Conducting Performance Appraisal Session

Introduction

It is time for mid-year performance appraisals at EconTechnology, a high-tech

Each EconTechnology employee has a clear job description. Formal appraisals are
based on goals and duties identified by the employees and managers at the beginning
of the year. Mid-year and end-of-year performance reviews provide a feedback
platform to discuss employee development and continuous improvement.

Employees complete and submit to the manager a self-assessment one week prior to
each review session. The manager produces a mid-year and end-of-year summary of
each performance appraisal session. Both the employee and manager rank the
employee's general performance as unacceptable, acceptable, good, very good, or
outstanding.

Phyllis Johnson has been the Director of the Economic Analysts Group for the past
three months. There are twenty-four people in her group. She was hired by the
company two weeks after graduation, and has been regularly promoted in the
company during the last ten years, but has not managed others in any of her previous
positions. Her various jobs have not provided her any international exposure. She has
a reputation as a high performer who "delivers the goods."

While she enjoys the technical responsibilities she has as a senior economist and
consultant in the company, she is not fond of all of her new managerial
responsibilities, including giving periodic feedback to employees. The company did
not invest in training for all aspects of her current job; therefore, she knows little about
the performance appraisal process and appropriate feedback giving; however, she has
had a few positive role models as managers. Nonetheless, she doesn't know much
about giving constructive, positive feedback, and she's somewhat uncomfortable with
people from diverse ethnic groups.

Phyllis received a B.S. in Information technology ten years ago and has recently
enrolled in an MBA program.

Phyllis's Monologue

I've worked here for 10 years. I like the job, I follow the rules and I get sound
results. I've had no special training as a manager, but my performance has always
been rated as "outstanding." Obviously management felt I was prepared to be a
 director.

The one part of the job I don't enjoy is giving direct feedback. I never liked
performance feedback sessions myself. I don't like getting criticism and I don't
like giving it. My people have a lot of experience, and some have graduate
degrees, so I want to be very careful. Besides, I've only been managing them for
three months, so I don't know much about them – other than what I've read in
their files.

Today I have to give feedback to Ken Nakamura. He's the first person from Asia
I've worked with and I'm not sure how to let him know his performance isn't
what I expect it to be. I've heard things about him from his peers. Some of them
don't think he's much of a team player and he doesn't get his work done on time.
But, they like the quality of his work, and he isn't a bad employee... I guess I just
have to bite the bullet and be straight with the guy.

Performance evaluation is certainly something that managers just have to do, and
I'm going to do the best I can!

Meet Ken Nakamura

Ken Nakamura emigrated to the U.S. from Japan three years ago. His given name is
Kenjiro, but he decided to use Ken with Americans. He has worked as an economic
analyst for almost a year. He gathers information from a variety of sources (including
print and online documentation, and telephone and one-on-one interviews), then
develops and presents economic reports. So far Ken has not received any formal
feedback from his current manager, Phyllis Johnson.

Ken works long hours and is extremely loyal. All of Ken's co-workers agree that his
work is very well done, extremely accurate, and professional. However, he is so
meticulous that he frequently misses deadlines, although not by more than a couple of
days. Since he believes the accuracy of the content of his reports is very critical, he
often edits each report 20 times before turning it in. Not meeting deadlines has
sometimes irritated his co-workers, who depend on his work as input to produce their
own reports, such as market and sales forecasts. His co-workers—internal clients—
have complained to Phyllis about how difficult it is to work with Ken because of his
apparent lack of concern regarding deadlines.

Ken earned a bachelor's degree in economic analysis from Waseda University, one of
Japan's leading private universities. He married in Japan and has two children.

Ken's Monologue

I have been here for three years but I still don't always understand American
ways. I don't have much experience with this…assessment. I am loyal to this
company. I have talked with my manager a couple of times - but never about
 work. So I assume that I am to wait until this performance appraisal time.

I work alone, mostly. I much prefer that. I like research, but interviews are
difficult for me. Americans sometimes speak too fast. And they like to express
their emotions - often with anger and complaints.

My reports contain many details; I check the content many times. I know this
sometimes delays me, but I am anxious about making mistakes. In Japan this can
produce a great loss of respect in the eyes of others. It is frustrating when
deadlines face me, and I am humiliated when I miss them. No one knows I take
my work home so I can spend extra hours checking the reports. I am a
professional and my reports should be perfect.

I rated my performance as “good” on the form I sent to Miss Johnson a week

The Performance Appraisal Session

Phyllis and Ken are scheduled to meet at 10:00 AM to discuss his performance. Ken
arrives on time, and Phyllis invites him into her office.

(KEN KNOCKS ON PHYLLIS'S DOOR.)

PHYLLIS:
Hi, Ken. Come on in. If you don't mind, just close the door behind you.

(KEN CLOSES DOOR)

PHYLLIS:
Come have a seat.

As you know, every six months I have to talk with each of my direct reports.
Now, I think this meeting is actually your mid-year review, and I guess your last
appraisal session was with Gary before he left. I've been so busy I haven't had
time to look at that or your self-assessment. Did you submit that on time?

(SEARCHES THROUGH PAPERS) Oh, yes, here it is.

OK, well let's try and use this next half hour as efficiently as possible.

I'd like to start by talking about some impressions I have, based on my

But... I hear you've been having problems with deadlines, and making
presentations at team meetings. Now, I think you need to work at listening more
carefully to your co-workers. They're internal clients, they need to understand the
data that you come up with, and they don't think you get to the bottom line fast
enough. We need to understand this stuff as quickly as possible. You know, in this
organization it's important for each member to get along with the other workers.

At this point, I'd rate your performance between acceptable and good. I have a lot
of confidence in your ability to improve.

So, that about covers my evaluation. Now I'd like to hear how (ATTENTION
SUDDENLY SHIFTS TO HER HANDHELD CELL PHONE) you're planning to
address these problems with meeting deadlines and getting better with your
coworkers.

(PHYLLIS BEGINS TYPING A TEXT MESSAGE.)

KEN:
Well, I'm surprised at what you just said. I was satisfied with my self-assessment.
I got an award from the company a couple of weeks ago and I thought the
accuracy of my reports was the most important thing. I've always thought quality
comes first. Is this not true? (PAUSES)

PHYLLIS:
(HEARING A BREAK IN KEN'S MONOLOGUE, PHYLLIS SMILES BLANKLY)

KEN:
It's a big job. I work until midnight every day. It can take a long time to produce
correct results, and my deadlines………………………..

PHYLLIS:
Ken, I'm really concerned about meeting production goals. I hear what you're
saying but I think you can improve your performance and provide more timely
help to the sales team than you are now.

KEN:
But I don't think I have everything I need. Maybe something might be done about
my office? I have so much interference that gets in the way of meeting my
deadlines—phone calls, people stopping by to ask questions……………………..

PHYLLIS:
Perhaps one of these days we can talk about additional resources that might help
you. In the meantime, you've got to carry your weight as a member of the team.

KEN:
I have so many internal clients, as you say: you, my team, committees. I am in
meetings with the team every day, and I try to give them the most accurate
information, listen as carefully as I can. I don't know what else I can do.

PHYLLIS:
Ken, we're all working as hard as we can. I need this to get fixed, so work smarter,
not harder. I expect to see results in a month and I don't want to hear about you
missing deadlines.

Do you have any questions about what I've just said?

KEN:
No. Thank you very much.

xxxx