CASE 3

Performance Management

This weeks case revolves around a case where a self described “good employee” was blindsided by a poor performance evaluation and subsequently felt a sense of resentment and reduced morale. After the employee lodged a complaint to upper management, a series of performance goals were drafted and a plan implemented. Thus setting defined, achievable objectives for the employee and opening a productive ongoing dialogue between manager and subordinate. The case article can be found here.

Performance appraisals are important for both employee and employer. This process allows organisations an opportunity to improve efficiency, maintain a paper trail in the case of possible litigation, and give managers another tool for achieving goals. From the employee’s perspective it allows for constructive feedback, a metric to measure improvement, and fair tool to assess salary increases and/or other incentives.    

                    A model of the basic components of a performance appraisal. (Gomez-Meija et al., 2016)  

Focus on what’s important to the job

Identifying the required dimensions of performance for a particular job is crucial for developing an effective performance appraisal strategy. Without a solid understanding of the parameters of the specific job and the competencies required achievement, a performance appraisal can become just another workplace hassle, or worse, a source of resentment and conflict for all parties involved.  

Lets briefly take a look a few ways to implement productive and strategic employee performance management that benefits both employer and employee.

Relative Judgment

This method entails ranking each employee working in similar capacities. This strategy can be helpful for managers to help differentiate employees and truly weigh their competencies, but comes with some serious issues. On issue is relative judgement forces a manager to decide which employee “wins” and which employee “loses”, when both may be equally competent. Another problem is that the only real metric for achievement is the top of the list and the employee at the very bottom may still be a valuable member of the team but will be evaluated unfairly. The polar nature of a straightforward ranking may unduly punish some and encourage complacency from others.

Absolute Judgment

This system tasks a manager to evaluate each individual against predetermined benchmarks. This allows employees from different areas to be judged against each other and allows for two employees to achieve the same marks without need for “winners” or “losers”. Although this system is significantly less flawed than the relative judgment method, it still has its downfalls.

One issue is people may be evaluated very differently from manager to manager. Another issue is a manager may just give everyone the same evaluation to avoid conflict or rely too heavily on comparative judgments of other employees.

Trait Appraisal

This approach measures positive employee traits, such as reliability or motivation, on a numerical scale. This system may suffer from similar drawbacks as the absolute judgement system, where people may be evaluated differently manager to manager. Unlike the absolute judgement method, it also suffers from being ambiguous in its methodology and does not present clear targets for the employee to meet and may be difficult to defend if legally challenged.

Behavioral Appraisal

A series of individual behaviors that an employee may engage in and their relation to the employee's actual observed work habits. This methodology allows managers to evaluate and present unambiguous measures to the person being appraised, while maintaining the organization's established standards for employee conduct and achievement. This process also gives the employee a set of clear, achievable goals to strive for in the future. This approach can be time consuming and cost prohibitive to create and implement and may suffer from gaps in positive behaviors exhibited by employees but not mentioned in the appraisal.

Outcome Appraisal

Here outcome and completion of targeted objectives or key performance indicators (KPI) are the metrics measured. One benefit of this system is that the metric being evaluated can be a concrete sales figure or a decrease in number of customer complaints, in other words, it can be easily and unequivocally understood and appraised. Thus, removing impartiality or individual manager’s variance in evaluation practices. Unfortunately, this process cannot properly evaluate a valuable employee who finds himself in an unproductive environment, such as network failure, economic instability, or reliance on an unproductive department.

Some quick tips for the evaluation interview

The performance appraisal can be a boon to both an organization’s performance and employee achievement. When prepared thoughtfully, with clear goals and fair metrics, it can elevate the work habits of struggling employees and push for greater excellence in top performers. Having clear, fair, and achievable goals to work toward can provide motivation and challenge for those experiencing burnout or boredom, and when coupled with a solid action plan, can correct all but the most severe performance issues.   

Sources: 
Bumgarner, J. A Performance Appraisal Horror Story (With A Happy Ending). (2017). [online] Cascadeemployersblog.com. Available at: http://www.cascadeemployersblog.com/salarytrends/a-performance-appraisal-horror-story-with-a-happy-ending [Accessed 16 Feb. 2017].

Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin, D. and Cardy, R. (n.d.). Managing human resources. 8th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, pp.231-260.

CASE 2

Employee Rights and Discipline

In this week’s entry we will be looking at three cases involving both mistreatment of employees and employee misconduct. While discussing these cases we be taking a look at preventative measures and appropriate responses that could have help avoid these incidents or resolve and address inappropriate behaviour.

Case 2a: New York Police Inspector Is Charged With Sexually Abusing Female Officer

On November 6 2016, a supervising officer in the NYPD allegedly sexually assaulted a subordinate officer. Deputy inspector Keith Walten approached a subordinate officer and proceeded to kiss her, grope her and place her hand on his aroused genitals. According to documents from the ongoing $35 million dollar lawsuit, he admitted being attracted to her for some time and thought she would reciprocate. She alleges that he proceeded to retaliate against her thwarting his advances. Let's look at a few things that could have attempted to prevent this incident.

1. Enshrine a strict and clearly stated rule against fraternization between commanding officers and subordinates and that all commanding officers understand and agree to it. Thus ensuring that these situations of unrequited affection will be understood as categorically inappropriate before any incident arises.
2. In the event that an incident does arise, immediate reassignment of one of the parties, if not outright dismissal of the offending party, should be top priority to avoid possible reprisal.
3. A culture of impartial open door HRM should be in place, encouraging employees to bring up these incidents in a safe manner so that they may be addressed in an immediate fashion.

In my opinion, his taped admittance of sexual attraction and advances should have been grounds for immediate dismissal.

Case 2b: Receipt rage: Why food is being served with a side of hate

Due in part to the rise of social media, more and more people are sharing incidents of receiving lewd and offensive notes on their checks from waitstaff while dining out. A few ideas to combat this trend.

1. Due to the nature of the restaurant industry being largely staffed by under educated applicants or first time job seekers, training and straightforward disciplinary action are key. Every new employee should have a basic understanding of appropriate customer interaction and the expected penalties of noncompliance. A couple of strategies for firm wide disciplinary programs:
1. Progressive discipline: A series of escalating disciplinary actions usually starting with a verbal warning, moving on to a written notice, then a suspension and finally a termination.
2. Positive discipline: Allowing the employee to create a plan to address workplace issues, accompanied by guidance and counselling from management. Failure to comply with and employee’s own goals may be a more powerful motivational tool than purely punitive measure created solely by management.             
3. Create “hot stove” rules, infractions that are understood to have a swift and stark reaction. A relevant example could be applying a policy stating that use of racial, sexual, or other discriminatory dialogue toward customers is grounds for immediate dismissal.  

Case 2c: Flint family says Navy is retaliating for speaking out about water crisis

Our third and final case involves a sailor, his wife and his superior officers. While stationed in Flint, Michigan, the Walters family discovered orage water coming from the tap and rashes on their children. After testing the water for contaminants, it was determined that their water contained twice the lead levels of what is considered toxic waste. Lee Ann Walters began speaking out against the issue, eventually leading to her testifying before Congress. Her husband Dennis, a 17 year naval veteran, began facing actions by his superiors that could be considered retaliatory, culminating in his apparent removal from positions of leadership and threatening him with a “...hardship discharge if he didn't get (her) under control." says Lee.

These alleged actions are in direct opposition to existing whistleblower protections and fly directly in the face of the 1st amendment.

Sources:

Ellie Kaufman and Sara Ganim, C. (2017). Flint family says Navy is retaliating over water crisis. [online] CNN. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/29/health/whistleblower-complaint-us-navy-flint/index.html [Accessed 9 Feb. 2017].

  

Kochman, B. (2017). NYPD commander says underling he allegedly groped came on to him. [online] NY Daily News. Available at: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-commander-underling-allegedly-groped-article-1.2910684 [Accessed 9 Feb. 2017].

McCarthy, S. (2015). Receipt rage: Why food is being served with a side of hate. [online] Fox News. Available at: http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2015/08/28/receipt-rage-why-food-is-being-served-with-side-hate.html [Accessed 9 Feb. 2017].

Mele, C. & Baker, A. (2016). New York Police Inspector Is Charged With Sexually Abusing Female Officer. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/nyregion/new-york-police-sexual-abuse-of-officer.html?_r=0 [Accessed 9 Feb. 2017].

Labor Unions

The rights of workers have been suppressed and disregarded since time immemorial. The ideas of fair pay, worker’s rights and the right to organize are all fairly new concepts.  

A Little Bit of History

Contemporary labor relations in the United States begin with the a stockmarket crash, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his "New Deal". Backed by loyal democratic majority in both the House and the Senate, FDR ushered in a series of sweeping social and labor reforms from 1933-1938 to combat the misery brought on from the great depression. In the beginning, the New Deal was constructed to regulate the banking industry and stock market, create a now defunct Civil Works Administration, and introduce the country's social security system. National Labor Relations Act, also known as The Wagner Act, was signed into law in 1935 as part of what's come to be known as the "Second New Deal". The Wagner Act granted American workers the right to free association and with it fully realized the rights of workers to organize and utilize collective bargaining to respond to employee grievances.

National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (49 Stat. 449) 29 U.S.C. § 151–169

In 1936, a sitdown strike in Flint, Michigan against General Motors gave birth to the acceptance of modern unions by corporate interests. A minority group of workers in a GM factory turned off the machinery and began an occupation of the plant. This was a dangerous play in during the Great Depression, when it would not be unusual for a striker to be prosecuted, hurt, or even killed. Holding the factory hostage, the members of the fledgling United Automobile Workers had a sole demand, recognize the union as an official entity for negotiation. With the assistance of a new sympathetic governor and a labor friendly government, the national guard was sent in to keep the peace, rather than remove the workers and eventually forced GM’s hand to recognize the UAW. This single act of defiance brought forth the age of unprecedented growth of labor unions as a major player in the US economy.

  

Over the years new pieces of legislation have been passed to limit (Taft-Hartley Act) and expand (Landrum-Griffith Act) the power of labor unions. US labor law views the relationship between employer and employee to be intrinsically antagonistic; understanding that the goals and aspirations of each party will always be pushing in opposite directions. These companies have developed different strategies have been implemented to engage with labor unions. Which brings us to….

Strategies for Engaging with Labor Unions

Companies utilize several approaches to managing their relationships with labor interests. Next we’ll detail some of the  approaches.

Union Acceptance

Characterized by treating labor unions as a “good faith” representative for employee interests and ensuring a strict adherence to established company policies regarding disciplinary actions and incentives, while treating worker grievances fairly and without prejudice.

Union Avoidance

This strategy can be broken into two very different approaches.

Union Substitution

A strategy designed to attempt to respond to employee grievances internally in order to satiate worker needs without the need for a third party, while instituting policies and initiatives to promote employee retention and growth.

Union Suppression

An odious practice of dissuading labor from union membership and actively repressing efforts to organize. Although laws exist to combat union busting, it is still a relatively common practice. Although it may soon get harder.

Bargaining

The accepted categories for bargaining topics are hours, pay, and working conditions. Hours may include, sick leave, vacation, holidays, etc. Topics from the pay category can be overtime pay, base pay, pay equity, etc. Working conditions could entail ergonomic concerns, work safety, promotions, etc.

A few strategies found at the bargaining table:

Distributive Bargaining

A method of convincing union leaders that the company can withstand the financial stress of a labor strike. This strategy is designed to tilt the odds in favour of one party, while forcing the other party to relinquish some ground.

Integrative Bargaining

This tactic is devised to attempt to convince the other party that there is a tangible benefit for both parties to be found in the offered terms.  

Labor Around the World

While unions occupied a very specific place in the American market, the world is much larger than the US. Although organized labor typically represents a large liberal voting block in the US, they are nonetheless apolitical on paper. On the other hand, England has its own established and powerful political party aptly name the Labour Party. In Germany, strong collective rights and employee involvement are implemented on a legislative level. Last September, a coalition of sympathetic unions in India participated in the largest joint strike in history, with 150 million people not showing up to work (Prashad 2016). Labor Laws and unions will continue to play a large role in the international community for years to come.

Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin, D. and Cardy, R. (2016). Managing Human Resources. 8th ed. Upper

Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Jamieson, D. (2016). It's About To Get Harder For Companies To Hide Union-Busting. [online] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/union-busting-persuader-rule_us_56f1bdcbe4b0c3ef52172770 [Accessed 2 Feb. 2017].

National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (49 Stat. 449) 29 U.S.C. § 151–169

NPR.org. (2015). Episode 658: Strike One. [online] Available at: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/10/16/449264812/episode-658-strike-one [Accessed 2 Feb. 2017]. 

Prashad, V. (2016). The class struggle is real: India is making labor history with the world’s largest general strike. [online] Salon. Available at: http://www.salon.com/2016/09/10/the-class-struggle-is-real-india-is-making-labor-history-with-the-worlds-largest-general-strike_partner/ [Accessed 2 Feb. 2017].