Question
StopNShopToday, Inc.’s management team has implemented several of your ideas on incentive pay and is now reviewing the company’s performance appraisal forms. These appraisal forms are very old: No one remembers where the forms came from or who made them. When the annual performance appraisals window comes up each store year, managers and assistant managers cringe. This reaction does not occur because the managers hate doing performance appraisals—they simply have not seen very much positive impact from the appraisal discussions, and at least one employee always reacts badly and has a downturn in performance as a result of the criticism. The managers feel that being honest with some employees is a huge risk, and they are not sure the process is worth the trouble.
The current performance form includes the following performance assessment categories:
- Procedural knowledge and skill
- Verbal communication skills
- Creativity
- Consistently good judgment
- Attendance
- Customer service skills
The performance appraisal is an 8-page form with a copy of the employee’s job description attached and 6 large blocks for the manager to write down his or her comments on each of the 6 categories. Managers differentiate between poor- and well-performing employees by using words such as great, okay, always, or rarely. An employee can usually infer the manager’s overall perception of his or her performance from the way the appraisal is phrased.
The performance appraisals are primarily used for manager and employee feedback. After they are completed and received at corporate headquarters, employees receive a 3% pay increase unless they are about to get fired, which they may receive a lower-pay increase percentage or no increase at all. This creates tension among the employees.
Managers are not given guidance regarding how to describe the employees’ positive behaviors and areas needed for improvement. Some managers take this much more seriously than others and are better at choosing factual scenarios to explain their perceptions of the employee’s work performance. Several times in the past, the company’s vice president of human resources has had to chastise managers regarding the quality of comments the managers included on the form.
Prepare a presentation that you, as an HR generalist, will give to the vice president of human resources and the company’s owners recommending changes to the current performance appraisal program at StopNShopToday, Inc. Include at least 5 PowerPoint slides.
Address several different types of performance appraisal systems, and make other comments or suggestions that address the applicability of the performance assessment categories that are currently used. Address each of the 6 performance assessment categories above, and make recommendations for changing any or all of them. It may be beneficial to appraise the information from the job summaries you found in earlier assignments.
Answer
Performance report StopNShopToday, Inc.
Introduction
- Performance appraisals are useful in evaluating and documenting the performance of employees.
- Performance appraisals helps in determining the job performance or productivity level of employees.
- They also provide valuable feedback to the management regarding employee performance and goal achievement.
Performance appraisals are useful in evaluating and documenting the performance of employees. Performance appraisals are integral components in the career development of employees in an organization such as StopNShopToday, Inc. Performance appraisals helps in determining the job performance or productivity level of employees. As such, the management is able to develop strategies for employee performance improvement at the individual as well as organizational levels. A performance appraisal program is also used as a platform for basing important employment decisions such as promotions, terminations, award of bonuses, transfers, and other crucial decisions. When well developed and applied, they also provide valuable feedback to the management regarding employee performance and goal achievement.
360 Degree appraisal
- This appraisal method obtains evaluation input from a variety of sources, both internal and external sources.
- The management bases its appraisal decisions on feedback received from coworkers, supervisors, customers, and others.
There are different types of performance appraisal systems that can be applied at StopNShopToday Inc. These may have different assessment categories to the ones currently employed by the organization. First, the management can use the 360 Degree method. This appraisal method obtains evaluation input from a variety of sources, both internal and external sources. In this method, the management bases its appraisal decisions on feedback received from coworkers, supervisors, subordinates, customers, family, and self-appraisal. This can be an accurate method of collecting information on employee performance especially when the information is collected from a wide variety of sources. A complete profile of the employee is analyzed using this method. This involves assessing technical skills, interrelationship skills, communication skills, customer care skills, and among others
Numerical Rating Scale
- This is one of the most common performance appraisal systems.
- Using this system, the management can be able to assess on multiple areas of performance.
- Employee performance is assessed on a rating scale.
This is one of the most common performance appraisal systems. Using this system, the management can be able to assess on multiple areas of performance such as communication, teamwork, ability to solve complex problems, reliability, technical skills, productivity & efficiency, attendance, and customer care skills. The management can alter the elements in the numerical rating scale to fit the characteristics it deems important. Employees are normally rated on a 1 to 5 scale or on 1 to 10 scale. The higher numbers represent satisfactory rating while the lower ones show that the rating is unsatisfactory. The management should make it clear about how the numerical system works, and the characteristics assessed by the measure (Shapiro, Mackmin, & Sams, 2012).
Management by Objective
- This method involves the collaboration between an employee and a superior to jointly develop goals and expected outcomes for the employee.
- Management by objective involves formulation of objectives, execution process, and performance feedback evaluation.
This is another important method of employee appraisal in an organization. This method involves the collaboration between an employee and a superior to jointly develop goals and expected outcomes for the employee. The measures established are then used to assess employee performance and award appraisals. This method involves three critical elements. These include: formulation of objectives, execution process, and lastly performance feedback evaluation (Deb, 2006).
Analysis of the 6 performance assessments
- Assessing procedural knowledge and skills is one of the best way to establish the performance of the employee.
- An employee should have adequate knowledge of the duties and responsibilities assigned.
- Verbal and communication skills are also critical in the job appraisal system.
- Consistently good judgment should be replaced with productivity of individual employees.
- Attendance should also be part of the appraisal system.
- Customer service skills are also critical in the system.
The 6 performance assessments used are appropriate. However, the manner in which performance appraisals are conducted is not effective. Assessing procedural knowledge and skills is one of the best way to establish the performance of the employee and ascertain whether there is need for employee development. An employee should have adequate knowledge of the duties and responsibilities assigned. Verbal and communication skills are also critical in the job appraisal system. Employees should be able to communicate fluently with customers. Consistently good judgment should be replaced with productivity of individual employees. Attendance should also be part of the appraisal system. Employee attendance can determine the performance of the organization. Customer service skills also directly determine the performance of StopNShopToday, Inc. As such, it should still be part of the appraisal system.
