Management 351 – Class 4 Chapters 7 and 8 Shifting chapter 9 out one week (cascade) Announcements/Other Items  Test recap  Instructor mid-term evaluation  Term papers/Matewan due Term papers may be late without explanation Late papers drop one (1) point per day

Chapter 7 – Appraising and Managing Performance Performance appraisal involves the identification, measurement, and management of human performance in organizations.  Identification: knowing what behaviors lead to performance (job and company related).  Measurement: anchored tools to provide consistent assessment of performance.  Management: feedback and goal setting.

Uses of performance appraisal  Look backward (recap the year) Is this of any value? Address performance concerns?  Measurement of goal attainment  Set new goals  Discuss professional development objectives

Identifying Performance Dimensions Speaks to what is measured – that is, what do we do that determines performance? Typically shown through ratings:  1, 2, 3, 4  Poor, Good, Excellent, Exceptional

Relative and Absolute Judgments Relative: compares one employee’s performance to that of other employees  “How is Jack doing relative to Jill?”  Advantage: forces comparisons and avoids ‘clustering’ of ratings  Disadvantages: Mask the degree of the difference between comparitors Relative information is missing making judgments of how “good is good” or how “bad is bad” difficult Forces distinctions where none may actually exist

Absolute Judgments Absolute: compares each employee’s performance to an anchored scale Advantages:  Drives consistency across managers and groups  Avoid conflict among workers (is this an advantage?)  Easier to defend than relative systems Disadvantages:  Everyone can receive the same rating thereby saving a manager from confronting differences  “Non-anchored” ratings can vary manager-to- manager

Trait Appraisal Instruments Some traits are consistent and enduring:  Decisivness  Reliability  Energy  Loyalty Focuses on the person, not the performance (leads to defensiveness) Look for how these traits impact observable behavior

Behavioral Appraisal Instruments Indicates the relative frequency of a particular type of behavior – that is, what type of behavior is most frequently exhibited BARS: Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (figure 7.7) These tend to be very concrete/observable Higher face validity (better acceptance and application)

Behavioral Appraisal Instruments Disadvantages:  Can be time consuming to develop  They are, by definition, incomplete (we can not define all behaviors at every level)  Organizational/job changes can make them obsolete very quickly  Viewed as “unnatural” in many studies (people prefer dealing with traits)

Outcome Appraisal Instruments Focus on deliverables or outcomes Commonly referred to as “Management by objectives” or MBO. Eliminates bias and error (particularly when outcomes are objectively measurable). Problems:  Poorly defined outcomes can drive wrong behaviors  Dead-body syndrome: the ends justifies the means

Summary of Appraisals See figure 7.8 on page 231! What’s missing???  Organizational uses!  This represents the worst of HR  Includes developmental but places admin first and ‘risk management’ last

Challenges to Performance Management Rater errors and bias  Halo: rating similarly across dimensions  Restriction of range: tends to rate everyone similarly Leniency, central tendency and severity errors Comparability: similarity of ratings by different managers (how is this avoidable?) Frame of Reference (FOR) training: essentially training that “anchors perceptions”

Challenges to Performance Management Liking:  Emotional and unconscious (in many cases)  Is established very quickly  Liking and positive reviews have a strong positive correlation Precautions: awareness is your best ally Politics

Balance of Chapter Good content – read it Addressing performance concerns:  Timely  Behaviorally specific  Coaching until it is not effective  Warnings Specific objectives Specific timeframes Specific outcomes if objectives not attained

Chapter 8 – Training the Workforce Training: providing employees with specific skills or helping them correct deficiencies in their performance “in the moment” or for present needs. Development: future-focused development of abilities.

Challenges in Training Why train? What’s the goal? Start by asking if, given the goal, is training the solution? Are the goals clear and realistic? Is training a good investment? Will training work? Is training a benefit? Is it an investment?  Why would we treat these differently?

The three phases of managing the training process Phase 1: Assessment:  Organizational analysis: culture, mission, business climate and objectives and structure  Task analysis: looks at the “delta” between current and desired tasks or work  Person analysis: which employees need training

 Clarify the objectives: Actionable? Measurable? Desirable? Realistic?  Figure 8.3 (page 267) Great example of breaking down a fuzzy objective into actionable skills

The three phases of managing the training process Phase 2: “The Training and Conduct Phase” (just do it!)  Location (on or off the job): OJT: job rotation and apprenticeships  Presentation Slides, videotapes, teletraining, CBT, e-learning (in some cases combining classroom with web based tutorials), simulations, VR, classroom and instructor based.

 Types: Skills training: focuses on learning new skills either as part of new hire or with new products Retraining: focuses on keeping skills sharp or reinforcing them for better/more efficient application Cross-functional training: training in areas other than an employee’s base area (job rotation) to make folks more adaptable and increase cross- organizational knowledge/awareness Team training: how to work and play well together Creativity training: brainstorming and ?

 Types: Literacy training: particularly with ESL and when hiring large work forces  In house programs  Company/local school  Company/local state government Diversity training: focus on awareness of, support for and ability to work in a diverse environment Crisis training: focused on industries likely to need it Customer service training: can you guess?

The three phases of managing the training process Phase 3: Evaluation  Look at Return on Investment (emerging trends?) – page 283  Begin with the end in mind, right?  Consider using scientific methodology: Control group and training group  Pre-establish and do not communicate objectives to group being trained  Go beyond the, “Did you like this” assessment