Giving Performance Feedback Exercise
For this exercise, all students should read all parts of all the roles. The exercise will be conducted in two parts.
In the first part, one student will play the role of the manager and the other will play the part of the manager. During the first part, the first student will practice the first two sets of behaviours, non verbal behaviours, and leadership behaviours (tips given at the end of this exercise).
Then, the students will switch roles to do the second part of the exercise. In the second part of the exercise, the other student (i.e. the one who was playing the role of the subordinate) will now play the role of the manager and the first student (who was playing the role of the manager in the first part) will play the role of subordinate. The second student will now practice the second two sets of behaviours, speech characteristics and interactional justice (tips given at the end of this exercise).
At the end, each student will give the other student feedback on how well they displayed the behaviours needed to give feedback.
Good Luck!
Subordinate Role Play – Part 1
Role For “Francis Flintstone,” Manager of the Gravel and Stone Department
You feel that you get along fine with your assigned staff. You have always been pretty much of an idea person and apparently have the knack of passing on your enthusiasm to others assigned to your jobs. There is a lot of “we” feeling on your jobs because it is obvious that your jobs are the most productive, since there has been no significant overtime by your staff.
You believe in developing your staff and always give them strong recommendations. You feel you have gained the reputation of developing your staff because they frequently go out and get much better jobs. Since the attrition rate is so high in your line of work, you feel that the best way to stimulate morale is to develop new staff and demonstrate that a good employee can get somewhere. Recently two of your outstanding senior employees have turned down outside offers after discussing their career opportunities with you. You are planning to recommend them for manager.
The other manager’s in the Gravel and Stone Department do not share your enthusiasm. Some of them are dull and unimaginative. During your first year as manager you used to help them a lot, but you soon found that they continuously leaned on you, and before long you were doing their work as well as your own. There is a lot of pressure on you. You got your promotion by yielding increased production rates in your department, and you don’t intend to let other managers interfere.
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Subordinate Role Play – Part 2
Role For “Francis Flintstone,” Manager of the Gravel and Stone Department
Since you stopped helping the other managers your production has increased, but a couple of them seem a bit upset with you. One of the senior employees in the Gravel and Stone Department is a better employee than most of them, and you’d love to see this senior made a manager. Since Bedrock Stone Inc. has some dead wood in it, Granite ought to recognize this fact and assign them the more routine jobs. Then they wouldn’t need your help, and you could concentrate your efforts on your jobs. At present, Granite passes out work pretty much as it comes in, in order. Because you are efficient, you get more that your share of these jobs and you see no reason why the extra work shouldn’t be in the form of “diamonds.” You have suggested to Granite that the more routine jobs be turned over to other managers.
You did one thing recently that has bothered you. One of your ‘routine’ purchasers changed the date of an important meeting, and you should have told Granite about it, but it slipped your mind. Granite was out when you had it on your mind, and then you got involved with another purchaser’s problem and forgot all about the matter. As a result, Granite had to make a special out-of-town trip and was quite bothered about it. You have told Granite you were very sorry.
Today you have a performance appraisal interview with Granite. It shouldn’t take very long, but it’s nice to have the President of Bedrock Stone Inc. tell you about the job you are doing.
Manager Role Play – Part 1
Role For “Jaden Granite,” President of Bedrock Stone Inc.
You have evaluated all of the managers who report to you, and during the next two weeks you have scheduled an interview with each of them. You hope to use these interviews constructively to develop each manager. Today you have arranged to interview Francis Flintstone, one of the 7 managers who report to you. Here is the information on Flintstone in your files.
Francis Flintstone: 9 years with Bedrock Stone Inc., 3 years as a manager in the Gravel and Stone Department, married with one child (a daughter named Pebbles). Evaluation: Highly creative and original and exceptionally competent technically. On those large orders for which you are the supervisor in charge and Flintstone is the manager, Francis has shown an exceptional ability to communicate purchaser problems to you on a timely basis. Within the past year you have given Flintstone extra work, which has been completed on schedule. In addition, as far as productivity and dependability are concerned, this is your top manager.
Your main problem is Flintstone’s cooperation with the other managers in the office leaves much to be desired. Before being promoted to manager, Flintstone’s originality and technical knowledge were available to your whole office. You are aware that other managers have sought Flintstone’s help, in the not so distant past, with certain purchaser problems, but apparently Flintstone has offered no suggestions or help. Flintstone seems to imply that there is no time to help, or the response might be kidding and sarcasm, depending on that day’s mood. (You’ve been told that Flintstone’s most frequent response is “YABBA-DABBA-DOO!”)
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Manager Role Play – Part 2
Role For “Jaden Granite,” President of Bedrock Stone Inc.
Furthermore, during the past year Flintstone has questioned two of his Gravel assignments saying they were routine. Flintstone stated a preference for more interesting work. You feel that you can’t give Flintstone all of the interesting work and that if this continues, there will be trouble. You cannot play favourites and keep up morale in the Quarry.
On one occasion, Flintstone forgot to inform you of a change in an important meeting date with a very important purchaser. As a result, you only learned of the date change on the day before the meeting and had to make a special out-of-town trip in order to attend. Flintstone has expressed regret over this situation.
Flintstone’s failure to cooperate has you worried for another reason. Although Flintstone’s subordinates are highly productive, there is more turnover among the staff of this group as compared to other managers. You have heard no complaints as yet, but you suspect that Flintstone may be treating staff in an arbitrary manner. Certainly if Flintstone talks up to you and other managers, what kind of behaviour would this manager show toward his subordinates? Apparently, the high productivity in this group is not due to high morale, but to Flintstone’s ability to use staff to do the things for which they are best suited. This method will not fully develop the subordinate’s potential. You hope to discuss these matters with Flintstone in such a way as to recognize good points and at the same time correct some weaknesses.
Behaviors to use when giving feedback
Cole, 2004
If you are the person giving feedback, use these behaviors as a guide on how to give feedback. If you are the person getting feedback, use these behaviors to judge how well the person giving feedback is exhibiting these behaviors. Be prepared to give examples of how the person giving feedback displayed these behaviors.
Rate the extent to which these behaviors were displayed….
1 = not at all displayed 10=displayed very well
ROLE PLAY PART 1
A. Non-verbal communication behaviors
___ 1. Displays positive demeanor:
e.g., smiles, has positive expression when talking, has positive expression when listening, has positive tone of voice, arm/hand gestures indicate sympathy, arm/hand gestures emphasize points being made, has folded hands, maintains close interpersonal space
____2. Is Neutral:
e.g., speaks in neutral tone, voice is soft
____3. Pays attention:
e.g., leans forward, looks at the surroundings
B. Leadership and power behaivors
____1. Displays Transformational leadership behaviors:
e.g., enhances employee’s self-worth, encourages employee participation, shares information
____2. Displays Conflict-seeking:
e.g., furthers conflict, uses position power, uses reward/punishment power.
____3. Uses Referent power:
e.g., uses referent power, resolves conflict through accommodation.
ROLE PLAY PART 2
C. Speech characteristics
____ 1. Maintains conversation:
e.g., attentive to relationship with employee, responsive to employee, seeks consensus.
____ 2. Controlling
e.g., mentions superior position, challenges employee, mentions control of employee, suggests actions
____ 3. Displays Fact finding behaviors:
e.g., asks for facts, asks for clarification, directly asks employee to respond
____ 4. Asserting authority:
e.g., uses absolute statements, uses assertive statements
____5. Tentativeness:
e.g., uses tentative statements, uses speech tags, rising intonation at end of sentence
C. Conveys Interactional justice
____1. Displays Interactional justice behaviors:
e.g., Is considerate, honest, courteous, respectful when interpreting events, respectful when enacting procedures, sincere, respects privacy, polite
____2. Gives Explanations
e.g., explains work procedures, explains company rules, specific, provides justification
____ 3. Actively listens:
e.g., patient, non-evaluative, paraphrases, invites further comment, uses non-verbal responses