Chapter 10: Performance Management Flashcards
Performance appraisal
evaluating an employee’s current and/or past performance relative to his or her performance standards.
Performance management
The process encompassing all activities related to improving employee performance, productivity, and effectiveness
Performance management includes:
goal setting, pay for performance, training and development, career management, and disciplinary action
There are three major purposes of performance management:
1) it aligns employee actions with strategic goals,
2) it is a vehicle for culture change,
3) it provides input into other HR systems such as development and remuneration
Which elements of performance appraisals are used most by Canadian organizations?
Premature,
QUIZ QUESTION
Individual objectives and goals.
The performance management process contains five steps: what are they?
1) Defining performance expectations and goals
2) Providing ongoing feedback and coaching
3) Conducting performance appraisals and evaluation discussions
4) Determining performance rewards and / consequences
5) Conducting development and career opportunities discussions
There are five reasons to appraise subordinates’ performance. what are they?
First, most employers base pay, promotion, and retention decisions on the employee’s appraisal
Appraisals play a central role in the employer’s performance management process
The appraisal lets the manager and subordinate develop a plan for correcting any deficiencies, and to reinforce the subordinate’s strengths.
Appraisals provide an opportunity to review the employee’s career plans in light of his or her exhibited strengths and weaknesses.
Finally, appraisals enable the supervisor to identify if there is a training need and the remedial steps required.
Over the last 30 years there has been more recognition that job performance is a multidimensional construct which can be split into what has become widely acknowledged as ______ versus ______performance
task
contextual
Task performance
An individual’s direct contribution to their job-related processes
Contextual performance
An individual’s indirect contribution to the organization by improving the organizational, social, and psychological behaviours that contribute to organizational effectiveness beyond those specified for the job
Coaching
defined as a process for improving work performance in a frequent contact, hands-on process aimed at helping employees improve performance and capabilities.
Electronic performance monitoring (EPM)
Having supervisors electronically monitor the amount of computerized data an employee is processing per day and thereby his performance
Formal Appraisal Discussions
An interview in which the supervisor and employee review the appraisal and make plans to remedy deficiencies and reinforce strengths
There are three basic types of formal appraisal discussions, each with its own objectives: what are they?
1) Satisfactory - promotable
2) Satisfactory - not promotable
3) Unsatisfactory - correctable versus uncorrectable
1) Satisfactory - promotable
Here, the person’s performance is satisfactory and there is a promotion ahead
The objective is to discuss the person’s career plans and to develop a specific action plan for the educational and professional development that the person needs to move to the next job
2) Satisfactory - not promotable
This interview is for employees whose performance is satisfactory but for whom promotion is not possible
The objective here is not to improve or develop the person but to maintain satisfactory performance.
3) Unsatisfactory - correctable versus uncorrectable
When the person’s performance is unsatisfactory but correctable, the interview objective is to lay out an action plan for correcting the unsatisfactory performance
If unsatisfactory and the situation uncorrectable, there is usually no need for any formal appraisal discussion because the person’s performance is not correctable anyway
There are three things to do in preparation for the interview what are they?
1) First, assemble the data
2) Next, prepare the employee
3) Finally, find a mutually agreeable time and place, and allow plenty of time for the interview
How to Conduct the Interview:
There are four things to keep in mind when conducting a formal appraisal discussion to ensure the feedback is constructive
Be direct and specific
Do not get personal
Encourage the person to talk
Develop an action plan
When a supervisor tells someone his or her performance is poor, the first reaction is often
Denial
The Performance Management Process
STEP 1: DEFINING PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS
STEP 2: PROVIDING ONGOING COACHING AND FEEDBACK
STEP 3: CONDUCT PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND EVALUATION DISCUSSION
STEP 4: DETERMINE PERFORMANCE REWARDS/CONSEQUENCES
STEP 5: CAREER DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSION
Graphic Rating Scale
Simplest and most popular technique for appraising performance.
It lists traits (such as reliability) and a range of performance values (from unsatisfactory to outstanding) for each one
Alternation Ranking Method
Ranking employees from best to worst on a particular trait
Paired Comparison Method
Ranking employees by making a chart of all possible pairs of employees for each trait and indicating the better employee of the pair
Forced Distribution Method
Predetermined percentages of ratees are placed in various performance categories
Critical Incident Method
the supervisor keeps a log of desirable or undesirable examples or incidents of each employee’s work-related behaviour. Then, every six months or so, the supervisor and employee meet to discuss the latter’s performance by using the specific incidents as examples.
PIP
Performance improvement plan
Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
combines the benefits of narratives, critical incidents, and quantified ratings by anchoring a series of quantified scales, one for each performance dimension, with specific behavioural examples of good or poor performance
But BARS may also have important advantages
1) A more accurate measure
2) Clearer standards.
3) Feedback
4) Independent dimensions
5) Consistency
Management by Objectives (MBO)
Involves setting specific goals with each employee and then periodically reviewing the progress made
Using MBO has three potential problems
Setting unclear, unmeasurable objectives is the main one
time-consuming
tug of war (managers push for higher goals and employees push for lower ones)
Seven main problems can undermine such appraisal tools as graphic rating scales:
unclear standards, halo effect, central tendency, leniency or strictness, appraisal bias, recency effect, and similar-to-me bias
Unclear Performance Standards
An appraisal scale that is too open to interpretation of traits and standards
aka everyone’s definition of good vs great is different
Halo effect
The problem that occurs when a supervisor’s rating of an employee on one trait biases the rating of that person on other traits
Example: Super nice personality, but always late.
Central tendency
A tendency to rate all employees in the middle of the scale
Example: Everyone is good but no one is great or phenomenal
Strictness/Leniency
The problem that occurs when a supervisor has a tendency to rate all employees either low or high
Hard markers vs easy markers
Appraisal Bias
The tendency to allow individual differences such as age, race, and sex, to affect the appraisal ratings that these employees receive
illegal under Human Rights Legislation
Recency effect
Rating error when ratings are based on the employee’s most recent performance rather than on performance throughout the appraisal period
Similar-to-me bias
The tendency to give higher performance ratings to employees who are perceived to be similar to the rater in some way
Example: Rater and employee both Indian
How to Avoid Appraisal Problems
First, raters must be familiar with the problems just discussed
Second, training supervisors on how to eliminate rating errors, such as the halo effect, leniency, and central tendency, can help them avoid these problems
Third, raters must choose the right appraisal tool.
Fourth, errors in performance appraisals can be reduced by using multiple raters in the evaluation
Who Should Do the Appraising?
Several options, such as
Supervisor
Self
Peers
Committees
Subordinates
Logrolling
all the peers simply get together to rate each other highly
Upward feedback
Subordinates evaluating their supervisors / managers
360 degree appraisal
aka multisource feedback
A performance appraisal technique that uses multiple raters including peers, employees reporting to the appraisee, supervisors, and customers
When using management by objectives, how should the goals be set?
QUIZ QUESTION
Collaboratively
Performance appraisals can be required in courts when assessing wrongful termination cases and are considered to be legal documents in Canada.
QUIZ QUESTION
TRUE
Using a graphic rating scale can help to avoid the central tendency rating scale problem.
QUIZ QUESTION
FALSE
A potential problem with peer performance appraisal occurs when all the peers get together to rate each other highly; what is this potential problem referred to as?
QUIZ QUESTION
Logrolling
A manager wishes to give a new employee a pay increase sooner than scheduled. The new employee has a great positive attitude that has made other workers more positive and productive. What is this employee receiving an earlier pay increase for?
QUIZ QUESTION
Contextual performance
An interview with the supervisor and the employee to review the appraisal and make plans to remedy deficiencies and reinforce strengths is referred to as which of the following?
QUIZ QUESTION
Formal appraisal discussion
Many firms today let employees anonymously evaluate the performance of their supervisor; what is this process known as?
QUIZ QUESTION
Upward feedback
According to the textbook, which of the following is the key success factor for effective performance appraisal that will lead to optimum employee performance?
QUIZ QUESTION
DO NOT SELECT The quantity of performance appraisal dialogue between a manager and an employee
Next best guess: The quality of the performance appraisal dialogue between a manager and an employee
FOCUS ON QUALITY
Janice sees a lot of herself in her employee Danielle as they both went to the same school, earned the same degree, and enjoy the same types of hobbies. Danielle often receives a higher appraisal from Janice compared with her fellow workers. What error is Janice likely making?
QUIZ QUESTION
Similar-to-me bias
Which performance appraisal technique uses a “+” to denote “better than” and a “-“ to denote “worse than” and then adds up the number of times that each employee was rated as “better than”?
QUIZ QUESTION
Paired comparison method
Which performance appraisal method lists a number of traits and a range of performance values for each trait?
QUIZ QUESTION
Graphic rating scale
What does PIP refer to in the performance management process?
QUIZ QUESTION
Performance improvement plan
Which of the following is the basis for fostering and managing employee skills and talents?
QUIZ QUESTION
Performance management
When using the paired comparison method, every employee is paired with and compared with every other employee.
TRUE
According to the textbook, rating committees used to evaluate employees are usually composed of the employee’s immediate supervisor and who else?
QUIZ QUESTION
Three or four other supervisors
An interview with the supervisor and the employee to review the appraisal and make plans to remedy deficiencies and reinforce strengths is referred to as which of the following?
QUIZ QUESTION
Formal appraisal discussion
When an employee’s most recent performance biases the evaluation of his or her performance over the entire appraisal period, which performance appraisal problem has occurred?
QUIZ QUESTION
Recency effect
A manager wishes to give a new employee a pay increase sooner than scheduled. The new employee has a great positive attitude that has made other workers more positive and productive. What is this employee receiving an earlier pay increase for?
QUIZ QUESTION
Contextual performance
According to the textbook, when a supervisor tells someone that his or her performance is poor, the first reaction is often
QUIZ QUESTION
Denial
Kai ranks his employees on a scale from 1 to 5. In general, most of his employees receive a rating of around 3 although in reality his employees differ more on their actual performance. Kai’s actions seem to indicate which performance appraisal problem?
QUIZ QUESTION
Central tendency
Step 5 of the performance management process presented in the textbook includes the manager and employee discussing opportunities for development in order to strengthen or improve the employee’s knowledge, skills, and abilities; this step is known as the
QUIZ QUESTION
career development discussion step.
Although the graphic rating scale seems objective, it may result in unfair appraisals because the traits and degrees of merit are
QUIZ QUESTION
Open to interpretation
What does a summary performance appraisal discussion focus on?
QUIZ QUESTION
Problem Solving
Which performance appraisal techniques is useful for identifying specific examples of good and poor performance and for planning how deficiencies can be corrected?
QUIZ QUESTION
Critical incident method
When a performance appraisal scale is too open to interpretation of traits and standards, this rating scale problem is known as which of the following?
QUIZ QUESTION
Unclear performance standards
The critical incident method is useful by itself for comparing employees and making salary decisions.
QUIZ QUESTION
FALSE
The inflated/deflated goals due to tug of war was a disadvantage specific to which performance appraisal tool?
QUIZ QUESTION
management by objectives MBO
Effective performance management begins with defining the job and which of the following?
QUIZ QUESTION
Defining its performance standards
