Chapter 10 - Performance Management Flashcards
Explain the strategic value and importance of performance management.
Performance management helps align employee productivity with the strategic objectives of the organization. It establishes goals and supports a high-performance organizational culture.
Differentiate between performance management and performance appraisals.
Performance appraisals are the process of evaluating an employee’s past and present job performance against their performance standards. Performance management is the broader, more strategic activity encompassing all activities (e.g., goal setting, career management, pay for performance, training and development, and disciplinary actions) associated with improving employee performance across the organization.
** What are the the three keys steps in the Performance Appraisal Process?
The Performance Appraisal Process
• Three steps:
1. Defining performance expectations and standards
2. Appraising employee performance by comparing actual performance to expectations
3. Providing feedback to employees and planning future development
• Appraisal problems arise if these three steps are not carefully followed
Define contextual and task-based performance and how they differ.
Task performance refers largely to the individual’s direct contribution to their job and job-related processes. Contextual performance refers to the 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.
Describe five performance appraisal methods and the pros and cons of each.
There are a number of performance appraisal methods:
Graphic rating scales are simple to use and facilitate comparison of employees, but the performance standards are often unclear and bias can be a problem.
Alternation ranking is a simple method that avoids central tendency, but it can be unfair if most employees are doing well.
Paired comparison ensures that all employees are compared with each other, but it can also be unfair if most employees are performing similarly.
Narrative forms provide concrete information to the employee but are time-consuming and can be subjective.
The forced distribution method ensures differentiation of performance ratings but can be demotivating for employees classified as less than average.
The critical incident method is very specific about the employee’s strengths and weaknesses and forces the supervisor to evaluate employees on an ongoing basis, but it makes it difficult to compare employees.
BARS is very accurate, but is difficult and time-consuming to develop.
MBO ties performance ratings to jointly agreed-upon performance objectives, but it is time-consuming to administer.
** Discuss the major problems inhibiting effective performance appraisals.
Appraisal problems to be aware of include:
SCHULBR unclear standards, the halo effect, central tendency, leniency or strictness, appraisal bias, the recency effect, and the similar-to-me bias.
** Discuss the various sources of performance appraisal including the 360-degree appraisal.
There are various sources of performance appraisal including the employee, their manager or supervisor, their subordinates, their co-workers, their customers or multiple stakeholders combined via the 360-degree approach.
Multisource feedback
Performance feedback is anonymously collected all around an employee
Reveals themes, captures diversity of employee’s role and contributions across an organization
Widely used in Canadian companies
Describe guidelines for legal and ethical performance management.
To develop ethical and legal guidelines for performance management, job performance standards should be linked to job descriptions, raters and employees should be provided with defined job standards, subjective ratings should be paired with objective ratings, formal appeal mechanisms should be provided, and the outcome of performance evaluations should be focused on corrective guidance
critical incident method
Keeping a record of uncommonly good or undesirable examples of an employee’s work-related behaviour and reviewing the list with the employee at predetermined times.
** recency effect
The rating error that occurs when ratings are based on the employee’s most recent performance rather than on performance throughout the appraisal period.
electronic performance monitoring (EPM)
Having supervisors electronically monitor the amount of computerized data an employee is processing per day and thereby his or her performance.
** halo effect
In performance appraisal, the problem that occurs when a supervisor’s rating of an employee on one trait biases the rating of that person on other traits.
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.
** unclear performance standards
An appraisal scale that is too open to interpretation of traits and standards.
Coaching
A process for improving work performance, in a frequent contact, hand on process aimed at helping employees improve performance and capabilities
