Performance Appraisal Role-Play a (with Manager a and Employee A)

In this example Robert is meeting with Denise to go over her performance appraisal. When Denise is asked to tell Robert how she feels she has done over the last year, Denise states that she feels satisfied with her performance and believes she is doing good because she has not received any feedback from Robert otherwise. There are two issues to be concerned about with this statement. First, employees should be given regular and systematic feedback on their performance throughout the appraisal period, not just once a year (Ash & Quarry, 2010). Second, a yearly appraisal period is too long. Performance appraisals should be given at least twice per year, if not more often, in order to give equal credit to the good performance and not so good performance (Pardue, 1999). We tend to only remember what has happened recently and with this long of a performance period good performance can be overshadowed by more recent poor performance.

Robert should be asking Denise to provide her feedback on the process on how he can help her with her job (Ash & Quarry, 2010). Ideally, Denise should be given a review at the beginning of her performance appraisal period, so that she knows what is expected of her and how her performance is going to be evaluated (Pardue, 1999). This makes the performance appraisal process more effective because it isn't a surprise to the employee when they have their performance appraisal meeting.

Robert relies only on the statistics of Denise's customer service rating which shows an 80% satisfaction rate, but he fails to provide any feedback on any other job functions. Robert does not ask Denise what her job functions are, so he doesn't know if she has a good understanding of the job. Denise's job most likely has several requirements, many of which may not have quantifiable metrics, but should be considered in her overall performance. Robert should have Denise's job description to prepare for the meeting (Pardue, 1999).

Robert expresses that Denise's past good performance has no relation to her current performance. This is a poor way to appraise employees because it fails to identify why a good performing employee has a decrease in performance or why a low performing employee has improved performance. You can't know where you are going without knowing where you have been.

Robert's attitude about Denise's mother's illness is insensitive and fails to acknowledge a possible cause of Denise's drop in performance because it should be taken into consideration given her previous good performance. Although, Denise's work performance is the focus for the employer, promoting a work life balance is an important objective for employers. We all have a life outside of work and things will happen to distract us from work at times, and employers need to have compassion and understanding for their employees if they want to keep them.

Denise asks for training and an opportunity for promotion, which Robert ignores. This is a fatal mistake for Robert. Denise is obviously motivated to perform well when she has a goal to work toward, such as the possibility of advancement. Not providing training to an employee who wants to move ahead takes away the motivation to do better. Knowing what career goals employee's have also helps employers provide the right type of training and improvement plans to their employees (Pardue, 1999).

Robert does not keep track of Denise's goals and objectives, he expects her to do that by herself which is unrealistic. Robert does not work with Denise on a plan to improve her performance he just suggests that she should do better. There is no way for Denise to meet and attain goals that will satisfy Robert if he is not involved in setting the goals with her. Denise will not likely improve by "working harder" because she doesn't know what reasons customers are unhappy...

Denise mentions several times that she has worked for the company for 2 years without having been promoted, and Robert should pick up on this fact and realize that the lack of opportunities given to Denise for her good performance are not going to motivate her to improve her poor performance.
Lastly, Robert should not mention pay raises during the performance appraisal meeting. This should be done at a later meeting to encourage honesty in the appraisal process (Ash & Quarry, 2010).

2. Role Play B (Manager B & Employee B)

Denise starts off the meeting with a bad attitude and poor behaviors like chewing gum, and answering her phone during the interview. It's obvious that Denise doesn't understand why she is there, she is not taking the performance appraisal seriously and she has not prepared for the meeting despite knowing about it beforehand. Denise is defensive and argumentative wanting to know what the problem is and Robert failed to set the tone for the meeting to explain the goals for the review which may have helped Robert to control the meeting a little better.

It is clear that Denise equates her performance with the number of hours she is working and she has the perception that she is a hard worker. Robert does a good job of explaining the company's requirement that Denise needs to achieve a 90% customer satisfaction as a minimum requirement but does not provide any feedback on any of the other functions of her job (Ash & Quarry, 2010). Robert makes several attempts to get Denise to tell him why her performance has dropped, so he can identify the specific behaviors or problems that Denise has to understand the reason for the drop in her performance. This is important for Robert to make an achievable and attainable plan for Denise to improve her performance (Pardue, 1999).

Despite Robert's efforts, Denise fails to understand how her performance affects the company's overall performance and she expects the company to fix the problem, not her. Denise asks for a raise and a promotion when she is not deserving of either, which is another sign that she is not making any connection between her performance and the rewards given by the company for good performance (Pardue, 1999). Denise's statement that she is already looking for another job shows that she is not likely to be motivated to improve her performance because she is not invested in the process.

Robert is sensitive to Demises' situation with her mother's illness and he understands this could be a reason for her decline in performance. He expresses his desire to work with her to help her improve, which she does not accept. Robert tries to get Denise to work with him to create a plan for her improvement and he should not have let her leave without having a plan in place if she is going to continue to work at the company. There was no follow up meeting set and no plan for Denise to follow, mostly because she wasn't interested, but Robert as the manager should have made Denise stay and try and make the connection for Denise between good performance and rewards (Ash & Quarry, 2010).

3. Role Play C (Manager C & Employee C)

In this example, neither Robert nor Denise is invested in the performance appraisal process. Robert forgets about the meeting, he is not prepared, he doesn't remember Denise's name and generally sets a bad example for the company as a manager. Another example of Robert's apathy in the process is his action of following the performance appraisal form rigidly without any thought to what he is doing or why he is doing it (Ash & Quarry, 2010). This disconnect clearly defeats the purpose of the performance appraisal…