Definition: Key result areas or KRAs refer to the general metrics or parameters which the organisation has fixed for a specific role. The term outlines the scope of the job profile, and captures almost 80%-8% of a work role.
Description: Key result areas (KRAs) broadly define the job profile for the employee and enable them to have better clarity of their role. KRAs should be well-defined, quantifiable, and easy to measure. It also helps employees to align their role with that of the organisation.
KRAs are broad categories or topics on which the employee has to concentrate during the year. For example, an employee who is working at a managerial level in a manufacturing company would have a different KRA than somebody who is in a technology firm.
A manager who is working in a manufacturing firm would have to focus on maintaining the budget of the department, safety of the employees, coordination with different departments, training, reporting as well as introducing new technologies to improve productivity.
The next step is to define objectives and standards for each KRA which should be easily quantifiable. The employee should have a clear understanding of his/her KRAs to perform his/her tasks efficiently.
Key result areas are those areas in which you have to take complete ownership. The first step is to list out daily activities which could be part of the KRAs. In some organisation even a team meeting everyday is part of a manager’s KRA.
So, KRAs could be vary from organisation to organisation and from one work profile to another. There are no set rules to define KRAs, but broadly they sum up the job profile as well as the key impact areas on which the employee is expected to deliver.
