Reference no: EM131873050

You need a discussion response. The discussion was about the following

This case deals with the development of a comprehensive performance appraisal and management system that Dr. Amy Carver and her team designed and implemented for Wachovia Bank. Dr. Carver received her Ph.D. in I/O Psychology in 1992 from Rice University. At the time of this case, she was Senior Vice President for Organizational Effectiveness for Wachovia Bank.

One of the concerns Dr. Carver had when she got to Wachovia was that they did not have a common performance appraisal and management system. Each year supervisors filled out evaluations, but there were no consistent standards and raises were not closely tied to performance.

To remedy this, Dr. Carver and her team put together a comprehensive system that became part of the management/supervision system of the organization. This system tied together annual performance reviews with goal setting, employee development, and supervisor coaching.

The system runs on an annual cycle beginning in December. The evaluation portion, which involves both employee self-appraisal and supervisor ratings, is entirely Web-based. Each employee-supervisor pair logs onto the company computer system to complete evaluation forms. These forms are focused on the match between the employee's competencies, as displayed for the year, and the organization's competency model for that position.

This model, which was derived from a job analysis, is a specification of the competencies and skills needed for doing the job. When both employee and supervisor are done, a report is automatically generated that highlights areas of disagreement, and this becomes the basis for a face-to-face discussion.

Around the first of the year, each supervisor meets with each subordinate to discuss his or her performance and to agree on goals for the upcoming year. These goals specify not only what is to be accomplished but also how it is to be done, thus providing a balanced emphasis on both work quality and quantity.

The Web-based system sends e-mail reminders to each supervisor at quarterly intervals to conduct required coaching sessions with subordinates to provide feedback about competency and goal progress up to that time of the year. Goals for the future of the system include linking raises each year to performance and making the salary system part of performance management. As you can see, the Wachovia system goes far beyond just completing the usual "report card" on every employee each year. (Spector, 2006 p.103)

My response needs to respond to the following:

1. Do you think you would like working in a company with this sort of performance system? Why or why not?

· Yes I would like to be a part of this system. Traditional systems often pose the following disadvantages:

Managers often tend to delay/postpone reviews.

Less visibility of over salary reviews leads to over budgeting.

There is less alignment to corporate goals as reviews occur and goals are set throughout the year

The new appraisal system ensures visibility and fair rating. Employees as well as management jointly decide the performance goals in a timely manner. This is also beneficial for managers as it imposes less pressure of meeting the appraisal which means employees can be rated fairly.

2. Why would a company like Wachovia invest so much effort into performance evaluation?

· Wachovia wants to make sure that all employees and managers benefit from a good evaluation. If the employees do better because the evaluation is helping them to do so, then Wachovia will ultimately benefit. According to Puckett (2014), performance evaluation not only helps the employee and managers understand what is going right and what areas need improvement, but also helps HR with and the company with understanding what deficiencies might exist.

3. Why are managers required to provide quarterly coaching sessions? Isn't a once-a-year system enough?

· It is important not only to conduct an evaluation with the employees, but also to follow up with the employee to make sure goals that were set are being met and assist the employees with meeting the goals. It is also a good chance for the manager to discuss possible problems that may have come up since the last evaluation. According to O'Connor (2003), coaching is a process that when done properly the manager and the employee set performance goals actively listen to one another and build trust between each other.

4. Do you think goal setting will increase employee motivation and performance?

· Yes, if done correctly. I feel the best way to achieve this is to tie the goals with compensation. Let's face it, not everyone is motivated to be their best just because they want to make themselves better. Most people are motivated to do something if they are going to see a monetary benefit.

O'Connor, T. (2003, January 1). Performance Management via Coaching.

Puckett, J. (2015, April 20). The Importance of Performance Management.