NURS 6221: MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES – Discussion 6

NURS 6221 Discussion 6: Performance Standards and Appraisals

Discussion: Performance Standards and Appraisals

Performance appraisals should be timely, thoughtful, consistent, thorough, and free from bias. How can performance appraisal systems be structured to facilitate this type of environment? Effective performance standards and appraisals can promote an open and continuous relationship among the nurse manager, HR professionals, and employees. How might you, as a nurse manager, use performance appraisals and other performance management strategies, such as positive discipline, in your leadership approach?

In this Discussion, you reflect on questions that commonly arise when assessing performance appraisal processes.

Performance Standards:

• Who creates performance standards, and how are they communicated to employees?
• Are performance standards consistent with quality standards commonly used in the nursing profession?
• Do performance standards align with legal and ethical nursing practice?

Performance Appraisals:

• How is employee performance (i.e., behaviors, attitudes, abilities, and skills) documented?
• What measures, if any, protect employees from subjectivity?
• Are employees asked to engage in any form of self-evaluation?
• Do colleagues participate in peer evaluations such as 360-degree appraisals?
• Does the performance appraisal process encourage employee development?
• Aside from the written performance measures, what aspects contribute to success or failure in achieving performance improvement?

To prepare FOR Performance Standards and Appraisals

Review this week’s media, “Performance Management,” and consider the best practices highlighted by this week’s presenters.

• Reflect on the performance standards and appraisal systems used in your current organization or one with which you are familiar. With the above questions in mind, identify this organization’s strengths and areas for improvement.
• Drawing from ideas presented in this week’s Learning Resources, think of specific ways you might improve your organization’s use of performance standards and/or the performance appraisal process.
• Review the article, “Positive Discipline Reaps Retention.” As a nurse manager, how might you incorporate positive discipline into your performance management approach? What effect–good, bad, or indifferent–do you think it would have on your nursing staff?

Post a description of the performance appraisal system used in your workplace, including how performance standards are created and communicated to employees. Describe the effectiveness of the performance appraisal system by sharing at least two strengths and two areas for improvement. Conclude your posting by explaining how you might incorporate positive discipline into your performance management approach and what impact you think it will have.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

• Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches:
• Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research.
• Share an insight from having read a colleague’s posting, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
• Expand on a colleague’s posting by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.

Required Readings FOR Performance Standards and Appraisals

Lussier, R. N., & Hendon, J. R. (2016). Human resource management: Functions, applications, & skill development (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Chapter 8, “Performance Management and Appraisal” (pp. 274–314)

This chapter introduces the performance appraisal process. The authors explain how to effectively carry out performance appraisals, the methods of assessment one can use, and who should be responsible for assessing employees.

Chapter 9, “Rights and Employee Development&rdquo (pp. 316–355)

Chapter 9 provides an overview of employee rights and privileges. It also explains the processes of developing or terminating an employee, providing counseling for problem employees, and effectively using discipline and termination.

Dupee, J. M., Ernst, N. P., & Caslin, K. E. (2011). Does multisource feedback influence performance appraisal satisfaction? Nursing Management, 42(3), 12–16.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

The article focuses on the effects of multisource feedback (MSF) in a nursing environment.

Murray, B. (2003). Positive discipline reaps retention. Nursing Management, 34(6), 19–22.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Positive discipline can transform communication and relationships between nurse managers and nursing staff. This article examines how nurse managers at a medical center in Boise, Idaho shifted their feedback process to an Alternative Correction Action model based on positive discipline philosophies.

Required Media FOR Performance Standards and Appraisals

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012). Performance management. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 32 minutes.

This week, the presenters discuss challenges of and best practices for performance management and appraisal

NURS 6221: MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES – Discussion 6 (Grading Rubic Attached and Media Attached)

“Performance Management” Program Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MODERATOR: Let’s talk about some of the structure to managing people, a bit about performance management, some of the dos and don’ts in counseling and in doing performance appraisals.

REBECCA F. CADY: Yes.

PAULET GREEN: You know, the thing that I find to be so interesting about performance appraisals is so many staff look at it as a negative experience.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right.

PAULET GREEN: And I think that the tone that is set in the performance appraisal is the very first thing. A performance appraisal is not supposed to be a one-time–

MODERATOR: Absolutely.

PAULET GREEN: –thing. It is supposed to be an ongoing process where staff are consistently receiving feedback on a regular basis. Documentation needs to occur. Anecdotal note-taking is so very important so that as situations occur, you have an opportunity to document. As a manager, I know that one of the things that I do is as I document,

I try to categorize based on performance issues, so if an issue is occurring, I would label it under attendance or under whether or not they’re competently fulfilling, so that when the time comes for an action to be taken, if it’s necessary to get there, the number of anecdotal notes that you’ve taken along the way actually now make a comprehensive picture related to a performance issue that then can be addressed as we move forth.

MODERATOR: Absolutely. And one key tip about documentation is I always recommend that the manager review their notes with the employee and everyone sign them, at least that they were reviewed. Far too often do I see some of those notes coming forward in a case and the employee is shocked. They’ve never seen them. This evaluation was never done. They never knew that the manager was recording some of these things or that it was an important aspect of their performance.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right. And in terms of legal ramifications of this process, obviously you don’t want someone to be surprised about what you’re telling them

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in a performance evaluation. And so I think your point about this is an ongoing process and it’s not a once-a-year thing, that’s so important. Because if you have someone who does feel surprised, well, then they’re more likely to take action if they feel like they’ve been wronged.

MODERATOR: Unfair!

REBECCA F. CADY: Right. And many times a person who’s suing will get into court or into a deposition situation and claim that they never saw various documents. And so I think that the suggestion to have the employee cosign the supervisor’s notes, especially when counseling is taking place, is very important, because the person cannot then go back and say, well, I wasn’t aware of this, I was blindsided, this wasn’t fair, I wasn’t given a chance to correct these issues. So I do think that’s an important piece of the puzzle.

MODERATOR: One very good tool to use is a record of conversation, just a one page. Label it that way. Doesn’t have to be disciplinary or negative. And just to take notes on it, and then both people just sign it and date it when they complete. What’s your commitment to this issue? How are we going to solve this behavior or solve this problem?

PAULET GREEN: Another emphasis that I like to make with performance appraisals is, as we talked about before, that it doesn’t have to be a negative process, because it really is growth oriented. It’s supposed to be focused on how we can identify your strengths, but also the areas of needed improvement and how we can help you to strategize in order to be a better performer. And one of the ways that we’ve done that is that we do self-evaluations.

We have the employee, when they enter the performance appraisal interview, so to speak, they have a copy of the same document that we would be using and submitting, and they do a self-evaluation. It’s really very interesting, because when we first started this process, we found that a lot of times previous managers just went through and did like fours and fives. Our scales are one through five, one needing the most improvement and five being a very good performance. Ofttimes, we found that the records we got weren’t necessarily reflective of the employee’s performance that we saw.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right.

PAULET GREEN: And so in doing the self-evaluation with the employee, plus our evaluation, it did two things. The first is that it created a discussion, because the employee had one perspective, sometimes we had a different perspective, and you have to talk about where that came from and how you justified the scores that you gave. As a manager, one of the things that I always made sure I did was to give specific examples.

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It was really important if I gave a four that I could justify why. And as we had those discussions, we oft found that employees, especially when you gave them specific examples, they were much more likely to say, OK, well, maybe I’m not a four, maybe I am a three. But then the other positive part of that is that we wouldn’t just leave it there. We could move on to start identifying what are some of the strategies that we could use to help move you to being a four or a five performer.

MODERATOR: I think the key to fair performance appraisals is to be consistent in applying similar forms and similar standards to similar jobs, and to be honest in your feedback, and to be job related. Avoid those judgmental or very general terms– she’s a nice person.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right.

MODERATOR: Or you’re seen as rude. You have to give examples, as you said, as to what are the behaviors that are job related that are problematic. Managers who spend very little time in performance management may do a very quick, superficial performance appraisal, typically do it a little higher than what’s true, and at the staff who don’t know what to improve.

PAULET GREEN: That’s the situation that we found. We had a staff member who there were some significant– she was probably, I would say, an average employee, but there were also some areas where there were some significant performance issues. But because she had always been given fives and fours, she did not see them. And it wasn’t until we did those self-evaluations, with our evaluations, had an opportunity to start having the discussion, she said, how come before I was getting my fours and fives and all of a sudden–

REBECCA F. CADY: Right. I haven’t changed what I’m doing and now you’re telling me I’m not so great as I thought I was.

PAULET GREEN: That’s right. But, again, I think the tone was set that this really isn’t about punishing you. It’s really not about being critical. It’s about trying to move you to be the best person that you can be in your job. How can we do this? These are the specific examples that I can provide for you that I have observed with you functioning at levels that may not be reflective of a four or five, but what can we do? Like you said, have her give the suggestions what can we do to get you to that place. And it ended up being a very positive experience because the employee did improve over time.

MODERATOR: And many leaders don’t know what to say or how to say it. Or they see behaviors, they’re not sure how it ties to the job. They just know they don’t like what they see. One of the things they can do is bring that pattern or that picture to their Human Resource partner and help them lay that out. It is much better to do that early than to do it when it’s a full-blown problem.

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REBECCA F. CADY: Right. And I would also hope that built into the facility’s evaluation program is that the managers need to be evaluated on how they’re doing in providing feedback to the employees.

PAULET GREEN: Right. Absolutely.

REBECCA F. CADY: Because otherwise they’d miss opportunities for their own growth.

PAULET GREEN: Yes.

MODERATOR: Well, if we’re working with employees and we’re working on improving that behavior, there are some that just don’t make that step. And then we have to deal with discipline. Let’s talk about some of the possible pitfalls in doing disciplinary actions, and actually even leading up to termination. But let’s deal with discipline for corrective purposes first.

PAULET GREEN: I think the tone we set is very important. And the term that I like to use is “corrective action,” because the term speaks for itself, that this is a process where it allows us an opportunity to correct something. And so I think that once the employee knows that, again, it takes away some of the resistance or the fear that ofttimes is related to that disciplinary process.

MODERATOR: In the discipline process, I think most employers look at providing some due process to the individual when there is an incident that occurs or when there is poor performance. Can you give us some insight into that due process that we may want to do?

REBECCA F. CADY: Just as a matter of good business practice, and in terms of staff development and retention, you want to obviously have a process whereby if an employee has a real legitimate disagreement with the way they’ve been evaluated or things that they’re being expected to correct– I mean, there may be a disconnect between the manager and the employee. The manager may not be great at giving feedback. There may be some kind of personality issues going on. The employee has to have some kind of recourse.

And it’s just a matter of good business practice and good staff retention. The employee should be able to address that. And the hospital policies should allow for some sort of oversight of the line manager’s decisions and counseling by either the manager of the department or the director of nursing, usually in a step- wise fashion. And that will be one of the things that will be looked at if an employee has grievances and they end up going to court over it, is what was the hospital’s policies and procedures for dealing with this internally?

MODERATOR: And was it followed?

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REBECCA F. CADY: Right.

PAULET GREEN: Yes.

REBECCA F. CADY: And was it fair? And obviously if you have union nurses involved, that’s sort of a whole different ball of wax. The disciplinary measures and the way that process is laid out is all part of the agreement with the union. And that’s something that definitely you want to make sure that Human Resources is involved in, because those rules are very specific, and if you run afoul of them, it can be a big headache for everyone involved. So those were the two things that I would want people to be aware of.

MODERATOR: You know, if you have a public employer, due process can even be broader. It could be that the employees have a right to know how they’re doing.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right.

MODERATOR: And have a right to state their side of the story before any action is taken.

PAULET GREEN: Yes.

REBECCA F. CADY: Absolutely. And that’s why there’s feedback and the give and take. I don’t think evaluations should ever be a one-sided process.

PAULET GREEN: No. No.

REBECCA F. CADY: And ideally they’re not. I think the self-evaluations are very, very effective for getting people to buy it. And I think sometimes employees are surprised, that they may rate themselves lower in an area than perhaps their managers.

MODERATOR: That’s right.

REBECCA F. CADY: Perceptions are very different. Everything’s relative. And so I think it’s very, very helpful in fostering a good environment of communication, which really spills over into so much other things with health care nowadays– patient quality care, the way health care providers interact. And I think it’s important to set the tone in terms of the employment environment, that we’re going to treat you fairly and with respect, and these are the things we expect of you in return.

PAULET GREEN: And having that appeal offers that check and that balance that’s needed in the system.

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REBECCA F. CADY: That’s true.

PAULET GREEN: Absolutely. And even as the manager, it also helps you to understand that you need to have all your T’s crossed and your I’s dotted, because if not, you could actually have a legitimate evaluation, but because you don’t have the documentation to support it, you’re not able to support it under appeal conditions.

REBECCA F. CADY: Exactly.

MODERATOR: Some key things that managers should consider before taking some form of discipline? I’d put the first one out there, to be timely.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right. Very important.

MODERATOR: Factual.

PAULET GREEN: Yup.

REBECCA F. CADY: And I would also say if the potential disciplinary action is related to something that might be impacted by the Americans with Disabilities Act or one of these other laws that we’ve discussed already, that that red flag would need to go up and Human Resources would really need to be contacted in terms of, I have a situation developing here, and it involves– maybe it’s an absenteeism issue. Or maybe it’s a questioning whether the person is still capable of actually performing the essential job functions. And those things can arise as disease processes develop in an individual. Things may change. Their accommodations that they require may change. And so I would be very careful if that was the scenario to make sure to consult Human Resources before anything was done.

MODERATOR: Our managers typically call and talk about a situation, and then say, I’m thinking of doing a corrective action or a suspension or even a termination. Do you think that’s the right step? And then we get into a discussion about are they prepared to go to the step that they’re getting to.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right. And the other thing to keep in mind is that all of this process really is confidential. It’s for the use of people within the hospital for conducting the business of caring for patients in a safe and legal manner. And this is obviously not stuff that managers should be discussing with one another in the elevator. It’s important to keep that in mind, because if that confidentiality is breached, the employee may, in fact, have a cause of action against the hospital.

MODERATOR: I’d take that even a step further. We ask that all the original documents come to Human Resources. Managers can keep copies in their file, but I prefer to have the original. And the reason for that is I have been in far too

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many situations where the manager says, oh, I’m ready to terminate, we have done warnings, we have done suspensions, we’ve done everything right. There is nothing in their file. And so I say to them, well, produce what you’ve done, and let me look at it before we make a decision. Well, I get a call the next day, my file is missing. I don’t know what happened. It was in my office.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right.

MODERATOR: Did you have it locked? Well, maybe not. And so things mysteriously disappear at times. And all the reason to have your originals in safe keeping.

PAULET GREEN: Yes.

REBECCA F. CADY: Definitely a good point.

MODERATOR: We were talking about performance management, and handling difficult performance issues, and the forms of taking discipline of different types– written warnings, suspensions, or even terminations. But there are times where an acute situation occurs. It’s a crisis because there’s a theft, or an alleged abuse, or a complaint of sexual harassment, or a drug diversion– a number of things that are one-time events, hopefully. Let’s talk about how we may want to handle that and some advice to our managers.

PAULET GREEN: I think it’s really important for managers, again, to be very aware of what’s going on on their units with their staff. And that when these things are identified, that they’re addressed early with HR. And that there’s a system set up that if these crises occur and the manager is not on the unit, that there’s a system set up where the manager is notified in a very timely manner so that she can start the ball rolling and whatever needs to be done in order to be able to adjust the situation.

MODERATOR: My advice is to not take any of those situations lightly.

REBECCA F. CADY: Absolutely.

MODERATOR: Immediately, those kinds of issues need to bubble to the top of the priority list and an investigation needs to begin.

REBECCA F. CADY: Absolutely. And from a legal standpoint, obviously the first priority in that situation is to make sure that the patient is safe and taken care of and that the appropriate people are notified in terms of the risk manager. If we’re talking about patient abuse, or even if someone’s discovered using narcotics on the job, that can obviously have potential huge legal ramifications for the facility. And so in that situation, patient safety has to be one of the top considerations.

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MODERATOR: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act gives the employees the right to work in an environment free of harassment, ridicule, insults. Let’s talk about the difference between hostile work environment and sexual harassment.

REBECCA F. CADY: Okay. There are two things that are covered here. Hostile environment is things such as bullying, either racial or cultural putdowns, basically what we would call as bad playground behavior and not playing well with other children, anything that would be offensive to somebody based on their race, or their national origin, their skin color, their gender, that type of thing.

And sexual harassment can also fall into a hostile work environment. The classic example of that is the girlie magazines in the locker room or the posters, the revealing-poster s-in-the-locker-room type of thing. And that’s prohibited, as well as frank, outright– what’s called quid pro quo harassment, which is basically you will allow me to touch you or do things to you or you will lose your job or you will get poor evaluations.

MODERATOR: Or not a promotion?

REBECCA F. CADY: Right, or not a promotion. And so those are the two sort of flavors that that comes in. And the hospital’s obviously liable for any of those activities that occur under its roof. If the harasser is a supervisor, potentially the supervisor could be held personally liable for those actions. But, generally speaking, when the harasser is a co-worker, while the facility would be on the hook for that or liable, the individual co-worker would not necessarily be subject to a civil suit regarding that behavior.

So it’s something to keep in mind. And obviously all facilities have policies that prohibit this kind of behavior. And it’s very important that facilities consider having specific, very clear protocols laid out for disciplining employees when the issues involved are implicated by Title VII.

PAULET GREEN: And the other issue, as you’re discussing again, is coming back to knowledge– educating the staff, having those in-services where you have individuals coming in and letting them know exactly what is appropriate and what may not be appropriate and about the different parameters of their behavior.

REBECCA F. CADY: Exactly. And in terms of the bullying and harassing kind of behavior that doesn’t really have to do with sexual issues, again it comes back to that manager. Is the manager supporting his or her staff if a doctor is being nasty? That’s very important. And that also spills over into patient safety issues. It’s a big thing we’re seeing lately. So these issues are multi-faceted and they’re complicated. And, again, the manager doesn’t need to feel like it’s all on his or her shoulders. Human Resources–

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MODERATOR: Or embarrassed to bring it up.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right. Because it’s really the right thing to do. You can’t stand by and let this happen on your unit, because you will be held responsible, both by the facility, and the nursing board will probably be taking a look at it as well if you’re not taking care of these issues. You’re still practicing nursing even though you are acting as a unit manager. And so the board of nursing is going to want to look at that, if something really blows up.

MODERATOR: Today, with the internet, I’m seeing staff, like on nights, slow times, surfing porn sites at work. That has not been an uncommon situation. And in the example I’m thinking of, the staff knew that that was happening, and probably a few of them had said something to a charge nurse, or a charger nurse had observed it. So then leadership had knowledge.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right.

MODERATOR: And at the point leadership has knowledge, they have a responsibility to do an action–

REBECCA F. CADY: Absolutely.

MODERATOR: –to remedy the situation, not to ignore it and hope that it will go way.

PAULET GREEN: Absolutely. And, again, you go down to that being a performance issue, because is that what a staff member is being paid to do? And so, again, it’s dealing with the situation based on the performance issues and documenting accordingly.

REBECCA F. CADY: Very true.

MODERATOR: When a complaint comes up, my recommendation is, number one, call Human Resources immediately, because most managers don’t know what to do– someone called someone a name, someone said a bad joke, they’re dealing with pornography, whatever the situation is. Human Resource has trained professionals to do the investigation. We usually do not turn it back to the manager to investigate the facts. Human Resources will interview the accuser– interview the complainant first and then the accuser and the witnesses, to try to determine whether the situation even occurred–

PAULET GREEN: Ah-hum.

REBECCA F. CADY: Right.

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MODERATOR: –whether it occurred but there was nothing wrong, whether it occurred and it was very inappropriate, or many times whether we can even tell if anything came up. So many investigations turn out to be–

REBECCA F. CADY: He said, she said.

MODERATOR: Absolutely.

REBECCA F. CADY: But it’s also important that this process be, again, confidential, and that people who are interviewed understand that they’re not to be going around talking about the process or what happened, or the fact that they gave an interview and what they said. If the matter gets into litigation, all of that is potentially discoverable. And it’s often better just to keep one’s own counsel in these matters, because the more you say, the greater potential there is that you’re saying something that’s–

MODERATOR: Inappropriate.

REBECCA F. CADY: –either inappropriate or that’s going to reflect poorly on you. And it’s probably better just to let the process proceed within the parameters that are set up by the facility. It really should not be a subject of lunchroom conversation at all.

MODERATOR: How about dealing with how the EEOC looks at some of these types of comments? How many times, how pervasive do comments need to be, before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission looks at it as really an offense?

REBECCA F. CADY: Well, the difficult thing with this is it kind of depends on each situation. There’s no real cookie-cutter approach to it because each individual is different. Some people become upset very easily and some people don’t. Certain things– obviously, the quid pro quo, sexual harassment issue is very across the board.

MODERATOR: Very obvious.

REBECCA F. CADY: And the other thing it’s important to bring up, if for whatever reason the employee initially went along with it.

MODERATOR: Or dated, they were dating?

REBECCA F. CADY: Right. Or they were dating, or there was some kind of real personal relationship. It’s very important for the protections of the Act to be triggered, the employee has to say, I want this to stop, it needs to stop, and if it doesn’t, then I’m going to consider this to be a harassing environment. And so that really has to occur, and people need to be aware of that, because

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sometimes those situations happen, if a doctor and a nurse are dating or whatever.

Once it turns from good to bad, the employee has to make a statement. If they’ve participated in it voluntarily or consensually up in to a certain point, then they have to basically run the flag up the pole to say, OK, this isn’t all right anymore. I wanted the relationship to end, this person is not letting go of it, and that gets into a sort of a whole other Human Resources issue of people dating. But it’s important for the Act to be triggered, that if there was a previous relationship, that the employee has to say, OK, I need it to stop now.

MODERATOR: Now. What we see most often is employees who are unwilling, unable to have that conversation. And in those circumstances, we will facilitate that discussion or be a witness in the room–

REBECCA F. CADY: Absolutely.

MODERATOR: –when that type of a discussion is occurring.

REBECCA F. CADY: It can be very uncomfortable. And oftentimes there’s obviously a disparity in power between the two parties involved, and if the party who wants the behavior to stop is afraid, which is often the case–

MODERATOR: Absolutely.

REBECCA F. CADY: They are embarrassed. They feel like they’ve done something to bring it upon themselves. And it’s very important that, A, the manager knows about it, and B, that the people in Human Resources become involved, again because this is what they do for a living. They’re the experts at sort of helping people get along, and they can provide that support and backup for the person. Really, the hospital has to do that.

MODERATOR: Has to do that.

PAULET GREEN: And I know we’ve talked about it again, but this is just another point that I’d like to emphasize it, where it is so important, because these things are very uncomfortable to talk about. They’re very uncomfortable to deal with. And so, again, it’s really important that the manager is aware of her own fears or anxieties or level of discomfort in relation to these areas, because ofttimes she is the front, the individual that has the ability to be able to take it to Human Resource and intervene on behalf of the employee.

REBECCA F. CADY: Very important.

MODERATOR: Let’s talk– wind this up a little bit– about that unsatisfactory employee that we have to terminate, whether it’s performance that we’ve been

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counseling all along that hasn’t turned around or one of these situations that’s very serious and the manager makes a decision to terminate for theft or harassment or whatever. Some tips that you’ve learned over the years about terminating employees?

PAULET GREEN: I think, again, consistency in documentation, consistency in the feedback that you have given, so that if it’s not a crisis situation, that there’s been some egregious behavior that in and of itself is grounds for termination, if it has been an ongoing performance-based issue, that that feedback has been given to the employee on an ongoing basis so that it’s not a surprise.

I do have to say, though, that I can’t remember ever sitting in a– no matter how positive you try to make those situations, that it’s ever a good feeling. And we’ve oftentimes had situations where employees have refused to sign the document because, again, it’s just one way, I think, oftentimes employees feel that if they don’t sign it, that it doesn’t make it valid or legal.

REBECCA F. CADY: It doesn’t exist.

MODERATOR: That’s right.

PAULET GREEN: But it is knowing that, again, in a situation like that, what we’ve done is to document that the employee has refused to sign it. And in cases where we know that it’s going to be an uncomfortable situation, we’ve sometimes had HR sit in, or as an observer, to witness the process. So, again, we have another objective person to be able to speak to the process that occurred in the room.

MODERATOR: We sit in a lot of those meetings, sometimes to facilitate it, because the manager is too shook up or doesn’t have the confidence. Maybe they’re brand new and it’s their very first termination. That can be pretty unnerving. Other times we sit in as a witness so that there is a second objective perspective as to what occurred in that meeting.

PAULET GREEN: That’s right.

MODERATOR: Managers come to Human Resources when they’re ready to terminate. They actually have to get our permission to go to that step. And there’s a series of questions we ask them. Number one, did the person know what performance behaviors they needed to do? How do you know they know? Is it documented? Is it in the file? Did they have training? Is the training documented? Did they have an opportunity to improve their behavior?

It’s truly unfair to have had attendance problems for six months and the manager suddenly says, that’s it, I’ve had enough, I’m ready to terminate, and the employee doesn’t even know that it’s a problem, a difficult situation. So those are

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some of the very key things. Then to look– and this is a tough one– is that consistency of application. If one person has been late five times and you’re ready to discipline, what are the rest of your employees doing?

PAULET GREEN: Right. Right.

MODERATOR: What if you have someone who’s been late for work ten times? What have you done there?

REBECCA F. CADY: Exactly.

MODERATOR: You want to talk about the implications of consistency?

REBECCA F. CADY: Well, it’s important because you don’t want to create the suggestion of favoritism or discrimination, especially if any of the hot-button issues are applicable. I mean, it may just be a matter that the manager gets along better with somebody than she does somebody else, but it’s still not a good way to do business, and it’s not a fair way to treat employees. And it can lead to problems.

It’s a violation of the employee’s due process to have decisions made based on something other than their actual performance. And if they’re not treating similarly situated employees in the same way, then that certainly provides a very heavy suggestion that it’s been made on some basis other than actual performance.

MODERATOR: And in that list that I’m talking about that I usually ask managers, I always include also has the person had the opportunity to explain their side of events? Sometimes there are very good mitigating circumstances for why they did what they did. So that’s always a piece before you move to termination, as well as looking at are they in a protected class, like an ADA situation or some of those things, before you make that decision.

REBECCA F. CADY: Absolutely.

MODERATOR: I’d like to thank you, Rebecca, for adding your legal insight into these tough issues. And, Paulet, for giving us the practical application of managing a workforce. I think we’ve spoken about the importance of our nurse managers using Human Resource professionals and dealing with some of these employment issues, everything from hiring and performance management and taking discipline in order to build a more positive work environment and retaining our valuable staff.

MSN Discussion Rubric FOR Performance Standards and Appraisals

Criteria	Levels of Achievement
	Outstanding Performance	Excellent Performance	Competent Performance	Room for Improvement	Poor Performance
Content-Main Posting	30 to 30 points -Main posting addresses all criteria with 75% of post exceptional depth and breadth supported by credible references.	27 to 29 points -Main posting addresses all criteria with 75% of post exceptional depth and breadth supported by credible references.	24 to 26 points Main posting meets expectations. All criteria are addressed with 50% containing good breadth and depth.	21 to 23 points Main posting addresses most of the criteria. One to two criterion are not addressed or superficially addressed.	0 to 20 points Main posting does not address all of criteria, superficially addresses criteria. Two or more criteria are not addressed.
Course Requirements and Attendance	20 to 20 points -Responds to two colleagues’ with posts that are reflective, are justified with credible sources, and ask questions that extend the Discussion.	18 to 19 points -Responds to two colleagues’ with posts that are reflective, are justified with credible sources, and ask questions that extend the Discussion.	16 to 17 points Responds to a minimum of two colleagues’ posts, are reflective, and ask questions that extend the Discussion. One post is justified by a credible source.	14 to 15 points Responds to less than two colleagues’ posts. Posts are on topic, may have some depth, or questions. May extend the Discussion. No credible sources are cited.	0 to 13 points Responds to less than two colleagues’ posts. Posts may not be on topic, lack depth, do not pose questions that extend the Discussion.
Scholarly Writing Quality	30 to 30 points -The main posting clearly addresses the Discussion criteria and is written concisely. The main posting is cited with more than two credible references that adhere to the correct format per the APA Manual 6th Edition. No spelling or grammatical errors. ***The use of scholarly sources or real life experiences needs to be included to deepen the Discussion and earn points in reply to fellow students.	27 to 29 points -The main posting clearly addresses the Discussion criteria and is written concisely. The main posting is cited with more than two credible references that adhere to the correct format per the APA Manual 6th Edition. No spelling or grammatical errors.	24 to 26 points -The main posting clearly addresses the Discussion criteria and is written concisely. The main posting is cited with a minimum of two current credible references that adhere to the correct format per the APA Manual 6th Edition. Contains one to two spelling or grammatical errors.	21 to 23 points -The main posting is not clearly addressing the Discussion criteria and is not written concisely. The main posting is cited with less than two credible references that may lack credibility and/or do not adhere to the correct format per the APA Manual 6th Edition. Contains more than two spelling or grammatical errors.	0 to 20 points -The main posting is disorganized and has one reference that may lack credibility and does not adhere to the correct format per the APA Manual 6th Edition or has zero credible references. Contains more than two spelling or grammatical errors.
Professional  Communication Effectiveness	20 to 20 points -Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues and response to faculty questions are answered if posed. -Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas effectively written in Standard Edited English. -Responses posted in the Discussion demonstrate effective professional communication through deep reflective discussion which leads to an exchange of ideas and focus on the weekly Discussion topic.	18 to 19 points -Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues. -Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas effectively written in Standard Edited English. -Responses posted in the Discussion demonstrate effective professional communication through deep reflective discussion which leads to an exchange of ideas and focus on the weekly Discussion topic. -Responses are cited with at least one credible reference per post and a probing question that extends the Discussion. Adheres to the correct format per the APA Manual 6th Edition. No spelling or grammatical errors.	16 to 17 points -Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues. -Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas effectively written in Standard Edited English. -Responses posted in the Discussion demonstrate effective professional communication through deep reflective discussion which leads to an exchange of ideas and focus on the weekly Discussion topic. -Responses are cited with at least one credible and/or contain probing questions that extends the Discussion. Adheres to the correct format per the APA Manual 6th Edition. May have one to two spelling or grammatical errors.	14 to 15 points -Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues. -Provides opinions that may not be concise or ideas not effectively written in Standard Edited English. -Responses posted in the Discussion may lack effective professional communication that does not extend the Discussion, leads to an exchange of ideas and/or not focused on the weekly Discussion topic. -Responses are not cited and/or do not contain a probing question. May not adhere to the correct format per the APA Manual 6th Edition. May have more than two spelling or grammatical errors.	0 to 13 points -Communication may lack professional tone or be disrespectful to colleagues. -Provides opinions that may not be concise or ideas not effectively written in Standard Edited English -Responses posted in the Discussion lack effective professional communication through discussion that does not extend the Discussion, do not lead to an exchange of ideas and/or not focused on the weekly Discussion topic. -Responses are not cited and do not contain a probing question. May not adhere to the correct format per the APA Manual 6th Edition. May have multiple spelling or grammatical errors.
Timely Submission	0 to 0 points All criteria met: Initial post submitted on time. Response to two peer initial posts. Response on 3 separate days.	-5 to 0 points 5 points deducted for responding to less than two peers or 5 points deducted for responding less than three days.	-10 to -5 points 5 points deducted for responding to less than two peers and 5 points deducted for responding less than three days.	-10 to -10 points 10 points deducted for Initial post submitted late.	-20 to -15 points Initial post submitted late and 5 points deducted for responding to less than two peers and/ or 5 points deducted for responding less than three days.