Performance Review Takes a Page from Facebook

As the world moves towards a more microwave way of operating it is no wonder that employers are jumping on the bandwagon as well. Previously, performance evaluations have been time consuming and somewhat monotonous. The hassle of evaluating several employees’ performance for an entire year in only a few months’ time can be quite overwhelming. Not only is the task intimidating for the manager or supervisor but it is quite stressful for the employee also. In previous years, the performance evaluation was a one-sided task and the employee had no input whatsoever in how they were being critiqued. As important as the evaluation is to the employees pay raise it is astonishing that their input would not have been included in the past. So often the employee would only see the final outcome and have to sign whether they agreed with the results or not. This causes much frustration and can bring down the morale of the employee, causing them to feel like they are under appreciated and that their opinion doesn’t matter. With these facts in mind the company Accenture has developed a social networking tool somewhat like Facebook called Performance Multiplier that will aid the employer as well as the employee in the performance evaluation process. Agree or disagree with this statement and provide reasons for your response. â€Å"If you have regular conversations with people, and they know where they stand, then the performance evaluation is maybe unnecessary. † Performance Multiplier is a tool in which employees can post status updates, photos, and two or three weekly goals that can be viewed by fellow staffers. The goal of Accenture was to provide a program that made the performance evaluation more democratic. Not only does the employee get to play a part in the evaluation process but they also gain the chance to get helpful insight year round on how to improve their performance. In a fun and somewhat casual manner the employer and employee get to change a process that once was dreaded into something enjoyable and less stressing. While I do believe that the regular conversations via the website are beneficial to the performance evaluation process I do not believe that it should replace it altogether. In my opinion what the back and forth conversations via sites like Performance Multiplier does is aid the employee and employer in seeing how the employee is progressing. Depending on what goals are set and accomplished at the end of the year all of this information should be compiled and then used as a foundation for grading the overall performance. I see Performance Multiplier as a way to see where you stand and then try to excel from that point. You should still be graded on how well you took the feedback and knowledge and implemented it into your everyday job performance. If all an employer did was talk to the employee back and forth and never evaluated how well the employee utilized the feedback then the entire process was a waste of time. To gain insight into how good of an employee you have you must analyze the steps they take towards improving. Compare and contrast the possible effectiveness of the social network performance review to the following age groups: veterans, baby boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y. While some people enjoy the opportunity to use a social networking tool to interact with their employer and get insight into how well of a job they are doing, there will be those that will resist the change in processes and gripe about having more work to do when they are already working enough. The generational gaps in the workplace will also pose a problem when trying to implement the new interactive performance tool. There is no doubt in my mind that Generations X and Y will adapt to the new system and use it with an open mind. On the other hand the Baby Boomers and Veterans are not going to be so willing to accept the new way of evaluating their job performance. Veterans and Baby Boomers came from an era where the greatest advance in technology came with the printing press so they are not used to using computers and navigating through search engines via the worldwide web. These employees learned how to use modern office equipment like fax machines, multiline telephones, and even computers but they are not interested in sharing their life online. In contrast Generation X and Y have experienced the influx of such technologies as the Internet, Ipod, and gaming systems like the Wii. Those individuals are used to technology and can adapt fairly quickly which is the exact opposite of their counterparts. â€Å"The biggest payoff of these social network style tools may prove to be better performance by the boss. † State whether or not this statement justifies the time and cost of implementing these systems and provide a rationale. Whenever a company wants to implement a new system they must go into a contract with the developer of the system and pay a hefty amount to use the service. Before any contracts are signed or money is exchanged the employer looks into the product and researches the statistics of how well other companies have done with the system. The employer must feel that the ends will justify the means of adopting the new system into the everyday workload. The goal of tools like Performance Multiplier is to provide the employee with feedback from upper management. In this case I would agree that by using the tool the boss will have to do more work than has been done in the past. Both employee and employer will have to work together but the responsibility of making the tool work relies on how well the boss handles the information provided from the employee. He or she will be forced to improve their communication skills when dealing with their employees. O’Toole states: â€Å"It has been said that Americans are increasingly overworked. † Discuss whether social network type evaluations aid or hinder the overworked American. Justify your response. It is true that in today’s economy most companies are working with far less employees than they have had in the past. In some cases one employee is doing the work of two to three employees. This causes the employee to feel a little overwhelmed and sometimes overworked. Though this may be true I don’t feel that using a social networking tool to evaluate performance will add any more stress to the work day than is already being experienced. The time it would take to update a status or post a question takes no more time than most Americans spend in the break room fixing a cup of coffee. Helping yourself become a better employee should be worth the couple minutes weekly that it would take to make the tool work for both parties involved. Conclusion In conclusion, adapting to change is not always the easiest task to accomplish. When dealing with employees who cross over four generations that task becomes even harder. Past generations are used to how they have done things in the past and the new generations are up for any challenge you throw at them if they feel they will benefit from it. It is up to the employer to make the transition as smooth as possible for the employee. At the end of the day both employer and employee should be satisfied with the results.