Human Resource Management: Training and Development

Essay by mocolpA+, May 2006

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Jennifer is correct about the company needing to evaluate the workers formally. Businesses usually have annual evaluations on their employees rather than an ongoing process of continuous feedback. A problem with annual appraisals is that the evaluation can sometimes focus on recent events rather than several months ago; which could be either good or bad for the employee depending on recent events. Both positive and negative feedback is recognized as effective when it is done shortly after completion of a task. For instance, a sports coach gives direct, real-time feedback on performance of their athletes. Talking regularly to employees, discussing the status of specific goals and priorities, and giving/receiving feedback to/ from the employee would help the employee achieve their goals. The documentation from these informal meetings would become part of the annual performance appraisal evaluation. Businesses would provide skills training and coaching for managers in giving appropriate feedback to the employees.

This feedback would reflect on what worked, what did not, and why, as they build their evaluation experience together. This type of evaluating would place significant responsibility on the manager to achieve appropriate balance and emphasis on the evaluation process. Personal development, for the employee, would require openness to feedback, the willingness to lower their defenses, while listening to the manager's view of their performance and capabilities, and still being open to suggestions for improvement. However, this openness may not always benefit the employee's objective of pay increases, bonuses, and promotions if they are not willing to improve their performance (Cunneen, 2006).

Employees are the most important asset in any business; without the employees, you do not have a business. When the evaluation process is carried out effectively, appraisals make a difference. It has been shown that the higher the quality of the performance appraisal process, the more...