Paul L. Schumann, Ph.D.

Professor of Management MGMT 440: Human Resource Management

2008 by Paul L. Schumann. All rights reserved.

Outline
y Performance Measurement y Functions of Performance Appraisal y Criteria for Effective Performance Appraisal Systems y Types of Performance to Measure y Performance Appraisal Methods y Performance Raters (Evaluators) y Performance Feedback

Performance Management
y Performance appraisal: the measurement and assessment of an employee s job performance y Performance management: the integration of performance appraisal systems with other HRM systems for the purpose of aligning the employees work behaviors and results with the organization s goals y Example: link an employee s pay increase to the employee s job performance
y

To do this, we have to measure the employee

s job performance

y Goal: Improve the organization by improving the

employees

work behaviors and results

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Performance Management Cycle

Development Tool Administrative Tool

Source of figure: Adapted from Fisher, Schoenfeldt, & Shaw (2006), Figure 10.1, p. 421
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Functions of Performance Appraisal

y Employee Development Tool y Goal setting: Set performance goals for each employee
y y

Involve the employee in goal setting Make the goals specific, concrete, & measurable y Example goals (some of many) for a retail store manager: y Sales goal for year = $2 million y Customer satisfaction goal = average rating of 4.5 on 5-point customer satisfaction rating scale Make the goals difficult but achievable, challenging but realistic Empower employees to achieve their goals
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Functions of Performance Appraisal

y Employee Development Tool (more) y Provide feedback to reinforce & sustain performance
y

Employees need to know how they are doing Be a coach in addition to being a boss

y Provide help & advice to improve performance

y

y Assist employees in achieving career progression goals y Determine training needs

y

Do employees have job performance deficiencies for which training would be an effective remedy?

Functions of Performance Appraisal

y Administrative Tool y Link rewards to performance
y

Examples: pay increases, promotions, demotions, terminations, disciplinary actions, etc. Goal: Create incentives to motivate employees to increase their performance Example: Evaluate a training program: Measure job performance before and after training to see if performance improved

y Evaluate HRM policies & programs

y

Criteria for Effective Performance Appraisal Systems

y 1. Validity: are we measuring the right thing? y Are we really measuring job performance?
y

We want to measure important ( relevant ) aspects of job performance, in a way that is free from extraneous or contaminating influences, and that encompasses the whole job (i.e., our measures of job performance are not deficient : we aren t leaving out important aspects of job performance)

y 2. Reliability: consistency of measurement y Example: inter-rater reliability

y

If two people observe a particular employee s job performance, do they agree in their rating of the employee s performance?

Criteria for Effective Performance Appraisal Systems

y 3. Freedom from bias y It does not illegally discriminate (race, sex, age, etc.) y It is free from rating errors (intentional or unintentional):
y y y y

Leniency errors Severity errors Central tendency errors Halo errors

y 4. Practicality y The benefits the organization gets from using it should outweigh the costs of developing & using it
y

Utility analysis

y It should be relatively easy to use y It should be accepted by managers and employees

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Types of Performance to Measure

y What aspects of an employee

s job performance can

we measure?
y We have 3 basic choices:
y

Results produced by the employee y Example for a salesperson: Amount of sales ($) in the past month Behaviors of the employee y Example for a salesperson: Number of sales calls in the past month Traits of the employee y Example for a salesperson: Friendliness
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Types of Performance to Measure

y Results-based (results-oriented): measure the results

produced by the employee

y Examples for a retail store manager (examples of some

results for which the store manager has responsibility and so should be held accountable):
y y y y

Sales of the store Profit per square foot Inventory shrinkage Customer satisfaction

y Makes sense for most jobs y Results matter (usually)

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Types of Performance to Measure

y Results-based (more) y Challenges:
y y y y y

Which results are relevant may not be obvious for all jobs Some results are not under the employee s control May foster a results at all costs mentality May interfere with teamwork May be difficult to provide effective feedback

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Types of Performance to Measure

y Behavior-based (behavior-oriented): measure the employee s behaviors y Examples for a retail store manager:
y y y y

Good attendance Completes management reports correctly & on time Monitors customers and employees for theft Coaches employees to welcome customers to the store & offer assistance within 3 minutes, and to thank customers as they leave Conducts regular sessions with employees to develop teamwork

y Makes sense for many jobs y Use it where how the employee produces results matters

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Types of Performance to Measure

y Behavior-based (more) y Advantage: Makes it easier to provide effective performance feedback to employees
y

Examples for a retail store manager: y Feedback with results-oriented performance appraisal: You didn t achieve your sales goal. (Measured by sales reports) y Feedback with behavior-oriented performance appraisal: You are allowing your employees to wait too long before offering help to customers. (Measured by observations of a secret shopper)

y Challenges: y Difficult to capture the full range of relevant behaviors y Different behaviors can lead to the same results y We may not always care which behaviors were used
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Types of Performance to Measure

y Trait-based (trait-oriented): measure the employee personal characteristics y Examples for a retail store manager:
y y y y

Ability to make decisions Loyalty to the company Communication skills Level of initiative

y This is usually a bad idea for several reasons: y Poor reliability & validity of measures of traits y Weak relationship between traits and job effectiveness y Measurements of traits are more likely to be subject to biases (sexism, racism, ageism, etc.) y Hard to use traits to provide effective feedback
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Types of Performance to Measure

y So, in most cases, we want to measure the job

performance of an employee in terms of the results and behaviors of the employee

y Make a list of results & behaviors that are relevant to the

job
y

Starting point: Use the job description to identify the essential tasks of the job y Example task statement on job description for a Retail Store Manager: Manage inventory shrinkage. Translate the tasks into results & behaviors y Example (continued): Measure the amount of inventory shrinkage in the store (a result)
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Once we decide which results & behaviors we want to

measure, we next need to decide how to measure those results & behaviors
y We have 3 categories of choices:
y y y

Objective measures of performance Subjective measures of performance Management By Objectives

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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Objective measures: measure an employee

s job performance in terms of things we can see and count with no (or minimal) use of opinion
y Production measures: count units produced by an

employee y Sales measures: count the sales ($) of an employee y Personnel data: count things in the employee s personnel file
y

Examples: y Number of times late to work y Number of times absent y Number of disciplinary actions taken
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Objective measures (more): y Performance tests: for an employee, evaluate work samples or simulations under standardized conditions
y

Example: for an airline pilot, program a flight simulator with specific flight conditions to test if the pilot handles it correctly

y Business unit performance measures: for managers who are

responsible for a business unit, measure their performance by measuring the performance of the business unit they lead
y

Examples: y Market share of the business unit y Profit measures for the business unit: profits & profit rates (return on sales, return on assets, return on equity) y Stock price
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures: measure an employee s job performance using human judgment y Ranking: subjectively rank employees from best to worst
y

y y

Example: 1. Bob 2. Carol 3. Ted 4. Alice Note carefully that the ranking is in terms of subjective opinion (e.g., who is your best salesperson overall?), not objective factors (e.g., which salesperson sold the most?) Note the ranking requires you to compare one employee to another Problem: it can be hard to determine the subjective ranking position of employees who are in the middle (it all blurs together)
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures (more) y Paired comparisons: for all possible pairs of employees, subjectively decide which employee is better
y y

y y y

# of paired comparisons = (N2 N)/2 Example: N = 4 J (42 4)/2 = 6 paired comparisons: y Bob > Carol; Bob > Ted; Bob > Alice y Carol > Ted; Carol > Alice y Ted > Alice Example: N = 12 J (122 12)/2 = 66 paired comparisons Note that you are comparing one employee to another Problem: inconsistent subjective comparisons: Bob > Carol; Carol > Ted; Ted > Bob (see the inconsistency here?)
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures (more) y Rating scale (graphic rating scale): subjectively rate the employee s job performance on a labeled numeric measuring scale
y

Rating scales are perhaps the most commonly used method of subjectively evaluating an employee s job performance Before we use a rating scale to subjectively rate an employee s job performance, we need to: y Identify the aspects of job performance (results & behaviors) that are to be evaluated (rated) using the rating scale y Develop the rating scale itself
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Performance Appraisal Methods

Rating Scale Examples
y Examples of a 5-point scale: y 5 = Excellent 4 = Very satisfactory 3 = Satisfactory 2 = Unsatisfactory 1 = Very unsatisfactory y 5 = Greatly exceeds standards 4 = Exceeds standards 3 = Meets standards 2 = Below standards 1 = Far below standards

Rating Scale Examples

y Example of a 7-point scale: y 7 = Truly exceptional 6 = Excellent 5 = Very good 4 = Good 3 = Satisfactory 2 = Unsatisfactory 1 = Very unsatisfactory

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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures (more) y Rating scale (more)
y

The same rating scale can be used to rate: y Overall job performance, and y Multiple specific aspects of job performance Some aspects of job performance can be measured objectively and subjectively y Example: Quality of work y Objective measure: defect rate (percentage of units produced by an employee that fail inspection) y Subjective measure: subjectively rate the quality of the employee s work using a 5-point rating scale
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures (more) y Rating scale (more)
y

Example: MSU Course Evaluation Form

y

Note how the same 5-point rating scale is used to evaluate several different aspects of the professor s job performance: y Course as a whole y Instructor s contribution to the course y Use of class time y Etc.
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More Examples of Rating Scales

y Decisions: y Use a graphic or just use words? y Label all the points on the scale, or just label some? y Odd or even number of points on the scale? y Fewer points on the scale, or more points on the scale?
Source of figure: Fisher, Schoenfeldt, & Shaw (2006), Figure 10.6, p. 449
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures (more) y Rating scale (more)
y

Note that rating scales do not require you to compare one employee to another the ratings are absolute, not comparative Problems: y No limits on leniency, severity, & central tendency errors y Example: a manager rates all of his employees at 5= Excellent regardless of the employees actual performances y Possible solution: forced distribution? y The terms used in a rating scale to describe different levels of performance tend to be short and vague y Example: What does Excellent really mean? y Possible solution: BARS?
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures (more) y Forced distribution: evaluator must place a fixed percentage of employees in each performance category
y

y y

Example: 10% must be rated 5 = Excellent 25% must be rated 4 = Very satisfactory 45% must be rated 3 = Satisfactory 15% must be rated 2 = Unsatisfactory 5% must be rated 1 = Very unsatisfactory Note that you are comparing one employee to another Problem: what if the distribution being forced doesn t fit?
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures (more) y Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS): replace the vague descriptors in a rating scale with specific examples of performance
y

Example: Customer assistance 5 = Could be expected to volunteer to help customer and to walk with customer to location of desired product 4 = Could be expected to walk with customer to location of desired product when asked for help by customer 3 = Could be expected to tell and point customer to where the desired product is located when asked for help by customer 2 = Could be expected to shrug shoulders and walk away when asked for assistance by customer 1 = Could be expected to hide from customers in the employee breakroom
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures (more) y BARS (more)
y

Note that a different scale will be needed for each aspect of job performance Advantages: y Job-relevant measures of performance y Involves employees in developing scales Disadvantages: y More work (time & money) to develop BARS y Employees may not consistently fit into one of the BARS categories y Possible solution: BOS?
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Subjective measures (more) y Behavioral Observation Scale (BOS): evaluators rate the frequency with which an employee engages in specific behaviors
y

Example: on a list of possible employee behaviors, rate how often the employee engages in each behavior using a rating scale where: 1 = almost never 5 = almost always

y Weighted checklist: from a list of possible employee

behaviors, check off the ones that apply to the employee

y

Example: Fisher, Schoenfeldt, & Shaw (2006), Figure 10.8, p. 452

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Performance Appraisal Methods

y Management By Objectives (MBO): evaluate employee

job performance in terms of the extent to which the employee achieved each of his or her goals during a specified period of time
y Goals can be both objective and subjective y Example goals (some of many) for a retail store manager: y Objective: Sales goal for year = $2 million y Subjective: Customer satisfaction goal = average rating of 4.5 on 5-point customer satisfaction rating scale y Commonly used for managers and professionals

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Performance Appraisal Methods

y MBO (more) y Process:
y

At the beginning of the review period, the employee and the supervisor meet and they agree on a set of goals to be achieved by the employee during the review period y Review period is typically one year, but could be more often y Apply the goal setting principles: y Involve the employee in goal setting y Make the goals specific, concrete, & measurable y Make the goals difficult but achievable, challenging but realistic y Empower employees to achieve their goals
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Performance Appraisal Methods

y MBO (more) y Process (more):
y

Throughout the review period, progress toward the goals is monitored y Employee s supervisor should be providing coaching to help the employee achieve his or her goals At the end of the review period, the employee and the supervisor meet to evaluate the extent to which each goal was achieved and to set new goals for the next review period

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Performance Raters (Evaluators)

y Who should be asked to evaluate the job performance

of an employee?
y Performance evaluators need to have:
y y

Opportunity to observe the employee s job performance Ability to translate observations of performance into an evaluation of performance Motivation to do a good job of observing & evaluating

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Performance Raters (Evaluators)

y Options for Job Performance Evaluators y Supervisors y Self-evaluation y Peers (co-workers) y Subordinates y Customers
y y

External customers Internal customers

y 360-Degree Appraisals

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Performance Feedback
y Employees need effective feedback y Allow time & eliminate distractions y Okay to cover both administrative issues (e.g., pay increase) & developmental issues (e.g., future goals) in one feedback session y Provide specific feedback
y

Example: y Don t say: You re always late. y Do say: You were more than 5 minutes late on 25 occasions in the past 3 months. This is unacceptable. We need to develop (1) a specific goal concerning prompt attendance and (2) an action plan that you will follow to achieve the goal.
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Performance Feedback
y Types of feedback sessions: y Tell-and-sell: the supervisor tells the employee the results of the performance appraisal and explains the reasons why the appraisal is correct y Tell-and-listen: the supervisor tells the employee the results of the performance appraisal and listens to the employee s response y Problem solving: the supervisor acts as a coach to assist the employees in setting their own goals and in evaluating their own job performance
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Performance Feedback
y Types of feedback sessions (more): y Combination of tell-and-sell & problem solving:
y

First part of feedback session: tell-and-sell y Focus on the past: y Supervisor tells the employee the results of the performance appraisal and explains the reasons why the appraisal is correct y Supervisor tells the employee about any administrative decisions that were made (e.g., pay increases, etc.) Second part of feedback session: problem solving y Focus on the future: y Supervisor acts as a coach to help the employee identify barriers to improved future job performance
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Outline
y Performance Measurement y Functions of Performance Appraisal y Criteria for Effective Performance Appraisal Systems y Types of Performance to Measure y Performance Appraisal Methods y Performance Raters (Evaluators) y Performance Feedback

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