Performance Management Ch 7

Performance Management (PM)
All the activities supervisors carry out to manage and improve employee performance, include supervision, rewards, and training.
Job Analysis
Performance information may lead to redesign of jobs
Accurate information about jobs is key to develop criteria for PA
Recruitment and Selection
Performance information lets managers know about the effectiveness of alternative sources of recruitment and the effectiveness of their selection criteria and procedure. Ability to recruit and select employees may affect the types of criteria and standards developed for PA
Training and Development
PM systems provide information on employees training and development needs, information about PA systems assesses training effectiveness.
PA tools may be designed to assess the impact of training programs.
Compensation
Compensation systems may be designed such that PA information has an impact on employee compensation.
A fair and equitable compensation system may lead to higher level of employee performance.
Performance Standards
Indicators of what a job is meant to accomplish, how performance is measured, and expected levels of job performance.
Performance Appraisal
Methods of assessing the level of employee performance.
Criterion contamination
The influence that factors out the employees control have on her performance.
Criterion deficiency
A focus on a single performance criterion to the exclusion of other important, but perhaps less quantifiable, performance dimensions.
Reliability
In performance appraisal, the consistency with which a manager rates an employee in successive rating, assuming consistent performance, or the consistency with which two or more managers assess performance when they have comparable information.
Validity
The extent to which appraisal criteria actually measure the performance dimension of interest.
Collecting Job Performance Data
Information on employee performance is collected for two primary reasons:
1--For administrative decisions, including decisions about compensations and promotions.
2--For development purposes, or to help an employee recognize strengths and weaknesses and work toward improvements
Self appraisal
A performance evaluation done by the employee on himself, usually in conjunction with the managers appraisal.
Subordinate appraisal
A performance evaluation of a manager by her subordinate, can identify managers blind spots, improve managerial performance, and yield other benefits.
Team based appraisal
Evaluation of the work of teams, used under the assumption that service or product quality is the result of team, not individual, efforts on teamwork.
Team based compensation
Rewards given to individuals of a team in recognition of the teams performance.
Free rider syndrome
A problem affecting teams in which one or more members benefit from team rewards without putting forth corresponding effort.
Team citizenship
Employee behavior and attitudes that are respectful of team norms and expectations.
Multisource appraisal
A form of performance measurement in which many different individuals, such as coworkers, customers and patient, give information to provide a richer description of performance. Also referred to as 360 degree feedback or multirater assessment.
Graphic rating scale
An employee performance rating scale that uses points along a continiuum and measures traits or behaviors.
Multisource appraisal
-it emphasizes the performance aspects the organization values.-it explicitly recognizes the importance of customer focus-it is consistent with team development initiatives-it contributes to employee involvement and development-bias is minimal, as it includes multiple perspectives
Multisource appraisal
-people giving feedback must have a level of trust in the organization, the managers, and the appraisal process-employees must be assured of anonymity, which is difficult in a small organization or in an environment where a manager has a small span of control-employees must use the appraisal for the purpose of retribution-the information obtained may be difficult to integrate or combine
Behavioral Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)
A performance measurement scale that associates specific performance behaviors with points. The scale assesses the four dimensions:
Leadership
Communication
Delivery of results
Teamwork
Behavioral Observation (BOS)
A performance measurement system that asks the rater to indicate the frequency with which the employee exhibits specified desirable behaviors. Is a scale for a patient relations representative. Gives a clear understanding of the types of behaviors expected of the employee.
Ranking
A method of appraisal in which managers rank employees from best to worst on some overall measure of employee performance.
Forced ranking
A performance evaluation method in which an employe is compared to other employees, not evaluated on the basis of the employees own set of performance objectives, predetermined percentages of rated employees are then placed in various performance categories. Also called forced distribution. The implicit assumption is that the percentage ranked lowest are poor employees and perform at a level deemed grounds for dismissal. The most controversial use of forced ranking is to force out poor performers, sometimes referred to as "rank or yank".
Critical incident approach
A performance management method in which a manager collects employee performance information by keeping a record of unusually favorable or unfavorable occurrences in an employees work.
Management by objectives (MBO)
A performance management method that involves setting performance goals for employees, coaching them to help them to help them achieve their goals, and reviewing progress over a specified period. Goal setting should be based on the goals of the organization or department.
Goal setting
Is an important aspect of employee supervision. To be effective, goals must be clear, measurable, realistic, and developed in collaboration with the employee. Employees must also be given the tools to succeed, including appropriate training and coaching.
Performance Review
Provides an opportunity for a supervisor, and employee to reflect on an employee performance and plan for the future. In most organizations, are formally conducted on an annual basis and may include discussions about personnel decisions, such as promotion, change in compensation, disciplinary action, transfer, or recommendation for training.
Cynicism about Performance Management
This cynicism grows out of a perception that aspects of performance management are distasteful, subjective and uncomfortable. Based on the fact that performance appraisals traditionally have been punitive in nature and particularly when closely tied to employee compensation, have high emotional content.
Rating errors
In a performance management, positive or negative distortions in performance appraisal ratings that reduce the accuracy of appraisals. Distortions are often related to the attitudes and disposition of the manager.
Distributional
These errors come from raters tendency to use only a small part of the rating scale. There are 3 forms of distributional errors:
Leniency
Strickness
Central tendency
Leniency
Some raters tend to be overly generous with giving positive ratings to avoid conflict and confrontation.
Strickness
Some raters tend to be overly critical of performance and accordingly are deemed unfair when compared with other raters
Central Tendency
Some raters tend to rate every employee as average to avoid conflict and confrontation.
Halo Effect
These errors occur when managers rate employees high or low on all evaluation criteria, without distinguishing between different aspects of the employees work. Such evaluations may be overly critical or overly generous.
Personal bias
These errors arise because of some raters tendency to rate an employee higher or lower than deserved because of the raters personal like or dislike of the employee.
Similar to me bias
These errors occur when some raters judge those who are similar to them more highly than those who are not like them. Research shows that this bias is strongest when a manager and an employee share demographic characteristics, such as race and age group
Contrast effect
These errors occur when raters compare employees with each other rather than use objective standards for job performance.
Manager training
The most important strategy for overcoming rating errors. It increases managers familiarity with various rating scales and the specific level of performance associated with different points on the scales
Reasons Managers May Inflate an Appraisal
-to maximize merit increases for an employee, particularly when the merit ceiling is considered low
-to avoid hanging dirty laundry out in public(in case the appraisal information is viewed by outsiders)
-to avoid creating a written record of poor performance that would become a permanent part of the individuals personnel file
-to give a break to a subordinate who has shown improvements
-to promote an undesirable employee "up & out" of the organization
Reasons Managers May Deflate an Appraisal
-to shock an employee into higher performance
-to teach a rebellious employee a lesson
-to send a message to an employee suggesting he should think about leaving the organization
-to build a strongly documented record of poor performance that may speed up the termination process
Conducting Effective Performance Management Interviews
Has historically focused on evaluation or measurement aspects, relatively little attention has been given to its improvements aspects-and as noted earlier, the ultimate objective of performance management is to improve employee performance
Smart Goals
Critical to achieving performance improvement is the setting of effective goals. Many managers use the SMART acronym as a guide.
Goals should be:
*Specific
*Measurable
*Achievable
*Relevant
*Time-bound
10 techniques can help make a performance evaluation valuable.
1--conduct appraisals and provide feedback on an ongoing basis.
2--evaluate the frequency of formal performance appraisal
3--prepare for the performance appraisal
4--use multiple sources of information
5--encourage employee participation
6--focus on future performance and problem solving
7--focus on employee behavior and results, not personal traits
8--reinforce positive performance
9--ensure that performance management is supported by senior managers
10--plan follow up activities and pay attention to outcomes and timetables