Active Inquiry Process.

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 SECTION A

Question 1

An analysis of the three set of Questions of the Active Inquiry Process.

Performance interviews aim at forming an understanding of how employees are fairing at a

place of work and why their performance is as it is. Additionally, performance interviews can

provide managers or supervisors with an opportunity to guide employees into better

performance. The situation that we are going to refer in the analysis of the three sets of

question is a disastrous one. An example is where a company sends the head of public

Relations to represent the company in TV interview but in the middle of the interview the

employee disagrees with the interviewer and utters some disgraceful words leaving the

audience astonished.

Intention of first set of questions.

The first set of questions of the inquiry process intends to form an understanding of the

scenario or situation that has made an employee perform the way he or she has and

understand the environment that has given rise to some set of events that are a threat to an

employee’s performance or behavior. This can best be established by the first question of the

set (What is the situation?). A question like (what is going?) intends to establish an employee

view of the situation. The question (what are the details?) seeks to establish whether or not

the employee is fully aware of the situation or events leading to the situation.

The question (how can he or she help?) intends to know what sort of assistance the employee

thinks can resolve the situation to comprehend if the situation has arisen entirely due to

actions of the employee or otherwise.

Intention of Second Set of Questions.

The second set of question intends to establish an emotional connection between a manager

and the employee. It seeks to understand the mindset and emotional set of the employee

concerning events leading to a situation. A question like (How did you feel about that?)

intends establish the emotions elicited by a disastrous situation or positive one. (What was

your reaction?), this question intends to determine the emotional state and the temperament of

the employee at the time situation was happening. (How did others react?), seeks to establish

if the employee was aware of others people’s or other employees’ reaction as a result of the

situation. (Why did you do that?) as a question intends to establish an employee’s mechanism

of solving or reacting to difficult or pleasant circumstances. (What are your options?) intends

to gauge whether an employee has a sense of responsibility or can guide himself out of a

troublesome situation. (What do you think you should do?) seeks to assess an employee’s

decision-making process in establishing plausible responses to a problematic situation.

Intention of the Third Set of Questions.

The third set of question intends to establish an in-depth understanding of the employee

decision-making process and the driving forces behind the choice of action taken. A Question

like (Could you have done X?) intends to understand reasons for rejecting a course of action

that the manager feels or thinks would have better results. (Why didn’t you think of X?) seeks

to comprehend factors (either personal or environmental) that influenced the rejection of a

course of action that would have generated a positive outcome. (Have you considered X?)

intends to gauge whether the employee has the ability to generate valid responses to pleasant

or unpleasant situations and environments.

Question 2

Technical and Perceptual Errors in a Performance Evaluation Process.

Performance Evaluation or Appraisal is a chronological observation or assessment of an

employee’s performance (Lunenburg 2012). Perceptual errors refer to the inability to

accurately or fairly judge situation, humans or things (Singh 2019). Examples of these errors

according to Singh include Self-Serving Bias, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Fundamental

Attribution Error, Halo Effect, Stereotyping, Recency Effect and Similar to me Effect.

Singh notes that, Stereo typing refers to the positive or negative generalization of about a

category of people or group based on incorrect beliefs and assumptions, and then applying

these assumptions on one individual in a category. Self-serving bias is the behavior or

tendency of persons to attribute their greatness or success on internal factors while blaming

their failures on external parameters. Halo Effect is the making of a general impression of a

person based on a single attribute.

Recency Effect is letting recent information influence a judgment even though one maybe

having other information about a situation or individual. Similar to me Effect, is giving

favorable judgements to events or persons who are similar to us. Fundamental Attribution

Error is the underestimation of the impact of internal factors and the overestimation of the

influence of external factors. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy relates to preconceived beliefs and

expectations that determine people’s behaviors.

On the other hand, Technical Errors refer to performance evaluation error that may not arise

from personal judgment and bias but rather from the use of the wrong appraisal methods or

techniques. An example is the collection of inaccurate data on an employee’s performance.

Need for Trained Interviewers.

Trained interviewers are critical in making an interview or a performance evaluation exercise

as accurate and effective as possible. By having managers who are not trained carry out

performance appraisal exercises runs the risk of making poor evaluation decisions and

conclusions. According to (Mayhew 2019) having untrained interviewers run critical

exercises like job appraisals can risks the jobs of numerous employees due to ranking errors

that could have been avoided through training. Besides, incorrect ranking can lead to poor job

satisfaction and reduce employee morale. To avoid this organizations, need to have trained

interviewers manage vital processes such job evaluation. Moreover, It is important to have

trained interviews because they can influence employees into making better decision and

motivate them into better performance. Mayhem (2019) notes that training interviewers or

managers helps them sync a company’s philosophy, culture, values and practices into the

performance evaluation and management process. Incorporating values assist in offering fair and

just evaluation of performance.

When it comes to the Technical and Perceptual Error of the performance evaluation process, training

interviewers is very critical to help them understand and be aware of inherent personal biases and

prejudices that can compromise the process. Training interviewer on data collection and analysis

helps them gather relevant documents pertaining employee performance and accurately evaluate them

to avoid making technical errors such as the reliance of outdated data to make performance appraisal

decisions and conclusions. For instance, the Recency effect where one depends on recent data while

overlooking existing data can be avoid be gathering all data and this can be avoided through training.

Perceptual Error may arise due one’s personality or biases. Training interviewers helps them

appreciate their personalities and biases, and make them fathom that they need to be aware that they

may influence the way they carry out Performance evaluation.

 SECTION B

Appraisal Interview

For this appraisal interview we have selected a fellow classmate to be the interviewee. This is a

student whom we are sharing the same Human Resource Management course at the Singapore

University of Social Sciences.

On KSAOs (Knowledge, Skill, Ability and Other Personal Characteristics), the student has knowledge

on Human Resource management. Has disaster management skill, has the ability to communicate

effectively with other students and on other personal characteristics the student can work for long

hours with minimal supervision. On Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) we will look at factors like

awards acquired by the student, research grants the students has managed to source, Grades(GPA),

Understanding of the curriculum and class attendance rate.

The Intent.

The intent of this appraisal interview is to assess the performance of the student in the three years he

has being in college in terms of the Key performance indicators and KSAOs. Besides, the interview

intends to find out what the students about the university’s curriculum and its influence on his career

path

Objectives.

To get feedback on Academic performance: The student will provide a report or details of his

performance on the years he has been on college based on official University Transcripts,

awards and other extra-curriculum certificates.

To measure performance decisively: An in-depth assessment of the transcripts and awards

will provide and accurate measurement of the student’s performance.

To understand Student’s Academic expectations and Final results: Through a discussion the

interviewee will explain what academic expectations he harbors and what he thinks his final

results will look like.

To understand Student’s Career path: Through interview question the interviewer will seek to

comprehend the student’s career path.

To generate corrective actions on areas that need them.

List of Interview Questions.

1. What other Knowledge have you acquired from the University and the courses you

have undertaken for the years you have been on campus?

2. Are there any other Skills you find relevant in your life that you have acquired from

the University?

3. What are your greatest abilities and as student and as an individual?

4. What personal characteristics have made your stay on College easier.

5. What has been your GPA in the three years you have been on campus?

6. Have you been able to come up with a research topic and successful source and

acquire grants to conduct the research for the years you have been on campus?

7. What other areas other than Academia have you been involved in? and are there any

awards received for your active participation?

8. What is your take on the curriculum you have gone through so far?

9. Why did you choose this course as a career path and how has the university’s

curriculum enhanced your understanding of the career?

Reflection

As student interviewer carrying out a performance evaluation on another student, it was not

easy coming up with broad interview questions since grades and course performances are the

key performance indicators that can tell whether a student is doing well in school. Performing

well in extra-curriculum and decimally in academia will account for less since matters

academic should have the first priority.

Some of my strengths in preparing out the interview include by able to find a collaborative

student and forming a good relationship that kicked started the interview in the right

direction. Being able to listen attentively to responses from the interviewee was another

strength that helped in getting critical data and in the forming of meaningful conclusions.

Moreover, I think I was very audible since the interviewee could understand the questions I

asked and respond appropriately. It usually very discouraging to go into an interview and find

an interviewer who can’t speak loud enough for the interviewee to understand interview

question because it breeds anxiety and frustration. However, the interview was not that good

since some weaknesses showed up in the process. One some of the question were too

ambiguous for instance the one on curriculum, it was not specific which curriculum the

question wanted the student to respond to since various departments have their own teaching

curriculums. The other is that I kept the interview too serious with very little light moments

which made the interviewee feel pressured at some point. Additionally, I was able to

influence or motivate the interview in the entire process even when I noticed instances of

boredom.

The interview had its limitation, the fifteen minutes that we promised the interviewee that the

interview would take were not enough owing to the fact that some question needed broad
explanation. Our choice of a fellow student presented few key performance indicators that we

could evaluate.

To tackle these weaknesses and limitations I think the following strategies would work. To

tackle the issue of ambiguous interview questions, the interviewer needs to narrow down

topics or be specific as to what areas the questions will touch on. Two, when it comes to

keeping the interview process as lively as possible I need to work on my sense of humor or

appreciate funny responses from the interview.

To tackle the said limitations for instance time, the interview will need to have a short list of

questions or increase the allocated time. Time is very essential since it gives room for clarifying

issues or seeking an elaboration of matters that seem vague.

 References.

Mayhew, R. 2019) How to Eliminate Bias and Error in Performance Appraisals

Accessed on [19 Sept 2019] from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/eliminate-bias-error-
performance-appraisals-11187.html

Lunenburg, C. F (2012) Performance Appraisal: Methods and Ratings Errors, International

Journal of Scholarly Academic Intellectual Diversity Volume 14

Singh, S. (2019) What are perceptual errors, and what are some examples?
Accessed on [19 Sept 2019] from https://www.quora.com/What-are-perceptual-errors-and-
what-are-some-examples
 APPENDIX A.

Singapore University of Social Sciences

RE: Interview Consent Form

I……………………. Agree to participate in this performance interview. The purpose of the

interview is to evaluate my school performance for the time I have been on college and has

been explained in depth to me in writing and in person. I am voluntarily participating in it and

I give the interview to record in notes the answers or feedback I give during the interview. I

fully understand that I can withdraw from the interview without any ramifications at any

time. I also understand that I can withdraw the permission to use the information I give in

this interview at any time.

Sign…………………………… Date…………………………….

APPENDIX B

Interview Transcript.

Interview: What other Knowledge have you acquired from the University and the courses

you have undertaken for the years you have been on campus?

Interviewee: Well, I have acquired knowledge in Human Resource planning and how to

motivate employees at a work setting.

Interview: Are there any other Skills you find relevant in your life that you have acquired

from the University?

Interviewee: Yes there, one is negotiation skill and problem-solving skills

Interviewer: Why do you find these skills important?

Interviewee: They are essential because they help maneuver challenging situation such as

when in arguments with friends and family.

Interviewer: What are your greatest abilities and as student and as an individual?

Interviewee: As a student I think I have the ability to influence others to work as a team and

as an individual I have the ability to work under intense pressure.

Interviewer: Well that’s quite encouraging.

Interviewer: What personal characteristics have made your stay on College easier.

Interviewee: being a good listener and being a person who can work with minimal

supervision are the two characteristics that I can think of for now.

Interviewer: What has been your GPA in the three years you have been on campus?

Interviewee: Well, on average I have managed a GPA of 4.3 for the years I have been on

campus.

Interviewer: Have you been able to come up with a research topic and successful source and

acquire grants to conduct the research for the years you have been on campus?

Interviewee: Not yet and that sadness me.

Interviewer: And why is that?

Interviewee: Because research is a critical tool of knowledge and skills accumulation

Interviewer: What other areas other than Academia have you been involved in? and are there

any awards received for your active participation?

Interviewee: I have been involved in sports especially soccer and I have accumulated quite a

number of certificates and awards in that front.

Interviewer: Fair enough

Interviewer: What is your take on the curriculum you have gone through so far?

Interviewee: It is been a wide and an elaborative curriculum that has equipped me with so

much knowledge on Human Resource management and planning.

Interviewer: Why did you choose this course as a career path and how has the university’s

curriculum enhanced your understanding of the career?

Interviewee: The reason for choosing this career path is because am extravert and I love

working in interactive environment.