Question 1
The reason why the training failed was lack of support for the trained skills back on the job. Turning computers off at the end the day meant that much time would be used in booting them up the following morning, contributing to time wastage which the supervisors did not like. The consultant should have informed the supervisors to bear with the delays caused in booting up the computers, or upgrade the speed of the computers. The supervisors failed to support the trained skills by failing to turn off the lights. The consultant should have informed them to set good examples. (100 words)
Question 2
Described herein are errors in distribution. They are: strictness (severity) errors (rating the employees lower than the actual performance), leniency errors (rating the employees higher than the actual performance), and central tendency errors (rating everyone in the middle). In order to correct the errors in distribution, performance standards should perfectly be defined and the rater should ensure that there are no personal biases in the rating. Every employee should not be underrated on any ground. The raters should be fully conscientious and should not allow their personal feelings to affect the judgment. Besides, the performance standards should be realistically defined. (100 words)
Question 3
In order to reduce the level of unwanted voluntary turnover, an organization should develop mechanisms of increasing employee retention by simply lowering the pain of staying. The organization should address the issues that employees complain about so that they get satisfied with their work. The two main issues that lower the level of voluntary turnover are good leadership and effective communication.
Good leadership creates a sense of trust with the employees. The leaders of the organization need to know the goals of every employee in order to satisfy their needs. A leadership based on understanding makes the employees more responsible and motivated, as they perfectly understand their work and the company’s requirement. Besides good salary, benefits, and other rewards, employees need the leaders whom they can trust. The organization also needs to have open communication. The employees need to be informed on the future expectations. (145 words)
Question 4
Overall employee productivity is greatly enhanced by incentives. The main role of incentive pay is to energize and control or direct the behavior of the employee. The amount paid is directly proportional to the predefined outcome or behavior. By knowing that they can earn extra money for meeting a given objective or for behaving in a given manner, employees always try as much as possible to perform exemplarily; hence, their productivity increases.
Pay for Individual Performance mechanisms are: individual bonuses, piecework rates, sales commissions, standard hour plans, and merit pay. Piecework rate is an incentive for an employee to work efficiently, by rewarding the employee for above-average production volume. This enhances employee productivity. The standard hour plan improves the speed of the employee and increases the overall productivity. Merit pay directly increases the productivity by linking the pay increases to the ratings on the performance appraisals.
The difficulty in setting standard performance measures poses the major risk with using incentives. For instance, incentives tied to stock performance may result in inflation of the stock price. If discovered to be misleading, the reputation of the company is damaged. Insider trading is another risk that has made some executives secretly sell their stock before the stock price collapses. (206 words)
References
eNotes (2012). Employee Evaluation and Performance Appraisals. Retrieved 8 April 2012, from http://www.enotes.com/employee-evaluation-performance-appraisals-reference/employee-evaluation-performance-appraisals
Hedberg, L., and Helenius, M. (2007). What Leaders Can Do To Keep Their Key Employees. Retention Management. Retrieved 8 April 2012, from http://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/4733/1/07-26.pdf
