Career Development Plan Part III: Performance and Career Management
HRM 531
November 15, 2010
Performance and Career Management

Performance and career management are important aspects of many businesses and corporations. Performance of employees directly affects the success of a company. Employee performance is dependent upon many factors. Many of these factors are controlled through the use of performance management.
Performance management consists of the managerial practice of defining, encouraging, and facilitating employee performance. Performance management should be a daily process for an organization to be successful. Employees are evaluated on his/her performance through some type of rating or evaluation system on a scheduled basis. Many companies do this once a year, some more than once. By defining what type of performance is expected, encouraging the type of performance expected, and by facilitating employees with the tools needed to perform, a manager can help ensure higher performance through a performance management system.
Performance appraisals help employees learn job-relevant strengths and weaknesses they possess within a team or organization (Cascio, 2006). Dillons uses performance discussions after 30 days of employment and then each year of employment on or around the employees anniversary of his or her hire date. For the 30-day evaluation, employees are asked about some key things they learned during orientation and initial training. These key things are the core values of our company. Employees are asked to evaluate the company on both their 30-day and yearly evaluations. The questions ask cover a variety of topics from training material to treatment of employees by management. Dillons uses a rating scale of 1 to 5. 1 being strongly disagrees with a statement. 5 being strongly agree with a statement. Both evaluations also have a section dedicated to how the employee and supervisor feel the employee is fulfilling job requirements. This section uses a scale of 1 to 4. 1 being lacks competency. 4 being exceeds expectations. Employees are rated on trust, communication, customer focus, inclusion, safety, attendance, appearance, initiative, and productivity. The final section of both evaluations is dedicated to career development. Employees have an opportunity to discuss with management what his or her career goals are with the company. Management can share with them at this time what those opportunities might be and what steps to take in order to take advantage of those opportunities. A developmental area is also included in the evaluation. In this section, employees are asked areas where they feel they need improvement and management shares their feelings of where an employee may need improvement. During the evaluation process, employees are given feedback on each of the aspects evaluated and employees are allowed to respond to the feedback given.
Performance appraisals are used to for many different reasons within an organization. Many organizations use these appraisals for making personnel decisions, for employee feedback and development, and for research (Sulsky & Keown, 1998). In relation to employee performance, feedback and development are the important aspects of appraisal. Performance management is the practice of doing things that can better the performance of employees. According to McFall, Jamieson, & Harkins, performance appraisals have the potential to both motivate and debilitate employees (2009). Many employees will be motivated to do a better job because they know their performance will be evaluated. Other employees, however, can become debilitated and not be able to perform because of the fear of getting a bad evaluation. In order to prevent the debilitating effects, employees need to understand that performance evaluations are just a method of making the business and the employee more successful. Performance evaluations should not be used against an employee or negatively towards an employee. The evaluation should be used to show an employee where he or she stands with the company and its goals. The evaluation should also be used to show an employee any possible areas of improvement, steps to be taken to reach improvement, and should also discuss possible career path options.
Career development is important to an organization. Events occur, employees move on for different reasons. Therefore, organizations need to focus on career development so that top employees are replaced easier when circumstances change. Performance evaluations can help a company learn which employees want advancement opportunities and which ones do not. Employees should be offered resources to help with those advancement opportunities. Career development includes classes, additional training, and even help with education from outside sources. Organizations should help provide employees with many opportunities to learn and grow within the company.
The use of the performance evaluation could greatly reduce the cost of outside recruiting of qualified employees. By sitting down and talking with employees on a yearly basis, management can learn which people already in the organization have career potential. If there are employees that can be promoted from within, then less money is spent on recruiting and hiring of outside individuals.
Performance management and career development are both essential keys to a successful business. Through performance management and performance evaluation, management can learn career development potential of employees and new hires. Employees want to know they are doing a good job. Performance appraisals can provide encouragement, feedback, and necessary tools which employees need to perform at their best.
Performance Evaluation example for 30 day evaluation:
Performance Excellence Discussion
30-day

Associate Name:
Hire Date:

ASSOCIATE SECTION

The Four Keys of our Customer 1st Strategy: Our Company believes that if customers say our four keys they will be loyal customers. Can you name the four keys

1. Our customers say…..
2. Our customers say….
3. Our customers say…..
4. Our customers say…..

The Core Values of our Company: Our company believes that our actions should be guided by our core values. Can you name the 6 core values

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Evaluating the Company:
In this section, management would like to make sure that you feel you have received all the tools necessary to perform your job functions.

Please rate the following statements on a scale of 1 to 5 with the following scale:
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neutral
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree

1. I feel I have received all the information necessary to start my job.

2. I feel like I have been welcomed to the team by fellow employees and management.

3. My immediate supervisor has spent time with me getting familiar with the company, my department, my job and the performance expected of me.

4. I know who to ask when I have questions.

5. I have received or am scheduled to receive the training I need to do my job.

6. My job has met my expectations so far.

Supervisor and Associate Discussion

Demonstration by associate of job skills necessary. Both Associate and Supervisor will rate the following statements with the following scale.
1. lacks competency
2. improvement needed
3. meets expectations
4. exceeds expectations

1. Associate interacts well with others and builds trust and honesty within the organization

2. Associate communicates effectively to accomplish work goals and asks questions when needed to clarify responsibilities and expectations of performance.

3. Associate makes a customers needs the primary focus.

4. Associate appreciates and respects other employees for their contribution to a team effort within the work environment.

5. Associate follows safety guidelines

6. Associate has a good attendance record

7. Associate follows dress code and maintains appropriate appearance

8. Associate shows initiative to get a job done and has a sense of urgency when completing assigned tasks.

9. Associate completes tasks in a timely manner and meets other department standards daily

Career Development Section

Career Interest
Associate shares interest that he or she may have in growing with the company. Discussion should include career interest and provide guidance on potential training to achieve career goals.

Associate comments:

Supervisor comments:

Development opportunities

Associate shares areas where additional training and development are needed.

Associate comments:

Supervisor comments:

Overall Performance Rating

1. Immediate Improvement Needed. 2. Improvement needed. 3. Meets Expectations. 4. Exceeds Expectations.

Signatures:

Associate: Date:

Supervisor: Date:

Store Manager: Date:

References
Cascio, W.F. (2006). Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
McFall, S., Jamieson, J., & Harkins, S. (2009). Testing the mere effort account of the evaluation-performance relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(1), 135-154.
Sulsky, L., & Keown, J. (1998). Performance appraisal in the changing world of work: Implications for the meaning and measurement of work performance. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 39(1), 52-59.