Case Study Topic: Performance Appraisal Implementation Problems at Albion Drinks Background Albion Drinks is a manufacturer of its own-brand soft drinks which grocery stores and supermarkets across the UK, and the company also provides private-label products to the major supermarket chains. It is part of a larger parent organisation which manufactures a wide range of products across the whole fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) spectrum. Its main manufacturing base (which is also its head office) is located in the North West of England. At its main location, the company employs around 1,200 staff of whom 1000 are factory-based production operatives, with a further 200 based in the head office undertaking support activities including finance, marketing, sales, development, human resources and logistics. Trade Union membership within the factory is high (almost 100%) although only 25% of the head office employees are in a Trade Union. Two different Trade Unions represent the two separate groups of employees. The Employee Relations climate is generally good, although factory-based employees have traditionally been resistant to change, and are often slow to adopt new working practices. The New BR Director The company recently appointed a new HR Director following the retirement of his predecessor who had been in post for approximately 20 years. The newly-appointed HR Director did not com from a traditional HR background, but rather from production management in one of Albions sister companies. Staff generally believed that he had been appointed with a brief to generally "shake things up a bit. "Just something that we can use immediately" Upon appointment, one of the first activities of the new HRD was to task the Head Office HR Manager with the responsibility of introducing an appraisal system for all employees in the Head Office. His brief - or rather his instruction - to the HR Manager was to establish contact with the HR Director in one of Albions sister companies and simply lift their existing appraisal process and introduce it within Albions Head Office. We don't want anything fancy or best practice; just something that we can use immediately with the minimum of cost and fuss" was his stated recommendation. The HR Manager fo1lowed his boss's instructions and obtained copies of the relevant paperwork which was rather more complicated than he had expected, particularly as the appraisal system in the sister company not only contained annual assessment against the year's objectives, but also an evaluation of each employee's performance in key competency areas which seemed appropriate in the sister company, but somewhat alien to Albion Drinks. Albions sister division had not only trained its managers, but had also produced a comprehensive "How to Undertake an Employee Appraisal" guide. The HR Director therefore decided to save valuable time and money, and circulated copies of the training material in November to all appraising managers, along with copies of the relevant paperwork, with the instruction that all employees were to have received an appraisal by the end of December, by which date all documentation had to be returned to the HR department. These guys are experienced managers, said the HR Director, so they shouldnt need any training in how to conduct an Appraisal, should they?

1. Clearly identify the core problem (s) at Albion Drinks. Need (6) core problems