Conducting an effective performance appraisal

　　Your company is going to evaluate the performance of sales representatives. You have been asked to make recommendations on how to make the performance appraisal effective.

　　Discuss the situation together, and decide:

　　l who would be chosen to evaluate the performance of sales representatives.

　　l What should be evaluated and why

　　進行有效的績效考核

　　你們所在的公司準備對銷售代表進行績效考核。請你們就如何制定行之有效的考核方案提出建議。討論并決定：

　　l 應選擇誰來對銷售代表進行績效考核

　　l 應進行哪些方面的考核，為什么要考核這些方面

　　A： You see, our company is going to evaluate the performance of sales representatives. To make the performance appraisal effective, the choice of raters is crucial.

　　B: Yes, that’s important. In my opinion, external customers are in a good position to evaluate sales representatives, since they are in frequent and direct contact with sales representatives and can observe many sales-related behaviors.

　　A: Besides, if sales representatives’ performance review includes customer’s survey data, the customers tend to be more satisfied, and the business performance tends to be better.

　　B: That’s for sure.

　　A: Undoubtedly customers are one of the appropriate appraisers. But have you ever hit upon such an idea, the combination of various raters? For example, if customer appraisal is used along with self-appraisal, the performance appraisal will surely be more objective and beneficial.

　　B: Definitely, since self-appraisal gets the individual involved in the review process. So when setting a future performance goal, it will be more acceptable and fair for both the manager and the sales representatives to establish it jointly.

　　A: In fact, jobs are multifaceted and different eyes see different aspects. To make evaluation effective and accurate, we’d better get input from as various angles as possible, such as supervisors, peers, customers and the like.

　　B: I couldn’t agree more. As to what should be evaluated, I tend to evaluate sales representative’s accomplishments. Since evaluating a salesperson on the basis of their sales volume involves less subjectivity and therefore may be less open to bias. Besides results appraisal can directly align the employee’s goal with the organizational goal.

　　A: It may be a good idea. But if the same criteria apply to sales representatives who have extremely had market, it would be unfair to hold these employees accountable for results caused by external factors. There are sometimes circumstances beyond control.

　　B: Yes, that’s why we need to consider the role of market when establishing different yet fair criteria.

　　A: 你知道，我們的公司即將評估銷售代表的成績。為了使績效評估更加有效率，對評估者得選擇是關鍵。

　　B：是的，那是非常重要的，就我來看，外部的客戶處于一個良好的位置去評估銷售代表。因為他們頻繁而直接的與銷售代表們聯系并且可以觀察到許多銷售代表的相關銷售行為。

　　A：除此之外，如果銷售代表的之前的表現包括客戶數據調查，客戶一般比較滿意滿意，銷售成績一般是更優(yōu)秀的。

　　B：確實是這樣。

　　A：客戶無疑是合適的評估者之一。但是你可曾偶然發(fā)現這樣的想法，把各種評估者得意見結合起來?舉個例子說，如果客戶評估結合自我評價，績效評估一定會更主觀更有益。

　　B：確實是這樣。因為自我評估讓員工包含回顧的過程。因此當未來的業(yè)績目標設定，這將更公平更容易被管理者和銷售代表們接受去共同建立它。

　　A：實際上，工作是多方面的，而且從不同的視角會看到不同的方面。為了使評估更有效和更準確，我們盡可能用不同的視角評估，比如高層管理者、同事、客戶等等。

　　B：非常同意。關于評估哪些方面。我傾向于評估銷售代表的業(yè)績完成情況。因為評估一個銷售者的基礎就是銷量不包含主觀性因此也沒有偏差。此外，評估結果可以直接關系到員工的目標以及組織的目標。

　　A：這是一個好方法。但是如果同樣的標準應用于嚴峻市場的銷售代表，這將對那些對外部結果負責人的員工不公平。這有時是在無法控制的情況下。

　　B：是的，這就是為什么當我們建立不同市場的公平標準時需要考慮市場的角色。

　　(1) What kind of qualities should an appraiser possess?

　　上司對下屬進行績效評估，對此你有何看法?

　　To be a rater, one should be fair, objective, responsible, good at observing and communicating and well-trained.

　　(2) What do you think of the superior’s evaluation?

　　同事間相互進行評估是否存在弊端?(為什么?)

　　Appraisal programs that rely solely on ratings of superiors often aren’t as reliable and valid as expected. It’s better if they are supplemented by a variety of other rating sources.

　　(3) Are there any disadvantages of peer evaluation?(Why?/Why not?)

　　同事相互進行評估是否存在弊端?(為什么?)

　　Yes. Depending on the culture of the organization, peer ratings can have the potential for creating tension and breakdown rather than fostering cooperation (促進合作)and support.

　　(4) What are the shortcomings of customer appraisal?

　　讓顧客參與績效考核有何弊端?

　　Conducting customer surveys is an expensive and time-consuming process. The time and money are best spent developing customer feedback systems that focus on the organization or work unit as a whole.

　　(5) What do you think of subordinate evaluation?

　　讓下屬對上司進行績效評估，對此你有何看法?

　　The feedback from subordinates is particularly effective in evaluating the supervisor’s interpersonal skills. However, it may not be as appropriate or valid for evaluating task-oriented skills.