1. One of the first observations that can be made is that, Catha improved in her performance, albeit for a few weeks. This is directly an indicator of the fact that, she is capable of doing much more than what she is currently doing and she is fully aware of all the methods of working, and delivering effective performance. The possible stumbling block for her performance could be the stress factors due to her personal and family issues. While it is important to ensure a stress-free work environment, it is also important to ensure that there is optimal productivity of each employee at workplace.
Having factored two things that, one she started off with the new assignment doing well, and after a recent mild rebuke, she went back to her earlier self of doing well. This clearly indicates to the fact that Catha is doing well either to make an impression or under duress. The next immediate step that the manger must take is to issue a formal letter of rebuke, indicating that her performance has slipped after going up, post the previous verbal reprimand that the manager had given her.
The formal letter of rebuke serves two purposes, one is that it will be a documentary evidence of lack of performance and also an opportunity given to her to improve on her performance and termination is not sudden and arbitrary. The second purpose is, Catha would now be alert that, if her performance does not improve and be consistently better, and she would be liable to be terminated.
2. As part of the counselling process, the HR function must impress upon Catha that she is capable of performing well, but her heart is not in that, and thus she must make conscious effort to ensure that her performance does not slip and that the organization would not like to lose a good employee like Catha. Both these together, must effectively serve the purpose of ensuring Catha effectively improves her performance, and maintains it at expected levels of outcomes.
Bibliography
Giffords, G. (June 2013). International HR. SJRM Conference and Exposition. Chicago: Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
