Identification and motivation of high potentials to keep their intellectual property in the company

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION

ABSTRACT

I. LIST OF FIGURES

II. LIST OF TABLES

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE MASTER THESIS
1.3 TOPIC DEMARCATION

2 IDENTIFIACATION OF HIGH POTENTIALS
2.1 SYSTEMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF HIGH POTENTIALS
2.1.1 ABC APPROACH TO EMPLOYEE CLASSIFICATION
2.1.2 EXAMPLES OF BEHAVIOR, PERSONALITY TRAITS AND SOCIAL SKILLS OF DIFFERENT EMPLOYEE GROUPS
2.2 IMPORTANCE OF APPRAISAL INTERVIEWS
2.3 MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES

3 MOTIVATION OF HIGH POTENTIALS
3.1 HOW MOTIVATION WORKS
3.2 EMPLOYER BRAND
3.3 OVERLOAD AND BURNOUT
3.4 EXECUTIVES AS ENERGY MANAGER
3.5 THE LAW OF SERENITY
3.6 CASE STUDY ‘HOW TO INCREASE THE MOTIVATION OF HIGH POTENTIALS’

4 KEEP THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF HIGH POTENTIALS IN THE COMPANY
4.1 EMPLOYEE RETENTION
4.2 TOP 10 RETENTION INSTRUMENTS
4.2.1 OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
4.2.2 PROFESSIONAL TRAININGS
4.2.3 RESPONSIBILITY SCOPES
4.2.4 RECOGNITION AND APPRECIATION OF JOB PERFORMANCE
4.2.5 OPPORTUNITIES TO CO-DECIDE AND PARTICIPATION
4.2.6 PERFORMANCE ORIENTED PAYMENT
4.2.7 WORK LIFE BALANCE
4.2.8 EXCELLENT WORKING ATMOSPHERE AND ENVIRONMENT
4.2.9 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
4.2.10 HONESTY AND CREDIBILITY OF THE COMPANY
4.3 CASE STUDY ‘HOW TO KEEP INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE COMPANY’

5 CONCLUSION

III. DECLARATION OF HONOR

IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY

V. APPENDIX / LIST OF LAYOUTS

VI. PRESENTATION TO COLLOQUIUM

DEDICATION

Thank you to the most important pillars of my life: my girlfriend, my sister and my parents.

Lea, you are everything for me. Thank you for your love and understanding.

Katrin, you are the best sister I could have. Thank you for all the advice you always give me.

Mom, thank you for everything. You always run errands for me.

Dad, thank you for everything, too. I remember you saying ‘always do your best’.

I think I have done it to our satisfaction.

Now we get to the next step...

Further I want to thank Prof. Dr. Andreas von Schubert for coaching me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a small academic participant to the intellectual property management of high potentials.

Thank you, Prof. Dr. Kai Neumann for all the important advice. It has been an honor to learn from you.

ABSTRACT

21 percent of employees have no emotional attachment to the employer, 66 percent will be the call of duty.^[1] The figures have almost doubled since 2001.^[2]

To counteract this trend, it is important to identify and motivate high potentials to retain them in the company. This primarily concerns the highly dedicated staff, but also the tacit knowledge of the employees that is not explicitly written down.

The author chooses the following title for his Master-Thesis, to take up this subject of economic scientific: Identification and motivation of high potentials to keep their intellectual property in the company.

On this occasion, it is started in the introduction to the subject and the problem is explained, the objectives of the Master-Thesis are presented and it will set a demarcation issue.

Then it is shown how a simple method can identify high potentials.

Chapter 3 describes the proper motivation of A-staff. This chapter includes case study.

The following chapter is about keeping the previously identified employees in the company in order to exploit the existing potential. The top 10 employee retention tools are presented therein. This topic will also be completed by a case study.

A final conclusion collects all the previously mentioned points and ventures a prognosis for the future.

Appropriate literature used to work on this Master-Thesis is present. A corresponding list of references can be found in section IV: Bibliography.

The author chose the above topic, as it is becoming increasingly difficult in the future, to find, identify and motivate good employees, to keep them in one’s own company. The demand for high potentials is unimaginably high. In the end, it is in the interest of the company itself, not to lose the high potentials.

Therefore there is always the same principle: “Companies are only as good as their employees”.^[3] So it should be a prioritized ambition for every company, to employ and retain the best of the high potentials.

I. LIST OF FIGURES

1 Gallup Engagement Index

2 360 degree feedback

3 Pyramid of needs

4 Two factor theory

5 Employer brand experience

6 Sick days on the basis of burnout

7 Reasons for absenteeism of employees

8 Development from demotivation to motivation

9 Opportunities for advancement are most important

10 Cycle of professional training

11 Cycle X and cycle Y

12 Recognition and appreciation

13 Performance oriented payment

14 Work life balance index of OECD

15 Measures to improve the internal communication

16 How to create a credible corporate communication

17 Graphical definition of high potential

18 Cycle of continuous improvement process

II. LIST OF TABLES

1 Ability profiles

2 Processes and stages of an appraisal interview

3 Big five personality traits

4 Process of management by objectives

5 Ranking: DAX companies compared – burnout

6 Reasons for retention of employees

7 Questionnaire for an exit interview

8 Development and action planning, case study II

1 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays the shareholder value is more important than the employee. But many studies show it again and again: The critical success factor for very good and successful companies is, to find, identify, develop and keep the high potential employees.^[4]

A further fact is that misacts are very expensive for the company. However, companies, which recruit the most talented, the best and the most qualified employees will profit in every way. A very special gain is these people for the costumers. Long-term employees are usually employees, who are able to bind customers in a particularly way. The reason is very easy, but interesting: Companies have an image of humanity that also deemed to employees as to customers.^[5]

As the title suggests, the full recruiting of high potentials needs three steps:

- Recruitment of high potentials

To avoid spending money unnecessarily, it is important to recruit the right staff. Employees, who leave the company after a few days or months are very expensive. There are many several tools in order to find the suitable staff.

- Identification and developing of high potentials

Chapter 2 describes how to identify the high potentials. There is an easy method to split the employees to different groups, in order to identify the best staff. Actually not many companies use the ABC approach to identify the As, Bs and Cs.

Further it is important to develop all employees’ skills - if possible - especially the high potentials. There are also a lot of tools. The most effective methods are appraisal interviews and management by objectives.

- Keep the high potentials in the company

It is a special ability to bind especially the A-employees to the own company. It increases the value of a company tremendously, when they have long-term employees. We remember the words, which are also written in the abstract: “Companies are only as good as your employees.^[6] Currently, unfortunately most of the time only the big companies can manage this topic. Mostly they have an own development department, especially for this mission. In the future there will be almost no company without development department.^[7]

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC AND PROBLEM STATEMENT

It creates not only bad mood and stressed working atmosphere, if an employee adopts. It is also expensive for the company. The main reason for a mental notice is a deficient human resources management.^[8]

The increasing time and performance pressure,^[9] which is deplored by many employees and labor advocates, calls for maximum performance of staff and executives. Is it possible to call up this desired performance day by day?

There are 63 percent of staff, who have no real commitment to the company and 23 percent of staff, who are actively uncommitted.^[10] If we believe in these facts and figures, every fourth person has noticed internally. Annually the German economy pays about 122 billion Euros for the missing motivation of the employees.^[11] Employees without direct commitment to the company are frequently ill and spread their displeasure. Only 14 percent of the staff has a high commitment to their company. Therefore it is most important to identify and select this 15 percent. These are the employees who are responsible for the success of the company.

Accordingly there are three problems to be solved by the company:

- Find, indentify, develop and keep the 15 percent staff
- Try to improve the performance of the 63 percent staff
- Detach from the 23 percent staff

The following chapters show how to do this. Also there are two case studies to understand step by step how it works to identify, motivate and keep the intellectual property of high potentials in the own company.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 1: Gallup Engagement Index

Source: Own representation, in dependence on: Gallup, One in four employees has noticed internally, 2011

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE MASTER THESIS

The main objective of the Master-Thesis is to show how important it is to have an integral recruitment. In most companies the process of recruitment is only: Hire an employee and let him / her work. Of course - but there are not absorbed in the topic at all - everybody can imagine that this way of recruiting will end in a termination.

Therefore it is my personal objective to sensitize the employees and employer that there is more to this than just hire and fire. At the beginning it is important to select the right employee. Try to get him / her in the 15 percent group, the commitment group. Then it is really important to motivate the employee to keep him / her in the own company.

Imagine: There is an employee who has been working already 20 years in the same company. In order to work 20 years in the same company there must be very good motivation. But if the employee decides to change the job or the company - you will lose him / her. It is expensive for the employer. The company will not only lose a (A-) staff member, the company will also lose the intellectual property of the employee. Hereby the company will lose all the information which is not written down. This is the reason why it is so expensive to lose a (A-) staff member.

So it is an objective of this Master-Thesis to discuss identification and motivation of high potentials and how to keep their intellectual property in the company which is important to any interested managing director or human resources manager. I hope a lot of managers will read it, think about it and operate with the case studies in their own companies.

1.3 TOPIC DEMARCATION

The following Master-Thesis is about identification and motivation of high potentials to keep their intellectual property in the company.

As the title already indicates, the text is divided into three main chapters:

- Identification of high potentials

It is not the object of this Master-Thesis to work on direct recruitment threats. Starting point is that the company has already recruited their employees. At this point the author starts to show how important it is to know what kind of employees are working in his / her own company. Hereby it will show an easy method to arrange the employees in three groups. This arrangement will prove with some examples relating to behavior, personality traits and social skills. Concluding this chapter the author shows how important are these two special management tools: Appraisal interviews and management by objectives - for the employer as well as for the employee.

Further topics, like how to find the right recruitment strategy or how to handle a job interview are not topics of this Master-Thesis.

- Motivation of high potentials

Most studies want to show how the employer can motivate the employees. Nowadays everybody knows the things with which one you can motivate the employees - for example: short-term with money, or long-term with opportunity for advancement.

Therefore in this Master-Thesis the author thinks outside the box and shows even some facts which are basis for motivation. It is really important to understand how motivation works and under which preconditions.

In a case study the author gives a guidance how the employer can increase the motivation of high potentials.

It is not a topic of the Master-Thesis to select suitable motivation tools. Neither it is a topic of the Master Thesis to demonstrate the effects of motivation.

- Keep the intellectual property of high potentials in the company

The most important fact in this chapter is to show that it is very essential to keep the intellectual property in the own company. There is a lot of knowledge which is not explicitly written down. When the employee leaves the company, he / she also takes the intellectual property. In most cases it is very expensive for the company. Therefore it should be one of the most important tasks in each company to keep the high potentials in the own company - and also their intellectual property.

In this chapter the author does not write about terminations of employees which are not important for the company. Certainly in each company there are a lot of employees who only come to get their money at the end of the month. Sooner or later the company should break away from this kind of employees, but it is not a topic of this Master-Thesis.

The author declares the top 10 of retention instruments. Also some of these tools are motivational tools. In this chapter the author only uses retention instruments. The author summarizes this chapter with a case study about how to keep intellectual property in one’s own company. The case study should be used as guidance for all human resources mangers or managing directors in order to realize how important it is not to lose the A-staff.

The Master-Thesis does not show the effects of losing A-staff. In order to demonstrate how important it is to keep the high potentials in one’s own company, the losing A­staff topic will broach. But it is not a separate topic in this Master-Thesis.

2 IDENTIFICATION OF HIGH POTENTIALS

The introduction already suggests that the correct identification of high potentials is one of the most critical facts for the company’s success. According to a study of Gallup Business Consulting there are on average only 14 percent of high potentials in each company. This group is the A-staff. Further there are 63 percent followers. They work to rule. Most of them could also be A-staff member, but there is missing something. So the employer has to try to improve their work performance. Last but not least there are 23 percent of employees who have already terminated emotionally. Each employer has to detach from this C-staff. They harm the company.

Therefore it is critical to success to identify the A-staff, B-staff and C-staff in order to make right decisions as a managing director.

In order to classify the groups the author uses the ABC approach. Further tools in this chapter are the appraisal interview and management by objectives.

2.1 SYSTEMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF HIGH POTENTIALS

High potentials tend to rise up out of the crowd and achieve stellar results relative to their peers. But to identify them formally, managers must generally communicate, utilize multiple methods of assessment and compare the results with known criteria that are associated with a specific leadership level. The results of these assessments provide guidelines for training and mentoring a high potential to take on greater leadership responsibilities and build strengths. In a further chapter the author shows that there is an easier method to define the high potentials of a company, the ABC approach. Certainly the most managers use the old standard tools, but nowadays there are instruments which are faster, easier, cheaper and more effective.

Employees who are part of high potential development programs often find themselves under continuous scrutiny.^[12] These aspiring leaders face one of the most challenging stages of their professional life as they try to understand their environment, set goals and prove their worth.

Therefore there are conflicting opinions over whether it’s beneficial to inform employees of their high-potential status. Informing employees is a powerful indication that the company values their contributions to the business and believes in them enough to invest in their future. This opinion is furthered by the suggestion of a greater risk that if not told the employee will resign and move on to an organization that will recognize and develop their talent.

The motivation for confidentiality of high potential status also is compelling. Companies risk creating a three class system: A-staff, B-staff and C-staff. The employer or manager creates divisive resentment throughout the company. Either way, high potential employees even tend to know their potential, whether they are officially told or not. Most organizations today are of the opinion that if the high potential is not told by them, someone else eventually will.^[13] This could be the way to lose an A-staff member. Therefore the actual research status says to be open with all employees in every sense.

2.1.1 ABC APPROACH TO EMPLOYEE CLASSIFICATION

For the assessment of customer value in marketing customers are often categorized as A- customer, B-customer and C-customer.^[14] The largest revenue and profit will realize with the A-customers. The B-costumers usually form the majority and are regular loyal customers with an average revenue and profit. C-customers are often customers with small or micro transactions, a lower company binding and staff attrition rate.

a. Tenability of ABC approach

Basically, the ABC approach raises the question if the method is ethically permitted.^[15] Can and is it allowed to classify employees like customers - maybe this is the question on which critics can get a word in edgewise.

But why not - with such a tool companies pay not the patter merchant but the high potential. It is a fact that high potentials are the people, who are responsible for the success of the company. Employees, who are identified as C-staff are counted as losers, because they damage the company.

The ABC approach should not be used as a tool for rating the human himself, but it should be used as a tool for rating the performance of each employee. This is indeed a big difference.

A further critical point is that the team building is just a task of the manager. The manager decides by himself which employee should be in which group. There could be some facts why an employee is certainly a B-staff member or C-staff member. For example, the employee has not yet the right qualification to do the job or the performance is not yet good enough to be an A-staff member. There could be also a lot of soft facts, like being worried about the job, psychotic topics or personal difficulties. Of course, there are many more facts why employees are not yet in the A-staff category. In this case, the crucial fact is that a good and socially competent manager will search for the reason why exactly this employee is a B-staff member or C-staff member. The managers have to seek the dialogue to the employee, help to eliminate problems and try to increase the performance of the employee’s work, provided the employee is willing to do this.

b. Difference between cannot and do not

According to the last sentence in the previous section, it is really important for the manager to find out if the employee is unwilling to rise up to a higher group or if the employee has not the ability to rise up to a higher group. The latter can be changed.

Employees who are not able to deliver the expected performance should get some help or easier tasks. Employees who are unwilling to work are often conscientious objectors. In this case the manager should break away from the relevant employee.

At this point it should be mentioned again, that the ABC approach is not a list of naming and shaming. It is only a management tool to identify the A-staff, B-staff and C-staff. Therefore it is not appropriate to post a list with the groups and names on the bulletin board.

c. Criteria of the ABC approach

In an economic study Prof. Dr. Rolf Wunderer found out, that there is following classification:^[16]

14 percent co-entrepreneur: They are entrepreneurial qualified and motivated.

31 percent follower: They are entrepreneurially motivated, but not yet qualified enough.

39 percent routine workers: They do their work to rule, earn their money, but they not do more than required.

16 percent internally termination: They damage the company and do not contribute to value creation.

In this Master-Thesis the author refers to an ABC classification. Criteria to get an excellent classification could be hard facts and soft facts.

- Hard facts: Knowledge, individual skills, experience, qualifications, core competences, etc.

- Soft facts: Personality, character, working morale, social skills, personality traits, etc.

These are some facts which can be used to classify the A-staff, B-staff and C-staff.

Certainly there is the rule: 20 - 70 - 10.^[17] The top 20 percent of employees are rewarded with bonuses encourage the middle 70 percent, fire the poorest 10 percent. An extreme form of performance evaluation, but the principle is correct.

Leaders must ensure that their team pulls together. And they need to reward performance, as consistently as they have to punish the opposite. Because one lazy person could be enough to demoralize the whole team.^[18] One of the latest studies about this statement comes from the psychologist Benjamin Walker, Australian School of Business. He had 158 students in 33 teams to solve various tasks. Result - even it was only one dissenter, who destroyed the discipline of the other members. At first worsened the performance, then the mood. Even if the remaining team members are highly motivated, the loafer had not be compensated. Manager should primarily consider following three characters:^[19]

- Freeloaders: They always submerge in group projects.
- Permanent whiners: They always badmouth the group projects.
- Intriguers: They always denouncing other group members.

Even if it is uncomfortable: Leadership means just to punish repeated misconduct.

In this context Jack Welch makes the statement that a C-staff member is too expensive for any company even he / she works free of charge.

Also, the author backs the prejudice that A-staff always are managers, B-staff always are operators and C-staff always are assistants. You can find an A-staff member in each position in the company. A simple example for understanding: A manager, who is convinced by appearance and eloquence in the first impression, can also be only a B- staff member or C-staff member, when he / she does not react to others’ ideas and the interests of the company are not as important as the own career or any salary increases.

On the other hand there could be a call center member, who always enthuses the costumers with affability and service knowhow. This call center member is able to win angry customers back. He / she is a figurehead for any company. Essentially the call center member - even he / she is not a manager - can be more important for a company than an executive.

Certainly there are many companies with just a few A-staff members. These companies try to get rid of the best employees. Often the managing director thinks that A-staff is most expensive, career oriented and claim too much leadership. Often they say B-staff is more important. B-staff do their work, shut up and are more easy-care. But when you think about the top lines, you will arrive at the decision that average companies want average employees and average employees treat their customer just averagely. This is one of the reasons why it is most important to keep the A-staff in one’s company.

In order to find the high potentials of the company the managing director has to answer the following questions:^[20]

- Which employees are valuable for the company?
- Which core competences are required for which position in the company?
- Which requirements are critical to success of the company?
- Who is right for the team and for the managers?
- Which social skills and which expertise are important?

d. A-staff

A-staff members are the top employees of the company. They have above average willingness to perform and a high identification with the company and its products or services. They have an above average commitment, they are action oriented and interested in their advancement. Their motivation is not only monetary, but also satisfaction in the work. It is also these people who are responsible for the working climate and they are always there if you need them.

A-staff members are the most important employees for every company, even in many cases indispensable if the loss of an A-staff member damages the company. Basically every employee is replaceable. But the intellectual property of the high potential is lost. In order to keep them in the company, there must be special plans and targets. The author writes about these facts in chapter four.

High potentials often have a high and pronounced motivation. A distinction is drawn between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from inside, extrinsic motivation depends on external factors and incentives. This is further explained in chapter three. A-staff employees have a very pronounced intrinsic motivation. They have a special inside drive, because they are enjoying their work.

There is a further classification inside the A-staff group, made by Jim Collins:^[21]

- Business leader: Personal modesty, professional assertiveness to sustainable excellence and strong entrepreneurial
- Effective manager: Engagement, successful implementation of a clear and compelling vision, stimulating higher performance standards and action and results oriented
- Competent manager: Organizing people and resources for the effective and efficient implementation of specific targets, successful planning and organizing, encourage employees to performance
- Team member: individual ability, effective team member, strong team player and enthusiasm for new project targets
- Talented employee: productive contributions, good work ethic and takes more satisfaction in execution than in leadership

In order to identify which A-staff member corresponds which group, you can create an assessment form with all the above points. Following that you assess the criteria with high gear, average or little discernible.

e. B-staff

Members of the B-staff provide robust and reliable performance. This kind of work corresponds with the specification and it is expected from them. Even they have social skills, which do not cause problems. You cannot find particular enthusiasm assets, boisterous standing up for new ideas or own training proposals, as with the A-staff members. B-staff build the core of each company. They are usually 60-70 percent of the employees.

Since the B-staff is the middle class of the company you have to distinguish:^[22]

- B+ advancement potential

Some examples to identify a B+ member could be: An employee shows eligible talents in a project, an employee shows a rising performance curve, targets are exceeded, positive feedback of customers and suppliers, etc.

For good and all stamp B-staff as average staff is not the right way. You always can find B-employees with the potential to become an A-staff member. Often there are just private or situational reasons which prevent them. The reasons could be varied. It is the business of the line manager to find out if it is possible for the employee to advance or relegate.

- B- relegation potential

Managers should give B-employees prospects in order to prove themselves. Regular talks, exact target agreements and inclusion in promotional programs are some tools to advance even the B- employees. Some examples to identify B- employees as willing to rise up are: Active and increasing interest in further education, increasing initiative, submitting proposals, active participation in meetings, etc.

Generally there are also B-staff members who want neither to become an A-staff member nor become a C-staff member. Furthermore they are the group who just work to rule - no more and no less. Often in this group there are also employees who have set their targets in life and priorities in another way.

f. C-staff

This group of employees is also called as Low performer or nine-to-five jobber. Characteristic for this group are low motivation, work is rather annoying rather than a challenge. The only reason to work is to get money in order to support their livelihood. Vacation plans or overtime payments are even more important than work.

The proportion of C-staff should not be more than 10 percent in each company, but often it is a lot more.

Generally the manager has to think about the application range of the C-employee. Often they are used incorrectly. The manager has to maintain the dialogue - maybe it is possible to use the employee otherwise. Following tools can be used to a judgment: talent oriented trainings or conveyor measures, job rotation or job enrichment, inclusion in project groups, new tasks, etc.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Table 1: Ability profiles

Source: Own representation, in dependence on: IHK Potsdam, ABC analysis of employees

2.1.2 EXAMPLES OF BEHAVIOR, PERSONALITY TRAITS AND SOCIAL SKILLS OF DIFFERENT EMPLOYEE GROUPS

Specific behaviors often illustrate and characterize the differences of performance better than old profiles or assessment models.^[23] Following the author shows some occurring daily behaviors of A-staff, B-staff and C-staff.

a. A-staff

- Welcomes new suggestions and ideas, stands behind it and know how to implement
- Visits disgruntled customers personally - even after work - and try to satisfy the customers and win his confidence with specific measures
- Prepares for meetings, asks interesting questions and are interested in the impact of the work
- Wants to learn more about objectives and impacts of the operation, are interested in developing and improving the talents and potentials and wants to work practically
- Interprets criticism as a learning opportunity and improves the performance in practice
- Knows that excellence is only possible in a committed team andgss as a team effort
- Accepts mistakes and failures, tries to find out the reason for failure and tries to make it better next times, does not call the others to account - rather oneself

b. B-staff

- Says often why new suggestions and ideas are not feasible and always finds reasons against them
- Apologizes for failures to the costumer and talks to costumers well
- Considers meetings as a required course, takes note only a minimum to do the work
- Perceives trainings as strenuous, doubts about positive impacts, the motivation is average but generally could increase
- Perceives criticism as rebuke and unwarranted, can be easily discouraged
- Appreciates a good team climate, provides average contributions, fun comes first
- commitment to objectives comes last
- Investigates failures in the team, from managers or the company, submits reasons why something can / does not work

c. C-staff

- Seldom pipes up relating to new suggestions and ideas, always wishes that it is closing time
- Are not particularly interested whether a customer is lost - calls it pitch and fate, Are again Mondays at leisure or weekend plans
- Perceives meetings as annoying, fears about more work and more responsibility, never asks questions
- Perceives learning and trainings as unnecessary, considers learning efforts as compulsory exercises and special efforts
- Accepts criticism passively, quickly feels personally offended, feels like victims
- guilty are the others always
- Behaves negatively in teams and is at distance, Esteems A-staff and B-staff as careerist, who only live for profession and work
- In retrospect they always have predicted failures, likes to take these as an opportunity for passive behavior and poor working morale

2.2 IMPORTANCE OF APPRAISAL INTERVIEWS

The appraisal interview should inform the employee specifically how the manager assesses the employees’ professionalism, personality and performance - strengths as well as weaknesses. Even there is also the possibility for the employee to evaluate the manager, the company and the own field of activities.^[24]

The appraisal interview is one of the most important tools of leadership and advancement. It is notable for a modern and employee oriented performance management. Even it is an excellent instrument to find out the high potentials as well as keep and motivate the A-staff in the company.

A good interview includes the holistic observation, registration, analysis and appraisal of the performance and potentials of employees in order to achieve the targets.^[25]

It is a function of the appraisal interview to go about delicate and personal problems and to deal with the relationship. After the interview the manager should summarize the conversation and seek feedback from the employee, whether the central issues were specifically understood and interpreted. An appraisal interview can also induce management by objectives - read more about this topic in chapter four - or training measures. At any rate there should be a protocol of each interview and a catalog of measures that the interview gets a mandatory character.

a. Function of a appraisal interview

A holistic hold appraisal interview also includes further aspects to achieve an efficient and targeted cooperation. These aspects could be:^[26]

- Establishment
- Confirmation and recognition
- Criticism and relationship improvement
- Clarification of ambiguities
- Agreement of targeted advancement (read more about management by objectives in chapter 2.3)

b. Processes and stages of an appraisal interview

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Table 2: Processes and stages of an appraisal interview

Source: Own representation, in dependence on: H. Janssen, Find, develop and keep the best employees, 2012, page 47

c. Various forms of assessment

- Self-assessments^[27]

Self-assessments should help the employees to find the ideal work environment, explore their interests, discover themselves, know their opinion and make a good decision.

The self-assessment is a structured but informal way of getting to know what you really want, what options are available and how to make the best decision for your career.

- Appraisal interview

Talks between employee and manager happen on an almost daily basis. The appraisal interview however offers the opportunity to systematically discuss especially the following content:

i. Discuss work and performance - tasks, work conditions and cooperation
ii. Resolve problems and misunderstandings
iii. Mutually voice acknowledgement and criticism in a factual matter
iv. Agree on measures to boost development and further education
v. Mutually agree on long term targets and focus points

- Big five personality traits^[28]

Just like all the other personality tests, the big five was established in order to help in identifying just who you are psychologically in the belief that you cannot change who you are and better still, you can only deliver best if you choose a career that augurs well with your personality traits. As the experts

scrutinize the big five personality test, they agree that it is not only universal but that it is also biological.

Norman Warren, a psychologist, formulated this test back in 1963. It has continued to gain momentum and today, many experts and employers agree that it is the best test that brings out the true personality of a person. The five dimensions that this test tends to place an individual’s personality are:

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Table 3: Big five personality traits

Source: Own representation, in dependence on: N. Warren, The big five personality test

- 360 degrees feedback

“Horses have always understood a great deal more than they let on.”^[29]

This kind of assessment is very interesting, because it includes both objective assessments and subjective perceptions of the entire work environment.

[...]

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^[1] Harvard Business Manager, Persuading properly, December 22, 2011

^[2] Gallup Study, Gallup Engagement Index, 2011

^[3] Technical university Cottbus, Our claim

^[4] H. Janssen, Recruit, develop and keep the best employees, 2011, page 8

^[5] T. Tomczak, J. Kernstock, F.-R. Esch, An. Herrmann, Behavioral branding, 2012, page 348

^[6] Technical university Cottbus, Our claim

^[7] PricewaterhouseCoopers, The future of work in 2020, May 2010

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