Key Result Area or Key Responsibility Area | Full form of KRA (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 2 Oct, 2023

What is KRA ?

KRA means, "Key Result Area or Key Responsibility Area," which highlights the key job roles and responsibilities that an employee is expected to handle. It can be both qualitative and quantitative, and it is used by companies to set the metrics for a particular role. Nowadays, every company has a set of short-term goals that must be fulfilled within a specific timeline, and the two most common of those are KRA and KPI. KRAs remove the confusion from the candidate's or employee's mind about what exactly will be expected from him or her if he or she accepts that offer. It assists businesses in ensuring that employees understand their job roles and responsibilities. KRAs include the tasks and work of a particular position or person or entity. If KRAs are developed for any role, they should be very well defined, and the employees should be very aware of that. KRAs for each role and organization can differ depending on the task and the business.

A well-structured KRA should be detailed, unambiguous, and straightforward. It should be specific, achievable, measurable, relevant, and time-bound for the employees and for the organization's overall growth. It should always be written keeping in mind the company's growth and how an individual's contribution will be helpful to the company’s success.

KRAs are written to improve a company's, team's, and individual's performance, which overall helps the organization's growth. It tells about the employees' and teams' performance or if there are any setbacks during the time period, and this can easily help the organization in improving their employees' or teams' performance and the organization's growth. If an employee meets his or her KRAs, it will undoubtedly aid in his or her personal development and advancement in any organization.

How to write KRAs?

• Before writing any KRA, it should be very well checked with the team leads and the hiring managers so that there are no conflicts later, and each KRA should be written keeping in mind the employee's or candidate's educational qualification, skills, experience level, and work environment.
• KRAs should be set keeping in mind the goals that an organization wants to achieve in the coming years.
• KRAs should always be well explained and easy to understand for each employee.
• KRAs should be achievable and should never create too much pressure on the employees.
• KRAs should be written or edited keeping in mind the experience level of employees.
• Employee training and development can also be included in the KRAs.

Benefits of KRAs

• Employees are aware of their roles and responsibilities, and they always try to perform better if the parameters are set for the role.
• KRAs are helpful for the management in making the correct decisions, which helps in the company's development.
• If KRAs are written, employees and authorities are both aware of the company's strategies, and they can work together in the same direction to attain better outcomes.
• KRAs always focus on the results that are achieved by the employees, not the actions that were taken to achieve those results, and they also help the employees understand what they have to achieve and to what level.
• When the employees are aware of the KRAs, they start taking ownership, and this helps in the development of a self-oriented attitude, which also helps in the individual's development.
• Most important is that the employees get the idea of why they are doing the work and how that work can be beneficial to the organization's growth.
• The parameters assist the employee in staying on track and motivated in their work.

Limitations of KRAs

• As there are a lot of parameters and if an employee is not able to reach them continuously, it might lead to dishonesty, as the employees might try to use shortcuts or get involved in wrongdoing that might also affect the company's reputation.
• It might sometimes reduce productivity as the employees are aware of the parameters, and in this case, once they complete the targets, they slow down productivity or stop working, which can be the cause of business loss.
• Making and measuring KRAs can be expensive and time-consuming.
• As KRAs in every organization do not remain the same, it might get challenging for the employees to get adjusted to such a challenging working environment.

In the recent past, KRAs have become one of the most important parameters that can aid in the growth of a company, and they also help employees understand why they are performing their duties and how they can benefit the company. Sometimes, there are a lot of employees or people who do not work up to their potential, and this is just because the companies have not set any KPIs or KRAs. To get the best from them, the employers set the KPIs and KRAs so that all the employees could be made aware of their job roles and responsibilities and could contribute to the organization's growth. These kinds of parameters make the work more meaningful and encourage employees to be more involved and passionate about their work instead of just getting it done. The performance parameters also make the work meaningful for the employees and encourage them to be more involved and passionate about their work, which leads to better employee engagement.