Reference no: EM133243834

Case: Christopher Hest, Human Resources Instructor at Red River College, was addressing Performance Management and appraisals one of the Management Programs and enthusiastically asked his class, "How many of you really enjoy performance appraisals?"

Most of the class looked incredulous, but 3 (of 15) raised their hands. 'Why?', was the next question.

The replies included comments such as, "My Manager gives me positive feedback and lets me know when I am doing well"; "My Manager assists me with problems. If I need to be corrected it's done fairly and honestly"; "My Manager is fair and helps me develop"; "I look forward to the time to talk about the job".

The rest of the class was quite surprised. Christopher turned to them, and said, "See, it can be done"!

His purpose was to tackle one of the most challenging aspects of management. Many managers see performance appraisals as a difficult task that Human Resources foists on them annually. HR Staff contend that it is a manager's responsibility to assign duties, teach and coach employees and assess their performance. In the meantime, many employees feel they are put through an annual "stress test", which is unnecessary. Many, in each group are unhappy.

Regardless of the above noted issues, his point was that some organizations seem to get it right! He went on with his class to state that performance management and appraisal processes can be challenging for many reasons, such as:

Many Supervisory/Management staff are untrained in the process
Supervisory/Management staff don't look forward to appraisal time and regard it as a necessary evil
The discussions can be stressful and taken personally if viewed as a biased opinion
The consequences may be seen as high if they impact pay or promotion opportunities.
On the other hand, there is a perception that they are not used at all and are a waste of time
Summarizing an entire year's work in one discussion is not seen as practical or relevant
He said, there are many other general concerns, but those suffice for now.

Increasingly, HR textbooks and the internet are full of articles criticizing traditional performance management processes. Management surveys are indicating employers' dissatisfaction with the process and many employers are actively seeking improved methods.

In the second half of the class, he had students work in groups to address improvements they would make in performance management processes if they were in charge of it. Each group presented their recommendations, which were remarkably similar, including:

Commit the time to teach and coach your staff
Ensure expectations are clear and verified with employees
Initiate 2-3 "progress consultations" per year, to stay on track, coach and collaborate
Ensure both good work is recognized, and errors are addressed promptly
Ensure the year-end review is a "no surprises" discussion
Christopher pointed out to them that they had control over these improvements as none involved a change in company policy or documentations.

Address the three questions below. Base your answers on course material AND on your personal experiences and sensibilities about workplaces:

Question 1: Why do you think the class participants were surprised at his initial question?

Question 2: What performance management practices, good or bad, have you seen in your (or another) workplace?

Question 3: How would you want to initiate performance development discussions in your organization? What elements from this case would you use or not use?