Effective communication increases your credibility (Mutter, 2012) whether that communications be stating company performance at an annual meeting of stockholders or a one-on-one employee performance appraisal. Knowing which style of leadership to use (Coleman, 2000) and the tone you chose to use during the process (Mutter, 201 2) will be deciding factors on how the appraisal is received by your employee. Background This case study (Citibank: Performance Evaluation) discussed how Lisa Johnson the area manager evaluated James McGowan, a branch manager, in en of the most important branches in Los Angels, California for Citibank.James supervised 15 personnel and had revenues of $6 million, and a profit margin of $4. 3 million. He rose rather quickly through the Citibank process and was promoted to his current position in 1992. His branch surpassed all goals every year for four years.

In 1 996, Citibank expanded performance indicators to include non-financial measures and for the first time a problem had been identified by Citibank in relation to James’ branch performance. His customer service ratings did not follow his financial performance.Citibank was relatively new in the California marketplace which had been dominated by Wells Fargo for a lengthy period of time. Because of this, Citibank wanted to build their reputation in California as a banking system that provided a high level of customer service to outshine its competitors and capture a larger percentage Of the banking market. TO this end, Citibank created a stand-alone Performance Scorecard for customer service.

This scorecard focused on six different types of measurement from Financial to Strategy Implementation to Customer Satisfaction.Based on measurement n each of these six categories, quarterly and annually an employee would receive a bonus and the potential for advancement. Although James’ branch was excelling in the financial arena they had some problems in the newly created non-financial areas. Everyone knows that customer expectations rise concurrently with an individual’s net worth. However, James’ branch was barely passing the 50th percentile for customer satisfaction. Citibank believed in quarterly reviews followed by a final annual appraisal so that employees knew throughout the year where they stood in elation to the evaluated parameters.At each quarterly review James received an overall rating of “Par” or “Above Par” yet for his final/annual appraisal we are discussing what his yearly overall assessment should be. Approach It is my opinion that the approach to consider his overall assessment and the approach to presenting the findings to James needs to be based on facts.

It is very clear how to show James the performance for the financial scales, these are straight forward numbers based on daily recordings. After reviewing James’ quarterly assessment’s the terms “strong manager”, high standards’ and ‘teamwork” (Dunne, 2011 ) were repeated several times over.It is in my judgment that any approach other than the “accusatory” approach to review his appraisal would work for James. If I were Lisa I would schedule a meeting with James to discuss his annual appraisal and compare the annual assessment to that of the quarterly assessments. First and foremost, as his supervisor I would make sure that I had all available information before me (BMW Editors, 2015). I always make sure that I am fully prepared before going into an appraisal discussion.

I would start my discussions with James reviewing the overall appraisal form and then go back to discuss each area in detail. Refer to start appraisal reviews on a good note. I want the employee to be open and receptive to discussing the areas of improvement later on when we get to that point.

When was an instructor in the military I was taught to first ask my student how they felt they did on a specific mission. What did they feel they did well and where did they feel they needed a bit more training or experience. Liked this approach because it allowed me to see if the student was critical of their win performance or, like many folks, felt their performance was “best seen to date. Once that discussion was over it led my discussions on their performance.

With James I make sure that I could end his review on a good note as well. I believe that James is a manager that Citibank would want to keep as an employee and the quarterly appraisals showed an increase in the fourth quarter for customer service. When sat down with James, I would identify areas that are Of concern and discuss what had been done since the problem had been identified.

We would then dissect each area that was identified as needing improvement. In this case, I only see one area of improvement and that is the customer service area.Ken Lloyd in his article, How to Provide Negative Feedback during Employee Appraisals, recommends that you never use the term “you” but rather use the term “we”. Frequent use of the word “you” sounds like a combination of accusation and scolding, and employees are likely to become increasingly defensive with each additional you.

In this way, you’ve centered the issue on yourself and the issues at hand, which opens the door for a conversation instead of a confrontation. If I were Lisa, I would make an agreement with James towards increasing the customer service scores for the next two quarters.I would make sure James knew we were watching this area. The scores provided by the customer feedback information and the number of community activities that his branch participates in would be the quantitative information we would be basing his next appraisal gaga nest.

Private Consultation to Citibank As a result of this course, Citibank has approached me to be an independent consultant and review their current process and procedures. To be able to analyze Citibank’s appraisal system I would need to have meetings with the senior leadership of the corporation.It is imperative to know and understand where the current leadership wants Citibank to be in the future in relation to current market share in different regions of the country, as well as to know and understand the current and future vision of senior leadership and the Board of Directors. It seemed as though customer service became a priority during the late 9(Yes in California. How important is customer service to Citibank today nearly 20 years later. I would presume that it is still a priority or Citibank and that it will continue to be a priority for the foreseeable future.

In today’s world and the ever increasing dependence on technology, how Citibank continues to grow technologically is just as important to how a customer views the company. If a customer is having problems with “Peony” (www. Citibank. Com) or online access to their accounts and they have to wait on the phone for several minutes’ frustration sets in.

The longer a customer waits the more frustrated they become. Even if the customer is only on hold three minutes to a customer that may feel like three hours. Customer service will still be an active part of the Citibank appraisal system.I would recommend to Citibank that it is in their best interest to make sure all new employees know exactly what they will be evaluated against. New employees must know from the very start what is considered acceptable and what is not. What is considered meeting standards and what is above standards. New employees should know what the rewards and consequences of their actions are, and at what point actions will be taken.

Believe that Citibank’s appraisal system is a fair and valid approach to valuating employees, but I am concerned about the balance or quantitative evaluation of each portion of the appraisal.It seemed like Lisa place more importance on the customer service rating area over the financial and strategy implementation areas. This is a concern I have seen over many years in all companies and even the military.

Different leaders place more emphasis on different areas of evaluations resulting in a skewing of the rating system. Would recommend Citibank ensure that all managers base employee appraisals using the same criteria for every employee in that specific job function. It would not be fair to rate branch managers using the same criteria used for mortgage brokers.Claudio Razz (2007) teaches us that if we identify specific competencies that predict outstanding performance in a job, and focus only on them, we will achieve much better assessments. I would therefore also recommend to Citibank that each functional job area, have separate and quantifiable competencies for which to rate employees.

Conclusion A good manager must be candid with their employees. Managers often find appraising the performance of employees to be a dreaded and difficult task. These fears can be diminished when both the manager and employee are prepared and the best process is chosen.