Page 259 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

ular employee is trying hard enough or is even the “right fit” for the position. It is about an
entire workplace system and to what extent that system supports employees in producing
their most excellent work.
Before we delve further into characteristics of effective managers, let’s look more
closely at a couple of terms we’ve been using throughout the book. First is attribution error,
which, as the term implies, occurs when the wrong source is blamed for the error. Say, for
example, you order soup, and when the soup arrives, it is cold. You blame the chef, think-
ing that he didn’t cook it long enough; however, the real reason is that the delivery person’s
bike got a flat tire and he took too long to get the soup to you.
The second term is rater-bias. Rater-bias happens when, for example, the son-in-law
mentioned earlier is given all excellent scores on his performance evaluation despite chronic
problems with competence, behavior, and interpersonal difficulties. Other employees who
are more competent, don’t harass others, and don’t have problematic interpersonal skills are
given lower ratings because they don’t have a favorable relationship with the boss.
Other terms that frequently show up in HR/OD training programs are Theory X and
Theory Y management styles. First defined by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloane School
of Management in the 1960s, Theory X easily blames the employee for his or her job per-
formance without looking at any other factors or even considering that there is a workplace
system that is contributing to employee performance. This method of job performance
assessment is very old-fashioned and easily misses a great deal of important information.
This style also frequently makes attribution errors or engages in rater-bias. Theory Y, on
the other hand, recognizes that employees are self-motivated, achieve pleasure from their
work duties, and can attain a level of self-control. They innately possess problem-solving
abilities, but the organization must know how to tap into these abilities. They also possess
the desire to perform quality work. See the HR Tools entitled “Checklist of Characteristics
of Great Managers” and “Checklist of Conditions in a Workplace System That Support
Excellent Employee Job Performance,” on pages 245–246, for some ideas on what a great
management style involves.
There are times when despite all of the items listed in the HR Tools section being in
place, an employee has difficulty performing well. In this case, managers and HR will need
to document the steps taken to assist the employee in improving. When this occurs, it’s
important to guide managers and supervisors through an assessment process that ensures
that negative or positive rater-bias, attribution error, personal conflicts of interest, unexam-
ined unlawful discrimination, or misinformation are not interfering in any way with a fair,
sound, rational, nondiscriminatory, error-free and bias-free performance evaluation process.
This is not always easy, as not all managers or corporate leaders are open to what they see
as an unnecessary training and/or an easy process. Credible activists understand the impor-
tance of doing their best to convince their leadership of the necessity of such training and
processes. See the HR Tool entitled “Sample Performance Management Procedures: Your
Map for Coaching and Discipline,” on pages 247–248.
Before you convince leadership of the importance of sound managerial assessment
skills, you must convince them of the importance of sound managerial communication, del-
egating, and directing skills. The HR Tool entitled “Sample Training on Delegating, Directing
Effectively, and NVC Problem Solving,” on pages 248–250, shows a training outline to help

242 The H R Toolkit