Managing People and Groups in Thesis

5. Concerns Associated with the System

The legal concerns associated with the system are relatively reduced and are included in the same category as all the legal concerns faced by companies all over the world. In other words, the system must focus on being objective and fair; otherwise, the company stands the risks of being sued for discrimination and unfair treatment of the staff members.

The objectivity and fairness of the system is not only a matter for legal concerns, but also for ethical ones. If the employees come into contact with information of biased evaluations, they will lose their trust in the entity. This will lead to reduced performances, low employee morale or even high employee turnover rates, generating additional expenditure. Foremost, all these will negatively impact the company's image and perception on the market.

6. Possible Challenges in a Multicultural Workforce

Generally speaking, the appraisal system is objective and applies the same norms to all employees, regardless of socio-cultural background. In this line of thoughts then, it should not raise any difficulties as it does not discriminate. Looking at the statement from another angle however, it may be unfair to assess all employees through the same lenses. Take for instance the case of an Indian developer who has recently joined the organization. His evaluation revealed low levels of performance, despite the fact that he came highly recommended as a capable worker. At a first glance, the management might try to address the matter by enrolling the employee into a training problem. The approach could however not be desirable as the new worker might be registering reduced performances due to cultural reasons, rather than lack of technical knowledge. Two of the most important cultural reasons for reduced performance could be the lack of properly understanding the language or the failure to become integrated in an American company and culture.In a nutshell then, the main flaw of the current appraisal system is that it implements a unified evaluation of all employees, when in fact it should recognize the individuality of each staff member.

7. Suggestions to Improving the System

As revealed by the previous sections, the main limitation of the current appraisal scheme is that it implements a unified approach for all workers and that it is focused exclusively on productivity measurement. The suggestion to improving the system then revolves around two courses of action:

becoming interested in the social interactions of the employee and his ability to become integrated and properly function within the organization recognize the individuality of each and every worker and adapt the evaluations to the unique characteristics of each evaluated staff member

Integrating these suggestions within the system is rather challenging and may require additional investments. The results would however be worth it, as they would materialize in increased employee morale and higher performances.

8. Reflections

The situation previously analyzed points once again to the importance of appraisal schemes within a for-profit institution. Also, it further emphasizes on the pivotal part played by technical knowledge to achieve the corporate goals. Aside these however, it also reveals that a focus on profitability and performance is not sufficient to achieving corporate success. The managerial teams must then also pay attention to the socio-cultural aspects of their operations and must assess the staff members based on the unique features that characterize them.

References

Bowman, J.S., 1999, Performance Appraisal: Verisimilitude Trumps Veracity, Public Personnel Management, Vol. 28

Kovach, R.C., 1994, Matching Assumptions to Environment in the Transfer of Management Practices: Performance Appraisal in Hungary, International Studies of Management and Organization, Vol. 24

Lonsdale, a., 1998, Performance Appraisal, Performance Management and Quality in….....