Management--SLP

INGRAM MICRO PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS

Being one of the largest technology distributor and foremost in technology sales , marketing and logistics , Ingram Micro values the career development of its employees through undertaking periodic performance appraisals for said resources . Through such continuous evaluations , feedback is provided and employees are informed of the status of their job performance in the company at the time of the conduct of the appraisal , as there is evidence in literature that if given appropriately , this procedure can lead to substantial improvements in future performance (Falcone , 2007 . The main method

utilized to conducting a periodic performance appraisal within the Ingram Micro organization is the weighted checklist method , which consists of a number of statements that describe various modes and levels of behavior for a particular job or category of jobs . Every statement has a weight or scale value associated with it , and when rating an employee , an Ingram Micro supervisor checks those statements that most closely describe the behavior exhibited by the individual employee . Such appraisals are conducted every six months , with the company supervisors carrying out the said responsibility for employees under their care

This checklist system is subdivided into four major factors : quantity of work , quality of work , job knowledge and responsibility . These four categories each have five behavior descriptors listed under them . To reduce bias on the part of the supervisor conducting the appraisal , the weights assigned to each descriptor (that are developed by the human resource department , are not known to said supervisors . The activity is conducted in the confines of the office of the supervisor , and after such appraisal , the employee to be assessed is called in by the supervisor , then asked to sit down and told about past feedback and documented observations of performance . The current performance is then described to the individual , and then the desired performance is stated Commitment to any needed changes is asked of the employee , then follow up is conducted by the supervisor two weeks after the session . It is widely believed within the firm that the performance appraisal activity is a vital impetus to boosting the career development of its human resources , a fact highly agreed upon by Millward (2005 ) when the author dedicated a full chapter of her work to the subject . Additionally , this method offers the advantage of not being vague compared to the rating approach because actual job behaviors are described in the checklist (Caruth and Handlogten , 2000

ADVICE TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT

Several words of advice to the senior management of Ingram Micro : just as with salary administration programs , their performance appraisal system should be flexible enough to expand as the company continues to grow . In the same light , one of the most common errors organizations make in their systems us not to give adequate , clear instructions to the evaluator . This compromises the objectivity and desired orientation of the method , which can be remedied by having written instructions accompany the performance appraisals , which should include such information as (1 ) the purpose of the performance...