Performance Measurement and Reward Systems

Performance Measurement and Reward Systems

Part One. Thirty Points. Use the scenario below to answer the following.

1. 3 points. Identify the problem? Provide a brief summary to justify your conclusion.

2. 2 points. What is the desired performance?

3. 10 points. What performance and reward program(s) would you recommend to improve the situation and enforce the most effective behavior(s),

· If you were the manager of the department responsible for the delivery of mail at UC Berkeley?

· If you were responsible for performance management at UC Berkeley?

4. 10 points. As part of the scenario go to (http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/forms/perfev1.doc) to see the performance appraisal form currently being used at the school to appraise performance.

A. Critique the form.

B. Give five items that you would have appear on the revised form (based on your critique above) that would address the performance issues in the scenario.

5. A. 3 points. Are there any ethical lapses? If so, identify it/them.

B. 2 points. What would you do if you were in the organization where it/they occurred, from a performance management and rewards perspective?

Missed Pickup Means 30 College Students Lose Chance at Fellowship

The students, all enrolled in doctoral studies, got the news on Tuesday night from the university's chancellor, Robert M. Berdahl, that their applications were disqualified because they were late. Dr. Berdahl had earlier flown to Washington in a failed bid to persuade education officials in the Bush administration to change their minds. "For these students to lose out on the opportunity to compete for the Fulbright award in this way is outrageous," Dr. Berdahl said. "No one could have imagined the Department of Education could have reacted the way it did."

The department, which administers the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship Program, rejected the applications because they were not mailed by the Oct. 20 deadline, according to a letter to Dr. Berdahl from Sally L. Stroup, an assistant secretary of education.

On that day, the applications were in an envelope at the university's Sproul Hall for pickup by Federal Express. But the courier did not come until the next morning because of a "software glitch," said Sandra Munoz, a FedEx spokeswoman. The company provided the university with two letters acknowledging the mix-up and accepting blame for the late delivery. It also backdated the shipment's air bill to reflect the intended Oct. 20 pickup date. "We realize how serious this is, and the inconvenience we are causing everyone," Ms. Munoz said. "We certainly apologize."

Late in the day on Oct. 20, an employee with the university's graduate division sent an explanation by e-mail to the Education Department, which told the university to send the applications with the explanation from FedEx, university officials said.

For months, the university officials assumed the problem had been worked out. But the e-mail exchange, Dr. Mason said, came back to haunt them. It was cited last month by lawyers for the department as grounds for rejecting the applications, she said. Since the air bill had been backdated, the correspondence was apparently the only evidence that the applications had not been sent on time.

"The final terrible remark of the lawyers was, `If you hadn't e-mailed Washington, we would have let it go because we wouldn't have known there was a problem,' " Dr. Mason said.

The implicit message, she said, was, "Honesty is not the best policy."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education did not respond to several telephone messages seeking comment. In a statement released Wednesday, Assistant Secretary Stroup defended the decision.

"Although we are very sorry for UC Berkeley's graduate students who had hopes of Fulbright-Hays doctoral fellowships, the facts are indisputable: UC Berkeley was negligent in failing to mail its application on time, despite the fact that for years the university has applied for this program each fall," she said.

"When it became apparent that Federal Express would not arrive in time, a simple trip to the post office would have ensured that the university's application met the deadline," she said. "Sixty other institutions met the application deadline."

Last year, 15 of the 30 applicants from Berkeley were awarded Fulbright fellowships, ranging from $20,000 to $64,000.

In retrospect, the officials said, it would have been prudent to take the package to a nearby FedEx office or the post office, but no one had envisioned a delivery error would have such consequences. Now, officials are looking to FedEx to bring about some sort of happy ending.

Dr. Mason said lawyers for the university were "talking with FedEx about sharing some responsibility." She said one idea was that FedEx would provide some doctoral research grant money.

Ms. Munoz said FedEx was eager to resolve the situation.

"Obviously," she said, "our goal is always 100 percent customer satisfaction."

Jason Seawright, one of the applicants, said that while he would appreciate any help, it would be hard for any other grant to match the résumé-building force of a Fulbright.

"In addition to the money, this is something that opens doors in your career," he said. "Right, I'll put that on my résumé: the FedEx fellowship."

Part Two Twenty Points

Below are eleven scenarios.

A. Identify FOUR and determine the desired level of performance.

B. Then briefly determine an appropriate action plan using performance management and/or rewards so that the organization may reach the desired level of performance.

- Employee falls asleep at desk and you learn that he sometimes falls over into the wastepaper basket when he sleeps.

- Timesheets incomplete.

- Turnover hits 20%.

- Broken furniture/lighting in several places.

- Female employee complains to her manager that men are peeking from under the stairs of the multi-tenant building they are in.

- Performance appraisals indicate a 95% top category level (5 levels).

- Meetings called by top management never start on time.

- Announcement is made that a new software package for a mainframe system has been purchased.

- Graffiti on the elevators.

- The error rate for the production department is 5% for the quarter.

· Sales are down again - 20%: 2nd year in a row.

Part Three. 30 points – 5 points each.

1. What should the primary objectives of any Long Term Incentive program be?

2. What levels of employees provide appropriate opportunities to tie short and long term incentives to base pay? On what basis should the determination be made?

3. What role should communication play in the design and execution of any short and long-term incentive program?

4. How does that differ (or should it) from the rollout of any new benefits program?

5. What role should communication play in the design and execution of any performance appraisal program?

6. W. Edwards Demming, the influential consultant on total quality management (TQM), was strongly opposed to any performance appraisal of employees. Give two reasons that would serve to justify his concern. Provide answers in rebuttal to each.

Part Four. Fifteen Points – five points each.

A. Discuss briefly the role (if any) “rewards” play in the performance cycle of a person’s stay in any organization. Include also in your discussion the major difference between incentives and rewards giving one advantage and disadvantage of each.

B. Going to the book 1001 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson, summarize his opinion of the value of rewards in the workplace and their impact on employees. Feel free to quote liberally from the book.

C. Using the 1001 Rewards book identify three rewards that you feel would be especially effective and two that will not be. Give one reason for your opinion for each.

Part Five. Five Points

A. Three points. Identify and briefly describe three potential purposes for a performance appraisal program, citing one advantage and disadvantage for the use of each.

B. Two points. Comment on the following statement from your text, Understanding Performance Appraisal:

“An organization that is successful in stamping out rating inflation may, in the long run, be worse off than a similar organization in which rating inflation is the universal norm.”