Identify the weaknesses in the rating methods used by Bill Martin to evaluate his employees. What could Bill do to improve the performance evaluation process in his store? How can Bill make the performance appraisal process a development tool as well as an evaluation tool?

Case:

At the Athletic Shoe Shop, formal performance apprais- It is now time for Bill to evaluate his employees. He als are conducted annually. Each supervisor is expected to really doesn't like this aspect of his job because it is so hard conduct a performance review for every employee during to be objective. He distinctly remembers last year's meeting Octoberin time to recommend end-of-the-year employee with his boss, Leslie Hines. Bill can still hear her saying, It bonuses. As a supervisor, it is essential that Bill Martin is remarkable that all of your employees rate so high in all take this responsibility seriously. areas. How can this be? Bill knew that he had difficulty After Bill and his area manager discuss the review for responding to her not-so-subtle way of telling him he was each employee in his store, Bill is expected to sit down with not adequately evaluating his personnel. He didn't want a each employee individually to go over his or her perfor- repeat performance of that incident this year. mance review. He is expected to have these appraisal feed- back meetings during November. This face-to-face meeting gives each employee feedback about performance and also addresses areas of performance that could be improved. The company uses a standard form to evalu- ate employees. The form was developed by a group of employees representing all levels of workers in the company. It includes the following elements: job knowledge and skills, quality of work, productivity or quantity of work, following company policies and procedures, planning and organizing work, prioritiz- ing work assignments, communication in speaking and writing, attitude toward job, teamwork and working with coworkers, cooperation and loyalty, adaptability to change, dependability and punctuality, and initiative and resourcefulness