Career Development Plan Part III Frank A. Cruz University of Phoenix Performance appraisals can be an important tool for both management as well as the employee, although I find that performance appraisals can be subjective. This is not to say that appraisals are not of importance if you are going to reward employees on their merit or performance. However, this can be a slippery slope when linking an employee’s pay with a performance appraisal. However, doing this can cause conflict between improving performance and deciding on increases. The goal of employee and managers improving performance should be working together, in effect, working on the same team to solve problems. When managers use appraisals to determine pay typically the dynamic changes, the employee and manager are not on the same team. The employee tends to feel that they deserve a larger pay increase while management typically does not since funds are typically limited. Again the employees will focus on his or her strong points rather than focusing on the areas that need improvement. When money is put on the table typically people are quicker to be more firm and stubborn pointing out the intensity of their performance on the appraisal results. This only makes sense when an employee reviews the results of an appraisal since it is tied to his or her pay. That being said, performance appraisals will be done every month during the transition. After a year, performance appraisals will go to every six months. The manager conducting the appraisal will practice listening to the sales staff. Statistics show that listening can be a valuable tool but at the same time offering help in areas that need improvement. Praise should be shown for areas of improvement and areas the employee to have mastered. The employee will start off filling out a performance appraisal for himself. Performance appraisals will