Case Study - Chapter 8:
Start Up Central Performance
Appraisal Issues
George Marschall #200431813
Noah Summers #
John Burega #
Basis - Chapter 8:
Performance Management
Managing employee performance relates directly to achieving organizational goals.
The class textbook describes Performance Management as “The continuing process of
identifying, measuring, and developing the performance of individuals and teams and
aligning performance with the strategic goals of the organization.”(Fassina, H.S.K.U.T.W. N.
2019).
Importance of Performance Management
The Importance of performance management is linked to achieving organizational goals.
The optimal performance management system incentivizes employees to focus on activities
that contribute the most to value creation, such as employing the appropriate people,
creating high-quality goods or services, and utilising the most effective training and
development programmes.
Case Study Breakdown
1. Introduction and overview of the case
2. Identify the key mistakes/success and outline what your presentation will include
3. Provide specific details for the following:
● Who is/are the decision-makers (names & positions etc.)?
● What appears to be the main issue (concern, problem, challenge, and
opportunity)?
● What is its significance?
● Where did the case take place?
● Why has the issue arisen? Provide more than surface analysis. What from our
chapter is linked to why this issue has arisen?
● How would you have solved the problem?
Introduction and overview of the case:
Start Up Central - Performance Appraisal
Issues
Jocelyn is an original executive director of Start Up Central, which was an organization
founded by a group of serial entrepreneurs in the Toronto area. A serial Entrepreneur is a
person who can repeatedly turn creative ideas into successful business strategies. Start Up
Central is a company dedicated to helping new entrepreneurs set their business ideas for
success. Jocelyn, with her own successful experience founding and then exiting a firm,
discovered that the executive director role satisfied her need to give back to the community
by connecting new entrepreneurs with the numerous tools required to make their business
ambitions a reality. For Jocelyn, it is more than a job as she is very passionate about Start Up
Central and it has become her life's work to help others achieve their ambitions.
Introduction and overview of the case:
Start Up Central - Performance Appraisal
Issues
Jocelyn led a Hatchery program within the Start Up Central organization herself which
consisted of an 8 week program where a group of new entrepreneurs collect their
entrepreneurial ideas, and generate business plans to pitch their products or services to
angel investors by the end of the program, in hopes of their idea being funded. Jocelyn then
hired Melvin as a Entrepreneur in Residence to assist with some of the workload associated
with Start Up Central. An Entrepreneur in Residence or EiR is a position where an
accomplished serial entrepreneur assists and provides mentorship to new and upcoming
entrepreneurs and they are compensated by the company to do so. They also usually have
their own entrepreneurial commitments that they must attend to as the EiR is not a full time
job.
Introduction and overview of the case:
Start Up Central - Performance Appraisal
Issues
Melvins EiR position has a yearly salary of $50,000 to be a mentor and to motivate the
groups of new aspiring entrepreneurs before they make their pitches to the angel investors
at the end of the 8 week Hatchery program. Unfortunately, Jocelyn is still taking on most of
the work as Melvin does not always show up to assist Jocelyn with the weekly events.
Melvin was scheduled to be the lead facilitator for the 5th week of the program, but he never
even showed up which forced Jocelyn to step up lead the event. She is very frustrated with
Melvin as she thought that the $50,000 per year they were paying him was at least enough
to get him to show up for the Hatchery program as the lead facilitator.
Who is/are the decision-makers?
Jocelyn - Executive Director of Start
Up Central: needs to decide what to do
about Melvin’s unannounced absences. Melvin - Entrepreneur-in-Residence
(EiR), now an employee at Start Up Central:
has been late or absent three times when
working for Jocelyn.
What appears to be the main issue (concern,
problem, challenge, and
opportunity)?
The main issue in this case is that Melvin, a new employee and EiR that Jocelyn has hired to
help with the weight of the workload that she has, has now been late or absent for the third
straight time without good reason. Melvin is being paid a stipend of $50,000 and is still not
prioritizing his time to be there at Start Up Central. Melvin has good references and has
plenty of experience in the entrepreneurial field, but has shown a very poor work ethic so far,
Jocelyn must make a decision about what to do.
What is its significance?
The significance of this issue is that Jocelyn is in charge of supporting entrepreneurs, she
needs help with the workload, Melvin understands that and can bring a lot to the table to
help, but he has not been giving 100% . Jocelyn now has to try to do these sessions on her
own, help these start-up business entrepreneurs by herself. We can assume she has let
more people attend the sessions because she thought she would have help, but now has to
take it all on herself.
Where did the case take place?
This case took place in the Jocelyn’s office at Start Up Central, where she is holding sessions
for starting entrepreneurs.
Why has the issue arisen? Provide more than
surface analysis. What from our
chapter is linked to why this issue has arisen?
The issue of Melvin’s unannounced absences has arisen because there are potentially
unclear performance standards in place for Melvin and his EiR placement. It is up to Jocelyn,
as she is an original executive director of Start Up Central and manages Melvin, to make sure
that he fully understands his position and his impact on the organization. It is important for
melvin to understand that him as an Entrepreneur in Residence, working for for Start Up
Central, that he meets his performance goals so that collectively the organization can
successfully meet their goals of coaching and training new entrepreneurs, and setting them
up for success. This is an example of Direct Performance Measures as Jocelyn is directly
overseeing Melvins performance as he is not showing up and she is forced to cover for him.
How would you have solved the problem?
This problem can easily be solved by designing an Effective Performance Appraisal.
Performance Appraisals -
The class textbook describes Performance Appraisals as “The process by which
organizations evaluate employee job performance over a period of time.”(Fassina,
H.S.K.U.T.W. N. 2019).
Also, Jocelyn can provide Melvin with a Balanced Scorecard, which provides a combination
of the organization's performance measures broken down into their financial goals with
customer satisfaction, internal processes, organizational growth, learning, and innovation.
Aligning
Organizational and
Individual
Performance Goals
Jocelyn should use the Linking up
approach to communicate to Melvin his
impact on the organization as he is on the
front line in assisting aspiring
entrepreneurs in turning their business
ideas into reality. This will align Melvins
Performance standards with the
performance goals of Start Up Central.
Effective Performance Appraisal
For Melvin:
Related to the position - Melvin is expected to show up and facilitate the weekly
training events.
Concrete Specific and measurable - Jocelyn must make it clear that she hired
Melvin for a reason and make sure he has a strong understanding of what is
required from him.
Practical to measure - Showing up to assist the entrepreneurs with their business
ideas.
Meaningful - Melvin has the experience to assist the Hatchery Program with his
knowledge and expertise.
Realistic and achievable - Melvin can show up and run the weekly events taking
some of the burden off of Jocelyn.
Reviewed regularly - Jocelyn can work together with Melvin to have an effective
and smoothly operated program to assist the new entrepreneurs into making their
entrepreneurial dreams a reality.
th
Schwind 12 Edition, Figure 8-5
Case Discussion Questions
1. Are there any differences between Melvin as an entrepreneur-in-residence with a stipend as compared to an
employee of Start Up Central? Discuss.
2. As Jocelyn, how would you handle Melvin’s absence? How would you ensure that Melvin has clear
performance expectations?
3. If this was Melvin’s third unexplained absence as compared to his first, how would you set up a set of steps
to ensure performance improvement?
4. Is absence a reason for just cause dismissal? Explain the documentation and steps you would have to take
to dismiss Melvin for just cause.
References
Fassina, H.S.K.U.T.W. N. (2019). Canadian Human Resource Management (Canadian Edition) (12th
Edition). McGraw-Hill Ryerson. https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781260304862
