A discussion question

Analyze at least three types of performance appraisals.

Identify some of the advantages and/or disadvantages of each type.

Feel free to share personal experiences or concerns that arise when

considering how to have tough conversations with employees.

1. 360 Degree Feedback– This feedback is a powerful development tool. It can provide a well-rounded and clear view of an individual by gathering feedback from people they work and interact with. It supports individuals’ development plans, gathers understanding of the perspective of others, and builds a feedback culture. The feedback is gathered using an online survey and completed by various stakeholders, including an individual’s manager, direct reports, and peers. The people providing feedback are the raters or contributors. Inviting input from internal and external clients, customers, and the individual also completed a self-evaluation is common. After the 360 surveys are received, a report will give an overview of the rater’s scores of any comments they have included. Feedback is anonymous except for the managers’ ratings and comments. Here you will see feedback given from a manager or coaches. It’s important to keep an open mind and explore options for developing and implementing an action plan. Ensure the development purpose is clear to get the most out of the 360° process. Select multiple Raiders to get balanced and well-rounded views and have an independent party manage the process. Also, include feedback discussion, make sure there are steps to support development after the process, and act quickly to activate the development plan!

Disadvantages: What if the companies do not choose their own raters carefully? In this case, they will not be able to pick a good broad range of people they interact with regularly! Choosing the right people to conduct this will be the best decision to provide meaningful information. If there are too many or not enough raters, it will hurt decisions. Recommended to only have at least 6 to 8 graders will help get the most well-rounded views of how the focus is perceived. Before conducting the survey, it’s essential to talk to the Raters to explain the purpose of the 360° feedback, encourage them to be honest and provide work-specific feedback, and give them an idea of the time commitment. Typically, if not done, the raters will not conduct their analysis properly!

1. BARS Behaviorally anchored rating scale– Employers may use behavioral reading skills to assess individual actions instead of personal attributes and characteristics. In a behaviorally anchored rating scale known as bars, these examples are anchored or measured against a scale of performance levels. When creating a bar system identifying critical job dimensions, the most important performance factors in the job description are first. Short statements describe both undesirable and desirable behaviors or anchors. These or then translated or assigned to one of the job dimensions. The group then set a number representing the behavior’s effectiveness and the anchors fitted to the scale.

Disadvantages:

However, several problems are associated with this behavioral approach. Creating and maintaining behaviorally anchored writing skills requires extensive time and effort. In addition, many appraisal forms are needed to accommodate different types of jobs in an organization.

1. Trait and behavior-based appraisals– this feedback gives you a close look at the characteristics and personality of employees. The organization will be able to see how creative, confident, and motivating individuals are. Behavioral-based appraisals focus on the ability to carry out individual job duties. This feedback assesses performance e on a quantitative level to decide who should be rewarded or promoted within the organization.

Disadvantages:

This type of appraisal is highly personal, and sometimes employees’ character traits stand out more than others. Doing this can sometimes cause the analysis to be rated incorrectly because the characteristics might be equally valuable. Do you think it is challenging to set a measured goal solely around a person’s character traits?

In my opinion, it only takes one conversation to have and significantly impact everyone moving forward and changing everything. I think that the best way to have challenging discussions with employees would be to let them know that this conversation is good because I feel that there is something that holds them back. This conversation will help them to accomplish their goals and set them up for a brighter future. I think a conversation is more complicated when the individual has already had the conversation and must have one again. It is frustrating and may have left them to feel a certain way which caused them to leave the conversation doing nothing differently. You do not want to make things worse, but you must have this tough conversation to find a way to handle something that is going wrong. I assure the individuals that we want them to get better and can’t afford to have this conversation repeatedly. Frustrations would be lower, the trust would stay, the tension would collapse, and communication will not constrict. I think me doing this will benefit us both and not make anyone miserable. I believe the individuals will start reaching their goals after using this approach because I made them feel comfortable, and they will thank me later for helping them develop more. We must move toward the conflict and create the opportunity we both need. I want to ask questions and listen to them. I will be humble and allow them to respond. Nothing is worse than having a tough conversation and being in fear to take control of the situation quickly!

At my previous employer, I had employees that would come to work late because their previous Manager allowed them to do so. Once I got promoted to Manager, they still conducted themselves the same way and did not change as I was expecting them to. I was young and fresh on the market, so I often felt that they did not respect me because I was new. I did not let this stop me because I had to do a job and could not allow fear to take over. I had tough conversations with all of them individually, and to my knowledge, most of them resulted well, but a few were annoyed that I was the one with authority over them. I assured those individuals that we are a team, and when they fail, we all did. I let them know that I was not here to judge or make fun of them but to help them in any way I could. I told them it did not matter what time of the day I would be available to help them. I found out they were coming to work because of transportation and family issues with babysitting and had informed the old Manager of their situations. I understood where they came from because I had four young children. I asked the teams in a meeting if there was something I could do to help, and to my surprise, they all were friendly and provided more feedback on my approaches to gain their trust. The employees that did not have transportation had it arranged for them to get them to work and employees that had to get babysitting arrangements prepared were able to do so. We all talked to each other more respectfully and took all individuals into perspective. I did not have issues with this moving forward; shifts were covered, and everyone was happy to stay and work as a team.

Identify which approaches should be taken when an employee warning is needed, or corrective action is required.

Note the key considerations for managers in each of these situations.

First, I would investigate the problem, identify the root cause, and conduct follow-ups to make sure the plan sticks moving forward. There will be a meeting with everyone, and I will communicate a clear understanding of the company policy. Identify the performance issues or behaviors that do not align with company goals. Offer them to give feedback about the problem we are having and hear them out. Once I have done this, I would inform the employee that this would include a warning and thank them for their awareness of the problem. Lastly, there would be a clear plan to help guide the employee to improve performance, but I would let them know that anytime they need help, they reach out to me. I will follow up with their leads to ensure that change and issues are handled appropriately for the organization and for them to achieve successful performance moving forward.

Ashla,