Study of the Role of Employee Evaluation on Improvement of Performance : Case Study Strategic Deputyship of the Judiciary System

This research evaluates the role of employees evaluation system on improvement of their performance in the strategic deputyship of the judiciary system. The purpose of this research was determination of influence of evaluating employees on feeling of job satisfaction in the organization, employee interest about participation in educational sessions, employee commitment towards the organization and promotion of individual capacities in the firm and also prioritization of each of the influential factors regarding enhancement of performance. Statistical population includes employees of the strategic deputyship of the judiciary system (380 individuals) and using the formula for a limited population, sample size was estimated at 160 individuals and simple random sampling was used for selection of participants. The main instrument for data collection was questionnaire, where the validity was confirmed by specialists and experts in the field and its reliability was confirmed using the Cronbach’s alpha method. This research purpose wise was applied and the method of investigation was descriptive-survey. Statistical methods used in this research included Spearman and Kendall tests for evaluation of correlation between independent and dependent variables and also the Friedman test was used for evaluation of the hypotheses and their confirmation or rejection and ranking of the variables. Results of data analysis showed that all hypotheses were confirmed with a probability of 95% and also meaningful correlation existed between the independent and dependent variables of the research hypotheses. As a result, the system of employee evaluation is influential on the performance of judiciary system staff in the strategic deputyship department.


Introduction 1.
Considering the importance and effect of the human factor in profitability and efficiency of organization and on the other hand, high costs incurred by each employee for the company, serious attention to this factor and its enhancement is completely necessary (Habibpour, 1999).Therefore, organizations for growth and advancement and reaching higher profitability need efficient and effective human resources.As a result, employee evaluation of every organization is among tools and instruments, where by correct implementation of them, not only goals and missions of the firm realizes with desired efficiency, but also real interests of employees and the organizations are met (Saadat, 2006).Undoubtedly, the result of evaluating personnel of organizational units not only places a tool in the hand of the management to be able to measure the units' performance, but also information is gained regarding the level of knowledge, specialization and ability of employees and if results of this evaluation shows weakness in their skills, using the Anti Peter principle, necessary teachings for enhancement of their skills is taken into considerations and if it shows very high weakness, company directors will be able to replace them with more qualified and better employees (Heydari, 2001).Therefore, evaluation and measurement of performance leads to system intelligence and motivation of individuals towards desired behavior (Farzianpour, 1999).This research endeavors after determination and defining of a framework of employee evaluation to investigate the factors that determines the place of performance enhancement for human resources at the level of staff of the judiciary system such that the key role of employee evaluation in optimization and improvement of performance of human resources is increasingly considered.Thus, the judiciary system will be assisted in optimal use of active and efficient employees.Therefore, the main question of this research is that does the employee evaluation system influence performance enhancement in the human resources section?Theoretical Background 2.

Evaluation
Traditionally, evaluation is a tool for judgment and calling to mind of employee performance and its main purpose is control of activities and decrease of deviation from plans.Yet, now a day and in the modern outlook, the main and fundamental direction of the evaluation system is focused towards growth and development of the evaluated.
One of the definitions for evaluating employees is that it is a movement by which the company measures the performance of personnel in duties allocated to them and when this task is performed with accuracy and precision, employee, supervisors, directors and particularly personnel unit all will take advantage of its useful results (Druker, 2014).«Evaluation is the official process of provision of positive or negative diagnostic feedback from the results of employee performance» (Singer, 2015).In the following is a summary of goals of evaluation that have been presented by experts.
1) Reawareness and feedback to employees regarding the method of performing their duties, responsibilities and adjectives, characteristics, traits and behavior desired.2) Recognition of the self: in a good evaluation system, employees who have performed their duties well receive a certificate or official recognition based on understanding their performance.3) Determination of job return or productivity: is the power to produce or the amount of production of an individual or a labor worker in unit of time.In other words, it can be stated that: productivity is the production level and power of the production unit or the ratio between specific amount of product and specific amount of one or multiple production factors (Doaii, 1998).4) Determination of efficiency: is the ratio of work performed to resources consumed or the ratio of amount of production to factors used.Based on results obtained from evaluation, plans for payment based on efficiency can be created.5) Determination of effectiveness: is the level of success in realization of goals and/or performance of missions.6) Fair classification of employees: involves achieving the situation of talent and power of human resources and advancing hidden talents towards desired organizational objectives and also use of this information in future appointments and promotions and estimation of educational needs and ultimately determination of fair employee classification into various groups (Abtahi, 2002).7) Creation of a logical system of encouragement and discipline: appropriate implementation of performance measurement creates the opportunity to identify strong and weak points of employees in performing their delegated responsibility and placing it as a basis for decision making regarding encouragement and discipline (the same: 268).8) Identification of individuals' talents: by way of results of the evaluation of employees, one can determine their ultimate talents.Individuals' past performance and methods selected for execution of activities show their innovation and creativity.Yet, past performance of an individual in a particular position does not precisely represent the individual and is not the only factor for identifying his or her talent and other factors should also be considered.9) Human resources planning and employee affairs: complete and comprehensive information that can be achieved by way of the knowledge, ability and skills of employees in the organization can be an appropriate basis for planning human resources and employee affairs.10) Optimization of human resources: evaluation systems for employees not only measure their success, but also provide the possibility for planning for their growth and development.Werther and Davis believe that functions of performance evaluation are improvement in performance, implementation of mediations in the system of payment, determination of educational needs, planning job trajectories, reevaluation and evaluation of human resources' policies, feedback to individuals regarding their performance and how to improve it, making decisions related to appointment, replacement, promotion, decline and … (Werther & Davis, 1993).

Performance
Various definitions in reference texts have been given for performance and here we will present some of them: Performance is gaining results from duties that have been delegated by the organization to human resources (Casio, 1989).Performance is predicted criteria or key dependent indices in the framework presented.This framework performs as an instrument for judging individuals, groups and organizations (Andrew, 1988).Performance is a behavior measured or given value in the direction of reaching organizational objectives (Courtis, 2004).Performance is what individuals in an organization do and the method that they affect organizational productivity (Robbins, 1995).
From collection of these definitions it can be concluded that performance is a general concept which shows the result of organizational activities and effectiveness and efficiency is considered as components of performance.Peter Drucker has defined effectiveness as performing correct actions and efficiency as correct performance of tasks.
Every person's performance results from two phenomena: first consists of the individual's traits and second characteristics of his or her work environment.In other words, a person's performance is a function of multiplication product of three factors of ability and skill, effort and ultimately environmental support that refers to two kinds: physical support (organizational structure, work facilities, financial support and …) and psychological support (psychological back up and necessary behavioral and organizational support and etc) (Alan, 2015).

Employee Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is the amount of positive feelings and outlooks that people have towards their work.When someone says he or she has high job satisfaction they mean that they really enjoy their work and has a good sense about it.The relationship between job satisfaction and performance has been presented by three different outlooks: 1-Job satisfaction leads to increased performance.2-Work performance leads to job satisfaction.3-Intrinsic relationship does not exist between job satisfaction and performance, but it is rewards that are intervening variables (Ivancavich, 1989).

Employee interest in participation in training sessions
For initiating improvements, directors need desired responses regarding questions presented in this regard which are: 1-What changes should happen in employee skills and qualifications for their job performance to grow and improve?2-What are special deficiencies in performance that need more attention?3-What opportunities are provided for employees to acquire new skills and who is responsible for providing them?4-What changes in employee general behavior is necessary to improve their job performance?5-How can directors and employees be convinced that education and improvement are principles not an exclusion and only for particular individuals?6-What job is not performed?What is performed incorrectly?What is performed with error?7-What has been learned from previous educational and improvement experiences?(Doai, 1997)

Employee organizational commitment
Commitment is the sense of identity and dependence of the individual to the organization (Moorehead & Griffin, 2001).Organizational commitment is an outlook regarding employee loyalty towards the organization and is a persistent process that by virtue of participation of individuals in organizational decisions and their attention to the firm, success and well-fare of the organization is supported (Luthans, 2001).Commitment can have positive and numerous consequences.
Employees who are more committed have more order in their work and stay with the organization for a longer period and are more hardworking (Moorehead & Griffin, 2001).Overall, organizational commitment leads to desired organizational consequences such as higher performance, less attrition and absenteeism.

Promotion of individual employee capacities
Promotion of individual capacities includes a system through which an individual continuously makes his or her outlooks more clarified and deeper, focuses his or her energy and power, increases his or her patience and perseverance and ultimately understands realities fairly and without intention.Individual qualifications go beyond acquired skills and competitive ability.In other words, they involve creative outlook towards life and living creative and active in contrast to being passive (Senge, 1990).

Main hypothesis
Employee evaluation system is influential on improvement of performance of human resources.

Minor hypotheses
1-Employee evaluation is effective on job satisfaction.2-Employee evaluation is effective on promotion of individual capacities.3-Employee evaluation is effective on commitment to the organization.4-Employee evaluation is effective on identification of efficient and enabled forces in the organization.5-Employee evaluation is effective on interest in participation in educational programs.

Methodology 4.
This research in purpose is applied and regarding its nature and method of investigation, it is descriptive and survey study.In this research, field study was performed which is a description of the survey branch.Statistical population of this research constituted of employees of the strategic deputy ship of the judiciary system, where the number of personnel is near 350 individuals.Sampling was performed using the formula for a limited population.With consideration of the formula for limited communities, sample size was estimated at 160 individuals.Additionally, sampling in this research with consideration of the population size was performed by simple randomization.The independent variable of the research was evaluating employees.Dependent variable of this research in general was performance of human resources and in particular included job satisfaction, interest in participating in educational programs, organizational commitment and promotion of personal capacities of employees.Questionnaire used in this research included two sections, where the first section was in regards with demographic traits of the respondents including: gender, education level, years of service, age, service condition and organizational post and the second section contained questions regarding dependent research variables which were: job satisfaction, promotion of individual capacities, organizational commitment and interest in participation in educational programs which have been formulated in the frame of 23 specialized questions in the order previously mentioned.In this questionnaire, the Cronbach's alpha level was 0/979 which was calculated using the SPSS software which was an appropriate level for confirming the questionnaire reliability.Considering that the evaluation tool was a questionnaire based on indices derived from the research literature, it can be stated that its validity is confirmed.Yet, for confidence in comprehension of the items for respondents content analysis was performed.In this research for test of hypotheses the Spearman and Kendall were used for evaluation of correlation between the variables and next, the Friedman test was used for evaluation of the effect of the variables on each other and ranking them.

Test of hypothesis one: Employee evaluation is effective on job satisfaction.
Considering Table (1), since the significance level (0/000) in both Spearman and Kendall's test is smaller than (0/05), presence of correlation between the two variables of employee evaluation and job satisfaction is confirmed.Additionally, considering Table (2), significance level of the 2 statistics is (0/003) and less than 0/05.Therefore, hypothesis one is confirmed.

Test of hypothesis two: Employee evaluation is effective on promotion of individual capacities.
Considering Table (1), since the significance level (0/000) in both Spearman and Kendall's test is smaller than (0/05), presence of correlation between the two variables of employee evaluation and promotion of individual capacities is confirmed.Additionally, considering Table (2), significance level of the 2 statistics is (0/002) and less than 0/05.Therefore, hypothesis two is confirmed.Considering Table (1), since the significance level (0/000) in both Spearman and Kendall's test is smaller than (0/05), presence of correlation between the two variables of employee evaluation and commitment is confirmed.Additionally, considering Table (2), significance level of the 2 statistics is (0/042) and less than 0/05.Therefore, hypothesis three is confirmed.

Test of hypothesis four:
Employee evaluation is effective on identification of efficient and enabled forces in the organization.
Considering Table (1), since the significance level (0/000) in both Spearman and Kendall's test is smaller than (0/05), presence of correlation between the two variables of employee evaluation and identification of efficient and enabled forces is confirmed.Additionally, considering Table (2), significance level of the 2 statistics is (0/000) and less than 0/05.Therefore, hypothesis four is confirmed.

Test of hypothesis five: Employee evaluation is effective on interest in participation in educational programs.
Considering Table (1), since the significance level (0/000) in both Spearman and Kendall's test is smaller than (0/05), presence of correlation between the two variables of employee evaluation and interest in participation in educational programs is confirmed.Additionally, considering Table (2), significance level of the 2 statistics is (0/006) and less than 0/05.Therefore, hypothesis four is confirmed.

Test of main hypothesis: Employee evaluation system is influential on improvement of their performance.
Considering Table (1), since the significance level (0/000) in both Spearman and Kendall's test is smaller than (0/05), presence of correlation between the two variables of employee evaluation and improvement in performance is confirmed.Additionally, considering Table (2), significance level of the 2 statistics is (0/006) and less than 0/05.Therefore, the main research hypothesis is confirmed.

Ranking of indices of performance of employees
As shown in Table (3), considering the mean of ranks, it can be concluded that employee evaluation has the most effect on identification of efficient and effective forces and the least effect on employee interest in participation in educational programs.Second rank is related to promotion of individual capacities and organizational commitment ranks third.The index of job satisfaction also ranked four.Now a day human factor is considered the most key and sensitive organizational element and most new theories of the firm and management have referred to such sensitive factor.Therefore, for awareness of results of performance of human resources, in relation with expected return efficiency, employees are evaluated in an organization.Thus, with identification of the weak points of the employee and deficiencies in the organization and honest and quality human resources, necessary actions for improvement of the firm can be taken.Therefore, in this research, we evaluated the relationship between employee evaluation system and improvement in performance of human resources.As mentioned before, the main hypothesis of this research was that employee evaluation is effective on improvement of the performance of human resources.On this basis, employee evaluation is considered as an influential factor in improvement of performance of human resources.The overall result obtained from information analysis shows effectiveness of employee evaluation on performance of human resources and as noted in the previous section, all five hypotheses were confirmed with a probability of 95%.Ultimately, it should be stated that for success of employee performance evaluation in the organization and considering that evaluations are not taken seriously by directors and supervisors, only implementation of control with the intention to take it seriously and execution of the process cannot be sufficient.For this purpose, culture of evaluation should be promoted in firms.The reason is that not until correct evaluation culture predominates and employees become familiar with real advantages and its application, will evaluation be taken seriously.Therefore, to promote the culture of evaluation, the following are suggested: -Reflection of uses and application of evaluation by way of brochure, poster and education through correspondence and … -Holding periodic seminars for various occupational levels on a continuous basis.
-Holding explanatory unofficial sessions for increased familiarity of employees and supervisors and ultimately, with accurate and precise evaluations, employee interest towards the system of evaluations should be attracted so improvement in performance of human resources can be achieved.

Research Suggestions 7.
With a probability 95 percent, the first hypothesis stating that employee evaluation is effective on job satisfaction is confirmed and suggestions based on the first minor hypothesis are: 1-Creation of an environment where in it a close and friendly relationship predominates among employees and supervisors.2-Designing performance evaluation in a way that it goes along directly with increased effort and endeavor.3-Any kind of promotion in the organization should be performed with attention to the results of performance evaluation and qualifications.4-Results of performance evaluation should lead to creation and establishment of a fair system of discipline and encouragement.5-Individuals' complaints regarding results of the evaluations should be addressed fairly and based on regulation so an appropriate environment for feeling relaxed and justice are promoted.6-Performance evaluation should be such that it leads to strengthening and growth of creativity and perseverance and individual progress of employees.With a probability of 95 percent, the second hypothesis stating that employee evaluation is effective on promotion of individual capacities is confirmed.Suggestions based on the second minor hypothesis are: 1-Platform is provided for abilities and talents of employees to be applied and presentation of new ideas and innovation of effective working methods are encouraged.2-Coordination between mental and physical forces of employees is taken into consideration.3-Sufficient motivation is created for employees to apply all their ability and talent.4-An environment should be provided that hidden talents and special abilities of employees are identified.5-Necessary context for increased ability to solve problems by employees and increase in their resilience should be provided.6-Coordination and balance between employee behavior and speech with organizational ranking.With probability of 95 percent, the third hypothesis stating that employee evaluation is effective on commitment towards the organization is confirmed.Suggestions based on the third minor hypothesis are: 1-Necessary context for increasing employee resilience and initiative for performing work activities and solving organizational problems is created.2-An environment is provided such that with employee awareness, individuals' sensitivity towards work matters is strengthened and increased.3-Evaluation is performed in such a way that employees perform their duties and activities solely in the framework of legal principles and not to violate rules and regulations.4-Official discipline and work ethics of employees and timely presentation at the work place should be made important.5-Evaluation should act as a barrier for prevention of office and organizational infractions.6-Directors and relevant executives should encourage and motivate employees to perform their delegated duties during work hours and in time and not to delay or postpone tasks.With a probability of 95 percent, the fourth research hypothesis stating that employee evaluation effects identification of efficient and enabled organizational forces is confirmed.Suggestions based on the fourth minor hypothesis are: 1-Results of evaluation should be used as criteria for appointing qualified people to organizational posts.2-Potential abilities and talents of individuals should be identified and opportunity and context for their expressions should be provided for.3-The possibility for responsibility taking of employees should be enhanced with accurate evaluation.4-Delegation of authority to employees based on results of evaluations.5-Proportionality should exist between knowledge and specialty of employees and the job they acquire so their creativity and abilities are strengthened.6-Complete and flawless performance should gain higher scores such that efficient and effective employees are made distinct from those with less efficiency and necessary opportunity is provided for their growth.With probability of 95 percent, the fifth hypothesis stating that employee evaluation is effective on interest in participation in educational programs is confirmed.Suggestions based on the fifth minor hypothesis are as follows: 1-Weak points of employees are identified and necessary actions taken.In case of need for education abroad for resolving them, action should be taken.2-An environment is provided where employees can endeavor to increase their information and knowledge.3-Employees should achieve sufficient understanding to participate in educational programs not by force but because of a goal and motivation to progress in their working domain.4-Modern and effective methods and facilities should be used for holding educational classes.5-For increased efficiency and improvement of performance, needed educational programs should be provided in accord with individuals' job.6-Appropriate planning for holding educational programs with attention to need of individuals in the form of during service, explanatory or other methods of training.
of hypothesis three: Employee evaluation is effective on commitment to the organization.

Table ( 2
). Friedman test results for research hypotheses

Table ( 3
): Mean rank of each of the indices of performance for employees resulting from the Friedman test