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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
VI. Human Resource Management and Career Management
Part of the responsibility for career planning resides with the organization, and the feedback from
the appraisal process is a critical factor in this process. But the individual her- or himself must
also play a role in this process. This section examines the organizational and individual
perspectives on careers as shown in Figure 10.6.
A. Organizational and Individual Perspectives on Careers
Clearly, it is in the organization’s best interests to take an active role in career management
for people in the firm, and for this reason career management is often part of the larger
performance-management process. The organization can take steps from the outset to
facilitate career management.
Individuals obviously have an important stake in their own careers. They experience most
directly the benefits and rewards of successful careers and incur the costs and frustrations of
less successful careers. People who understand and carefully monitor their careers are likely
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
B. The Importance of Career Planning
Usually, HR managers represent the organization in the career-planning process. In general,
most career-planning systems involve the steps shown in Figure 10.7.
• In the individual assessment phase, individuals need to analyze carefully what they
Even though career planning is important to both organizations and individuals, and effective
career planning benefits both, everyone should also recognize that career planning has
limitations and potential pitfalls. For example, no amount of sophisticated forecasting can
predict with absolute certainty the level of talent, expertise, motivation, or interest a given
individual will have in the future.
VII. Career-Development Issues and Challenges
Regardless of the career stages for individual employees, many organizations who are sincerely
interested in more effective career management for their employees deal with and address
various issues and challenges.
A. Career–Counseling Programs
Formal career-counseling programs usually take the form of workshops, conferences, and
career development centers. In some cases, the organization establishes general-purpose
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
B. Dual-Career and Work–Family Issues
The entire process of career planning must take into consideration the fact that another career
must often be managed simultaneously. Perhaps related to this trend is the growing concern
over balancing family needs with the demands of work.
• First, concerns over family-friendly work practices (such as childcare, eldercare, and
flexible work schedules) have an influence over the choices that employees make
C. Evaluating Career-Management Activities
The ultimate goals of career management are to have employees reach their full potential at
work, enjoy productive and satisfying work careers, and then make a successful transition to
retirement. But as employees are increasingly unlikely to spend their entire careers in a single
Closing Case: Counting Seconds, Measuring Scans
Case Summary
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
Meijer is a family-owned discounting chain which recently installed a new performance-
measurement system for its checkout operators. Meijer established a minimum baseline
performance metrics for the job based on the number of units a person should reasonably be able
Case Questions
1. How would you feel about working under the Meijer system?
Employees working under the Meijer system might feel stressed while operating the
2. What other kinds of jobs might be amenable to this sort of performance-measurement
technology?
Jobs which would not need any artistic or creative thinking approach to be performed are
The following items appear on the in-text Instructor Prep Cards. These notes and
suggested talking points should help instructors conduct these exercises with the students.
Discussion Questions
1. Identify and briefly describe the basic steps in performance appraisal.
The typical performance appraisal process includes several basic steps:
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
• Rate performance
2. What are the basic goals of performance appraisal?
A basic goal of any appraisal system is to provide a valid and reliable measure of employee
3. Summarize the roles of the organization, the rater, and the ratee in performance appraisal.
The organization, primarily through the work of its human resource (HR) function,
develops the general performance appraisal process for its managers and employees to use,
4. Who are the most common raters in the performance appraisal process?
By far the most common rater is the supervisor. Other raters include peers, subordinates,
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
5. Identify and critique the basic methods for performance appraisal.
Ranking Methods:
The simple ranking method involves having the manager just rank-order, from top to
Rating Methods:
A graphic rating scale consists of a statement or question about some aspect of an
individual’s job performance. Following that statement or question is a series of answers;
the rater must select the one that fits best. For example, one common set of responses to
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) represent a combination of the graphic
rating scale and the critical incident method. They specify performance dimensions based
on behavioral anchors associated with different levels of performance along the scale.
Like a BARS, a Behavioral Observation Scale (BOS) is developed from critical incidents.
Rather than using only a sample of behaviors that reflect effective or ineffective behavior,
a BOS uses substantially more of the behaviors to define specifically all the measures
In a goal-based, or a management-by-objectives (MBO), system a subordinate meets with
his or her manager, and together they set goals for the subordinate for a coming period of
time, often one year. These goals are usually quantifiable, are objective, and almost always
6. How might feedback interviews and meetings be conducted most effectively?
Managers should provide feedback on a regular basis, rather than just annually, and should
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
7. What is a career?
A career is the set of experiences and activities in which a person engages related to his or
8. Compare and contrast the traditional and emerging models of careers. Which model are
you most comfortable with? Why?
The traditional model of career involves four stages. Exploration is the first traditional
career stage, and during this period in people’s lives, they try to identify the kind of work
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
Of course, in the contemporary era of downsizing and layoffs, sometimes people go
through these four stages of career development in a relatively short period of time. Many
experts agree that even though the traditional model of careers summarized above still has
conceptual value, new perspectives on careers are better reflections of today’s realities.
Some experts, for instance, argue that one should think about career ages (how long
someone has been on a job) rather than career stages or even chronological age. At the
beginning of each new career, though, the employee begins a process of exploration, trial,
and establishment, followed by another period of exploration. The second level of
exploration in turn is likely to take the person away from the current career and into a new
one where the process begins again.
9. If you will soon enter a new career, what issues are you most concerned about? How might
an employer help you deal with these issues?
Students’ answers might vary according to their individual career plans and value systems.
In general, however, students may cite early career issues such as finding challenging
10. Would you like to have an international assignment as part of your career? What issues
and concerns might you have about such a possibility?
Students’ answers might vary. Many young people today are more willing to accept
international assignments as part of their career development. As the economy becomes
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
Ethical Dilemmas in HR Management
Scenario summary
A marketing executive, of a major corporation, needs to hire a new staff member to fill a position
that has been just created. The marketing executive asked the human resource department to help
identify three possible candidates from inside the organization. The marketing executive met
with each of these people and thoroughly reviewed their educational backgrounds, experience,
performance appraisals, career path, and other qualifications and eliminated one person because
of lack of fit. The marketing executive now faces a complicated decision between the two
because he or she sees them as relatively equal in terms of potential. The real problem, however,
is diversity and equal opportunity.
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
Questions
1. What are the ethical issues in this situation?
An issue is whether the marketing manager has the authority to disregard another
information to fit his or her approach to equal opportunity and diversity.
2. What are the basic arguments for and against selecting each candidate?
For the African-American female:
• She has potential equal to that of the white male.
3. What do you think most managers would do? What would you do?
Students’ answers will vary. Some students will say that the marketing manager’s
commitment to equal opportunity and diversity should justify the decision to hire the
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
Assignment
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to help students develop insights into the process of
developing performance-appraisal methods and systems. As background, conceptualize how
Step 1: The instructor should ask students to form groups of four to five students.
Step 2: Students working with their group members, develop three alternative methods that an
Step 4: Students are asked to discuss and develop responses for the following.
1. What barriers might exist to the adoption of one of the new methods you developed?
Students’ answers to this question might vary. Students may feel that their new methods
2. What limitations characterize the traditional system? Do any of your methods overcome
these limitations?
Students’ answers to this question might vary. The traditional system may be deficient in
some ways. It may be difficult to assess all aspects of student performance, given time and
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Chapter 10: Performance Appraisal and Career Management
3. At your school, do students evaluate instructors? If so, how might the current method be
improved?
Students’ answers to this question might vary. Most schools likely include instructor
evaluations as part of the instructors’ performance appraisal process. These evaluations are
4. Does 360-degree feedback have any relevance in the classroom?
Students’ answers to this question might vary. Some students may argue that 360-degree
review has direct relevance in the classroom. They may feel that the classroom setting is