Performance Analysis for

Prepared For

Linda Prosak, CFRE

Chief Development Officer

7201 Wade Park Avenue

Cleveland, Ohio 44103

Prepared By

Zach Burkhart, Natalie Hanna, Megan Lown, Avery Tan, and Jacqueline Weisenberger

April 20, 2015

HR 352-51

Boler School of Business

John Carroll University

Table of ContentsChallenges.....................................................................................................................................2

Performance Evaluation Form Challenges................................................................................2

Employee Recognition Practice Challenges..............................................................................3

Potential Solutions.........................................................................................................................3

Solutions for Employee Recognition Practice Challenges.........................................................3

Bulletin Board.........................................................................................................................4

Employee of the Month..........................................................................................................4

Feedback Survey....................................................................................................................6

Solutions for Performance Evaluation Form Challenges...........................................................6

Self-Evaluations......................................................................................................................7

Training Supervisors to Assess Employees...........................................................................8

Critical Incident Evaluation.....................................................................................................8

Conclusion...................................................................................................................................10

Works Cited................................................................................................................................12

Appendix A..................................................................................................................................14

Appendix B..................................................................................................................................15

Executive Summary

The purpose of this report is to carry out a performance analysis for The Eliza

Bryant Village Community. The report recommends that Eliza Bryant incorporate new

methods of employee appraisals and effective recognition practices for employees. This

will result in a happier, more productive workplace environment for the Eliza Bryant

Employees.

Currently, Eliza Bryant Village is looking to improve employee evaluation

methods. The processes in place are satisfactory to both management and employees,

but both groups agree that appraisals could be improved.

Management at Eliza Bryant Village believes that employee recognition practices

are also satisfactory with room for improvement, but a common employee opinion is that

reward practices are not up to par. Employees voiced their opinion and in general, feel

that there is not adequate recognition in return for work.

Our team recommends the use of self-evaluations, the Critical Incident Method,

or the training of supervisors on performing evaluations to improve evaluation

procedures based on a review of best practices and the professional literature.

Self-evaluations will force employees to reflect on their own performance and

hopefully result in a newfound desire to increase productivity.

The Critical Incident Method will require supervisors to keep a log of high and low

points of achievement for all employees and allow them to reflect on these points during

one-on-one evaluations with employees.

Training all supervisors who perform evaluations to grade performance on

universal standards will ensure that employees are being graded similarly despite being

evaluated by different supervisors.

For recognition purposes, our team recommends the use of an employee-

focused bulletin board, an updated version of the Employee of the Month reward, and a

feedback survey to improve employee recognition practices at Eliza Bryant Village.

The use of a bulletin board in a main hallway or lobby will motivate employees to

perform well and maintain that level of efficiency. When an employee receives

Employee of the Month or other award, their name and photo will be added to the board

so that all are aware of that employee’s hard work and dedication to the job.

Our team recommends updating the Employees of the Month award so

employees earn a place on the bulletin board or other public media. Also, each time an

employee wins the award, they also earn a chance to win a gift card which will be raffled

off around Christmas every year. The more monthly awards earned, the higher the

chances of winning.

Lastly, distributing a short survey similar to the one used during this project will

allow employees to voice their opinions and offer feedback regarding

recognition/rewards (See Appendix A). The survey may be used as frequently as

management deems necessary.

This report advises Eliza Bryant Village to consider these suggestions for

advancing evaluation methods and recognition practices to improve employee

performance and workplace satisfaction.

1

Situational Analysis

Eliza Bryant Village is the Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People, the oldest

African American long-term care facility in the United States. It is a non-profit

organization that offers a compassionate and secure living environment for over 1,200

seniors annually. In addition, Eliza Bryant Village employs over 280 full and part-time

staff members in services including Nursing, Food Service, Housekeeping, Laundry,

Maintenance, Dietary, Activities, Social Services, and Administration.

To gather data regarding the human resources needs of Eliza Bryant, our team

initially set up a meeting with the Chief Development Officer of the organization, Linda

Prosak. During this meeting, we asked a series of questions regarding the current

performance management practices in the organization as well as her goals in terms of

improving these practices. Questions that were asked included: What areas do you

want to improve in? What short-term and long-term goals do you have in mind for your

employees? What tools will you need to accomplish these goals? Do you have

performance appraisals already set in place? Do you have any rewards set in place for

good employee behavior?

Additionally, our team gathered data from some of the Eliza Bryant Employees in

the form of a short survey (See Appendix A). The surveys required them to rate their

satisfaction with current performance evaluations, recognition practices and the amount

of feedback they receive from their supervisors. All items were rated on a scale of 1 to

4. We also asked for suggestions regarding recognition practices that they believe

would be effective in increasing productivity. We obtained thirteen respondents.

2

Challenges

Using the methods mentioned above, we were able to identify the performance

management needs of the organization. This also allowed us to establish a scope for

our research in terms of Eliza Bryant’s objectives for performance management

improvement. The two challenges that we chose to address are the improvement of the

evaluation forms as well as the best practices for employee recognition in the long term

care industry.

Performance Evaluation Form Challenges

After examining the results of the surveys that our team developed, we found that

more than two-thirds of the respondents had indicated that they were satisfied with the

performance evaluations to a certain extent.

However, during the initial meeting, Linda Prosak expressed desire for

improvement in this aspect. She has no complaints with current evaluations, but she

admitted that there is room for improvement. The long-term goal of this improvement is

to turn Eliza Bryant Village into an organization comprised of happy and productive

employees. This can be accomplished by recognizing good behavior and enforcing it.

To achieve this goal, it is important to investigate best practices and make

comparisons with what other non-profit organizations, as well as for-profit organizations,

in this industry are practicing in respect to performance appraisals. Ultimately, this

organization needs to utilize performance appraisals that will allow managerial staff to

establish performance standards as well as universal evaluating methods. The

organization may then identify areas for improvement concerning employee productivity.

Employee Recognition Practice Challenges

According to the employee surveys, very few workers are satisfied with the

current recognition program. The ratings of satisfaction regarding the receipt of

feedback varied greatly; namely, the majority rated their satisfaction as either 2 or 3 out

of 4. The survey also included an open-ended question for reward/recognition

suggestions which also supplied a varied list of ideas.

From these results, our team can conclude that employee recognition should be

more clearly established and emphasized among employees and their supervisors.

Recognition is critical to the operations and can only be ignored at great peril

(Pomerance Brick).The need for ongoing feedback and recognition is essential in order

to maintain employee productivity and the organization as a whole as it ensures regular

communication pertaining to the priorities of the company.

Potential Solutions

To address the employee evaluation and recognition practice challenges Eliza

Bryant Village currently faces, or likely will face in the future, our team researched three

solutions to each challenge.

Solutions for Employee Recognition Practice Challenges

Eliza Bryant Village believes it conducts satisfactory recognition practices for

employees when considering it is a non-profit organization that lacks the excess funds

for-profit organizations have at their disposal. Our team researched ways to reward

employees in both non-profit and for-profit industries but only included suggestions

concerning non-profit organizations in this report. The reasoning is that most, if not all,

for-profit practices involve a budget dedicated solely to behavior-rewarding. Eliza Bryant

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Village does not have a budget dedicated to rewards so it is impractical to make other

suggestions.

Bulletin Board

The first solution for improving employee recognition that our team researched

was a hyped bulletin board to install in the main lobby or hallway. This idea was chosen

due to its relevance to non-profit organizations; it was included on an article’s list of

ways to reward hospital employees (Freed). The board would highlight brag-worthy

accomplishments of top performing employees. Postings would consist of the name,

photo, and possibly a short bio of an employee who did an outstanding job on his/her

tasks; someone who stood out to managers.

The board is a potential solution because it would motivate employees to show

up to work, on time, and be willing to perform at his/her potential. It would also help

improve employee accountability. According to the University of Washington,

recognition is most effective when it takes place on a regular basis and in a variety of

different ways (Washington). The board should therefore be regularly updated and

highlight different employees for performing a variety of skills that demonstrate

employee strengths. It is also important that recognition activities be aligned with the

culture of your unit or department (Washington). Frankly, the board will provide an

incentive to work harder. Placing top performers in the spotlight simultaneously puts

pressure on low-performing employees; this makes it more difficult to “get by” on

mediocre effort.

Employee of the Month

5

Eliza Bryant currently awards an Employee of the Month, but the award is not

coveted because the winner is not publicized. Employees surveyed as part of this

project noted that they would prefer for the awards to be publicized. We advise the

continued use of an Employee of the Month award, but an improved version of one.

The employee being recognized each month for his/her performance is chosen

by supervisors. They should be rated based on their work process, most notably their

creativity and the innovation they bring to their work methods (Brun). This winner’s

name will then be put into a drawing for an end-of-the-year gift card raffle. If an

employee wins four months out of the year, his/her name is put in the drawing four

times. The raffle would be a $25, or similar amount, gift card of management’s choice

and would prove as incentive for winning the award.

Data from our survey shows that employees respond well to receiving a

monetary bonus for their hard work. Most agreed that they were more likely to complete

the survey for the chance to win the Starbucks gift card raffle we offered for the drawing

winner. The decision was made to only host one raffle at the end of the year because

Eliza Bryant is a non-profit organization and lacks the extra funds necessary to provide

a gift card more frequently.

This idea was chosen from an article that lists over 50 ways to reward hospital

employees (Freed) . The article also suggests letting patients write kind words about the

top performing employees and posting the letters on the board (Freed).

A common survey response from Eliza Bryant Employees to the question

regarding “suggestions for recognition” was simply receiving a “Thank you” from a

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manager. In a study at Wichita State University, this response was also one of the top

incentives ranked by employees (Nelson).

The Employee of the Month award gives every employee the chance to be

recognized in front of the organization, which will improve morale and stimulate

productivity (Jacobe). Our team hopes this will increase job satisfaction and

commitment to perform at a higher level.

Feedback Survey

The survey provided in Appendix A was used to gather feedback from employees

regarding both performance appraisals and recognition practices. This gave them an

opportunity to voice their opinions and, in a roundabout way, reward them with the

chance to offer suggestions to performance challenges.

Our team believes this survey can be used as a reward because it allows

employees to feel recognized. In his article on employee recognition, Jean-Pierre Brun

explains that recognition may be mutual, one-way, or non-existent (Brun). The use of a

feedback survey will promote mutual recognition; in addition to rewarding employees by

offering them a chance to suggest ideas, management may also be rewarded if the

feedback from employees is positive.

A couple survey respondents also agreed that asking employees for their

opinions could be an option for recognition. They would feel respected and more

appreciated in the workplace.

Solutions for Performance Evaluation Form Challenges

Overall, both the management and employees at Eliza Bryant Village seem

satisfied with current performance evaluation appraisals. However, despite being

7

satisfied, management is curious to discover ways to further improve evaluations. Our

team researched three suggestions to advance performance appraisals.

Self-Evaluations

Most evaluations require two key players: the evaluator and the employee being

evaluated. This is certainly a critical technique for effectively evaluating employees;

however, it is not the only option. Many organizations choose to include self-evaluation

in their appraisal processes. Our team recommends including self-evaluations in

addition to other evaluation methods, such as the Critical Incidents method which will be

discussed following the self-evaluation topic.

Evaluations performed by a supervisor can be effective due to their ability to

point out the strengths and weaknesses of an employee from the perspective of

someone who observes his or her work. For this reason, these types of evaluations are

very useful. Self-evaluations also have the ability to point out strengths and

weaknesses, but from the perspective of the employee rather than the supervisor. By

utilizing both evaluation methods, employers can compare an employee’s

understanding of his or her performance with the supervisor’s, noting the similarities and

differences between the two.

Additionally, self-evaluations offer the opportunity for employees to contemplate

their careers, goals, and future plans. An article published to Forbes mentions that, by

reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses, employees can take note of where they

are in their career in comparison to where they wish to be (Quast, 2015). Self-

evaluations can be used to develop S.M.A.R.T. goals for each employee to be used in

growing their career (Halogen Software). Based on these discoveries, they can

8

determine what works and what needs improved. Because job satisfaction is positively

correlated with good performance, it is important for employees to be satisfied with their

work; in addition to determining strengths and weaknesses, self-evaluations can also

act as a form of self-reflection to determine satisfaction in the workplace. For these

reasons, we recommend adding self-evaluations to Eliza Bryant’s appraisal process.

Training Supervisors to Assess Employees

A performance evaluation itself is only as accurate as the manner in which it was

used. It is crucial for supervisors who evaluate employees to be trained how to conduct

evaluations or the results may be worthless.

An article from the Society for Human Resource Management website agrees

that managers must be trained to assess employees (Tyler). Untrained managers are a

risk because their assessments may contribute inaccurate data which is then used to

make bad decisions for compensation, planning, and reductions in workforce (Tyler).

There are some common appraisal errors, such as the tendency to rate everyone

in the middle of a scale or to let irrelevant factors influence performance grades, that will

be eliminated by the use of training (See Appendix B). Supervisors will also learn tips

like using nonjudgmental language when assessing an employee to avoid being vague

but efficiently and appropriately addressing issues (Business Management Daily).

In addition to ensuring that assessments are completed accurately, training Eliza

Bryant supervisors will also guarantee that employees are being appraised by the same

standards, regardless of the supervisor conducting the assessment.

Critical Incident Evaluation

9

The Critical Incidents method involves identifying outstanding events and events

that need improvement throughout the year. Once again, it involves more work on the

manager’s end, but it is much more accurate than a typical evaluation. It involves more

on the managers end because they are doing more than checking things off a form or

rating an employee on a numerical point scale. Instead, managers are writing down

actual incidents (good and bad) that have occurred throughout the year. A key aspect

of Critical Incidents is that it focuses on employee behaviors not characteristics. Critical

Incidents makes it much easier to give feedback and allows the employees to improve

given the feedback from their managers (Flanagan). It also allows the employees to be

more involved in the process which may in turn make them feel more attached to the

company and what it has to offer.

Critical Incidents can also be recorded by the employees themselves, if the

employees are well trusted. This takes the time-consuming aspect away from the

managers, and allows the employees to self-identify the places where they have

excelled, and the times that they needed more work on a given situation. This may be a

good idea if the managers are not always present to record all of the incidents. It is

important that the Critical Incidents are recorded as they happen instead of being

discussed at the annual evaluation. If it is put off until the yearly review there will be a

loss of detail and the review will not be as accurate or helpful. Since data is gathered

throughout the whole year, it gives a more accurate description of the overall work an

employee has done instead of rushing at the last minute to sit down and go through a

quick review (Flanagan).

10

There are cons to be aware of when using the Critical Incidents Method. Firstly,

it delays feedback. Since incidents are gathered throughout the year it is easier to put

all the emphasis on that, but it is just as important to inform and educate the employees

on the end result of those situations, both good and bad. Another downfall with Critical

Incidents Method is that not all good and bad behaviors are equal. For example, an

employee may have 12 outstanding incidents, and only one unsatisfactory incident so

the manager may assume that he or she is an outstanding employee. But, if the one

unsatisfactory incident cost the company a great deal, you could conclude that that one

bad incident was the equivalent of maybe six outstanding incidents. In order to make

sure this does not occur it is possible to provide numerical values to each positive or

negative behavior.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the objective of this report is to make recommendations for Eliza

Bryant’s performance management so that the goals of the organization align with the

personal and professional goals of the employees. To meet this objective in an effective

manner, we found that Eliza Bryant should update the employee performance

appraisals to incorporate behavior-based standards instead of the more subjective

measures that are currently in place. We also noted that self-evaluations can be a

useful way to evaluate individual strengths and weaknesses in hopes of establishing

future goals. Self-evaluations can also indicate employee satisfaction, another major

goal in the organization.

In addition, Eliza Bryant should incorporate effective recognition practices for

employees, providing them with the motivation they need to reach their goals as well as

11

the goals of the organization. The three suggestions discussed in the report (bulletin

boards, employee of the month and feedback surveys) are just some of the ways to

engage employees on a regular basis to ensure that standards remain high across the

organization.

12

Works Cited

Brun, J.-P. (2008). An analysis of employee recognition: perspectives on human

resource practices. International Journal of Human Resource Mangement, 716-

730.

Business Management Daily. (2015). 10 Secrets to an Effective Performance Review.

Retrieved from Business Management Daily:

http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/glp/25459/Performance-Review-

Examples.html

Flanagan, J. (1954). The Critical Incident Technique. Psychological Bulletin, 327-359.

Freed, D. H. (1999). Fifty-Two Effective, Inexpensive Ways to Reward and Recognize

Hospital Employees. Health Care Manager, 20-28.

Halogen Software. (2015). Tips for creating effective employee evaluation forms.

Retrieved from Halogen Software: Strategic Talent Management :

http://www.halogensoftware.com/learn/how-to/tips-for-creating-effective-

employee-evaluation-forms

Jacobe, D. (2003). Employee Recognition and the Bottom Line. Gallup Poll Tuesday

Briefing, 1.

Nelson, B. (2002). No-Cost Employee Recognition. ABA Bank Marketing, 14.

Pomerance Brick, W. (2012). Employee Recognition Programs Critical to Workplace

Culture. Public Manager, 6-8.

Quast, L. (2015, January 13). "Self-Evaluations: The Key to Career Development.".

Retrieved from Forbes.

Tyler, K. (2012, December 1). Train Managers, Maximize Appraisals. Retrieved from

Society for Human Resource Management :

http://www.shrm.org/publications/hrmagazine/editorialcontent/2012/1212/pages/

1212-performance-appraisal-training.aspx

Washington, U. o. (2015, April). Employee Recognition. Retrieved from Human

Resources: https://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/roles/mgr/ee-recognition/

Appendix A

Employee Feedback Survey

Please rate each item on a scale of 1-4.1 = very

dissatisfied2 = dissatisfied 3 =

satisfied4 = very satisfied

1. How satisfied are you with current evaluations? (Do you feel your work performance is graded fairly?)

1 2 3 4

2. How satisfied are you with employee recognition programs? (Are there adequate rewards/incentives offered?)

1 2 3 4

3. How satisfied are you with the amount of feedback given by your supervisors?

1 2 3 4

4. How likely were you to complete this survey knowing that there was a gift card raffle? (1= very unlikely, 4= very likely)

1 2 3 4

What suggestions do you have for improving employee recognition practices? (E.g. Employee of the month reward, gift card raffles, other ways to recognize exceptional behavior, etcAppendix

Appendix B

Common Appraisal ProblemsUnclear Standards: ambiguous traits and degrees of merit can result in an

unfair appraisal

Base the performance review on duties and standards from a job analysis

Make it clear ahead of time what your performance expectations are

Use a standardized performance review procedure for all employees

Make sure the reviewers have frequent opportunities to observe the

employee’s performance

Either use multiple raters or have the rater’s supervisor review the

appraisal results

Discuss the appraisal results with the employee

Let the employee provide input regarding the assessment

Indicate what the employee needs to do to improve

Halo Effect: the influence of a rater’s general impression on ratings of specific

qualities

Central Tendency: involves supervisors sticking to the middle of the rating

scales, thus, rating everyone approximately average

Leniency or Strictness: supervisors have the tendency to rate everyone either

high or low

Bias: the tendency to allow individual differences such as age, race, and sex to

affect the appraisal ratings employees receive.