Week 6 - Assignment: Prepare Job Descriptions and Calls for Applicants and Week 7 - Assignment: Appraise Strategies to Assist in Effective Job Evaluations

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Week 7

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Performance Appraisal and Evaluation

Public sector performance appraisal and evaluation are both important and challenging

endeavors. Ideally, performance appraisal is a yearlong process where employers gather

information on employees to use as a baseline for an annual evaluation. For example,

throughout the year, supervisors may have quarterly meetings with employees to discuss

items like progress toward goals or opportunities for advancement. These meetings are

great times for supervisors to appraise employees before the comprehensive yearly

evaluation. The best supervisors understand the importance of annual evaluations and

prepare themselves by appraising throughout the year. Those supervisors who go into the

annual evaluation without gathering information throughout the year are going in

underprepared. Employee evaluations are important to an organization because they offer

one approach to measure organizational success through employee performance.

However, evaluations can prove confusing for employees. Often, during post-evaluation,

employees are less clear on where they stand. This confusion could stem from several

potential antecedents. The biggest issue is an error in receiving timely feedback from

supervisors. For example, an employee may be praised for jobs well done and given

opportunities for growth at the same time as receiving this unspecific feedback.

Additionally, evaluation scores could be low, but no feedback is given exactly as to why. In

that situation, not communicating the problem areas to an employee could eventually lead

to management being held accountable as the problem. For these reasons (and more), it is

very important for organizations to properly train those in supervisory positions to

implement an appraisal system that is clear, continuous, and plays to the strengths of

employees. More often than not, supervisors are left to their own devices in the appraisal

and evaluation process; keep this in mind as you read through this week’s resources.

Be sure to review this week's resources carefully. You are expected to apply the

information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

71.43 % 5 of 7 topics complete

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Books and Resources for this Week

Belle, N., Cantarelli, P., & Belardinelli, P.

(2017). Cognitive biases in performance

appraisal: Experimental evidence on

anchoring and halo... Link

Chouhan, V., Chandra, B., Goswami, S.,

& Verma, P. (2016). Analyzing the

performance appraisal system of a

public sector organization in India... Link

Kearney, R. C., & Coggburn, J. D.

(2016). Public human resource

management: Problems and prospects.

Los Angeles: CQ Press. Link

Mulvaney, M. (2017). Performance

appraisals in public parks and

recreation: A study of employees’ short

and longer term attitudes toward the... Link

U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

(n.d.). Federal employee viewpoint

survey. U.S. Office of Personnel

Management. Link

Week 7 Check Your Understanding Quiz

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Week 7 - Assignment: Appraise Strategies to Assist in

Effective Job Evaluations Assignment

Due March 20 at 11:59 PM

As part of this week’s assignment, you will need to complete a Check Your Understanding.

Review the materials carefully and submit the required assignment before 11:59 pm

Arizona time on Sunday.

Every year, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) conducts the Federal Employee

Viewpoint Survey. One of your areas of expertise is appraisal and evaluation, and as such,

you have been invited (in your capacity as Director of Personnel Administration for

Organization X) to be on a popular podcast to discuss in what ways, if any, this yearly

research could be more effective across the board. The inspiration for the podcast and the

prompt comes from a drop in response rates for the 2018 survey. In 2018, the percentage

of federal workers who responded to the survey came in at almost five percentage points

lower than those who responded to the prior year’s survey. The most concerning part of

this drop are it happened on the heels of a push from OPM to improve response rates by

moving from a survey sample to a census.

The podcast host emailed you as a courtesy, with the following prompt for the show:

“As you know, if an employer waited until evaluation time to start thinking about an

employee’s performance, the employee would be in for a weak evaluation. So, based on

your expertise in the field of public service, in what ways (if any) could the OPM’s survey

be approached in a way that makes it a bit more realistic and reliable?”

Review the survey in this week’s resources and formulate your response using survey

data, the course readings, and any additional outside sources you find pertinent to the

topic. You may also include personal experience in your response. Remember to cite your

sources.

If you are new to podcasting, the information below might be helpful to you.

Remember, a podcast is a digital media file and may include some audio files, which

is what you will create.

Write out your script for the podcast to both time it and to ensure you have

included the required content.

Begin your podcast by providing relevant information and establishing a clear

purpose that engages the listener.

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Demonstrate thorough knowledge of the topic using relevant, quality details that

go beyond the obvious.

Focus on your topic.

Be sure to include details from your experience on the topic along with your

researched information.

Make sure there is a brief conclusion that connects the information in the podcast.

Use CaptureSpace to record your podcast. Instructions for using CaptureSpace are

included in the Course Resources module.

Podcasts are evaluated based on the following information: 1) how well the introduction

sets the scene; 2) clarity, accuracy, and relevance of content; 3) whether the conclusion

provided a clear summary of the main points; 4) the structure and flow of the podcast,

and 5) technical sound quality (volume and clarity). Creativity is also considered.

Support your podcast with at least three scholarly or professional resources. In addition to

these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including seminal

articles, may be included.

Length: 10-15 minutes. Be sure to submit a reference page including a link to your

podcast.

Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts

presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this

topic.

Upload your document, and then click the Submit to Dropbox button.