TRAINING PLAN FOR THE MANAGERS

TRAINING PLAN FOR THE MANAGERS

PLEASE WRITE AND INCLUDE A TRAINING PLAN FOR THE MANAGERS FOR THE ATTACHED CASE.

INITIAL ASSIGNMENT:(this is already done)
You will identify a problem that requires a change initiative through an organization with which you are associated. You will develop the case by clearly explaining the problem and by building a change program that you can put to use immediately. A list of required components can be found in the project rubric that will be used to grade this case

I will do my change problem on how the managers in my organization need to change the way they approach performance appraisals. The managers make the performance appraisals into a one-way lecture about how we, the employees, did well this year and how we can improve. The best performance appraisals are a two-way discussion and focus on the employee assessing his or her own performance and setting his or her own goals for improvement.







Performance Appraisals
Case 3
Troy University
May 11, 2014

Lakeeta Beavers
MGT6681XTIB-14T4
Dr. Patricia Matuszek




 


INTRODUCTORY LETTER
Dr. Matuszek,
My report is based on the problems and the loopholes in the performance appraisal process in the organization I am working in. I will conduct a research in this regard to ascertain what exactly the employees want. I will follow the Kurt Levin’s model of bringing in the change into the organization. The proper communication plan development will be ensured. I will also study the ethical issues relating to the performance appraisal. I will make sure to present such a plan that would ensure freezing of the new change so that my organization will benefit from it.












 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study done by me is based on the loopholes in the performance appraisal of the organization I am working in and giving the necessary solutions to the same. In the beginning, I carried out a small survey as to whether employees are satisfied with the performance appraisal in the organization or not. The results, which I received, were negative. Based on this, I formulated certain models and came up with a plan of action to solve the problem. The appraisal in the organization is one sided. The manager appraises the employees and does not take the feedback from them and there is no self-appraisal. This has led to the development of mistrust between the employees and the management. The employees feel that the managers take the biased decisions and the appraisal is not transparent. The possible solution of this can be following the Kurt Levin’s model to ensure the freezing of the change in the organization. The care is to be taken about the issues involved in it and a proper scrutiny is to be done to ensure the positive results of the change for the organization.










TABLE OF CONTENTS:

•	Introduction to the topic………………………………………………………………..5
•	Diagnostic model…………...…………………………………………………………12
•	Process model……….………………………………………………………………...13
•	Problem definition…………………………………………………………………….14
•	Driving and constraining forces………………………………………………………15
•	Solution……………………………………………………………………………….16
•	Ethical issues…………………………………………………..……………………..18
•	Implementation plan…………………………………………………………...……..19
•	Conclusion………………..…………………………………………………………..21
•	References…………..………………………………………………………………..22
 
Performance appraisals are a way to access how an individual is doing his or her job. It indicates how an individual is fulfilling his or her job requirements. An individual should be able to meet the requirements of the job. Thus, we can say that performance appraisals systematically and objectively measure the behavior of employees at their work front and the potential of the employee. They aims at communicating to the employee about how well he or she is doing the job and what are the possible areas where he or she can improve his or her performance.
It involves following three steps:
•	IDENTIFICATION of the areas of work, which are to be examined while accessing the performance of an employee. The focus is on how the performance of a particular employee is contributing towards the achievement of the organizational objectives.
•	MEASUREMENT involves making judgments regarding how good or bad the performance of an individual was.
•	MANAGEMENT of the performance. It should focus on how workers can be helped to realize their potential. It is more of a future oriented thing.
The decisions which are taken on the basis of the performance appraisals are very critical for the future of any organization, as it is on the basis of performance appraisals that employees are compensated, promoted, provided trainings, transferred, and etc. There are a number of benefits of performance appraisals like:
•	They help in making out the individual differences in performance, as the individual differences in performance can make a big difference to the company.
•	They help the employees to rectify their mistakes, go ahead, and focus on their strengths.
•	They can act as motivation to employees for working hard and give their best to the organization.
•	Their standards can help in giving clarification to the employees regarding the performance expected by the organization from them.
In every organization, performance appraisals carry certain issues with them and it is the case with the organization I am working in.
I carried out a small research and asked the employees a few questions and collected their responses based on which I reached the conclusion that there are certain problems with the appraisal system of our organization: I took a sample of 100 employees
Q1: What is performance appraisal in your opinion?
 
As it is clear from the pie chart, Sixty percent of the employees consider performance appraisal as performance evaluation of an employee, followed by twenty five percent who relate it with promotion, seven percent with satisfaction and six percent with motivation. 
Q2: Which method of performance appraisal is implemented in the organization?
 
It is clear that the organization follows one-way lecture. Eighty five percent of the employees support this where as fifteen percent say any other method. This can be an annual confidential report. 
Q3 Do you think performance appraisals help people to set and achieve meaningful goals? 
Eighty eight percent of the people feel that performance appraisals do not help people to set and achieve goals where twelve percent feel they do.
Q4: Do you think performance of employees improve after performance appraisal?
  
The response to this question is 50-50. Fifty percent of the employees feel that performance appraisals help in improving the performance of the employees whereas the rest 50% feel it does not.
Q5: Do you think performance appraisal improves motivation and job satisfaction?
 
Sixty percent of the employees feel performance appraisals does not improve motivation and job satisfaction whereas forty percent feels it does.
Q6: Is top level partial in performance appraisal?
 
Seventy five percent of the employees feel that top management is biased in performance appraisal whereas twenty-five feels it is not.
Q7: Are you satisfied with the performance appraisal system of your organization?
 
Ninety-five of the employees are not satisfied with the performance appraisal carried out in the concern just a small no of five percent are.
This analysis shows that there is problem with the appraisal system and it needs immediate attention and correction for proper functioning of the organization.
Before moving to what the problem is, let me write about the components and the steps of the appraisal process in my organization: 
COMPONENTS: Diagnostic Model
 
•	Appraisal process: The process of appraisal is an essential component of the entire accessing process. The appraisal process must be transparent and known to all the employees who are being appraised in order to remove any sort of confusion from their minds and prevent the development of mistrust between the employees and the management. Employees should be given an opportunity to give suggestions regarding restructuring the entire process of appraisal and formatting the evaluation. This ensures the willing participation of the employees as they understand the true purpose of the entire appraisal system and feel that they are the part of it.
•	Standards and objectives: setting the equitable as well as objective standards are of immense importance for any appraisal system. These ensure the fair evaluation and prevent the biasness of any sort in the appraisal system 
•	Feedback: This component is the one, which cannot be done away with. It is essential that managers take the feedback from the employees regarding their performance and regarding the performance of the organization. This fosters the trust between the employees and the management. This even boosts up the morale of the employee and they feel the part of the entire appraisal process and accept it.
•	Action plan: The entire appraisal process must be a review and it should be an employee development tool. The action plan, which follows the appraisal, should be carefully applied. The action plan can be in the form of pay hike, promotions, transfers etc. If the action plan of any organization is not well formulated then this leads employees to think that their management does not take their suggestions seriously, the appraisal is of no use, and they will resist to it in future.

PROCESS MODEL:
  
•	Establish performance standards: This step involves setting the benchmarks against which the performance of the employees are to be accessed. The standards must be set after thoroughly analyzing all the jobs in the organization. The standards should be related to the job.
•	Communicate the standards: The standards must be clearly mentioned and all employees should be made aware of them and if possible, the revision and the modification of the standards should also be done based on the reaction of the employees.
•	Measure the actual performance: This step involves measuring what the employee is actually doing on the job. It involves objective and subjective measurement of the performance. The performance should be measured objectively as far as possible.
•	Comparison of the actual performance with the set standards and discussing the appraisal: The comparison of the actual performance with standards helps in finding out the deviation. Discussions with the appraise clear out the things further especially if the performance is measure subjectively.
•	Action plan: This is the final step. Herein, the decisions regarding promotions, transfers and other rewards etc are taken based on what has been measured in the above steps.
Problem:
The problem with the performance appraisal in my organization is that the performance appraisal is something, which totally falls, in the domain of the managers. There is no employee involvement in the same. The employees do not have any say in the process. Due to this, the employees are now developing resistance towards these appraisals. They  
even feel that they are not considered to be part of the organization and the appraisal process is not transparent and is biased. The appraisal is more of a descriptive sort rather than evaluative.
DRIVING FORCES FOR CHANGE:
Internal drivers:
•	Employee support as most of the employees is in favor of this change. They want the appraisal process to be more transparent and want the managers to involve them in it.
•	Ensure organizational peace and employee commitment.
•	Realization by the managers that involving employees would be beneficial for the long-term success of the organization.
•	Open communication.
•	Increased awareness among employees.
External drivers:
•	The legal constraints to keep the appraisal process transparent can be an external driver for the change.
•	The New changes in the management system with greater emphasis on employee involvement.
•	The two-way performance appraisal systems of the other firms in the industry.
•	Trade union 
RESTRAINING FORCES FOR CHANGE:
Internal restraining forces:
•	Ego of the managers who consider their decision to be the ultimate one and consider the employees incapable of taking decisions.
•	Organizational hierarchal level, which would make it difficult to take the message to the top and take the decision well in time.
•	Time taken to conduct two-way appraisals.
•	The culture of the company.
External restraining forces:
•	The external restraining force can be any change in the legal framework or political environment.
HOW TO ADDRESS THIS RESISTANCE:
This resistance can be addressed by following the Kurt Levin’s theory of Change, which involves three stages:
•	Unfreezing stage: This stage is about getting the organization ready for the change. We will weigh the pros and cons of the change and understand how important the change is for the organization. We will think about each perspective as to what would be the benefit of bringing in this change. Benefits would be seen in terms of employee and organization benefits.
We will try to strengthen the driving forces and reducing the restraining forces. We have to take the time factor into consideration. We should neither take less time so that  
decisions are not taken effectively nor devote too much time, which in actuality is not required. We will try to make the top management understand about the importance of introducing self-appraisal systems in the organization.
•	Change stage: This stage is about physically altering the things and bringing in the change. This can be done citing the examples of the best adopters of the self-appraisal systems. Expecting the people to commit the mistakes in the beginning and the things would get on track with time. The other factors can be providing your managers who appraise the performances of the employees with suitable training by the coaches.
•	Refreezing: This stage involves making the change a part of the organization culture. It would involve making the new performance appraisal technique i: e self- appraisal a “standard operating procedure” of performance appraisal. If we do not do this chances are that managers will move back to the old practice of performance appraisal.
The changes are to be communicated to all the concerned people by holding meetings: formal, informal. Taking feedback from the managers and the employees as to what they think about the change whether it had brought some positive thing for the organization and for them. Inform all the people about the change via different communication mediums like e-mails, official letters, SMS’s redundantly. Communicate only the relevant and the substantial information. Employ a person with excellent leadership, motivational and communication skills for this purpose. All the people should be given opportunities to present their viewpoints, ideas etc to make them feel part of the organization and hence make them more motivated towards embracing the changes 
ETHICAL ISSUES:
The various ethical issues related to change can be:
•	The conflict between the values of the managers and the employees should be balanced. The main part here how the employees would be motivated to embrace the change.
•	The change should be such that all the people involved should be benefitted as it is seen that most of the changes only increase the power of the management.
•	Change should not be the result of coercion or the manipulation. The correct factors must be presented.
•	The management should not be bringing in the change within the organization for his self- interest.
•	Employee interests should also be taken into consideration apart from organizational interests.
IMPLEMENTATION PLANS:
•	We will give proper time and offer proper guidance to employees so that they could understand the change.
•	After proper time has been given, the change should be brought in within the organization.
•	Training: proper training programs should be designed for the managers for the use of various techniques of performance appraisal. This would mean improving the technical competence of the manager for carrying out the performance appraisal. They must be trained enough to ascertain as to which tool can be used effectively at what places and when to use a particular tool.
•	Coaching: Select the champions in the organization to train the managers. The champions are the experts in this field and they can enable the managers in acquiring the skills required and preparing for handling the changed situations.
•	Periodic review: Till the change has not been properly accepted by the employees, a review should be conducted to ensure whether the things are going in accordance to the changes planned or not and whether the changes brought in the organization are beneficial or not.
The changes brought will be evaluated by feedback and by reconducting the research on the employees and ask them the same questions as asked before and check out how far the change has been successful in improving the situations. In this manner, we can measure the changes. The changes can be measured by the difference in the previous and the present responses of employees and their satisfaction level with the performance appraisal methodology change. 
CONCLUSION:
The change in the appraisal method of the organization from one way to self -appraisal system would bring in more employee satisfaction. It would enable employees to keep a track of their accomplishments and look out for the opportunities for improvement.
It would help them to focus on their behavior and hence they can become better at targeting their efforts to get best out of them.
It can be coupled with meaningful performance review discussion with the manager thus removing any room for biasness and ensuring employee involvement in the performance appraisal and ultimately their satisfaction, which is beneficial for the organization in the end. 
References
(2008). Human Resource Management, Text and Cases. In K. Aswathappa. New Delhi: Tata Mc Graw Hill.
Dessler, g. (2005). human Resource Management. delhi: pearson.
Jenkins, A. (2005). Performance appraisal research: A critical review of work on "The social context and politics of appraisal". ESSEC.
(n.d.). In S. P. Robbins, organization Behavior. Pearson.
Sullivan, D. J. (n.d.). http://www.tlnt.com/. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from TLNT: http://www.tlnt.com/2011/01/31/the-top-50-problems-with-performance-appraisals/