Managing, Evaluating and Terminating Underperforming Employees - Assignment Example

Module Management Case Study Does the think it is better to "fix" an employee or "fire" them and why? (Cite page numbers from the book for your answers) According to Shaer it is better to fire an under-performing employee than to fix them. The reality is that trying to ‘fix’ an under-performing employee is a task that will take up inadequate resources as well as time. In addition, trying to fix an under-performing employee could have detrimental effects on the rest of the workers as well as the company’s performance (Shaer 48). There are different reasons why employees consistently perform below expectations. In the first place, they may be unhappy with their current company, but do not have the guts to leave (Shaer 47). There is also the possibility that the individual in question may be incapable of performing his or her responsibilities for one reason or another (Shaer 45). In such a case, the manager has to fire the incompetent employee because he or she refuses to take advantage of existing opportunities to increase his efforts on the job. When an employee chooses inaction, he or she makes a conscious choice to refuse to work (Shaer 44). He or she then has to be held responsible for this choice; and not the company. Another reason why it is easier to fire an incompetent employee than fix one is because it is both expensive for the company, and difficult to change long –held negative habits. Some individuals simply do not understand the importance of being responsible because they were coddled their whole lives (Shaer 48). Changing their personal habits, in such a case, would need much more than ordinary counseling- it would require deeper therapy. 2) What are some of the key things that a performance plan needs to have to be effective? Explain. (Cite page numbers for your answers) To be effective, a performance plan has to identify the main criteria required to attain job success, while also having clear benchmarks that managers can use to perform evaluations of employee performance (Shaer 41). 3) What are 3 ways underperforming employees rationalize their performance? Explain. (Cite page numbers for your answers) Under-performing employees may rationalize their performance by claiming dissatisfaction with their current positions (Shaer 47). This causes them to act out like a spoiled child who ruins something, or tips something over in order to demonstrate his or her frustration. Under-performing employees may also have a secret desire to collect unemployment insurance; and so will set about sabotaging his or her own performance in order to be fired (Shaer 48). Another way in which under-performing employees seek to rationalize their performance is by coping inaction by refusing to take the advice that is offered to them about the best way to improve their performance (Shaer 48). Those who do this who do this are usually people who have never had any real demands made of their time or intellect. They may be coddled people who have not had to exert themselves in any way, in their pasts, in order to make a living. For such individuals, it is only a rough experience that will jolt them emotionally to make the necessary changes in their lives. 4) What are the general lessons that Steve Shaer wants you to understand about how to deal with under-performing employees? Steve Shaer basically speaks to the reader about the necessity of firing under performers in order to improve the company. Even though he speaks of the importance of trying to fix them, it is obvious that he considers that firing under performers to be a more important and necessary act than fixing them. To persuade reluctant managers about the necessity of firing under-performers, Steve Shaer gives stirring reasons why under-performing workers do not mend their ways even when they are notified of it. For example, he speaks of the worker who acts out in the same manner as a spoiled child, even though he is a grown adult (Shaer 48). He also alludes to the childish mannerisms of an individual who refuses to make the necessary changes to his or her performance in spite of repeated warnings from management. He also seeks to inform managers about how best to fire under performers without succumbing to counter measures staged by the under-performing employee such as the use of guilt, or the decision to go to more senior management in order to make an appeal. It is a fact that embittered under performers often blame their supervisors or managers for their own lack of discipline when faced with the prospect of being dismissed. Steve Shaer provides instructions for managers on how to secure company property and comport themselves when going to fire an employee in order to make the process as quick, and efficient as possible. Steve Shaer also wants managers to recognize that they are susceptible to their own guilt when handling cases where they have to fire employees. This is why it is so important for them to have a prior plan that allows them to proceed smoothly. Managers also have to deal with their own sense of failure at the thought that they were not able to effectively influence the employee in such a way that his character was transformed. 5) How can you apply the lessons from this book to your own performance as an employee? What lessons can you take from this book that will help you perform at your job so that you do not need to be "Fixed" nor "Fired"? From Steve Shaer’s book, an employee can easily learn that it is the rare employer that fires an employee without having taken multiple factors into consideration. For one, employers do not wish to fire employees simply because doing so costs the company money. After firing employees, a company has to invest in yet another search for skilled workers, and then train them in their various responsibilities. Companies would wish to avoid such expenses by simply having workers who are ready to do whatever it takes to improve their performance. Employees can also learn to take any warnings or instructions they receive from their supervisors seriously. For some employees, this is not an easy thing to do if they are not accustomed to being disciplined in their performance of important duties. Moreover, the book motivates even the most reluctant slovenly worker to, at least, make some effort to improve his or her workplace performance if only to avoid the prospect of being unemployed. Work Cited Shaer Steven. Fix Them or Fire Them: Managing, Evaluating and Terminating Underperforming Employees. New York: Challenger Books, 2013. Print. Read More