Diane Arthur - Performance Appraisals: Strategies for Success

Performance Appraisals: Strategies for Success

Diane Arthur

Portions of this course have been adapted in part from The Recruitment and Retention Handbook by Diane Arthur. Copyright 2001 AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Reproduced by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Portions of this course have been adapted in part from Fundamentals of Human Resources Management, Fourth Edition by Diane Arthur. Copyright 2004 AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Reproduced by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Portions of this course have been adapted in part from Recruiting, Interviewing, Selecting & Orienting New Employees, Fourth Edition by Diane Arthur. Copyright 2006 AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Reproduced by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

http://www.amacombooks.org

2008 American Management Association. All rights reserved.

This material may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7612-1462-5
ISBN-10: 0-7612-1462-3

Printed in the United States of America.

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The performance appraisal process is a critical tool for achieving organizational success, but there are few tasks managers dislike more. Performance Appraisals: Strategies for Success gives managers the knowledge, skills, and awareness to approach this process with confidence and enthusiasm. By providing practical, hands-on information and real-world scenarios, this course gives managers the tools to understand and apply every aspect of the performance appraisal process: reviewing employees past performance; assessing their success in meeting previously set objectives, helping them set new, achievable objectives; and pursuing a career development plan.

Assessments, diagrams, checklists, and exercises help students gain a thorough understanding of the performance appraisal process and the managers responsibilities with regard to coaching and counseling and establishing and adhering to standards of performance. Step-by-step instructions help students prepare for the critical face-to-face meeting with employees and complete the written review. Special topics in performance appraisal are addressed, including the principles of workplace motivation, understanding what workers really want, the role of mentoring programs, performance appraisals for remote employees, the merits of managerial feedback, and the advantages and disadvantages of Web-based performance appraisals.

Diane Arthur is the president of Arthur Associates Management Consultants, Ltd., a human resources development firm based in Northport, New York. She has more than twenty-five years of HR experience as a consultant, course developer, and workshop leader, covering all facets of HR, including legal issues, the employment process, testing, compensation, performance management, training and development, and employee relations.

She has written many books for AMACOM, including The Employee Recruitment and Retention Handbook, four editions of Recruiting, Interviewing, Selecting & Orienting New Employees, The Complete Human Resources Writing Guide, two editions of Managing Human Resources in Small and Mid-Sized Companies, and Workplace Testing: An Employers Guide to Policies and Practices. Her Self-Study programs for the American Management Association include Fundamentals of Human Resources Management; Successful Interviewing: Techniques for Hiring, Coaching, and Performance Management Meetings; and Success through Assertiveness. In addition, Diane Arthur has written numerous HR articles for publications such as IBMs Beyond Computing, Human Resource Executive, HR Reporter, and The Wall Street Journal. She is listed in the 26th Edition of Whos Who in the East and appears on the American Management Associations Wall of Fame.

This course consists of text material for you to read and three types of activities (the pre- and post-test, in-text exercises, and end-of-chapter review questions) for you to complete. These activities are designed to reinforce the concepts introduced in the text portion of the course and to enable you to evaluate your progress.

Both a pre-test and post-test are included in this course. Take the pre-test before you study any of the course material to determine your existing knowledge of the subject matter. Submit one of the scannable answer forms enclosed with this course for grading. On return of the graded pre-test, complete the course material. Take the post-test after you have completed all the course material. By comparing results of the pre-test and the post-test, you can measure how effective the course has been for you.

To have your pre-test and post-test graded, please mail your answer forms to:

Educational Services

American Management Association

P.O. Box 133

Florida, NY 10921

All tests are reviewed thoroughly by our instructors and will be returned to you promptly.

The most important component of this course is the text, where the concepts and methods are presented. Reading each chapter twice will increase the likelihood of your understanding the text fully.

We recommend that you work on this course in a systematic way. Reading the text and working through the exercises at a regular and steady pace will help ensure that you get the most out of this course and retain what you have learned.

In your first reading, concentrate on getting an overview of the chapter content. Read the learning objectives at the beginning of the chapter first. They will act as guidelines to the major topics of the chapter and identify the skills you should master as you study the text. As you read the chapter, pay attention to the headings and subheadings. Find the general theme of each section and see how that theme relates to others. Dont let yourself get bogged down with details during the first reading; simply concentrate on understanding and remembering the major themes.

In your second reading, look for the details that underlie the themes. Read the entire chapter carefully and methodically, underlining key points, working out the details of examples, and making marginal notes as you go. Complete the activities.

Interspersed with the text of each chapter you will find a series of activities. These can take a variety of forms, including essays, short-answer quizzes, or charts and questionnaires. Completing the activities will enable you to try out new ideas, practice and improve new skills, and test your understanding of the course content.

After reading a chapter and before going on to the next chapter, work through the Review Questions. Answering the questions and comparing your answers to those given will help you to grasp the major ideas of that chapter. If you perform these self-check exercises consistently, you will develop a framework in which to place material presented in later chapters.