Discussion 8
The Performance Appraisal
After spending several weeks on the job, Jennifer was surprised to discover that her father had not formally evaluated any employee’s performance for all the years that he had owned the business. Jack’s position was that he had “a hundred higher-priority things to attend to,” such as boosting sales and lowering costs, and, in any case, many employees didn’t stick around long enough to be appraised anyway. Furthermore, contended Jack, manual workers such as those doing the pressing and the cleaning did periodically get positive feedback in terms of praise from Jack for a job well done, or criticism, also from Jack, if things did not look right during one of his swings through the stores. Similarly, Jack was never shy about telling his managers about store problems so that they, too, got some feedback on where they stood.
This informal feedback notwithstanding, Jennifer believes that a more formal appraisal approach is required. She believes that there are criteria such as quality, quantity, attendance, and punctuality that should be evaluated periodically even if a worker is paid based on how much he or she produces. Furthermore, she feels quite strongly that the managers need to have a list of quality standards for matters such as store cleanliness, efficiency, safety, and adherence to budget on which they know they are to be formally evaluated.
Questions
8-20. Is Jennifer right about the need to evaluate the workers formally? The managers? Why or why not?
8-21. Develop a performance appraisal method for the workers and managers in each store.
