Performance appraisal is always a challenge for managers, because there are different ways in which we can evaluate performance. Additionally, most managers dislike giving constructive feedback that may be taken negatively by employees; however, appraisal is important to increasing productivity and creating high-performance work teams. With this in mind, there are ethical considerations in the development of performance appraisal systems. Gilbert (2016) addresses the challenges associated with lying and truth-telling in performance appraisal. Consider the following situation:

Suppose that the employee being evaluated is a sixty-four-year-old woman who has announced her intention to retire next year. You have been her supervisor for one year, and you judge that her performance is below standard, but not bad enough at present to require termination. When you review her personnel file, you find that her previous supervisor rated her as satisfactory for each of the last three years. People who have been in the unit for a long time assure you that her performance has not changed this year. One final item of relevance is that she does not take criticism well. In fact, she tends to respond to criticism with tears and hostility. Should you rate her as satisfactory, as your predecessor did for the last three years, or should you rate her as below standard and endure the difficult interview that is sure to follow, with very little hope that her performance will improve before she retires? (p.134).

Guidance:

As a group, identify and evaluate the ethical components of this situation. Approach the situation using an ethical theory as a foundation for your views. As your team works through the performance appraisal, the question about the impact of cultural context becomes something that you should consider. As a group, respond to the following dilemma:

Consider the impact of truth-telling and lying and your responsibility to your employees and the organization as a manager in this situation.

Your instructor will have placed you into groups. To access your group, please select the "People" link in the left hand navigation bar. You will be able to discuss the question surrounding performance appraisal systems with your fellow group members.

This question is addressed in small groups (teams), so that you can generate active dialogue, which will help you explore alternate perspectives from fellow students on the topic. This thought-provoking, synergetic activity should result in your greater understanding of the content area.

When your group has completed its discussions and reached consensus for a response to the question above“ consider the impact of truth telling and lying and your responsibility to your employees and the organization as a manager in this situation’, collaborate to create a short paper presenting your results.

Your paper should be 2-3 pages in length (not including the title and reference pages), using APA formatting, in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with one inch margins. Compose your work using a word processing program (or other software as appropriate) and save it frequently to your computer.

When your group is ready to submit their final paper, have one representative post the paper for instructor evaluation. Click on Browse My Computer and find your file. Once you've located your file, click Open and, if successful, the file name will appear under the Attached files heading. Scroll to the bottom of the page, click Submit, and you're done. Be sure to check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors before posting it.