Performance Rankings at Portland Ev

Performance Rankings at Portland Events Planners
Rob is the founder and owner of Portland
Events Planners, a company that plans events
for a wide variety of companies in and around
the Portland area. The events include trade
shows, product demonstrations, business conferences
at hotels, and videoconferences. A
staff of five professionals performs the activities
necessary for selling the company’s services to
businesses and for doing the event planning.
Rob is involved in the same activities of obtaining
new business and event planning. The six
professionals are assisted by an administrative
staff of four people.
After five years of operation without one,
Rob decides that it is time to implement a formal
performance evaluation system. After
studying the idea of performance evaluation
and speaking to a talent management professional
in his network, Rob decides that most
performance-evaluation systems are too topdown.
He thinks that he would like a more
democratic system of performance evaluation,
particularly because the staff work closely
together as a team. Rob decided on a performance
evaluation method that focused on
each team member rating the contribution of
all other team members, supplemented by his
own rating.
Next, Rob sent an e-mail to all staff members
explaining his evaluation system. The
e-mail was followed up by a staff meeting to
discuss the new system before its implementation.
Rob began the meeting with a brief
explanation:
“As described in my e-mail, the new evaluation
system is quite simple. Each of you will
anonymously rate the contribution of each
staff member to our company’s success on a
1-to-10 scale, with 10 indicating a super contribution. I will also give a rating, so the maximum
rating anyone could have would be 60, a score of
10 from each of the six raters. The minimum
score you could receive would be a six. I will
allocate salary increases based somewhat on
the results of the evaluation. What do you
think, gang? I want you to react one by one.”
The five staff members of Portland Event Planners
reacted as follows:
Linda: “I like the system because it is objective.
Of course, the ratings tell us nothing about
what each of us is doing right or wrong.”
Tom: “Rob, I like the idea of peer input. But
I’m afraid that your ratings will simply reflect
how much we like each other. So, I’m expecting
to receive 59 points.” [Laughter from the
team.]
Kitty: “I see some good things about this new
system. The system seems objective because we
wind up with numerical ratings. But the system
is really subjective; you will not be making
salary decisions based on tangible, measured
accomplishments.”
José: “I disagree with Kitty. Most of our sales
and our planning is really a joint effort. It is
difficult to pin down who among us really
accomplished what on his or her own. I’d say,
let’s give the new system a chance.”
Laura: “Rob, I see some merit in this system.
But before endorsing it, I want your assurance
that you will sit down with us one by one and
discuss the ratings. I think you should also give
each of us your personal feedback.”
With a reflective look, Rob replied, “I’ve
really learned a lot this morning about your
high level of professionalism and your interest
in performance evaluation. Let me think about
what you have told me, and I will get back to
you.”

Discussion Questions
1. What is your evaluation of the system of performance
evaluation Rob is proposing?
2. Explain which two suggestions from the team
members you think are the most valid.
3. Considering the nature and size of Portland
Events Planners, what type of performance
evaluation system do you recommend Rob
implement?