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Defend legal and ethical issues that affect performance management systems. Your response should be at least 75 words in length. You are required to use at least your textbook as source material for your response. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.
No wiki, dictionary.com or uncited information.
248 PART 3 Assessing Performance and Developing Employees
Figure 8.7
lmproving Performance Low
L09 Discuss legal and
ethical issues that
affect periormance
managemenl.
Motivation
SOUICE: Based on M. Lbndon, Job Feedback tMahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997), pp. 96*97. Lse:
by permission.
on the grout)ds of leaving well enough alone. Rather, such employees are likelr : Legal and Ethicat lssues in Performance sionals ne.d to ensure that these systems meet legal requirements, such as the ar’, rj- Legal Requirements for Performance fttanagement and discipline, employmenr-related larvsuits often challenge an organization’s per’
forroanc” murlug”*rlt system. Lawsuits related to pedormance lnanagement usu;-l:ls’ Discrimination claims often allege that the performance management system j:* Ability CHAPTER 8 Managing Employees’Performance 249
i.r:-:-ii€S are subjective, and measurerrrent errors, such as those described earlier in the : rrir. can easily occur. The Supreme Court has held that the selection guidelir”res in -i::rrnance measllfement.l6 In general, these guidelines (discussed in Chapters 3 –.:i:L.ers of tl’reir own racial group, e\ren after rater training.lT In addition, eviileuce :,.’;:1-r regard to lawsr-rits filed on the grounds of rurjust dismissal, the usual claim is ::: f situation, courts generaily focus on the emploiel’5 perf.trmance managelnellt – .i.i:.-nJ itself, the employer rvould need a perforuatlce lrlaltitgeffIent svsten that – lrgrect against both kinds of iau,suits, it is irlptrn;.rlt tL) har-e a legally – – ::rlnicated to employees. Perforrnance rneasrlretnent shr’ttLl.l elaluate behaviors or : -‘ .hc’m irnprove, rather thatt simplv dismissirrg !'()rrr lcdirrmtrs.
fi*ctronic Monitoring and Employee Privacy : – ,r1s clften stole records of emp-t161’gss’ l.erionnance ratil1gs, tlisciplinary actions, ,-=rierlter offering groceries and 40 otl-rer tleparrment:, is trne of several retailers .’ . …::’LJs of rnerchandise being pr-rtchaseci as rreLl as rrhetl-rer cLrstornets are paytng ::-: bv a marlager, morred to a lclu’er-pa1,ing lol:, or evell be let go. lvleijer reports ‘ : ..rmplai|red that it fo|ces them to hLrrr\- custolners aloug, tather than pay atten- : ::rls on rvhether they prefel a speerly casl-rier c”r .r friendll’ one. . rrlncerns. Critics point out thar an eurpior-t’r shotri,-l i-rot rnonitor einployees 250 PART 3 Assessing Performance and Developing Employees
rvhen ir has no reason to beiieve anything is wrong. They complain that monitoring
systems threaten to make the workplace an electronic su’eatshop in which employees
are treated as robots, robbing them of dignity. Some note that employees’performance
should be measured by accomplishments, not just time spent at a desk or rvorkbench’
Electronic systems should not be a substitute for careful management. When moni’
toring is necessary managers shouid communicate the reasons for using lt. Monitor’
ir’rg ,iay be used *or. potlriuely to gather information {or coacl-ring employees and- LC
DID WE GET BURNED BY SHORT-TERM ln 2008, the business world and government leaders huge insurance comPany. lt appeared that the entire As we slowly recover from the economic slump that
followed these events, many are asking what caused
the crisis, hoping to prevent such events from recur- ing human resource rnanagement formance management in the mortgage lending would help them grow in the near term: make more (who bring
together borrowers and ienders) by counting the num-
bei of loans they made and adding up the total dollars
in those deals. The more loans these employees made,
the more money they earned. There were no rewards ing bad lians, because the lenders typically sold the
loan contracts to other financial companies’ When the the loan deals went bad on a massive scale, fueling the
financial crisis.
SOURCE: Based on Wayne F. Cascio and Peter Cappelli,
“Lessons from the Financial Services Crisis,” HR Magazine,
January 2009, Business & Company Resource Center, http://
galenet.galegrouP.com.
Q,uestions
1. lf performance management Practices at mort- as a business success? An ethical success? Why or
why not? nies more vulnerable after the real estate bubble rate that as a business {ailure? An ethical failure? 3. ln general, how could performance management panies treat their employees, cusJo]nefs, investors,
and communities more ethically? Explain whether
you think your recommendations would help or LOl ldentifu the activities involved in performance Performance management is the process through
which managers ensure that employees’ activi- goals. The organization begins by specifying which
“rpa.tt ,”tio.r. N”*t, che organization measures the rel- appraisal. Finaliy, in performance feedback sessions’
appreciate opportunities for further der.elopment. Rer’vards and direct feedback h
Management
fu-r developing and using performance management systems, human resource prtri’i:e”
ance of discrimination. In addition, performance management systems should m*l
ethical sundards, such as, protection of employees’ privacy.
Because performance measures play a central role in decisions about pay, proo)otit :–.
involve charges of discrimination or unjust dismissal’
criminated against employees on the basis of their race or sex. Many performi-lirts
–
:- -;-:;erai governrnenr’sllnifotmGuidelines onEmployeeSelecdonProcedttres also apply
,: : r rerlllire that organizations avoid using criteria such as race and age as a basis for
::’:’.:. ,,,’n1€11[ decisions. This requires overcotning widespread rating erlofs. A substan-
–: .-. ,”1\’ of evider-rce has shor,vn rhat white and black raters tend to gir,e higher: ratings
: ;:,::!S that this teirdency is strongest rvhen one group is only a small Percentage ,lf
.. – .:al ri’ork group, When the vast majority of the groutrr is male, females receile
, ..r:: i:rtings; .lnthat-t tl-t” minority is male, males receil’e lou’er ratings.ls
‘:’ ,: -lre person \\/as dismissed for reasons besides the ones that the etlplttr-er states.
r .::.,s. an enployee rvho’,vorks for a defense contractor discloses rhai rl’ie colnlran)r
;f:–..rled rhe gorrernment. lf the cornpany fires the emplo)-ee, the emplo1’ee might
.,’..’ -, ,har rl’re firing was a way to pur-rish the ernpioyee for blon’ing tl-re n’l-ristle. in this
‘,:.:. looking to see rvhetl-ier the firing could have been L.ase.l c)n Frror l’erti)rlllallce.
.- .-ies er,idence to support its ernployrnent decisious.
.,:.::-,:lble performance n.ranagernent system.39 Sucl’r a s\stem n’rruld L’e base.l on valitl
.- ,:’.th’ses, as described in Chapter 4, t’ith the reqtrirements fLrr jtri: sr,rccess clearly
‘: ‘ “S’ ratl’rer tl’ran traits’ The organizaliot’t should r-rsc- tlulritr’lt- ratels (inclrrding self-
. , :-,-:als) ar-rd train raters in how to use the s),stern. The,rrgani:atirrr-r sl-rclr-rld provide
. ‘.r’ien, of ali pelforrnance ratings b}, uptr q1-lsve1 mart-t,rgers and set up a 5ttr”tlr
, – :t.i.it)}’e€s to appeal u’hen they believe thel-ri’ere er-rrluat.-.1 ur-rfirirly. Along rvith
‘, ,.::’r;k, rl-re system should inclucle a process for ct-,2’rchino t’rr training enployees to
.t.,-itter technology 11ow supports lnan\’ !.erlorrlancr tnilrtLlgclnellt systems. Orga-
, . .,’,-rk-rule violations in electronic .laiirl.ases. \{ant cotlpanies r-tse computers to
. .’–:rrr l’,roductivity and other perfonlrrnce me;:lillres elecrronicaily. Meijer, a retail
::.-.. >rrft\\rare designed to irnpror,e the etficlencl rrl cashie’rs. The store’s colllputer
– .. iron, long it takes to complete each customer trans:lction, taking into accoulrt
; ,’- :-1sll, credit, gifts carc{s, or store cretlit. Eacl-r s’eek tl-re cnshiers receive scores. If a
. . . ri ialls belon’ the baseline score too man\- tirres, l-re or sl-re rnay be carefully tnon-
‘ , . :ire s)rstem has helped n-ranagers identifi’ ,ur.i coach siou’ cashiers, but cashiers
:’. ii rhem ar-rcl help thern through the checkr)Llt line.4r: \fi/hettrer custonters q’in
‘,–lrorrgh electlorric rnonitolirrg carr irnplott l’r,’.ltrrtivitl’, it also generzltes llri-
heipilg rhem develop ih”it skills. Finally, organizations must protect the privacy of
p.*ur-ur’r.. measurements, as they must do with other empl6yee recorcls’
GOALS?
were in shock. Lehman Brothers, an investment bank
with a 15O-year history folded, investment giant
Merrill Lynch seemed poised to follow, and only a
massive bailout by the U.S’ government saved ‘AlG, a
financial system could collapse, effectively bringing
commerce to a halt.
ring. The piciure is complicated, but observers place
soi.,e of the blame at the feet o{ management, includ-
One source of trouble seems to have been per-
industry. Lending companies set goals based on what
and more ioans to homebuyers. To back up that strat-
egy, they measured the performance of loan officers
1r,Jho apptou” loans) and mortgage brokers
for turning down risky borrowers or penalties for mak-
“bubble” of fast-rising housing prices burst and the
slowing economy caused many borrowers to lose jobs,
gage companies helped the companies earn
impressive profits for a time, would you rate that
2, lf those same practices made mortgage compa-
burst and the financial crisis occurred, would you
Why or why not?
at mortgage brokers be adjusted so that the com-
hurt the comPanies.
management.
ties and outputs contribute to the organization’s
of perfotmance ate relevant to the organi-
evant aspects of performance through performance
