OGL 343

Vida Fisher

November 27, 2021

Module 6 Essay

Prompt #1:

Performance appraisals are a source of feedback, a basis of personal development, and

a determination of pay (Thompson, p.353). Organizational teams have been challenged
to adhere to performance evaluations, annual or biannual reviews, and feedbacks.
These types of appraisals have its advantages and disadvantages. One of the
advantages of performance evaluation/appraisals is receiving honest feedback about
performance. This allows the evaluator to share their observations of skills and
performance of the employee. This evaluation also gives an opportunity for the
evaluator to recognize success and accomplishments of employees. This type of
evaluation only works when there is a conversation between evaluator and employee.
The conversation must be planned with an agenda as well as time set aside for
questions. Evaluations need to be fun, exciting, and something that both parties look
forward in doing. I have had experiences where I was meeting my evaluator and had no
idea what to expect. It was a terrifying moment because I was not prepared at all.

As someone who provides evaluation and receives evaluation, I believe it is okay for the
team to add some things in their measurement system, but the company must provide
the guidelines as they have the resources to learn and incorporate their learnings. The
most crucial part is to have a dialogue in the evaluation. I believe in the importance of
sharing their success stories while leaders/evaluators recognize performance results
as well as other things that are not measured such as relationships built, or skills
developed.

I also believe that when it comes to team projects, the team must do their own
evaluation. It will show accountability from all team members, and it will highlight the
work put in of each one of the team members. With doing so, it will create a more
personal, honest, and open feedback from each member. The drawback or
disadvantage is if the relationship is not built amongst the team. If the team is new,
there must be someone in charge to help provide feedback like a team leader. Once the
team has become more accustomed with each other and has worked with multiple
projects, the team evaluation will be more valuable and more credible.
Prompt #2:  

Biases in peer evaluation do happen when there are no systems in place and
relationships are not valued nor fostered. As raters, we must check our own biases. We
must understand that the evaluation is never about the rater but about the person being
evaluated. Raters have a huge responsibility of ensuring that the evaluation is fair,
honest, and factual. No one should be surprised when evaluation is given. I have always
believed that an evaluation is a celebration of the person being evaluated. An evaluation
is the time to share successes, performance excellence, skill checks, and new goals
that have been created during the evaluation. One of the things I have learned is how
important accountability is. Accountability is the implicit or explicit expectation that one
may be called on to justify one’s beliefs, feelings, and actions to others (Thompson, p.
192). Accountability from all individuals in the team needs to be shared from the
beginning of formation the team. Leaders must be consistent with holding the team
accountable or it will cause problems amongst the team. I learned that pre-decision
versus post-decision accountability can play a major role in providing evaluations. All
decisions need to be formed prior to the evaluation because nothing should be
discovered during the evaluation. Evaluations are a summary of ratee’s performance.
Facts are collected, metrics are shared, and skills are assessed prior to the evaluation.
As raters, we have an incredible amount of responsibility to ensure that the evaluation is
fair. Respect is given, communication is open, and feedback is encouraged during an
evaluation.

I also think that during an evaluation, ratees need to be prepared before their evaluation.
They need to collect their data, the goals they met, and the plans they executed well. But
it also needs to include the times they didn’t so well and what steps had they taken to
correct the mistakes. Ratees need to be open-minded when receiving feedback. Raters
are responsible for factual and honest evaluations and ratees have a responsibility to
learn and accept feedback.

Teams thrive when there is courage and honesty while sharing feedback. I believe these
core values need to be shared from inception of team creation. It allows the team to
build a stronger foundation, and it creates an atmosphere that is welcoming and safe.

One evaluation that I have experienced was group polarization. I had a leader who
generalized our individual performance based on the team’s overall performance. The
leader failed to listen and evaluate the team as individuals. Instead, the evaluation had
become one-sided and the team was no longer interested in sharing their stories and
feedback.