Celleo Engineering is committed to both the evaluative and the developmental components of their performance appraisal system and believes that the developmental aspect is particularly importantly for their engineers. Engineering is a field where professional currency is short$-$lived. Counseling, coaching, and career development may be essential for keeping engineers productive and involved.

In this assignment, you will analyze supervisor and self$-$rated performance for selected Celleo engineers reporting to the same manager, Dawn Tower. Dawn started her career with Celleo, spending six years as an engineer and the last two years as a manager of new product development. She is more comfortable with the evaluative dimension than with the developmental component of performance appraisals. Appraisal interviews are scheduled for next week, and Dawn is preparing for these sessions by studying the data for six of her employees:

Jim He has been working with Celleo for $14$ years and enjoys the $$intrinsic$$ aspects of his work.

Anna She has a B$.$S$.$ in engineering and has been with Celleo for three years. She likes her work, but she is uncertain about her long$-$range career goals.

Eric He believes that he should be the manager of new product development. He has been with Celleo for nine years.

Margot She is a new employee who recently graduated from engineering school. She is eager to learn and to be liked. Celleo is her first professional$-$level position.

Jose He feels that he could have done better$$better$,$ that is$,$ than getting stuck with Celleo Engineering. He enjoys complaining, but he hasn$$t sent out one resume in eight years with Celleo.

Alexa She is the $$personality$$ of the group. She gets along well with everyone, and she keeps Dawn informed of the product group$$s shop talk.

Dawn is somewhat anxious as she peruses the data and eyes her new budget.

Assignment Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to help you understand the collection and use of performance data to administer feedback to employees. There are two purposes in utilizing performance data: evaluation $($i$.$e$.$ salary, promotion, demotion, termination$)$ and career development $($i$.$e$.$ counseling, coaching, and improving$).$ Performance feedback is provided to subordinates within the context of a performance appraisal interview. The effectiveness of performance feedback depends, in large part, on how well the appraisal interview is conducted.

The dual purposes of performance appraisal may create inherent conflicts; the evaluative aspect requires that supervisors make judgmental decisions $($good$/$poor$)$ about subordinates$$ performance. Communicating such judgments in the appraisal interview can lead to the creation of an adversarial, low trust relationship between supervisor and subordinate. This, in turn, precludes the supervisor from performing a problem$-$solving helping role that is essential if the organization wants to address the development aspects of performance. Another conflict stems from the various goals of the individual being evaluated. On the one hand, individuals want valid feedback that gives them information about how to improve and where they stand in the organization. At the same time, employees want to verify their self$-$image of being competent and to also obtain valued rewards. In short, the goals of the individual imply the necessity to be open $($to give valid feedback for improvement$)$ yet to be protective $($to maintain a positive self$-$image and obtain rewards$).$

One consequence of these inherent conflicts is also ambivalence for supervisors. Supervisors are ambivalent because they must act as judge and jury in telling subordinates where they stand. By the same token, they are uncertain about their judgments and how subordinates will react to negative information. These feelings can be intensified when supervisors are not trained in giving feedback.

Overall, the appraisal process is uncomfortable for both participants, especially when poor performance and negative feedback are concerned. Because appraisals are uncomfortable yet necessary, it is important that supervisors carefully prepare for the performance review sessions.

File needed: Celleo HR$\_$Perf$\_$Mgt$.$xlsx

Familiarize yourself with the spreadsheet before beginning your work.

Self$-$ and Supervisor Ratings of Performance

This data screen includes self$-$ and supervisory ratings of performance for six Celleo engineers reporting to Dawn Tower. Tower$$s ratings for the six employees are at the top of the data screen $($Supervisor Ratings$),$ and the self$-$ratings for the same employees are found at the bottom of the screen. Figure $1$ shows the performance appraisal form and the scale abbreviations for each performance dimension $($e$.$g$.,$ QUAL, PROD$).$