January 30, 2003 Feature
Story
MHR
Graduate Students Evaluate the Evaluation Process
 That
loud groan emanating from every window across Utah State each
spring is, of course, campus reaction to the annual and much-loved
performance appraisal process. Employees and supervisors each
spring participate in the appraisal process that is so important
for communicating institutional goals and for development and
training of university employees at every level. But how effective
is the current process and what does the future look like?
Vice President for Administrative Services Vice President Fred
Hunsaker asked two classes of Human Resource Management graduate
students to assess the overall effectiveness of the current
system, and for a recommendation of its readiness to move to
a pay-for-performance system of appraisal.
And the grade? "The system is working fairly well right
now, but as the university moves toward a pay-for-performance
system, some changes will be needed," said Mary Arevalo,
a graduate student in the Human Resources Research Methods class.
The students presented their findings recently to President
Hall and his executive committee. Click
here for an executive summary of the report
Hall said the university is in the "gathering information"
phase of reviewing the performance appraisal system. Meanwhile,
the same system used last year will be used again this year.
But the university is looking seriously at linking pay increases
to performance measures in the future. The details will have
to be resolved, he said, and he is looking for input from people
on campus. But the information presented by the graduate students
was an in-depth and comprehensive assessment that certainly
will be used as an important tool in any decisions.
"This was brilliant work by a highly trained team of students,"
Hall said after the presentation. "We will use the report
as part of our on-going study of the issue."
Hall said the report is a good example of using available and
inexpensive campus resources to answer important questions.
Troy Mumford, assistant professor of management and one of the
professors of the HR graduate class, said the project fit perfectly
into the academic model the Department of Management and Human
Resources is pursuing.
Academic models traditionally fit competency into "silo"
areas, that is, into different knowledge-based courses that
too often are not integrated across content areas. Students
learn sets of skills but never get to blend them as they have
to do in the real world. Mumford and his colleague, associate
professor Steve Hanks, combined the department's Performance
Management class with the Research Methods class to help students
develop competencies across courses.
"In this 'competency model' colleagues in the department
have developed, students are not just passing separate classes,"
Mumford said. "They are taking skills and knowledge learned
across curriculum and applying those to a real-life project
and dynamic they'll see in real-world organizations.
"They learned that it's a lot more complex when they have
to take those 'best practices' in their textbooks and actually
apply them to a project with real implications and important
consequences."
Arevalo said she is flattered that the team was asked to address
the president's executive committee, among other groups on campus.
But she is even more pleased that what might be considered "just
a class project" will make a real difference.
"We worked hard to give them something they can use,"
she said, "and we appreciate the positive feedback we received."
Story by Tim Vitale, 797-1356
Photo by Steve Hanks
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