Business World, Just as Work

¶ … business world, just as work output must be measured for efficiency, so too must there be a way to measure human performance. A performance appraisal is a review and discussion of an employee's performance of particular duties -- their job description. Typically the appraisal not only measures skill, but allows for comments on the employee's abilities on the core values of the organization (teamwork, communication, adherence to procedures, etc.). Appraisals are valuable for a number of reasons.

They help supervisors get a better understanding of the employee's abilities and, if done correctly, are a tool of communication between supervisor and employee with the overriding goal to improve that employee's job performance and satisfaction. Performance dimensions are a definition of an observable behavior that the supervisor uses to determine if the particular function is being performed adequately.

Within the overall template of the organization, there should be a number of common dimensions that every employee is expected to adhere -- communication, reliability, teamwork, cooperation, acumen for one's function, etc. However, since there are often specialized jobs within an organization (e.g. technical skills, managerial skills, higher level analysis skills, etc.), by necessity there will be some jobs that are evaluated differently. Note, it is the functional area or position that will be evaluated with specific dimensions, not the individual.

Just because individuals have different skill sets, learning modes, and personality types does not mean they would be evaluated individually -- that would be biased and give favoritism to some. Instead, if it is the job function that is specified, then the rubric becomes observable behavior of that individual in a specific function. Part 2 -- in human resources, 360-degree feedback, or multisource feedback, is a way to glean information about an employee from all sides -- co-workers, stakeholders, managers, vendors, etc.

The idea is that if one puts a self-assessment along with feedback from a wide variety of soruces, one will get a better understanding of the individual. The specific content of the feedback is dependent upon the type of position (managers get feedback from above, below, and side-to-side; whereas line workers would get peer, perhaps vendor, and managerial feedback). The more people one interacts with in the job situation, the more varied the feedback will be based on the particular type of interaction.

In this plant, the specific content of the appraisal form might be best understood by first running some initial "focus groups" at all functional level after reviewing particular job assignments and job descriptions. In this way one would get a better understanding of the expectations of the position prior to establishing a specific set of content materials within the appraisal. Part 3 -- Because the 360-degree appraisals will not replace standard performance measures at the plant, it is less important that the first round be completely comprehensive.

Instead, the idea is to use the 360 as another tool, specifically to understand the manner in which different functions are perceived -- in all directions, horizontal and vertical. It is more likely that an effective approach to the instigation of 360 would be 3-4 measurements: (1) Not Effective, ( 2) Marginally Effective, (3) Effective, and (4) Very Effective. This would allow the tool to be an open dialog and learning opportunity. Part 4 -- the 360 approach does not mean every single person in an organization supplies feedback for every single person.

The most effective manner for this initial rollout would be to analyze the function and ask for appropriate feedback from the most local group (employee, supervisor, 1-2 peers, cross functional team member, etc.). Simms should provide evaluations and feedback for her direct reports, but, should encourage comments to flow up the chain so that she has a broader base from which to understand. For instance, all employees could have a section in which they evaluate Simms with a few tangible examples of their view.

This would flow up through her direct reports. Part 5 -- Much like cross-tabulating market research, feedback could be handled on a large spreadsheet performance matrix. If Department X has 10 employees, 1 manager, the spreadsheet for X would have columns delineating 1-4 rating with spaces for comments, including the employee themselves. Then this form would be part of the manager's file, etc. Once all the data was in, Simms would have it cross-tabulated and the germane points reviewed so that commonalities could be uncovered and both strategic and tactical plans acted upon.

Feedback should additionally be published and a pamphlet be made.