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Performance Evaluation & Appraisal: Milford B

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Today’s Topics

Milford B Who is the most pressing problem? The

least pressing? Appraisal for each rep Action plan for each rep

Common evaluation mistakesEvaluation Survey Results- what’s

being done in the real world.

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Who are the most & least pressing problems?

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Goals of Evaluation

Allocate raises & promotionsAllocate territoriesDecide whom to hire or fireHelp the employee improveFill human need for feedbackProtect against lawsuitsMost managers find it difficult to do and

there’s great variation in how it’s done.

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Theoretical aspects of performance appraisal:

Distributive Justice the outcomes do matter- reps will care

about the perceived justice of the actual rewards

Procedural Justice the procedures do matter- reps will care

about the perceived justice of the process used to determine the rewards

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Avoiding Barriers to Evaluation Effectiveness

Don’t concentrate unduly on the squeaky wheels neglect star performers fail to recognize achievement & improvement fail to clearly communicate goals & standards fail to have a systematic plan for developing

sales reps try to impose unsuitable selling techniques &

styles- different things work for different people

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Performance Appraisal Checklist

The evaluation system is presented as a means to help salespeople become more effective

Good evaluations lead to some kind of reward (timing is important) The formal evaluation process takes place at least once a year-more

often is better Appraisal forms are simple and easy to use and focus on specific outputs

and behaviors The appraisal form requires and explanation for the evaluation given Appraisal criteria are applied uniformly to all salespeople in a given

group The salesperson’s perception of the quality and quantity of work done is

part of the interview All objectives that have not been met are accounted for and explained Appraiser & salesperson develop an action plan jointly for the next

period

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Evaluating and Giving Feedback

Be careful that feedback isn’t demoralizing or demotivating

Describe the situation as you see it; invite the rep to tell his/her perception

Describe how you feel about the situation Describe the change you want Describe the reward for making the change and

the sanctions for not making it Agree on an action plan for improvement & a

timeline for the change

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Other Feedback Guidelines

Very little learning occurs without feedback- the more complex the task, the more true this is

Immediate feedback fosters learning better than delayed feedback

Focus feedback on specific behaviors Relate feedback to underlying principles- mission,

company objectives- the “why” Listen to explanations Probe with “why” questions to shape attributions

for behaviors and results and to develop problem-solving & self-diagnosing skills

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Problems in Assessing performance

Output:- deciding what to measure and how to measure it

Input: record keeping burden; may be biased since the rep’s the recorder

Problems in using someone as a rater: biases subjectivity

Solutions to rater problems rater training fixed distribution of scale points ideal point=100 more than one rater

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Biases in Evaluation

Study of US managers: They are too forgiving of high-volume salespeople

don’t expect enough; even forgive unethical behavior more They don’t count territory features enough:

don’t expect enough of good territoriesdon’t lower expectations enough for poor territorieseven though up to 40% of variation in performance is due to

territory They overweight sheer effort

too hard on those who get results without appearing to try hard

too soft on those who try hard but get nowhere They overweight attitude & underweight numbers

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Biases in Evaluation

Attribution errors: subject over-attributes good events to

personal, internal factors subject over-attributes bad events to

external, environmental factors external evaluator makes the opposite

attributions

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Biases in Evaluation

Conservatism: We sometimes overvalue prior information in the

face of new information We tend to anchor on our prior beliefs and do not

adjust enough for new information

Example: performance evaluation of good work from a bad employee or bad work from a good employee

Evaluation must be on-going & task related, with specific guidelines for good/bad performance

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Biases in Evaluation

Availability: Our perception of how likely an event is to occur

again is influenced by how easily we remember similar past events.

Examples: R words- first vs. third letter Frequency of deaths- asthma vs earthquakes Extremely good or extremely bad performance

events

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Biases in Evaluation

Regression to the mean: People fail to adequately consider regression to

the mean (if one draw from a probabilistic process is extremely high or extremely low, the next draw I likely to be less extreme)

Examples: Children of very tall parents a salesperson’s performance from period to

period

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Biases in Evaluation

Confirmation Bias: People overlook disconfirming evidence for their opinions.

They overweight confirming evidence for their opinions. They read ambiguous information as confirming their opinions.

Examples: hiring decisions: we never see the success of the people

we do not hire are those signs of improvement in a troubled rep’s

performance significant or not? Is average (ambiguous) performance at a task good or

bad? It may depend on our opinion of that person’s overall performance

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What To Do About These Biases

Know your goals; evaluate based on those goals Communicate expectations early and often Record performance regularly

not just when you think about it, since that is usually a high or low point for the individual

set aside one day a month and record the most recent incident

Be fair in appraisal and feedback