Using Social Networking for Performance Reviews
Introduction
Managers within any company are called upon to complete many tasks. One of their many tasks is to evaluate their subordinates work performance. Evaluating an employee’s work is critical to the company, department, and division. As a manager time has to be set aside for an employee’s performance review so that the manager can inform that employee of their performance over a specific time frame. If completed right, performance reviews will be a great tool to measure the effectiveness of all employees within any organization.
Agree or disagree with this statement and provide reasons for your response. “If you have regular conversations with people, and they know where they stand, then the performance evaluation is maybe unnecessary.”
Performance evaluations or performance appraisals are the process that assesses an employee’s job performance and productivity according to certain pre-established criteria and organizational objectives (Bacal, 2004). Some reasons for performance evaluations are performance improvement, promotions, terminations, and more (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2011). Most performance evaluations are conducted annually but they can be conducted sooner if need be. Performance appraisals when conducted must be conducted correctly because there can be legal ramifications in not done right. To hold a regular conversation with people will never take the place of a performance evaluation even if they know where they stand. Performance evaluations should be conducted for every employee within any organization. Sitting down and informing an employee of their performance will help that employee with their development in the company. Performance evaluations are crucial to a company because it is documentation for that company and the employee. That documentation can be used to promote that employee who in turn raises their salary or wage. It can also be grounds for termination of that employee. Casual conversations can be forgotten over a period of time but performance appraisals last even after an employee part ways with the company. If an employee is not able to conform to company policies and procedures a performance evaluation would help that employee understand what is expected of them so that there would be no misunderstanding.
Compare and contrast the possible effectiveness of the social network performance review to the following age groups: veterans, baby boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y.
Social network performance review is a company that uses Facebook, or Twitter, or any other social network site to conduct performance reviews (McGregor, 2009). There is currently software that allows people to post Twitter length questions and then they will receive anonymous feedback. Using social network performance reviews allows for a more real-time feedback (McGregor, 2009). This type of performance review is intended to get the employees within an organization motivated because they are interacting with their performance review.
The generation of veterans is people that were born prior to 1946. This generation of people prefers to communicate by having face-to-face meetings, formal typed or handwritten letters (Bacal, 2004). Veterans typically run into problems using social networking as a form of communicating (Bacal, 2004). So for social network performance reviews it would be least effective for this generation of people. Baby boomers are people that were born between the years of 1946-1964. This generation of people prefers to communicate via telephone, face-to-face, fax, email, but they also have problems communicating via social networking (Bacal, 2004). So just as with veterans, social network performance reviews would be ineffective with baby boomers.
Generation X is those people that were born between the years of 1965-1978. This generation of people prefers to communicate via texting, blogging, instant messaging, and online forums (Bacal, 2004). Generation X has some obstacles with communicating via social networks but not much. Generation Y is those people that were born between the years of 1979-1997. This generation of people enjoys communicating via social networking (Bacal, 2004). Using social network performance review would be effective for Generation X and Y.
Veterans and baby boomers are two generations that enjoys communicating face-to-face with people. Generation X and Y enjoy communicating using social networks, instant messaging, and texting. Social network performance review would work for Generation X any Y but not the veterans or baby boomers. A company that decides to utilize social networks to conduct performance reviews or assist with performance reviews has to think about their entire workforce. If it would only be beneficial to some and not all that organization would have to think about using social networking for their performance reviews.
“The biggest payoff of these social network style tools may prove to be better performance by the boss.” State whether or not the statement justifies the time and cost of implementing these systems and provide a rationale. The statement does not justify the time and cost of implementing these systems. For a boss to use social network performance reviews, it need to allow the boss to deliver all their workers performance review with no problem. As stated in the last question the veteran generation and the baby boomers generation do not communicate well via social networking. So the time that a boss puts into implementing this system does not reap the benefits in the end. The cost to implement this system is not expensive. The cost of a basic plan is no cost, the cost for the premium plan is $5.00 per month, and the price for the phenomenal plan is $9.00 per month (Rypple.com, 2012). The cost to implement this system is not expensive but the time that the boss would have to spend on the system does not allow for that boss to effectively deliver that performance review to their entire workforce.
Discuss whether social network type evaluations aid or hinder the overworked American. Justify your response. Forecasting is attempting to determine the human resources areas within the organization where there will be labor shortages or labor surpluses (Noe et al., 2011). Forecasting for Apple provides several benefits to them. One benefit that forecasting provides to Apple is that it allows them to forecast for specific job categories or skill areas. This benefit will allow Apple to see whether the need for people with the necessary skills and experience will incline or decline. Another benefit of forecasting for Apple is using statistical data they can trend of their competitors, measure the economy, and trends in the composition of the workforce. This benefit will allow Apple to use data from the previous year of their competitors, the economy, and the workforce so that they can forecast for the next year in regards to labor. Forecasting can help Apple overall with keeping their workforce at an even keel because if they are producing a lot of items then they will need more people to design and make those items. On the other hand if they incur a year were sales or low then maybe they might decide to decrease their labor force.
State why you agree or disagree that this is a necessary first step in all HR resources planning. Forecasting is a critical step in all HR resources planning. This step needs to be the first step in HR resources planning because it allows a company to utilize statistical information or judgment to make an efficient decision on how they are going to staff their company. A company that is overstaffed will soon have to decide how they are going to downsize because a company with too many employees and not enough work will lose money. Then, if a company is understaffed and can not keep up with customer demands then that company will lose sales. Forecasting can help to eliminate that problem. Forecasting predicts where there will be labor shortages or surpluses. After, a company predicts where those areas are they can either hire more people where there is a shortage or move some employees around if there is a surplus.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Apple Incorporated is a company that has seen recent success with the innovation of many new electronic devices. That success that they have enjoyed in part comes from them hiring the right personnel that fit their company’s culture. Getting that right person to fill that job vacancy is a human resource function. For Apple to continue to enjoy their market share in their industry, acquiring the right employee and keeping then will play a vital role.

References
Linzmayer, O. W. (2004). Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company. (2nd ed.). San Fransico, CA/USA: No Starch Press.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2011). Fundamentals Of Human Resource Managmenet. (4th ed.). Boston, MA/USA: McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions.
O'Grady, J. D. (2008). Apple Inc. (Corporations That Changed the World). New York, NY/USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated. Retrieved from http://www.abc-clio.com/product.aspx?id=54823