Chapter 11: Intervening and Aiding Employees with Performance Issues

Question 1

Types of Performance Issues

Answer 1

1. Tardiness or leaving early
2. Too much time spent on doing personal things at work
3. Inability to handle proprietary information
4. Family issues
5. Drug and alcohol abuse
6. Nonperformance
7. Conflicts with management or other employees
8. Theft
9. Ethical breaches
10. Harassment
11. Employee conduct outside the workplace
12. Personality disorders
13. False claims
14. Hygiene issues and inappropriate clothing
15. Health issues and unresolved personal issues

Question 2

Internal Influences on Performance

Answer 2

1. Career goals are not being met
2. There is conflict with other employees or the manager
3. The goals or expectations are not in line with the employee’s abilities
4. The employee views unfairness in the workplace
5. The employee manages time poorly
6. The employee is dissatisfied with the job
7. The employee perceives that intrinsic or extrinsic factors are not being met

Emphasizes the importance of hiring the right person to begin with

Question 3

External Influences on Performance

Answer 3

1. The employee doesn’t have the correct equipment or tools to perform the job
2. The job design is incorrect
3. External motivation factors are absent
4. There is a lack of management support
5. The employee’s skills and the job are mismatched

May be something that can be easily addressed and fixed

Question 4

Discipline

Answer 4

The process that corrects undesirable behavior

Question 5

Guidelines on Creation of Rules & Organizational Policies

Answer 5

1. All rules or procedures should be in a written document
2. Rules should be related to safety and the productivity of the organization
3. Rules should be written clearly, so no ambiguity occurs among the different managers
4. Supervisors, managers, and human resources should communicate rules clearly in orientation, training, and via other methods
5. Rules should be revised periodically, as the organization needs change

MAKE SURE THAT RULES ARE CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT COMPANY

Question 6

Performance Issue Model

Answer 6

• Mandated Issue (Breaking the law, figure out immediately)
• Single Incident (Being late once, just say something)
• Behavior Pattern (Single incident repeated a couple times, “Hey, fix it”)
• Persistent Pattern (Straight up missing work, start documenting things)
• Disciplinary Intervention

Question 7

Performance Evaluation System

Answer 7

A systematic way to examine how well an employee is performing in his or her job

Question 8

Performance Appraisal Interview Style: Tell-and-Sell Interview

Answer 8

Manager does most of the talking and passes his or her view to the employee

Question 9

Performance Appraisal Interview Style: Tell-and-Listen Interview

Answer 9

Manager communicates feedback and then addresses employee’s thoughts about the interview

Question 10

Performance Appraisal Interview Style: Problem-solving Interview

Answer 10

The employee and manager discuss the things that are going well and those that are not going well, which can make for a more productive discussion

Question 11

How to give feedback

Answer 11

1. Be direct and specific
2. Do not be personal; always compare the performance to the standard (basically find proof)
3. Remember, it is a development opportunity
4. Thank the employee and avoid criticism

Question 12

Best Practices in Performance Appraisals

Answer 12

• Make sure evaluation has direct relation to job
• Involve managers
• Consider employee self-evaluations
• Use more than ONE evaluation method
• FEEDBACK SHOULD BE CONTINUOUS
• Employee goals should tie into organization’s strategic plan
• Train managers on the system
• Develop standards for each job to avoid bias
• Review the evaluations often, as jobs and expectations change