EVALUATING AND REWARDING TEAMS

Chapter 16

EVALUATING AND REWARDING TEAMS

An important way to motivate teams is through performance evaluation and reward programs

Performance evaluations communicate to the team how well it is performing

The information may be used to provide direction, motivate performance, and inform the organization’s reward system

Team members should participate in the evaluation process

Organizations can use combinations of individual, team, and organizational rewards to motivate teams

TEAM PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS

Organizations may evaluate individual team members, the operation of the entire team, or combinations of individual and team

Performance evaluation measures need to be specific and clear, identified in advance, and related to behaviors under members’ control

Performance evaluations are valuable for providing feedback to employees, motivating them, and supporting training and development

TYPES OF EVALUATIONS

Traditional individual evaluations- supervisor appraises an individual employee. This evaluation is tied to the organization’s compensation system

Team member evaluations-team members instead of a supervisor conduct the performance evaluations

Evaluation of the team-work of a team is highly interdependent. It may be impossible to evaluate employees individually, the supervisor instead of team members evaluates the operation of the entire team

TYPES OF EVALUATIONS

There are several factors that affect which type of performance evaluation is appropriate for a circumstance

From a teamwork perspective, the most important factor is work design

Individual evaluations are more important for individual work assignments

When work is highly interdependent or conducted primarily as a team, individual evaluation approaches are not appropriate and may discourage cooperation in the team

TYPES OF MEASURES

The key to developing a good measurement system is making certain that it captures both team and organizational goals

It is necessary to ensure the measurements relate to factors that the team has the ability to influence

Measures should focus on the results of the team’s performance, not on the internal activities of the team

Performance evaluations are improved when specific, quantifiable goals are set for the team, and these are identified in advance

TYPES OF MEASURES

It is useful to include team members in the development of the performance evaluation system

Many performance evaluations systems fail because the measures are vague or poorly defined

One alternative is using behavioral measures versus the results of performance

Behavioral performance measures can be used for any type of job, the rater can deal with factors outside the employee’s control, they can encourage positive employee behaviors that are not directly related to the job

TYPES OF MEASURES

A team performance measurement system contains 5 to 10 different measures

It is preferable to have a simpler system team members can relate to, rather than a sophisticated system that is hard to interpret

Using behavioral scales encourages the rater to focus on the target’s behavior rather than on personality

Including team members in the development of behavioral scales is a good way to improve the relevance and credibility of the evaluation system

PARTICIPATION IN THE EVALUATION PROCESS

It is a difficult for a supervisor to conduct a performance evaluation on someone who works on a team

Teamwork often requires a shift to the use of multirater evaluation approaches, such as 360-degree feedback, that include input from team members, customers, and supervisors

The most qualified to evaluate a team member’s performance are the fellow team members

Multirater performance evaluations are more reliable and valid than supervisor-only evaluations