1. Jamie Knight
MGMT 500 : Organizational Behavior & Human Resource Management
Gail Cullen
Application of Group Insights
Tuesday, December 06, 2011

2. New Employee evaluation
Evaluation of new employees to set standards, expectations
How is it beneficial
Expectations agreed on
Useful tools
Cadwell, C. G. (n.d). New Employee Orientation : A Practical Guide for Supervisors.
Roddy, M. (2009, April 01). The abcs of setting employee-performance expectations. Retrieved from g_employee_performance_expectations.aspx
A ‘New Employee Evaluation’ is an initial meeting with a new employee to evaluate their performance readiness and assess which leadership style is appropriate for the situation. This meeting is also used to set standards and show the employee what expectations they are being held to.
How is this evaluation beneficial? Page 22 of New Employee Orientation: A Practical Guide for Supervisors, written by Cadwell, explains. The initial expectations that are communicated have a decided impact on an employee’s job performance. If you expect quality performance and communicate it both by word and deed, you increase the probability of getting high performance. On the other hand, if you communicate low expectations, that’s what you’re likely to receive. Having this initial meeting allows the manager to set the initial expectations and get the new employees feedback on these expectations. If the employee doesn’t feel they can meet the expectations or standards, they should tell the manager up front.
There are many tools that are useful in performing this initial evaluation. Page 24 of New Employee Orientation: A Practical Guide for Supervisors provides a set of goals for managers to make sure they are setting and communicating these expectations effectively. This is the first step; once the manager has defined the expectations, the next step is to actually communicate them to the employee. The ABCs of Setting Employee-Performance Expectations by Monica Roddy provides a set of steps which include the initial manager evaluation:
From the start, establish your expectations in writing. One way to do that is with a job description.
Document expectations that are verbally communicated.
Engage the employee in training programs that reinforce your expectations.
Using these tools allows the manager and employee not only to understand the expectations, but to again evaluate
the performance readiness of the employee and help the leader understand what type of leadership is required.

3. competency utilization
How does the team identify each member’s competencies
How does the team distribute tasks
Ask
Distribute
Drawbacks
Competency in one area, not in others
Identifying competencies for the jobs in your organization. (n.d.). Retrieved from
Hersey, A., Blanchard, K. H., & Johnson, D. E. (2008). Management of organizational behavior, leading human resources. Prentice Hall.
Utilizing team member’s competencies means first finding each member’s strong points, or areas of expertise, then using those to effectively accomplish the team’s goals. This allows team members to have a bigger say in who does what and how, rather than management assigning tasks to each person through job descriptions.
The first step is to identify each member’s competencies. Identifying Competencies for the Jobs in your Organization provides a tool called the Competency Library, which identifies competencies helpful in a wide range of jobs, generally in the human resource area; these competencies can include ‘action oriented’, ‘coaching’, ‘stress tolerance’, etc. The competencies the team needs are dependent on the task, and the leader should use situational leadership, just as they would with people, to decide which competencies are most necessary. Additionally, the leader will need to decide how many competencies each team member needs to utilize (one, two, four, etc.) to effectively get the task done.
Once the team understands what competencies are necessary to accomplish the goal, a survey of team members can help identify who has proficiency in what areas. This allows the team to utilize each member’s competencies to get the task done as quickly as possible. For instance, when writing a group paper, the team can identify who can write eloquently, who can format well, who can cite sources well, etc., so each team member can do what they do best. This is not the only step in distributing tasks though. As discussed in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, by Hersey, Blanchard and Johnson, performance readiness involves ability and willingness; just because a team member is able to perform a certain task well does not mean they want to. The leader or team should ask each member if they are comfortable performing the task they are best at. If so, the tasks should be distributed as such. If not, the members have to step up and possibly perform a task they don’t particulary like but are good at for the well being of the team.
What drawbacks are presented through this system? Not every team member gets to exercise and improve all competencies. If each member is only involved in one area, that member does not get the opportunity to do anything else. However, it should be noted that just because a member is designated to work on one thing, does not mean they should not have a say in the rest of the project; each member should have input throughout the process, emphasizing the importance of synthesizing and collaboration. Another drawback is that, with any team, the whole group is reliant on each member’s part; if one person does not get their job done, the whole group suffers. However, a good leader can identify the problem area and use the appropriate type of leadership to get the member back on track.

4. Feedback loops Are they effective? What is a negative feedback loop
Allow for improvement
What is a negative feedback loop
Technology’s effects
Quicker
Convenient
Feedback Loops. (n.d). Wired, 19(9), 13.
Goetz, T. (2011, June 19). Harnessing the power of feedback loops. Retrieved from
Hersey, A., Blanchard, K. H., & Johnson, D. E. (2008). Management of organizational behavior, leading human resources. Prentice Hall.
Feedback is the extent to which others in the organizational setting are willing to share with the leader, to be open and to level with the leader(Hersey, Blanchard, and Johnson, 2008, p. 218). Feedback loops, then, are the transmitting and use of this feedback. Feedback loops have four stages, as defined by Goetz in Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops. First is the data. Next, the data is sent to the receiver with emotion attached to it. The third stage is called consequence; a ‘plan’ is layed out for the receiver of the data. The fourth stage is when the receiver acts. This loop can repeat itself multiple times, each time feeding off of the receivers action from stage four.
Feedback loops are useful in supplying an analysis of data and the appropriate behavior or action for that analysis. They can be used with managers and employees, in teams, or even with an individual if there is something (technology perhaps) to provide the feedback. These loops are effective because they give individuals a way to improve upon themselves. Feedback tells a person how others perceive their behavior; feedback loops give an individual an avenue to act on that perception. This can improve an individual’s performance quickly, as they see the repercussions of their actions.
A negative feedback loop can be defined as noise. For instance, the screeching of microphone when someone gets to close to the speaker. Or too many people responding at once to a question, so the questioner is not able to decipher one single answer. This type of feedback loop is counterproductive, as the individual will not know how to act in stage four of the loop; there is confusion and chaos. It is important, then, to ensure positive feedback loops with clear data are being provided for improvement.
Technology has turned the age-old concept of feedback loops into a new strategy for changing human behavior, as Thomas Goetz explained…(Feedback loops). Technology allows for two very important things; quicker feedback and virtual feedback. With computers, phones, iPads, etc., questions/concerns can be asked and answered over or chat in a matter of seconds, on each individual’s own time. This allows flexibility, especially in an organizational setting where everyone has their own responsibilities and does not necessarily have time to wait on everyone they need to speak to. A manager can quickly give feedback and see actions from that feedback to multiple employees at once through the use of technology. Though this takes out the face to face emotion factor in feedback, it does allow for a more timely response, at the convenience of the individual’s involved.