You should briefly write: 

• Title of the project (up to 25 words) 
• A brief statement of the problem that you would like to investigate. 
• Research aim and objectives that can solve the problem you have identified. 
• A brief methodology: Provide details about what type of methodology you will choose such as quantitative or qualitative or mixed methodology; what type of study it will be such as exploratory or descriptive or explanatory; what method(s) of data collection you will use; how you will source the required data; and what methods and tools you will use to analyse the collected data. 

This is an individual research task. As a Masters student, you are required to engage in research and demonstrate your understanding of the relevant body of works that have discussed recent developments in a discipline and/or area of professional practice. You are also required to demonstrate knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to a real-life business research. We expect you to read and reflect on at least ten recent refereed journal articles on your topic supported by any other evidence or information that can help identify the problem of your research and the methods of data collection and analysis. 

In addition, as a part of topic presentation, all on-campus students are required to discuss their project topic and ideas during the tutorial sessions in front of other students. You are also expected to provide constructive feedback on each of the group members’ project. Distance students will do the same activity in the online discussion forum of the unit Moodle site. Please see detailed guidelines about the project presentation and specific research requirements on the unit Moodle site. You can write 600 words maximum for this assignment. The cover page and the list of references are not counted in the word limit.

The topic chosen is “The problem of the Performance Appraisal of the employees of HCL Technologies Limited.” The context is Australia as HCL has it’s establishments in many countries though it’s Headquarters is in India

Introduction

One of the largest IT services company, HCL Technologies Limited, having branches all over the world, is facing a challenging situation in its Australian Unit. The company, which is based on the strong constitutional belief which says, 'Employee Comes First and Customers Second', is encountering carping hitches in the Performance Appraisal of its employees(Ramdas & Gajulapalli, 2017). This study critically probes this problem statement for HCL, which is a value-driven company and aspires to be transparent in its process of evaluating employees(Sauermann & Kaiser, 2010).

Problem Statement

The company is working to determine the problem with regards to Performance Appraisal, which is the cynosure of this study. The key significance of Performance Appraisal is to keep the employees motivated and satisfied, which will, in turn, ensure a happy customer resulting in a win-win situation for the company (Marcoulides, 2008). A few of the dominant reasons for this problem are:

• Ambiguity in the mission and vision of the company when it comes to business goals.
• Lack of understanding between the employees and the company (Park, 2014).
• Confusing and incalculable individual goals.
• Huge diversity in performances among the employees
• Individual paths being followed, though it is required that the company goals and employees initiatives should align together(von Hippel & von Krogh, 2015).
• Lack of proper execution of the plans.

Research Aim and Objective

Decisions to Be Taken by Management

It is imperative for the management and the advisory committee to take the embryonic steps to establish the standards for the Performance appraisal procedure (Streukens & Andreassen, 2013). The company should take the required decisions to solve the issues related to the problem statement.

The company should ponder over the issue acutely and unearth the answers to the following queries:

1. What will be the parameters to evaluate the performance of any employee?
2. What measures should be taken to create an employee-friendly environment?
3. What techniques should be followed to increase the mutual understanding between the employees and the organization?
4. What should be the approach in appraising any employee?

(Some parts of the solution has been blurred due to privacy protection policy)