Performance Appraisal Case Study

PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS Performance appraisals, often referred to as the backbone of employee performance assessment, during the early twentieth century, has evolved into the annoying funny bone of twenty-first century. Organizations have determined that performance appraisals no longer serve as an effective purpose to determine the value of their employees. In many cases the performance appraisals have determined that supervisors and subordinates despised this time consuming process and they no longer fit their business needs.

Adobe

In 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated, an American multinational computer software company found that their current annual employee performance reviews were frustrating, and complex. The Vice President of People

(Adobe 2018) Morris attempted to make improvements to the performance process, by making it less time consuming and more effective. Nevertheless, Adobe came to the conclusion that it was best to eliminate the whole process and start “thinking about performance management in a different way” (Morris 2016) Moreover, change needed to reflect the value that Adobe had in their employees. (Adobe 2018)

By 2012, Morris’ was taking the initial steps to change the program. She started a company wide blog to survey all employees asked, “If we did away with our ‘annual review,’ what would you like to see in its place? What would it look like to inspire, motivate and value contributions more effectively?” (Stanford

Managers provide coaching on performance, aspirations, potential and development, on a frequent and timely basis. Managers use encouragement to focus on what is working and what needs improvement. Employees are encouraged to give managers feedback on their managerial skills. (Stanford 2014)

Moreover, growth provides the opportunity to develop and increase skills, knowledge. Moreover, this allows the employee to take ownership of their development and growth at Adobe. Employees express their desired aspirations and long term goals, which allows the manager to understand their future goals and growth in the future. (Stanford)

After the implementation of the Check-In program Adobe conducted a survey amongst their employees. They found that overall, employees felt that the check-ins or pop ins provided them with “good insight into their performance and actionable feedback for improvement”. The program generated a 93% employee response rate for their surveys.

According to Morris, “Radically changing a long held process such as performance reviews carries risk…it may not be the best choice for every company. But it has made a tremendous impact on Adobe…” (Morris