The other day, I was watching the movie, Big. Now, generally, I find Big to be a very amusing movie; however, there is one short scene that always bugs me. When Josh arrives at work on this first day, he is lead to his desk in the cubical farm and immediately starts plugging away. Even at 12 years of age, he is able to complete his work at a fast pace. The part that bothers me every time I watch the movie is when his cubical neighbor tells him to slow down, “pace yourself,” so as not to make the others look bad.
The scene bothers me on several accounts. The cubical neighbor is aware that he is not working at optimal speed. There are several possible factors at work here. The neighbor may simply be lazy and not want to work too hard. Work completion and efficiency just leads to the piling on of more work (the concept that no good deed goes unpunished)! He may also feel that, as long as there always appears to be more work to do, his employment is secure. The cubical neighbor influences, or at least attempts to influence, Josh to slow down, and it is unclear how many other co-workers are purposefully working at a sub-optimum pace.
If the goal is to find out how much work there is to do and how many people it takes to do it, fear that managers will “take advantage” of people who work efficiently or uneasiness about job security are barriers to accurate results.
This is a performance management nightmare!
Even if we were to accept that the majority of employees are working with reasonable efficiency, those who intentionally work at a sub-optimum level may make it difficult to manage performance. If accurate performance measurement is important (which, for the sake of this blog, is something that I am willing to assume), it got me wondering about what strategies management may use to encourage employees to perform efficiently, and, importantly, how we, as program evaluators, may contribute.
One way that program evaluators may contribute is through measurement of the work environment. Through an anonymous internal, employee environment assessment, management may gain insight into the employees’ perceptions and motivations. For example, employees may be asked to respond agree or disagree to statements about their individual beliefs, attitudes and practices as well as those of the organizations. Management may use that information to address beliefs and behaviors that run contrary to organizational performance for the betterment of both the individual and organizational efficiency and morale.
Program evaluators may work with management to identify and use data to create and use dashboards to identify efficient employees within the organization, with the caveat that, in making the comparisons, it is important to compare the performance of individuals in similar working environments. Public dashboard comparisons of performance in situations that employees believe to be dissimilar or unjustified may be demotivating and have the result of decreased performance, while accurate comparisons may lead to effective competition.
When watching Big, I wonder about not only what Josh would have been thinking (had he been a real person) but also what the script writers were thinking. I see the scene as a commentary on organizational performance and wonder if a program evaluator could have helped that toy manufacturer to identify the reasons for sub-optimum performance and to address morale in the cubical farm.
Please react by commenting on this blog. Have you encountered any of the sub-optimal behaviors identified above? How were they identified? How were they addressed? How does your organization handle performance management?
And, by the way, I hope that I will be seeing many of you at the upcoming 7th Annual Summit on Program Evaluation in Vocational Rehabilitation, September 8-9, in Louisville.
NOTE: I am sure that some of you may have noticed that it has been a substantial amount of time since my last blog. I have been extremely busy in my office. I have also done a bit of personal traveling. I will endeavor to blog more often; however, if you are interested in submitting a guest blog, please contact me at HarrietAnn.Litwin@state.de.us.
