"Performance appraisals affect raises, promotions, training opportunities, and other personnel actions. If the manager is inept or biased in making the appraisal, how can one defend the promotion decisions that stem from the appraisal? In one case, a 36-year-old supervisor ranked a 62-year-old subordinate at the bottom of the department’s rankings, and then ter-minated him. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit determined that the discrimi-natory motives of the younger boss might have influenced the appraisal and termination.50 Figure 8.14 summarizes steps to ensure your appraisals are legally defensible. ■ The following Management Skills feature shows how to conduct an effective appraisal interview. Base the duties and criteria you appraise on a job analysis. At the start of the period, communicate performance standards to employees in writing. Using a single overall rating of performance is not acceptable to the courts, which often characterize such systems as vague.i Courts generally require combining separate ratings for each performance dimension (quality, quantity, and so on) with some formal weighting system to yield a summary score. Include an employee appeals process. Employees should have the opportunity to review and make comments, written or verbal, about their appraisals before they become final, and should have a formal appeals process to appeal their ratings. One appraiser should never have absolute authority to determine a personnel action. Document all information bearing on a personnel decision in writing. “Without exception, courts condemn informal performance evaluation practices that eschew documentation.”ii Train supervisors. If formal rater training is not possible, at least provide raters with written instructions on how to use the rating scale.iii iJames Austin, Peter Villanova, and Hugh Hindman, “Legal Requirements and Technical Guidelines Involved in Implementing Performance Appraisal Systems,” in Gerald Ferris and M. Ronald Buckley (eds.), Human Resources Management, 3rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996), pp. 271–288. iiAustin et al., op. cit., p. 282. iiiBut beware: One problem with training raters to avoid rating errors is that, sometimes, what appears to be an error—such as leniency—isn’t an error at all, as when all subordinates really are superior performers. Manuel London, Edward Mone, and John Scott, “Performance Management and Assessment: Methods for Improved Rater Accuracy and Employee Goal Setting,” Human Resource Management 43, no. 4 (Winter 2004), pp. 319–336; Wayne Cascio and H. John Bernardin, “Implications of Performance Appraisal Litigation for Personnel Decisions,” Personnel Psychology, Summer 1981, pp. 211–212; Gerald Barrett and Mary Kernan, “Performance Appraisal and Terminations: A Review of Court Decisions Since Brito v. Zia with Implications for Personnel Practices,” Personnel Psychology 40, no. 3 (Autumn 1987), pp. 489–504; Elaine Pulakos, Performance Management, SHRM Foundation, 2004. FIGURE 8.14 Steps to Ensure Your Appraisals Are Legally Defensible Building Your Management Skills: How to Conduct the Appraisal Interview The performance appraisal usually culminates in an appraisal interview. Here, you and your subordinate discuss the appraisal and formulate plans to remedy deficiencies. These interviews are potentially uncomfortable, since few people like to receive—or give—negative feedback.51 Adequate preparation and effective implementation are therefore essential. First, prepare for the interview. Study the person’s job description, compare performance to the standards, and review the employee’s previous appraisals. Next, give the employee at least a week’s notice to review his or her work, read over the job description, analyze problems, and gather questions and comments. Finally, find a mutually agreeable time for the interview and allow enough time for the entire interview. Interviews with lower-level personnel should take no more than an hour. Interviews with management employees often take two or three hours. Be sure the interview is in a private place where you won’t be interrupted by phone calls or visitors. There are four things to keep in mind in actually conducting the interview: Talk in terms of objective work data. Use examples such as absences, tardiness, quality records, inspection reports, scrap or waste, orders processed, productivity records, material used or consumed, timeliness of tasks or projects, control or reduction of costs, numbers of errors, costs compared to budgets, customers’ comments, product returns, order processing time, inventory level and accuracy, accident reports, and so on. Don’t get personal. Don’t say, “You’re too slow in producing those reports.” Instead, try to compare the person’s performance to a standard. (“These reports should normally be done within 10 days.”) Similarly, don’t compare the person’s performance to that of other people. (“He’s quicker than you are.”) Encourage the person to talk. Stop and listen to what the person is saying; ask open-ended questions such as, “What do you think we can do to improve the situation?” Use a command such as “Go on,” or “Tell me more.” Restate the person’s last point as a question, such as, “You don’t think you can get the job done?” End with an action plan. Don’t get personal, but do make sure the person leaves knowing specifically what he or she is doing right and doing wrong. Give specific examples; make sure the person understands; and get agreement before he or she leaves on how things will be improved, and by when. Develop an action plan showing steps and expected results. How to Handle a Defensive Subordinate Defenses are an important and familiar aspect of our lives. For example, when a supervisor tells someone his or her performance is poor, the first reaction is often denial. By denying the fault, the person avoids having to question his or her own competence. In any event, understanding and dealing with defensiveness is an important appraisal skill. In his book Effective Psychology for Managers, psychologist Mortimer Feinberg suggests the following: Recognize that defensive behavior is normal. Never attack a person’s defenses. Don’t try to “explain someone to themselves” by saying things like, “You know the real reason you’re using that excuse is that you can’t bear to be blamed for anything.” Instead, try to concentrate on the act itself (“sales are down”) rather than on the person (“you’re not selling enough”). Postpone action. Sometimes it is best to do nothing at all. People frequently react to sudden threats by instinctively hiding behind their “masks.” But given sufficient time, a more rational reaction takes over. Recognize your own limitations. Don’t expect to solve every problem that comes up, especially the human ones. More important, remember that a supervisor should not try to be a psychologist. Offering understanding is one thing; trying to deal with psychological problems is another. How to Criticize a Subordinate When criticism is required, do it in a manner that lets the person maintain his or her dignity and sense of worth. Criticize in private and do it constructively. Provide examples of critical incidents and specific suggestions of what could be done and why. Avoid once-a-year “critical broadsides” by giving feedback on a daily basis, so that the formal review contains no surprises. Never say the person is “always” wrong (since no one is ever “always” wrong or right). Finally, criticism should be objective and free of any personal biases on your part. How to Ensure the Interview Leads to Improved Performance Whether subordinate’s express satisfaction with their appraisal interview depends on several things, such as not feeling threatened during the interview, having an opportunity to present their ideas, and having a helpful supervisor conduct the interview. But, of course, you don’t just want subordinates to be satisfied with their appraisal interviews. Your main aim is to get them to improve their performance. Here, clearing up job-related problems with the employee and setting measurable performance targets and a schedule for achieving them—an action plan—are essential. Many managers bring to the appraisal an erroneous (though unstated) assumption: that simply revealing the gap between where the employee should be and is will trigger improved performance. But in most human endeavors, that’s not enough. Providing the tools and support the person needs to move ahead is essential.52 How to Handle a Formal Written Warning There will be times when an employee’s performance is so poor that a formal written warning is required. Such warnings serve two purposes: (1) They may serve to shake your employee out of his or her bad habits, and (2) they can help you defend your rating, both to your own boss and (if needed) to the courts. Written warnings should identify the standard by which the employee is judged, make it clear that the employee was aware of the standard, specify any deficiencies relative to the standard, and show the employee had an opportunity to correct his or her performance.53 Given this, what do you think you would tell Phyllis (from the chapter’s opener) that she did wrong in appraising Gladys, and should do differently? LEARNING