meaning the organization must have a scale of reference on which to measure the performance;

* To be realistic, because if they are not, the employees might consider them unachievable and will make no efforts to achieve them

The criteria for the evaluation of the S.M.E.-s' employees performances appreciated to be the most important by the entrepreneurs are: the experience, the competence in the field of activity, the spirit of responsibility, the degree of involvement in the firm's activity, the knowledge and abilities possessed, seriousness. The other criteria (the capacity for effort, intelligence, the school graduated, the polite behavior, foreign languages known and the recommendations) are less important in the evaluation of the performances (Nicolescu, 2008).

As table 1 shows, there are noticeable differences regarding the criteria taken into account during the evaluation of performances within the small enterprises depending on how long has passed since their creation.

We can observe in conclusion that in the case of the firms older than 15 years the first ranked criterion in the appreciation of the employees is still the experience they posses.

At the same time, this category of enterprises put the highest stress on the spirit of responsibility, on seriousness , on the employees' degree of involvement in the firm, but also on their polite behavior.

The school graduated, the foreign languages known and the employees' competence level in their field of activity are more frequent in the case of the S.M.E. -s 5-10 years old and the 10 -15 years old firms have lower percentages at these criteria.

In regard to the employees' capacity for effort, it is taken into account mostly by the "younger" firms, with maximum 10 years since their creation, because they target to compensate the lack of experience or knowledge in the domain of activity with more intense efforts on behalf of the employees.

The activity of evaluating the performances must answer the following questions:

1) What must be evaluated?

2) Who has to make the evaluation?

3) What modalities of evaluation are used?

4) How is communicated the result of the evaluation?

Depending on the nature of the activity, on the organizational culture and the way in which the career of the personnel is administrated, the managers can analyze the following attributes in the process of evaluating performances:

* knowledge, qualifications, educational programs effectuated during the period evaluated, the experience accumulated;

* abilities regarding the delegation, planning, supervision, assumption of responsibilities, time scheduling, management, decision taking process, solving problems;

* personal qualities: appearance, personality, enthusiasm, health, physical abilities, creativity;

* interpersonal qualities: verbal and written communication, relations with clients, with supervisors and colleagues.

The criteria for the appreciation of the employees' performances in the case of the Romanian S.M.E.-s are presented differentiated, depending on the field of activity, conform to table 2 (Nicolescu, 2008).

The following conclusions can be drawn from the situation presented:

* the appreciation criteria considered important in the same degree by firms from all the fields of activity are the Competence in his field of activity and the Conscientiousness;

* the experience is the most important criterion within the firms that are active in the constructions, being followed by the spirit of responsibility, while criteria such as Foreign languages known, Recommendations, polite behavior have very low values, fact that determine us to affirm they are irrelevant for the appreciation of the respective employees' activity;

* in the firms from the domain of tourism, the managers put a lot of accent on experience, spirit of responsibility but also on the knowledge and abilities owned by the employees; it also can be noticed the maximal percentage recorded by the foreign languages known criterion, duet o the international characteristic of the activities developed in that domain;

* it must also be pointed out that the intelligence of an employee is the most appreciated by the economic agents from the services' domain, while for the firms involved in transports the maximal percent is recorded by the Degree of involvement in the firm criterion;

* the industrial S.M.E.-s represents the large majority from the total number of organizations that focus on the employee's' competence in the domain.

3. Conclusion

Analyzing the specific activities and methods regarding the evaluation of the human resources in the case of the S.M.E.-s, it can be said the managers of these firms have not a well prepared and already developed clear strategy in the domain of the employees' professional training. This is due also to the fact they do not have a coherent evaluation system, the evaluation process is not a regular one, and the importance of the evaluation criteria is set by the managers based on their intuition and experience.

Even though it is necessary, the evaluation of performances is a quite difficult activity and even controversial and hated activity , because the employees can associate it to losing their jobs. Some employees fear the evaluations will be used abusively, as a threat, which brings about a state of uncertainty.

It is very important therefore that all the employees understand the sense of the performances' evaluation and the fact it represents an activity with a positive and constructive finality, that can offer the following advantages:

* learning from the past mistakes so not to repeat them in the future;

* recognizing the abilities and potential of each employee;

* developing constantly the knowledge, the aptitudes and the attitudes;

* a higher work motivation and satisfaction;

* the intensification of the relations of collaboration between employees and also between managers and employees.

DOI: 10.2507/daaam.scibook.2009.88

4 References

Besseyre, C. H. (1988). Gerer les ressources humaines dans l'entreprise, Les Edition d'Organisations, Paris

Bucurean, M. (2001). Management si creativitate in micile afacerii/Management and Creativity in the Small Business, Editura Tribuna Economica, Bucuresti

Enescu, M. & Enescu, M. (2009). Models of Economic Growth Based on Economic Investment, Analele Universitatii "Tibiscus", Seria Stiinte Economice, Vol. XV/2009, pp.420-425, ISSN 1582-6333

Gavrila T. & Gavrila, I. (2003). Economia bazata pe cunoastere/Knowledge-based Economy, Tribuna Economica, Vol. 4, No. 9/2003, pp. 67-69, ISSN 1018-0451

Ivanus, R.C. (2008). IMM-urile in conditiile noii economii mondiale The S.M.E.-s in the conditions of the new global economy, Available from: http://www.uvvg.ro/studia/economice/index.php? categoryid=14&p2_articleid=159 Accessed: 2009-05-29

Jones, A. B. (1999). Knowledge Capitalism-Business. Work and Learning in the New Economy, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Naisbitt, J. & Aburdene, P. (1990). Megatrends 2000: Ten New Directions for the 1990s, New York, William Morrow and Co.

Nicolescu, O.; Isaic-Maniu, A.; Isaic-Maniu, I.; Nicolescu, C. & Anghel, F. (2008). Cartea alba a IMM-urilor din Romania/The White Book of the S.M.E.-s from

Romania, Editura Olimp, Bucuresti, ISBN 978-973-1806-31-0

Pell, A.R. (2007) Managementul resurselor umane/Human Resources Management, Editura Curtea Veche, Bucuresti, ISBN 978-973-669-295-6

Rosca, C.; Varzaru, M. & Rosca, I. Gh. (2005). Resurse umane. Management si gestiun/Human Resources. Management and Administration e, Editura Economica, Bucuresti, ISBN 973-709-164-7

Timmons, J. A. (1990). New Venture Creation. Entrepreneurship in the 1990's, Hauew, Boston

*** http://www.legislatiamuncii.ro/ a/134/2-ce-este-evaluarea-performantelor.html (2009), Accessed on: 2009-06-01

This Publication has to be referred as: Popescu, L[uminita]; Popescu, V[irgil] & Iancu, A[nica] (2009). Evaluation Criteria of the Human Resources' Performances in the S.M.E.-s, Chapter 88 in DAAAM International Scientific Book 2009, pp. 907914, B. Katalinic (Ed.), Published by DAAAM International, ISBN 978-3-90150969-8, ISSN 1726-9687, Vienna, Austria

Authors' data: Assoc.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Popescu, L[uminita]; Assoc.Prof. Dipl.Ing. Dr. Popescu, V[irgil]; Assoc.Prof. Dr. Iancu, A[nica], University of Craiova, Al. I. 13, 200585, Craiova, Romania, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Tab. 1. Criteria for the appreciation of the employees from the S.M.E.-s depending on the age of the firm Nr. Elements appreciated by the The age of firms entrepreneurs to be the Over most important at the Under 5 5-10 10-15 15 employees they work with years years years years 1. Experience 53,86% 56,01% 55,09% 64,10% 2. Knowledge and abilities 43,75% 49,48% 46,04% 53,21% owned 3. Recommendations 6,25% 6,53% 7,29% 5,77% 4. Intelligence 30,88% 32,65% 28,68% 28,21% 5. The spirit of responsibility 51,84% 56,36% 52,45% 64,74% 6. The degree of involvement 45,40% 50,17% 49,43% 56,41% in the firm 7. The school graduated 19,85% 21,31% 18,11% 20,51% 8. Foreign languages known 11,40% 13,40% 8,68% 10,90% 9. The competence in his 56,07% 56,36% 52,83% 55,13% field of activity 10. The seriousness 41,73% 43,99% 42,26% 50,00% 11. The capacity for effort 33,09% 32,99% 26,42% 31,41% 12. Polite behavior 16,36% 19,59% 19,25% 22,44% Tab. 2. The percentage of the evaluation criteria depending on the firms' domain of activity Nr. Elements appreciated by the entrepreneurs to be the most important S.M.E.-s on branches of activity at the employees they work with Industry Constructions Commerce 1. Experience 56,89% 67,74% 50,00% 2. Knowledge and 49,78% 54,84% 40,00% abilities owned 3. Recommendations 7,56% 3,23% 3,75% 4. Intelligence 28,00% 22,58% 24,38% 5. The spirit of 54,67% 61,29% 48,75% responsibility 6. The degree of 52,44% 58,06% 39,38% involvement in the firm 7. The school 20,44% 9,68% 13,75% graduated 8. Foreign languages 5,78% 0,00% 3,75% known 9. The competence 59,56% 54,84% 51,88% in his field of activity 10. The seriousness 44,89% 41,94% 41,25% 11. The capacity for 28,44% 29,03% 28,13% effort 12. Polite behavior 16,44% 6,45% 20,00% Nr. Elements appreciated by the entrepreneurs to be the most important S.M.E.-s on branches of activity at the employees they work with Tourism Transports Services 1. Experience 65,79% 57,22% 54,67% 2. Knowledge and 55,26% 45,99% 46,96% abilities owned 3. Recommendations 13,16% 8,56% 5,14% 4. Intelligence 26,32% 30,48% 35,05% 5. The spirit of 63,16% 58,56% 52,10% responsibility 6. The degree of 47,37% 53,74% 45,33% involvement in the firm 7. The school 26,32% 21,12% 21,03% graduated 8. Foreign languages 13,16% 13,10% 15,89% known 9. The competence 47,37% 52,67% 57,48% in his field of activity 10. The seriousness 50,00% 46,79% 39,95% 11. The capacity for 39,47% 34,76% 30,84% effort 12. Polite behavior 31,58% 21,66% 15,89%