http://performance-appraisals.org >Recent Additions to The Performance Management and Appraisal Help Center en http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10465 There is no shortage of experts in books or at HR conferences singing the praises of 360 degree feedback. But, as many HR managers have discovered, how you do it is more important than doing it. Implementing this technique without a clear plan and active monitoring can make it a negative for your organization. Read this if you are using 360 degree feedback. (26-Jun-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10466 A collection of observations about the 360 feedback process free of the usual jargon-speak. Down to earth analysis, and the author expresses many of the opinions (albeit not positive) of employees who have had 360 feedback jammed down their throats. (26-Jun-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10506 The answer is yes, there are legal risks with 360 degree feedback, and there are court cases, and you'd better be aware of them if you have or use a 360 degree feedback system. Here's the details. (15-Oct-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10519 Does 360 degree feedback really work? Often it fails badly, but it can work. Here's an update on the status of 360 degree feedback success. (23-Oct-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10508 Before you force employees to participate in 360 degree feedback programs, make sure to read this. There's problems. (15-Oct-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10507 Anonymous feedback incurs and causes problems in a 360 degree feedback system. Learn the pitfalls so you can avoid them. (15-Oct-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10518 You may be able to gain the benefits of a 360 degree feedback system that doesn't require fancy software or a formal 360 system. Here's how. (23-Oct-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=9546 The best performance reviews let managers and employees communicate -- share ideas, opinions, and information. Unfortunately, most traditional reviews put managers into the position of uncomfortable judges, ostensibly telling employees how their work either fit the bill -- or didn't. Possibly because of this, most traditional reviews are no better than the manager's off-the-cuff judgements, and some may be illegal. Because of these problems, new types of reviews are coming into play. Most require that evaluations be done not for raises, promotions, or bonusses, but for growth, development, and communication. The most important aspect in every case is communication between the employee and other people, instead of one-way communication, for higher performance. (24-Jan-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=9420 Performance appraisal is an integral part of the performance management system writes Mohan Bangaruswamy, explaining how a balanced and holistic approach greatly benefits an organisation (22-Jan-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10520 Many managers stop doing appraisals when pay is no longer dependent on them. If you are an employee, should you worry about that? Here's the answer. (23-Oct-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10537 Advice and suggestions, hints and tips about how to improve the usefulness and value of performance appraisals. (11-Jul-2007) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10510 Many managers stop doing performance management and employee reviews when salary is no longer tied to the results. Bad idea. Here's why. (16-Oct-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10538 Often performance management is initiated and driven (and controlled) by the wrong people in the wrong departments. Who should drive performance management initiatives? (11-Jul-2007) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10517 Managers are often concerned that employees asked to self evaluate or self appraise their performance will tend to be more lenient, or evaluate themselves in an artificially positive way. It's a realistic fear but it's often not true. Learn why. (21-Oct-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=9636 Happy customers are good, but profitable customers are much better. In this article, professor and Balanced Scorecard guru Robert S. Kaplan introduces BSC Customer Profitability Metrics. From Balanced Scorecard Report. (26-Jan-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=9638 How to make Balanced Scorecards work for your organization (26-Jan-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=9637 senior writer Meridith Levinson shares four best practices that emerged from Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway’s experience with its balanced scorecard initiative. As CIO Jeff Campbell told her, while using the Balanced Scorecard has been a concrete way to show the value IT bring to the business, it is one time-consuming and tough method to develop. (26-Jan-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10448 First of a three part article on how to use the balanced scorecard effectively. Part one presents a 9-step process that assures the identification of a manageable and actionable set of BSC metrics that link directly to an organization’s strategic objectives. Access the entire series from this link. (5-May-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=9641 Using the Balanced Scorecard approach, Robert S. Kaplan, of Harvard Business School, and David P. Norton analyze the four essentials of customer management: customer selection, acquisition, retention, and growth. (26-Jan-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=9639 To be effective, board members must understand their company's strategy. Professor Robert S. Kaplan offers methods for using the Balanced Scorecard and strategy maps to increase board power. From Strategy & Innovation. (26-Jan-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10458 What happens when employee ratings from performance appraisals end up leaked in the organization? Oh, you mean that data is confidential? You bet. Here's a short case study to remind you about confidentiality in performance evaluations. (17-May-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10471 Do you want to introduce a new objective to your organization that will help everyone who works for you? How about this: Stop destroying your team with bad MBOs. MBOs, or management by objectives, are commonly used as part of yearly performance reviews. In theory, the perfect set of objectives defines, in a quantified way, exactly what the employee is to achieve over the coming year. At the end of the year, in the annual performance review, the manager simply measures whether%u2014or to what extent%u2014the objectives were achieved. However, some management-by-objectives approaches backfire, often in dramatic ways. Let%u2019s look at three case studies of bad MBOs, how they negatively affected the team, and how the managers could have done better. (28-Jun-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10536 MANY performance appraisal systems are helping to produce dysfunctional organisations, according to a workplace ethics expert. When reading this be alert to mischaracterizations of appraisals and performance management. (11-Jul-2007) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10455 Performance appraisals can actually be counter-productive for employees who are in the greatest need of training and further development. This fact is highlighted by Professor Bard Kuvaas from the BI Norwegian School of Management, based on a new research study. (16-May-2006) http://www.performance-appraisals.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=10461 A blog entry that presents a proposal that we scrap performance systems and we pursue increases in employee engagement and mixes of total rewards that are more attuned to employee needs, but we can throw out the old practice of measuring performance scores that is largely meaningless. A great example of a poorly thought out strategy, and a gross misunderstanding of what performance management can and should offer. Standard throwing the baby out with the bathwater. (22-May-2006)