Page 469 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

468 Part 5 • Controlling
CaSe aPPliCation 2
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If You Can’t Say Something Nice, Don’t Say Anything at All

ontrolling employee performance is a vitally important their future with the organization. These “career outlook” dis-
responsibility of managers. After all, it’s your employ- cussions focus more on where an employee fits in, rather than
Cees who are working to accomplish established goals, on where they screwed up. The company also encourages its
and you want to see that those goals are being accomplished staff to send shout-outs via e-cards praising colleagues or sub-
as planned. So wouldn’t it seem that managing employees’ ordinates for work done. Managers have also allocated money
performance would cover the good and the not-so-good? Well, to further reward positive accomplishments.
some organizations are encouraging managers to lighten up on But there are companies not following this positivism
the harsh feedback and focus only on the positive. 59 trend. These companies take a more “tough-love” approach
At consulting firm the Boston Consulting Group, man- and don’t shy away from giving negative feedback. For in-
agers now frequently praise employees, encourage them to stance, at Netflix, CEO Reed Hasting’s view is that they’re a
celebrate even small victories, “pro sports team, not a Little
and conduct performance re- No Negativism Allowed! League squad,” noting that
views focusing on an individ- “adequate performance gets a
ual employee’s strengths in- generous severance package.”
stead of any mistakes that may have happened. And managers Not everyone in the company is going to get a trophy. There’s
are to bring up only one or two areas that require improvement little doubt as to what that company’s performance expecta-
and development. It never used to be this way. When employ- tions are.
ees didn’t do a good job with a client’s assignment, managers
would focus on what went wrong and where and how the em- Discussion Questions
ployee needed to improve and develop his or her skills. This
shift towards more positive feedback occurred after the com- 14-18 Is controlling employee performance an important responsi-
bility of managers? Discuss.
pany noticed some employees leaving the company and other 14-19 Why should managers focus on positive feedback?
employees who were still upset for a period of time after a
negative performance review. And BCG isn’t the only company 14-20 What are the risks associated with providing employees only
positive feedback and providing limited feedback on areas of
taking this approach. Others are increasing the use of positive improvement?
feedback and minimizing any discussion of the areas that need 14-21 Where would you be more comfortable? An organization with
improvement. At PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, for instance, a performance review approach more like the Boston Consult-
managers are asked to have discussions with employees about ing Group or more like Netflix? Why?

CaSe aPPliCation 3
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Too Relaxed

s yoga classes gained in popularity, one company that Lululemon was founded by Dennis (Chip) Wilson, who
had benefited greatly was Lululemon. In fact, at one had noticed in his yoga class that other students’ yoga pants
Apoint, it was on Fortune’s Fastest-Growing Companies became see-through when they bent over after class to roll up
List three years in a row. Company executives had positioned their mats. Having just sold his surf/skateboard/snowboard
the company as a lifestyle brand and customers were hooked clothing company, he sensed an opportunity to pair his ex-
and loyal. Then, a rare stumble happened. The company had pertise in “technical” athletic wear with the surging demand
to recall a large batch of its signature black “Luon” yoga pants by yoga enthusiasts. What he developed was revolutionary!
because the fabric was too sheer. 60 Instead of following what others had done—essentially cutting