Please make sure that the work is your own and not copy and paste. Please make sure that you follow all the professor instructions because it will effect the grade. Make sure that you watch out for spelling and grammar errors. Please read the study guide and intro.
Book Reference: Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B., & Cardy, R. L. (2016). Managing human resources (8th ed.) [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780133953718
Instructions
In Unit VIII, you will write and submit a research paper that addresses the elements below
- Explain how one can address the five challenges to effective performance measurement.
- Describe how the performance management process effectively utilizes the following elements:
- the appraisal interview,
- performance improvement,
- identification of causes of performance problems,
- development of an action pan and empowerment of employees, and
- communications at performance evaluations.
- Explain how to address the four challenges to effective training.
- Discuss how the training process can best be managed utilizing the following elements:
- the needs assessment phase,
- the clarification of the objectives of the training,
- the training and conduct phase,
- the evaluation phase, and
- legal issues and training.
In preparation for your paper (due in Unit VIII), you will conduct research and locate articles to support your research paper. Using the CSU Online Library, locate at least four peer-reviewed journal articles, and submit a two- to three-page annotated bibliography for those articles.
Include an explanation of why the sources were selected and how they are of value to the topic. Use APA style for your annotated bibliography.
Resources
The following resource(s) may help you with this assignment.
- Citation Guide
- CSU Online Library Research Guide
- Submit Writing Center Request
Unit VII Introduction
The appraisal and management of employee performance is a key factor in today’s workplace. Effective strategic human resource management has a keen focus on this as a prime motivating factor for employees. Well-managed employees provide a motivated workforce, which then provides a more robust contribution to a healthy bottom line for any organization. Unfortunately, many times, managers and employees do not look forward to this process; however, when done properly, it can be time to more fully engage and learn. This process can be a positive contribution to employee motivation; however, it is important that training is provided for both managers and employees so that they understand not only how the appraisal and performance management system should work, but also how to avoid the challenges and pitfalls that can impede the process. The performance appraisal process involves the identification, measurement, and management of employee performance in any organization. In identification, the focus should be on creating a measurement system that relies on legally defensible job analysis factors. These can serve as the legal foundation for the appraisal system and the job elements to be examined. With measurement, there must be a consistent system in place across the organization. There also must be a continuous focus on developing measurement standards that are distinctly quantifiable rather than subjective. Finally, with the management focus, this would encompass not only reviewing past performance but also coaching to improve future performance. Having managers link UNIT VII STUDY GUIDE From Appraising and Managing the Workforce to the Training of That Workforce, Part I DBA 7553, Human Resource Management 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title individual performance goals to larger organizational objectives can lead employees to contribute to the organization’s overall goals. Seeing their part in the bigger picture can have a powerful effect on employees’ motivation toward their future goals. Performance appraisals can be used for administrative purposes as well as for developmental purposes. The administrative focus is used for making decisions regarding things like promotions, pay increases, bonuses, or terminations. The developmental focus would be used for coaching and strengthening job skill sets, providing feedback on specific workplace behaviors, or looking at future training and learning opportunities. Ultimately, it is important that both managers and their employees understand and trust that performance appraisals are part of a healthy performance management system. Active training on this subject must be a part of the commitment from top management. Training managers and employees on the system’s usefulness is an important aspect of the program’s success. Additionally, trained top management, supported by strategic human resource management, can lead by example to create trust so employees consistently see how the performance management system is truly something of value for them and for the company. In measuring performance, it is critical to be able to understand the tools available as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Strategic human resource management can help an organization to select the tools that are best for that group. There can be relative judgment appraisal systems or absolute judgment systems. Relative judgment systems have a strength in that they force managers to provide employee rankings among their group. Differentiating among employees and then ranking them can avoid having everyone appraised at the same level. However, the weakness of this system is that there is no way to delineate how great or small these differences are between employees. They may be minimal or vast, but the system does not allow for that distinction. Additionally, there are no absolutes in such a system. For instance, if there is a top employee in one team, there is no way to detail how much better the employee may be from someone who is an average employee on another team. Finally, in relative judgment appraisal systems, when managers must stratify and rank employees, it can sometimes force them to make judgments about differences that may not truly exist. With the use of absolute judgment systems, managers must compare an employee’s performance to a detailed performance standard—one that is verifiable from a job analysis point and one that is measurable. This can provide a legally stronger standpoint from which to appraise and can also be useful when comparing employees from different workgroups. When using a standardized process to establish legally verifiable performance standards and using measurable points to establish performance ratings, there can be a more detailed definition of excellence across disparate groups. There also can be performance appraisal systems that utilize trait, behavioral, and/or outcome data. Trait appraisal will require managers to make judgments regarding an employee’s traits or characteristics. Usually, focus is on four traits: decisiveness, reliability, energy, and loyalty. One of the weaknesses of this trait appraisal system is that it can be too subjective. For instance, different managers may see energy manifested in different ways; therefore, there can be variability in ratings between managers. Behavioral appraisal systems will seek to assess an employee’s behaviors in the workplace. The system most often used in this is the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS). The BARS will take a critical incident item, such as job knowledge or dependability. Then a scale is built with a variety of points on the bar that represents lower-level behaviors for the critical incident item and moves up to more supportive and positive behaviors. One of the strengths of this type of system is that it provides observable points on which employees can be assessed. However, it can take quite a bit of time to develop such detailed systems of appraisal, so it can be considered a weakness of this system of appraisal. Finally, with an outcome appraisal system, data is used to generate the assessment at hand. For instance, an employee’s annual sales numbers can be a data point that is fed into an outcome appraisal system. This data can be compared to the goal of the year, and an assessment can be made purely from that data. A strength of this type of system is that the data is clear, and subjectivity is removed. DBA 7553, Human Resource Management 3 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title There can be various challenges to providing effective performance management, and it is important that an organization’s managers are aware of these. It is useful for companies to provide supportive manager training in these issues. Challenges that organizations will encounter include (1) rater errors and bias, (2) how liking influences things, (3) organizational politics, (4) the decision of whether to focus on the individual or group, and (5) legal issues. Rater errors and bias can come into play when a rater has the possibility of introducing his or her own bias into the performance appraisal process. The most commonly seen bias is the halo error. This is a tendency that a rater may have to rate someone the same way across different points in the performance appraisal process. For example, if a manager had an employee who performs well on an appraisal item that the manager believes is a useful area for the team, then the manager may tend to rate that employee higher across the board on other items the manager may not feel are as important to the overall picture. Therefore, because the employee performs so well on the item that is important to the manager, all of the other items then get ranked highly as well—even if the employee may actually be performing at a lower level on some. Therefore, it can be critical that managers are trained to recognize such rater errors and bias, recognize when they may commit such errors, and seek to amend that tendency. There can also be the influence of liking. This occurs when managers allow their personal feelings of whether they like an employee affect how they assess that employee in a performance appraisal system. There can be employees who are doing excellent work in the areas of the objective points in the performance appraisal process; however, they may also be someone who has behavioral issues that the manager does not like. It is key for managers to have adequate training for such issues. Recognizing these emotional points and separating them from the detailed and objective performance points is critical. If there are specific behavioral issues as part of the performance appraisal system, that would be the appropriate place to assess such issues. Organizational politics in the realm of the performance appraisal system can be a real issue for many organizations. Sometimes an employee’s performance appraisal can be caught in the political perspective of a manager. An employee’s performance may be evaluated based on the overall goals or agenda of that manager, rather than the more objective points of the performance appraisal process itself. The performance appraisal system must be designed and implemented for objectivity and measurement. The appraisal system is degraded when organizational politics enters. It is important for human resource management to provide proper and continuous training for managers in this and continuously scan for such issues. When they arise, human resource management must be able to discuss appropriately with the manager to ensure that the performance appraisal system elements are kept properly in place. With regard to the individual focus or a group focus, many times companies will have a team structure in the organization. As such, there would need to be a dual focus—one of the team’s performance and one of each individual employee’s contribution to that team performance. Human resource management should first develop the competencies needed for successful individual contributions to the team performance. This can be done in conjunction with the team members. They would have a good understanding of what is needed in this area. Additionally, teams can also assess each member themselves, which can add a more robust dimension to the appraisal process for teams. Next, team performance items must be mapped. Keeping a balance of the importance of successful team relationships with the measurable outcomes for the team is key. Rate Errors and Bias Influence of Liking Orgnaizational Politics Focus on Individual or Group Legal Issues The challenges to providing effective performance management DBA 7553, Human Resource Management 4 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title In conclusion, and with regard to legal issues, performance appraisal systems are guided mainly by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2016). This focuses on the prohibition of discrimination under all conditions of employment. Human resource management must be continually focused on scanning for issues, such as adverse impact, with regard to performance appraisal and management systems. For instance, there may be one population of employees that is promoted at a higher rate based on the appraisal system. In such a case, human resource management would need to investigate the appraisal system for issues that may appear neutral but could be causing a discriminatory effect on a protected group. Overall, it is important for strategic human resource management to stay focused on the details and larger picture impacts of establishing and maintaining a proper and useful performance appraisal and management system. Reference Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B., & Cardy, R. L. (2016). Managing human resources (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
