cRef # HRM/CH/08/CA-01020304 Human Resource Management

Naima Saleem
Name: ___________________________________________________________________ Lecturer
CUI Wah
Class: ________________Section: _____________Semester:________________

Appraisal system

A College of Business at a large university (we will not name it, but
this is a description of a real project) is currently implementing a
new professor teaching appraisal system that is linked directly to
college goals. Some of the college goals include teaching
international aspects of business, providing team skills and
sensitivity to ethical issues, and encouraging collaborative learning.
The dean formed a committee to develop ways to measure how well
professors meet each of these goals. For example, the committee
proposed that students give feedback about how much they
developed team collaboration skills in a course or how much they
improved their ability to make ethical decisions.
2. Do you think that students should be the raters in this
appraisal system of teachers at university level? What other
sources of appraisal would you recommend?
3. A number of faculty members at university level are
concerned that student ratings are only a popularity contest
and do not indicate teaching quality or amount of learning.
Do you agree or disagree?

With this type of appraisal system, the college goals are the
dimensions on which professor performance levels are measured.
Because the major purpose of the new appraisal system is to
encourage professors to contribute to the college goals in their
teaching efforts, merit pay is tied to how well the professors rate in
the categories.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. A number of professors are concerned that their courses do
not contribute to all of the goals. For instance, a course
might address the international, but not the ethical goal. How
do you think this problem should be dealt with in the
appraisal system?

1
 Changing the Appraisal System at Southeastern University
The staff at Southeastern University has expressed a number of
complaints regarding performance appraisal over the past couple of
years. The system was put in place more than 12 years ago, and a
number of people on staff believe it is time for a change. Staff
positions run the gamut from janitors and plumbers to secretaries.
The staff has its own council and has appointed a committee to study
the appraisal issue. One of the committee's more interesting findings
was that the university id using more than a dozen different rating
forms. This discovery has only added to the employees' perceptions
of inequitable appraisal, and soon there were a number of charges of
discrimination in appraisal.
These problems attracted the attention of Southeastern University's
president, who appointed a task force to study the issue and to
recommend a new appraisal system. In the course of its study, the
task force surveyed other universities' staff appraisal systems. It
found every type of approach, ranging from the simple to the highly
sophisticated. Some were based on traits, others on outcomes, still
others on behaviors. There seemed to be no consistency across
universities.
With the assistance of a management professor, the task force also
conducted a survey of staff workers and their supervisors. Here are
some of the major findings of this survey:
1. The majority of supervisors and staff (60%) view the
purpose of the current system as administrative rather than
Is Appraisal Fair?
developmental. The percentages are reversed (40/60) in
regard to what staff would prefer the purpose of appraisal to
be. A more developmental system seems to be desired.
2. Approximately two thirds of the staff believe that
supervisory liking influences performance appraisal. One
third of the supervisors concur.
3. Both supervisors and workers believe that situational factors
place constraints on performance. For example, more than
half of those surveyed indicated that budget constraints and
equipment availability adversely affected performance.
4. Many workers believe that their supervisor does not provide
adequate feedback. Overall, there seems to be a
dissatisfaction with supervision and a belief that favoritism
and bias are commonplace.
The task force needs to make recommendations to the university
president, and the chair of the task force is looking for direction.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. What kind of staff appraisal system would you recommend
for Southeastern University? Why?
2. How can managers address the issues raised in the staff
survey? Explain.
3. Describe how the new system should be implemented.
2
W. Edwards Deming's 1986 book Out of the Crisis has been popping "I think you're right, Jack. But this is a complex area. How about we
up all over the plant ever since the TQM effort got started last get together in a week after I've had some time to go over the issue?"
quarter. As a mid-level manager, you're excited about the prospects
of this approach, but you're afraid that the transition to TQM may Critical Thinking Questions
mean some serious headaches for you. On the one hand, you are still
responsible for your unit's operation. On the other hand, you don't 1. What would you do to prepare for your next meeting with
seem to have any authority over how the work gets done. All this Jack?
empowerment stuff is fine with you as long as the workers go in the 2. How can you satisfactorily resolve Jack's issue without for
direction you want them to take. "Can they really handle the asking the empowerment approach that is critical to TQM's
responsibility?" you ask yourself. "How can I be sure they won't take success?
this empowerment as an excuse to shirk their responsibilities?" 3. What position will you take on appraisal when you meet
with Jack next week? Why?
Your dismal thoughts are interrupted when Jack, an outspoken team
leader, strides into your office and says, "Hey, big shot!" (He's called
you that ever since you were promoted into management from your
shop floor position.) "Let's talk about this performance appraisal
business. It's a sham! We shouldn't have to be subjected to something
so unfair."

"What do you mean, 'unfair'?" you blurt out, feeling the stirrings of a
monumental headache.

"Well, according to Deming, appraisal shouldn't be done. Besides,

you and I both know it's nothing but a big pain."

"Hmmm," you think to yourself. "Jack is right—appraisal can be

painful. But what he doesn't see is its usefulness. We relied on
performance ratings when promotion openings became available.
Appraisals were also the basis for distributing merit money and the
major justification for other personnel actions such as layoffs and
terminations. What's going to take the place of appraisal in allocating
those outcomes?" Your stream of thought is interrupted by Jack's
exasperated sigh. You're not sure what to do, but you know you have
to buy some time.

3
 Is Quantification the Right Approach?

Midwest Corporation is a medium-sized conglomerate with 14
divisions: 3 in the hotel/restaurant business, 5 in furniture
manufacturing, and 6 in the financial sector. In collaboration with a
consultant, the HR department at corporate headquarters has
developed a procedure to evaluate the health of each division's HR
system. This procedure consists of three steps:
1. Using computerized record files, generate
information on each division's turnover rate,
absenteeism rate, number of grievances, accident
rate, and number of equal opportunity complaints.
2. Compute an overall index of HR effectiveness for
each division that summarizes all the information
generated in Step 1.
3. Compute the difference between each division's
overall HR effectiveness index (generated in Step 2)
and the average overall HR effectiveness for all of
Midwest's similar businesses. Thus, for example, the
furniture manufacturing plant in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, would be compared to all of Midwest's
other furniture manufacturing plants.
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Midwest's
proposed three-step HR evaluation procedure? Explain.
2. Do you agree with the method being proposed at Midwest?
If not, what alternatives would you suggest?
3. Is linking the HRM effectiveness score to division managers'
performance appraisal and pay likely to have a positive or
negative effect on these managers' behavior? Why or why
not?
Cooperative Learning Exercise
1. Form into groups of four to five students each. One
student plays the HR director, the others division
managers. The division managers have just recently
heard about the HR director's proposal and have asked
for a meeting to express their reservations about the
plan. Play out that meeting.

The HR director at Midwest's corporate headquarters has been able

to persuade top executives that the appraisal and compensation of
division executives should be based in part on the comparative
computations done in Step 3. The goal, as the HR director sees it, is
to hold division managers accountable for the effective use of human
resources in each plant.

Critical Thinking Questions