Performance Appraisal Paper. Example of writing.

1. Megan
BA 302 - Organizational Behavior
Instructor: Michael Buck
Brandy Ramer(bramer@pdx.edu)
Tony Plasker(plasker@pdx.edu)
Farzane Kord(farzaneh9@gmail.com)
Megan Dickson(meganwdickson@gmail.com)

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
2
COMPANY INFORMATION
3
FINDINGS
4
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PROCESS
THE GOOD
THE BAD
THE INTERESTING IDEAS
4
5
7
8
RECOMMENDATIONS
9
STOP DOING
KEEP DOING
START DOING
CONCLUSION
15
REFERENCE LIST
16
APPENDIX
18
QUESTIONS
FIRST PAGE OF ARTICLES
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3. INTRODUCTION
"Without continuous growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success
have not meaning." ~Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin uttered these words when the industrial revolution was still in its
infancy. Psychology and Organizational Behavior were not fields of study and it would be years
before industry would comprehend the notion of maximizing performance through regular
feedback. Today his words and wisdom can be applied to many fields, including annual
performance appraisals.
What exactly are performance appraisals? According to Organizational Behavior,
authored by Talya Bauer and Berrin Erdogan, a performance appraisal is a process of companies
providing feedback to employees (Bauer 2013).
Conducting performance appraisals helps employers determine promotions, raises, and
even helps assess job performance. Interestingly enough, a person’s reputation within the
company is often reflected in their performance appraisal (Hogan and Shelton 1998). It is of
extreme importance that the performance appraisals are accurate, unbiased and well-rounded.
Therefore any performance evaluation must be rated by an individual who has expert knowledge
of the skills being rated (Becker and Miller 2002).
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4. Our group conducted a case study at Lanphere Enterprises, Inc. in the Beaverton KIA
dealership. We interviewed three employees and asked them a series of questions regarding the
performance appraisal process at their company to determine how they are conducted, and how
effective they are.
First our case study will give a quick overview of Lanphere Enterprises. We will then
discuss the findings we discovered through the interviews we conducted. Last, we will give our
recommendations based on the findings from our research and interviews. We will discuss what
we feel the company should stop, start and keep doing.
COMPANY INFORMATION
On the Welcome Page of the Beaverton Kia website, they have the following quote “We
are on a mission to change the way people are treated whether you're buying a car or not. It's the
people that make it a Special [sic] place to buy a car and a Great [sic] place to work”
(beavertonkia.com). Our team conducted three interviews at the Beaverton KIA car dealership,
which is owned by Lanphere Enterprises, Inc.
In 1960, Bob Lanphere opened a motorcycle shop called Beaverton Honda in Beaverton,
Oregon. His business would continue to expand and today is known as Lanphere Enterprises
Inc. Lanphere Enterprises is a retailer of cars, motorcycles, boats and maintenance services for
their products. Their number one priority is customer service, as the core of their business is
based on positive buying experiences and word-of-mouth promotions. The company employs
over 600 people in the Northwest and operates nine dealerships in Oregon and Washington. Our
team interviewed three employees from the Beaverton KIA Dealership.
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5. First, we would like to thank the three employees who assisted us with our case study.
They were open, honest, and agreeable. They were genuinely interested in their performance
appraisals process, very accommodating and generous with their time.
The first individual we interviewed was the General Manager of the location. He has
been employed in the auto industry for more than 15 years and has worked as the General
Manager for a few years. The second individual we interviewed was an automobile salesperson
for Beaverton KIA. He has worked in the auto industry for more than 12 years, though only a
few of them have been with KIA. The last person we interviewed was the Director of Human
Resources for Lanphere Enterprises. She has worked 14 years at Lanphere Enterprises and has
worked in H R for 35 years. A full copy of all the interview questions is located in the
Appendix.
FINDINGS
Some of our findings were consistent across all three of our interviews while others were
heavily influenced by the perspective of the person being interviewed. As such, some questions
were asked in all three interviews while others were only relevant to one or two of the people
being interviewed. In general the interviewees were candid with their answers and paused on
occasions to give thoughtful feedback.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PROCESS
At the Beaverton Kia dealership they have a monthly performance appraisal. At the GM
level the appraisal process consists of a thick booklet produced every month which numerically
measures the performance of the dealership. We were not allowed to see the booklet, however as
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6. the GM thumbed through it, we noticed many numbers, graphs and color coded charts. The GM
indicated that every aspect of the dealership was measured and compared to other Kia
dealerships as well as other Lanphere Enterprises dealerships. As part of the process, the
General Manager reviewed these numbers with each of his Department Managers, who in turn
reviewed individual numbers with each employee. An interview with the salesperson confirmed
this process within the Beaverton Kia dealership.
Our interview with the HR Director revealed that the Beaverton Kia dealership is the only
one within the family that holds monthly reviews below the General Manager level. However, all
the Lanphere Dealership GM’s are starting to meet and share best practices. The monthly
performance appraisal by numbers is one of the practices being implemented in other
dealerships. There is no performance appraisal process for positions that are not measured by
numbers, such as lot attendants, receptionists, book keeping and other similar positions. At the
parent corporation, there is no annual appraisal process. Annual goals are set and there are
regular progress checks towards those goals.
THE GOOD
All three interviewees understood the process and how their numbers are measured.
Furthermore, all three expressed that they liked the absolutely objective nature of the process.
The GM indicated he liked the notion that his dealership was benchmarked against other Kia
dealerships, noting that Kia buyers and the Kia brand were fairly constant across the country.
The salesperson liked the notion that there were no disputes about performance. He was
expected to sell at least nine cars per month and good months meant good reviews, bad months
meant something else. The HR director particularly liked the objective nature of the
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7. measurements because it meant that politics and camaraderie outside the workplace did not enter
into personnel decisions.
Co-worker input is not part of the appraisal process and all three interviewees agreed they
would not want it included in their appraisals. The GM thought it would be interesting to get
that feedback, but he was skeptical he would get accurate feedback from within his dealership
because he surmised people might feel like negative feedback would incur retaliation or some
form of retribution. He did express that he had an open door policy and he would listen to ideas.
This was not a guarantee he would implement those ideas, but he would listen to them. The
salesperson did not see the need for input from co-workers because he “gets along with
everybody.” This implied that there is some form of internal politics in play. He did mention
that there were disputes on who made a sale and even though well-defined standards and
practices exist, there were still many instances where the actual facts were in dispute around how
much each individual had done on a particular deal. The HR Director confirmed the automobile
business was highly politicized and therefore inviting co-worker feedback was a recipe for
disaster.
The GM and the salesperson, who received appraisals, thought they were useful because
they were accompanied by suggestions for improvement. The GM also pointed out that he often
times found ways to publicly recognize good work. This included everything from a physical pat
on the back to calling the good work out in staff meeting. He also said any discipline or
coaching happened in private. HR affirmed that this was the recommended approach and
implied that the Kia GM should be a model for performance appraisals.
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8. All three interviewees felt that the commission based compensation model was good
because it kept the employees engaged and did not limit potential earnings. The GM was
adamantly opposed to any other form of compensation. The salesperson was not as emphatic but
he also liked the commission model. This could have been either the veracity of his opinion or
how he chose to convey it. The HR person believed the commission model motivated
employees to stay focused and committed.
THE BAD
The GM did take exception to comparisons against other Lanphere Enterprises
dealerships. He said Kia has made a pretty good name for itself over the last few years. Honda
and Toyota have been making a name for themselves over the last few decades so he felt those
comparisons were interesting, but not necessarily fair.
The GM and the HR Director both pointed out that there was no formal process for
evaluating employees on anything other than numbers. The sales person expressed support for
the idea, but suggested that the key to being successful was staying positive rather than
something that would be identified in a performance appraisal. Positivity was a topic that was
also mentioned by the GM and the HR director as a key factor for success. While this seems to
be a universally accepted requirement for success, none of the interviewees suggested any
program, process or defined effort to develop or at least screen for this trait. The HR director
pointed out that the existing appraisal process only applied to Beaverton Kia and there was no
process for the parent company employees or certain jobs within the dealerships.
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9. Across most of our interviews, there was an overriding theme that was hinted at and
referenced around the presence of a highly politicized work environment. The HR director
explicitly mentioned “The Good Ole’ Boy” mentality. Allusions to cronyism and preferential
treatment were made. The HR director also referenced the car business being a predominately
male industry with
a lot of Type-A
personalities. The
GM pointed out
that the HR role is
limited to problem
solving and the HR
director
characterized a
large portion of her job as law suit avoidance. She further admitted there had been several
lawsuits in the past and implied things should have been handled differently.
THE INTERESTING IDEAS
During our interviews, several interesting ideas came up in passing, either as the result of
a direct question or as a tangential aside to an answer. One of the more interesting ideas was the
notion that even though the corporate headquarters for Lanphere Enterprises was physically right
next door to the Kia dealership, they rarely saw anyone from “corporate”. When they did see
somebody, it was because they needed something. The GM said he would welcome the
leadership over to be a visible presence and give encouragement to the staff. If this is not
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10. happening at the dealership right next door, we can assume it is not happening at the other
dealerships either.
A more formal annual review process was one of the things the HR Director was looking
to implement across the organization which looked at more than just numbers and started to
introduce the idea of employee development. Somewhat related to this topic, the HR director
was also working on implementation of more formal management training. This training would
include some basic “do’s and don’ts” around the hiring and management process. The GM also
touched on the idea of a more people driven performance appraisal at the end of the year that
would encompass more than simply reporting back numbers. It was unclear if this would
somehow be tied to pay or some manner of bonus or if this was simply an idea for long term
employee development.
The HR director had an interesting idea around instituting a profit sharing plan and is
even working on a proposal. She did no go into details about how such a plan would work
although she did say that everybody would be eligible. Her belief was that such a plan would
help motivate the non-commission people to contribute to the overall success of the dealerships.
The GM and Salesperson tied into this theme of overall recognition as well. In general the
system is built to reward sales, but it completely ignores other less tangible measures of success.
Furthermore, not everybody is eligible for those commission based rewards even though they
might well have a material impact on the success of the business.
RECOMMENDATIONS
As we researched the appraisal process and compared that research with what was in
place, we found that the process in place had good elements, bad elements and missing elements.
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11. Our recommendations for Beaverton Kia and the parent company, Lanphere Enterprises are
broken out into three sections. The first section defines areas where the process is deficient or
counterproductive. These parts of the process should be discontinued. The second section of our
recommendations looks at the pieces of the process that are working well and should be carried
forward. The final section our recommendations looks at pieces that should be added to improve
the overall quality of the appraisal process.
STOP DOING
Based on our interviews we recommend that Lanphere Enterprises no longer compare
non Kia dealerships to Beaverton Kia. The notion of comparing Infiniti, Honda or Toyota brand
awareness to Kia is not a reasonable comparison. Honda and Toyota have had decades to work
on their brand awareness. Infiniti caters to a completely different segment of buyers. Kia has
worked on their branding the last few years whereas other car brands have had decades. By
comparing Kia with Infiniti/Toyota/Honda, they ignore the investment made over time in
licensing, advertising, direct mail campaigns and other brand building activities that
Infiniti/Toyota/Honda might not need. Comparisons to non-Kia brands, does not provide an
accurate picture of how the dealership is performing. Furthermore, it may well also inaccurately
portray the performance of those other dealerships, masking potential successes or failures.
KEEP DOING
Our interviews showed that the current process has some significant advantages. For
instance, comparing Beaverton Kia to other Kia dealerships gives Lanphere Enterprises objective
and measureable goals and relevant feedback. This allows Beaverton Kia and Lanphere
Enterprises to scale their goals to reflect macroeconomic events as well as potentially rapidly
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12. changing segment buyer preferences. Furthermore, it allows the parent company to accurately
measure the impact of events such as sales promotions, positive media coverage or marketing
campaigns. From a longer term strategic perspective, leveraging this data will help them make
future decisions around topics like dealership expansion, location or other efforts.
One of the more significant findings was the universal acceptance and enthusiasm for the
objective nature of the measurement criteria. All participants knew precisely how they would be
measured. This is helpful in two ways. First it allows the dealership to set goals. Progress and
achievement for those goals is unambiguous. Having an absolutely objective measurement helps
the dealership and parent company gird itself against potential lawsuits. Furthermore is mitigates
internal politics and the effects of the “Good Ol’ Boy” network that is present in auto
dealerships. Our recommendation is to retain this aspect of the process.
Another positive aspect of their existing process is sharing select relevant data down
through the organization. Sharing this data allows managers and individuals to formulate an
accurate understanding of the internal operations of the dealership. Awareness of measurement
criteria and current status toward those measurements may lead to positive behaviors and new
ideas for how to improve the overall business environment.
The commission based pay structure was also cited as a positive aspect of the process.
Even though this feedback is not given in a formal manner as part of the monthly sharing of the
numbers, the financial incentive to sell more cars is a very strong message. This is motivation
for the sales people to stay engaged and contribute to their own personal bottom line which also
has a material impact on the overall bottom line of the entire dealership. This commission
structure seems to lead to higher employee engagement and satisfaction. Those factors are also
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13. associated with higher customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and business profitability as well
as other desirable outcomes for businesses. (Harter, Schmidt, and Hayes)
All three interviewees referenced the potential for conflict and an occasional need for
corrective action. We recommend that Beaverton Kia continue their practice of praising in
public and disciplining in private. Furthermore, we recommend that if this is not a common
practice across all the Lanphere dealerships, that it be immediately implemented as a shared
methodology. Lanphere should also leverage the good interpersonal relationships people have to
deliver effective performance messages when warranted. (Pichler)
Based on our research, we thought that peer reviews would be a strong recommendation.
We were going to recommend implementing a crowd source way of reviewing people. Coworkers would provide anonymous feedback on an individual providing context to the numeric
measurements in use. The co-workers selected for feedback would be peers, subordinates,
superiors or other employees a person had worked with through the course of the year. The 360
degree feedback process seems to be the future trend in employee appraisals (Silverman 2012).
Based off the interviews, we concluded that this industry would not benefit from such a process.
The automobile dealership industry tends to more political. Concerns around retaliation,
retribution, and accuracy would plague this approach. Therefore, Lanphere should keep their top
down approach of performance appraisals.
START DOING
All Lanphere Enterprises associated dealerships should adopt Beaverton Kia’s policy of
sharing monthly sales reports with people under the General Manager level. This should include
lot attends, receptionists, bookkeepers, and all other employees of Lanphere Enterprises. This
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14. step will make all employees aware of the goals and encourage all employees to help in tangible
and intangible ways to reach those goals. This type of feedback has a direct correlation to
employee engagement. (Bulent, Seigyoung, Michelle, and Abeer )
Lanphere Enterprises should add ways to encourage and measure employee growth into
their appraisal system, concentrating on employee development areas that have an indirect
benefit for their job. Areas such as computer, interpersonal, or management skills would
improve their ability to perform their job at the highest levels. This process should be instituted
at the parent corporation and across all dealerships. Progress toward these goals could be
incentivized and rewarded via a profit sharing program.
It is commonly understood that performance appraisals are tied to raises and pay. We
recommend that Lanphere take on a more open policy when it comes to pay schedules. We
strongly recommend this open pay policy for their office team and other non-commission
employees. We suggest creating a pay for performance matrix. For example, if Jane meets the
requirements for accounts receivables but then also collects an additional $10,000 she would
receive her base pay plus $1,000 for that extra work. This more open pay policy will encourage
office people to be more engaged. Our interviews revealed that commission or bonus based pay
structures were popular. Implementing a solution like this must be based on objective and
quantifiable measurements. An open pay policy builds trust within the company because
workers are assured compensation is based on performance rather than the politics such as that
were alluded to in our interviews. (Silverman 2013)
These new performance appraisal recommendations should be applied to everyone within
Lanphere Enterprises. Ideally, these new measurement mechanisms will be based on numbers or
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15. other objective criteria. In the interviews we concluded that objectivity can be problematic in
this industry. Therefore, all recommended performance appraisal aspects should contain control
mechanisms so objectivity is preserved. Performance appraisals will be different for each role.
Each job will be evaluated and require a clear job description. For instance, a bookkeeping
position might be evaluated on accounts receivables measurements such as how many accounts
are paid on time, or how many past due accounts have been contacted. This number based
evaluation system will be the new way to objectively quantify each employee’s performance.
All job duties will be dissected using goal based numbers and employees will be evaluated on
output and their performance toward goals (Light 2013). Using a system of tiers will further
incentivize employees. We recommend quarterly appraisals in conjunction with audits. We
believe frequent feedback would be more effective than yearly performance appraisals. This
feedback should also take into account previous performance appraisals. Therefore, December
numbers are compared to November numbers as well as numbers from the previous December to
adjust for seasonal impacts on the business (Silverman 2011).
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16. CONCLUSION
We know employers want to keep employees motivated. But, how do employers
accomplish that? It turns out that what generally motivates employees is personal recognition
and telling them they have done a good job (Nelson 2000). Through our case study and
interviews at Lanphere Enterprises we were able to gather enough data to reach strong
conclusions and make solid recommendations so the company can motivate their employees.
We concluded through our case study, that some areas of their existing process are motivational,
but not all employees are receiving motivation. Some employees are not being evaluated at all.
Other employees are just being evaluated by numbers. Our case study also shows that the
optimal performance appraisal process differs from organization to organization. What works
for one organization or industry, may not work for another. We would like to thank Lanphere
Enterprises, especially the Beaverton KIA location for participating in our case study. We
appreciate their honestly, openness and eagerness to participate in our case study. Even though
Benjamin Franklin was not talking about Beaverton Kia, or even the auto industry when he said,
"Without continuous growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success
have not meaning," his words are clearly still applicable.
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17. REFRENCE LIST
Bauer, Talya, and Berrin Erdogan. Organizational Behavior. 1st ed. Vol. 1. [Irvington, NY]: Flat
World Knowledge, 2009. Print.
Bulent, Menguc, Auh Seigyoung, Fisher Michelle, and Haddad Abeer. "To Be Engaged or not to
Be Engaged: The Antecedents and Consequences of Service Employee
Engagement." Journal of Business Research. 66.11 (2013): Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Geraldine A. Becker and Charles E. Miller. Examining Contrast Effects in Performance
Appraisals: Using Appropriate Controls and Assessing Accuracy. The Journal of
Psychology. 136.6(Nov. 2002) p667. Word Count: 6434. 25 November 2013 Web.
Harter, J.K., F.L. Schmidt, and T.L. Hayes. "Business-Unit-Level Relationship Between
Employee Satisfaction, Employee Engagement and Business Outcomes: A MetaAnalysis." Journal of Applied Psychology. 87 (2002): Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Hogan, Robert and Shelton, Dana Human. A Socioanalytic Perspective on Job Performance.
11.2/3 (1998): 129. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web.
27 Nov. 2013
Light, Joe. "Careers: Performance Reviews by the Numbers." Wall Street Journal Jun 29
2010. ProQuest. Web. 25 Nov. 2013
Nelson, Bob. “Are Performance Appraisals Obsolete?” Compensation and Benefits Review Web
27 Nov 2013.
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18. Pichler, Shaun. "The Social Context of Performance Appraisal and
Appraisal Reactions: a Meta-Analysis." Human Resource Management 51.5 (2012): 70932. Print.
Silverman, Rachel E., and Leslie Kwoh. "Careers: Performance Reviews, Facebook Style --Employers Try to Flatten Management and Encourage Teamwork with Worker
Evaluations by Peers." Wall Street Journal Aug 01 2012. ProQuest. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Silverman, Rachel E. "Careers: Psst...this is what Your Co-Worker is Paid --- Welcome to the
'Open' Company, Where Every Detail about Salary, Financials and Products is Open for
Viewing by all." Wall Street Journal Jan 30 2013. ProQuest. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Silverman, Rachel E. "Yearly Reviews? Try Weekly; Accustomed to Updates, New
Generation of Workers Craves Regular Feedback." Wall Street Journal (Online) Sep 06
2011. ProQuest. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
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19. APPENDIX
LIST OF QUESTIONS
1. Were you aware of the guidelines that your manager was using to evaluate your job
performance beforehand?
2. Do you feel the appraisal system is fair and unbiased?
3. Do you feel the performance evaluation you received adequately represented your
performance in the past year?
3. Did your company ask you to complete a self appraisal before the meeting?
4. Any Alternative Methods your company may use to assess your performance?
5. Do you agree with the areas that your performance was based on?
6. What do you think about having co-workers being part of the appraisal process? They being
able to give feedback on your performance?
7. What are your thoughts on if pay scales were universal and well known and the only way to
increase pay was to be promoted?
8. What would be your thoughts on with your appraisal there was data about how your job
performance influences the bottom line of the company? Would you feel empowered?
9. Is communication with your boss as open in your experience as it is during appraisal time?
10. Do you take constructive suggestions well?
11. Do you find appraisals to be constructive?
12. What would make you more engaged in your work?
13. If you had control of your goals in your work environment what kind of goals would you set?
14. Do you think appraisals enable you for career advancement?
15. Do you feel awkward talking to your boss about performance?
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