Phillip Scarboro

HR Management
Case Study #3
10/24/2016
Summary

This case study focuses primarily on a man named Frank Belby and his

performance review. Frank works for a company called Southfield Packaging

as a regional manager. Southfield Packaging is essentially a custom shipping

company. In the medical industry, there are huge, expensive machines that

need to be transported from point A to point B in a safe, timely fashion. Due

to the size, fragility, and cost of the equipment, Southfield Packaging must

be flexible to fit their clients needs.

Frank is going in for his yearly review with boss, Mark Sanders. The

meeting was originally supposed to take place in Franks office but was

moved to a roadside restaurant about an hour away so Mark could catch his

flight. During the review, Mark seems rushed and uninterested. However, at

the end of the review, Mark does promise a raise in salary. Frank is grateful,

but still upset that he did not receive the promotion he had hoped for a few

months back.

One reason Frank did not receive the promotion is because of his

stubbornness to follow company procedure. When reading Franks

performance review, it is clear he does an exceptional job of satisfying

clients. In fact, he is so adamant about satisfying clients that he may not

always put the companys best interests first. Since Frank demonstrated

that the company is not always his top priority, he did not receive the

promotion.

Connection to Current Topics

In Chapter 8, the book discusses different ways management can rate

employees. One of those methods was behavioral observation scales. BOS

is basically a variation of BARS, they are both developed from critical

incidents. One difference is that BOS is more specific. Also, the way

performance is evaluated is slightly different. But on the whole, they are

very similar. In the case study, Franks evaluation sheet closely resembled a

behavioral observation scale. There were a number of categories, and Mark

Sanders gave Frank a number on the scale of 1-10 on each one. This is a

very clear example of Southfield Packaging using a common approach to

measuring performance.

Evaluate the Appraisal Process

This appraisal process was a little bit messy to say the least. The first

thing that makes it messy is the fact that this is the third time the meeting

has been schedule. In order for appraisals to be effective, they need to be

timely. If an appraisal is being put off, it could negatively impact production

for that employee. The second problem I had right off the bat is the fact that

Franks two options were: have the meeting over the phone, or drive an hour

to meet at a restaurant. Forcing someone to pick between two bad options

for something as important as a performance review is bad conduct. Mark

was also constantly checking his cell phone and acting as if he had

somewhere important to be. Frank likely got the feeling he was burdening

Mark, and a performance review shouldnt feel that way.

The meeting was not particularly productive, as noted by Mark as he

was leaving. They did not have much time to discuss important topics and

Mark seemed disinterested when things did get brought up. Frank intended

to ask Mark why his score was just a 6 and why he was passed up for

promotion but since the meeting was abruptly ended, he never had the

chance. On the bright side, Mark did inform Frank of his raise on the way out

the door.

Overall, I would say the appraisal process was poor. There are a

number of factors that led me to this decision but the biggest one is Marks

general level of disinterest. I know he has a lot going on but that meeting

was a really big deal to Frank and Mark clearly did not want to be there, even

going as far to reiterate that the meeting could have taken place over the

phone.

Evaluate the Appraisal Content at Delivery

The appraisal content at delivery is the one bright spot of the entire

performance review in my opinion. The evaluation form starts by listing

various skills that are important to on-the-job success. Mark gave a number

to each area and since I have no way of knowing how well Frank performed, I
do not know whether those numbers are fair or not. Frank seems to believe

he should have scored a little bit higher, but most employees probably do. I

feel Mark did a good job on this portion.

In the next part of the form, Mark was asked to give an overall score

for Frank on a scale of 1-10, 1 being unsatisfactory, 10 being exceptional.

Frank scored a 6 which seems reasonable. Although Frank has a great

relationship with his clients, sometimes he puts the companys interests on

the back burner. In order to score a higher overall score, Frank would need

to consider the good of the company more often than he does now. The next

area were some useful notes Frank could use to improve as an employee as

well as the compensation increase Frank would be receiving.

The final part of the form discusses development. It gives a few areas

Frank needs to work on and suggestions on how to begin working on those

areas. I feel this part of the form is the most important because it is one

thing to tell someone what they are doing wrong. But if you tell them what

they are doing wrong and then give them the means in which to improve,

that is a totally different thing.

Evaluate the Post Appraisal Issues

The biggest issue post appraisal is the fact that Frank never had a real

chance to ask questions he felt were important. When you rush a

performance review, you run the risk of not being able to get to things. Add

to it the fact that the boss has other things on his mind and you are left with
a pretty poor meeting. I believe if Frank had been given a real chance to air

his grievances and ask questions, he would have walked out of the meeting

feeling pretty good about it. Since he was not allowed to do that, he left the

meeting with the same questions he had going in. In my opinion, Mark still

owes Frank a half hour of his time where Frank can ask questions without

having to worry about Mark checking his phone every five seconds.

Another issue post appraisal is that Frank left feeling like the numbers

on the sheet do not accurately reflect his performance. Frank points to the

fact that he is a top of the line manager if you look at numbers, and Mark

confirms that. The reason Mark looks at Frank the way he does is because of

Marks tendency to choose customer happiness over company policy. If they

had a chance to have a real conversation about that issue, maybe Frank

could have understood where corporate is coming from.

 Works Cited

Noe, Raymond A. "Chapters 8 & 9." Human Resource Management: Gaining a

Competitive Advantage. Vol. 10e. New York: McGraw Hill, 2016. 318-
400. Print.

Noguchi, Yuki. "Yay, It's Time For My Performance Review! (Said No One
Ever)." Iowa Public Radio. NPR, 28 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Oct. 2016.