Performance Appraisal at Countrywide Credit Union - Assignment Example

Performance Appraisal at Countrywide Credit Union Name Date Course Question 1 Performance appraisal methods and practices in the company Countrywide Credit Union performance appraisal process has problems that impact negatively on the mangers that are appraised. The annual performance appraisal process has a negative impact on the company. This is because the managers have to wait for the whole year before the performance appraisal is conducted. This leads to the lack of satisfaction among the managers as the appraisal turns out short of their expectation. It is due to this reason that Julia is also not satisfied with the process after waiting for the whole year. The company also allows for the formal and informal methods of performance appraisal to be conducted. This method has a negative impact on the process as very minimal information regarding performance of the employees is obtained. Adequate time is also not allocated to the process as evident during the appraisal of Julia When Kevin who was in charge of the process had to stop it in order to attend to other issues. Performance appraisal reports are not implemented in the company as all the managers receive bonuses despite the poor performance that is being witnessed by the company. The managers who post poor performance and those who perform well still receive the 20% bonus which is an indication that the company does not implement the results of the performance appraisal when awarding the bonuses. The actual performance of the employees of an organization should be obtained through the results of the performance appraisal (Wiatrowski, 2013). This is aimed at ensuring that decisions are made based on performance. Problems with the performance appraisal by Kelvin The performance appraisal methods and process that are used by Kevin contributes to the inefficiencies faced by the company. Kevin performs the performance appraisal with a lot of favorism and nepotism. During the performance appraisal of Wayne, he was only asked one question that does not determine his performance. He was also rated 4 out of five with five being the superior performance. The performance appraisal was carried out during a boozy lunch and Wayne was appraised after they had taken several beers. This is also an indication that Kevin was not serious about the process. Kevin used the informal approach since he and Wayne were long time golfing partners. However, Kevin decided to use the formal approach during the performance appraisal of Julia. This is because he did not know her well. This is an indication of nepotism was involved during the process. Although the process was formal, Kevin told Julia to rate herself out of 5 and that every manager would still get the bonus anyway. This is also an indication that Kevin did not take the process serious and he did not care how the managers performed. By indicating that everyone was going to get the bonus, it indicates that he did not care about the process. Kevin was also not ethical when carrying out the process as he ranked the managers without reviewing their actual performance. It is due to the conduct of Kevin that Julia was not satisfied with the process. A performance appraisal should be transparent in order to satisfy everyone (Scullen, 2011). Question 2 Performance appraisal methods appropriates for the company Checklist The checklist involves the use of statements that require ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers regarding the employees. The employees are only supposed to answer the yes or no questions during the performance appraisal process (VandeWalle, 2011). The questions involve the performance of the employees as well as their traits. The rater is only responsible for ensuring that all the questions have been answered before it is forwarded to the human resource department which is responsible for the actual evaluation. At Countrywide Credit Union, this method will be suitable for the managers. This is because it will avoid the any form of manipulation of the data. On the other hand Kevin who has a tendency of nepotism will not be able to influence the outcome of the process. This method will also plays an essential role in ensuring that the performance appraisal is accurate and it reflects the performance of the managers. The human resource department should carry out the evaluation and ensure that only the managers who deserve the bonuses receive them. This will not only be beneficial to the company in terms of determining the performance of managers but it will also save the costs. This is because the poor performers will not receive the same amount in of bonuses as those who perform well. Advantages and disadvantages This method is cost effective and it will only take a short time and hence beneficial to the company. The process is ease to administer and it does not require the training. This is also important to the company as it will save costs. Standardization of the performance appraisal process will also be achieved by the company through the use of this method. This means that all the managers will be subjected to the same process and techniques during the performance appraisal process as all of them will have to answer the same questions. This will eliminate bias to some extent as Kevin subjected the managers to different forms and processes of performance appraisal. However, this method also has some disadvantages. The rate is not allowed to give relative rating and hence impacting negatively on the outcome of the process. The human resource department may also be bias during the process by using improper weighs (Kuvaas, 2011). This will also impact negatively on the managers at the company. The bias may also affect the managers in terms of promotion and bonuses that they re supposed to received based on their performances. Field Review Method This method is usually conducted by an outsider or someone who is not in frequent contact with the employees. The person carrying out the performance appraisal may be from the corporate of human resource department. This means that the process cannot be easily influenced (MacGregor, 2014). At the company, this method will play an essential role in ensuring that the process is free and fair. A person from the human resource department can be sent for the purposes of appraising the managers. This process should e conducted with the same techniques being subjected to the managers. Training of the personnel that will be involved in the performance appraisal will also be important. It is however important to ensure that the company selects an experience person from the human resource department. This will be important in ensuring that the data obtained reflects the true performance of the managers. Advantages and disadvantages This method of performance appraisal has a lot of advantages that will be beneficial to the company and the employees. The method is important in eliminating bias which impacts negatively on the process (Tian, 2011). This is considering that the current method used by the company is problematic since the appraisal is carried out with nepotism. Since the process will be carried out by an outsider, all the mangers will be treated equally and hence eliminating the chances of bias. This will in turn ensure that the bonuses are only paid to the deserving managers. On the other hand, the method will ensure that the best performers are identified among the managers. The method will also be effective to the company in terms of transparency. This will eliminate the doubts and complaints that were brought forward by Julia. However, the method has some disadvantages as the outsider is not familiar with the working environment of the managers. This may lead to errors as assumptions can be made that all the employees are working under the same environment. The errors will see some of the managers ranked poorly and hence not receiving their deserved bonuses. It will also be difficult for the outsider to correctly observe the actual behaviors of the managers. Cost Accounting Method This method mainly involves the evaluation of the performance based on the monetary yields to the organization. The performance of the employees is measured depending on how much returns they bring to the company. The employees who bring most value to the company are highly ranked while those who bring low financial returns are regarded as poor performance. However, various factors are usually considered during the process in order to determine the performance of the employees (Brown, 2010). This method is important to the company in appraising the managers. The mangers are supposed to ensure that the company is profitable. This is considering that some of the regions are already recording a decrease in the sales. However, despite this all the managers still receive the same bonuses. The decrease in sales of the company in some of the regions indicates that the performance of the managers in the regions is questionable. This method of evaluation will therefore play an essential role in ensuring that appraisal method is more focused in the performance of the managers and the values that they bring to the organization. Advantages and disadvantages This method will benefit the organization as it values of reach manager will be established. The best performers and poor performers will also be determined through the use of this method. The method will also ensure that favorism is eliminated during the performance appraisal as the financial returns and figures will clearly indicate the performances of the managers. This is considering that the present method of performance appraisal enables the favorism to take place. The use of the method also presents an important means of measuring the performance of the managers (Kluger, 2011). This will also motivate the managers to perform well and hence increasing the financial benefits within the organization. The company will also benefit from the method in terms of saving coats as the poor performers will not receive the huge benefits that they are currently receiving. The disadvantage of this method is that it will lead to more pressure among the managers. Most of the managers will be under pressure to perform financial which may also impact negatively on their performance. Employee turnover may be experience among the managers who will be posting low returns. Other indicators of performance will not be considered and the results may therefore not be a true reflection of the managers. Performance tests and observations This method involves the testing of knowledge and skills of the employees within an organization. The tests may be written or it may involve the actual presentation of the skills. This is important in determining the actual performance of the employees depending on their knowledge and skills (Azzone, 2011). This method will be useful to the company as it will ensure that managers prove their skills and abilities. The method is also suitable for the company as it will ensure uniformity I the performance appraisal process. This is because all the employees will be subjected to the same tests and observations. It is unlike the current method where Kevin used different method during the process and hence lowering the credibility of the process. The use of this method will therefore promote credibility in the process. It will also ensure that adequate time and resources is allocated to the process. This is unlike the current process where Kevin was interrupted during the process and had to leave. Advantages and disadvantages The test may be useful in measuring the potential of the managers considering that the company is experiencing a drop in sales in some of the regions. This will play an essential role in making decisions regarding the abilities of the managers to perform in certain regions. The company will also be in a position to determine the most skillful manager and the bets performers and hence aiding in the decision making with regards to the awarding of bonuses to the managers. The main disadvantage of the method is that the use of the tests may impact negatively on the costs. The development and administration of the tests may be high considering the number of the managers in the company. This will lead to an increase in the expenses and hence impacting negatively on the revenues of the company. References Scullen, S. E. (2011). Why do you have a performance appraisal system? Drake Management Review, 1(1), 183-193. Wiatrowski, M. (2013). Performance appraisal. Psychology and Policing, 257. VandeWalle, D. (2011). Performance appraisal procedural justice: The role of a manager’s implicit person theory. Journal of Management, 37(6), 1694-1718. Kuvaas, B. (2011). The interactive role of performance appraisal reactions and regular feedback. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 26(2), 123-137. MacGregor, J. N. (2014). The Effects of Performance Rating, Leader–Member Exchange, Perceived Utility, and Organizational Justice on Performance Appraisal Satisfaction: Applying a Moral Judgment Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 119(2), 265-273. Tian, H. (2011). A Method for Determining and Applying Index Weights in the Sector Performance Appraisal System Based on Process. In Management and Service Science (MASS), 2011 International Conference on (pp. 1-4). IEEE. Brown, M. (2010). Consequences of the performance appraisal experience. Personnel Review, 39(3), 375-396. Kluger, A. N. (2011). Strength-based performance appraisal and goal setting. Human Resource Management Review, 21(2), 137-147. Azzone, G. (2011). Adopting performance appraisal and reward systems: a qualitative analysis of public sector organisational change. Journal of organizational change management, 24(1), 90-111. Read More