Topic: Employee Discrimination You are an I/O Consultant preparing to advise the manager or CEO about an issue directly relating to their organization.  You will be researching a specific topic related to I/O Psychology that would be useful and informative to a manager or CEO of a company. You will synthesize your findings from the research literature and present them as if you were advising that manager or CEO on that issue.  First you will find at least four journal articles on your chosen topic and write an annotated bibliography summarizing each article.  Finally you will then synthesize your findings in a 3 to 4 page summary paper of what you found, the pros and cons found in the research, and your recommendation to the manager or CEO concerning this issue in their organization. Write an annotated bibliography of each summarizing their main points in non-research language, including agreements and disagreements on particular findings. Next the summary paper should explain why this particular topic is important to the workplace and how the organization’s leaders and employees can use the information.  Additionally you will make suggestions for this organization based on your research findings.  The paper should be presented in a professional way, nicely formatted, free of spelling and grammatical errors, and presented in a clear and structured way. Annotated Bibliography: This bibliography should include the four research articles you will use for your paper. These articles need to be on the previously approved topic for the research summary. For each article, you need to provide · The citation in APA style · A brief (no more than 1 page) summary of each article. The summary should include: · The basic premise and research question of the study · The methodology · Results · Conclusions Summary Paper: You paper should not simply be a summary of your articles (as you did that in the annotated bibliography). Rather, it should be geared at professionals who do not have in-depth knowledge of research, but know something about management and organizations. You could pretend you are the personnel director of a company and are presenting to a group of managers. Your summary paper should convey the information gained from the research literature in an organized way and should make an argument for why this topic is important for managers to pay attention to. Also I would like to see you make some recommendations for action. APA Style: All submissions must be written in APA format.  Basically this means that the references must be written in APA style, all assignments written in 11 or 12 point font, double spaced, with 1-inch margins. Professor’s Example Annotative Bibliography Anonymous., (2006, November.). 3 Steps to Take the Pain Out of Staff Performance Reviews. IOMA’s Payroll Manager’s Report. New York. Vol. 60, Iss. 11., p. 1-4. The main focus of this article is to make writing performance reviews easier by foc ...

1. Topic: Employee Discrimination
You are an I/O Consultant preparing to advise the manager or
CEO about an issue directly relating to their organization.
You will be researching a specific topic related to I/O
Psychology that would be useful and informative to a manager
or CEO of a company. You will synthesize your findings from
the research literature and present them as if you were advising
that manager or CEO on that issue.
First you will find at least four journal articles on your chosen
topic and write an annotated bibliography summarizing each
article. Finally you will then synthesize your findings in a 3
to 4 page summary paper of what you found, the pros and cons
found in the research, and your recommendation to the manager
or CEO concerning this issue in their organization.
Write an annotated bibliography of each summarizing their main
points in non-research language, including agreements and
disagreements on particular findings. Next the summary paper
should explain why this particular topic is important to the
workplace and how the organization’s leaders and employees
can use the information. Additionally you will make
suggestions for this organization based on your research
findings. The paper should be presented in a professional way,
nicely formatted, free of spelling and grammatical errors, and
presented in a clear and structured way.
Annotated Bibliography:
This bibliography should include the four research articles you
will use for your paper. These articles need to be on the
previously approved topic for the research summary. For each
article, you need to provide
· The citation in APA style
· A brief (no more than 1 page) summary of each article. The
summary should include:

2. · The basic premise and research question of the study
· The methodology
· Results
· Conclusions
Summary Paper:
You paper should not simply be a summary of your articles (as
you did that in the annotated bibliography). Rather, it should be
geared at professionals who do not have in-depth knowledge of
research, but know something about management and
organizations. You could pretend you are the personnel director
of a company and are presenting to a group of managers.
Your summary paper should convey the information gained
from the research literature in an organized way and should
make an argument for why this topic is important for managers
to pay attention to. Also I would like to see you make some
recommendations for action.
APA Style: All submissions must be written in APA format.
Basically this means that the references must be written in APA
style, all assignments written in 11 or 12 point font, double
spaced, with 1-inch margins.

3. Professor’s Example
Annotative Bibliography
Anonymous., (2006, November.). 3 Steps to Take the Pain Out
of Staff Performance Reviews.
IOMA’s Payroll Manager’s Report. New York. Vol. 60, Iss. 11.,
p. 1-4.
The main focus of this article is to make writing performance
reviews easier by focusing on simple functions like linking job
descriptions and department duties to the evaluation process.
Focusing on an interview with Raeann Hofkin, from a
Pennsylvania manufacturing company, the article reveals simple
tips from using software packages to three core steps to creating
and writing appraisals. This article is very useful in ideas that
are both up-to-date and conventional.
Brown, D., (2002, April 8.). Re-evaluating Evaluations.
Canadian HR Reporter. Toronto.
Vol. 15, Iss. 2., p. 2.
This article is predominately based on a survey conducted by
Andersen Consulting in Chicago. 25 companies were surveyed
to find out how both managers and employees perceived the
evaluation process and whether or not feedback was efficient
and constructive. Most of the results were negative. The results
indicated that the outdated formats were no longer useful to
employees and were no long in line with current company
objectives. This is another great tie in to the point of MHSI
having an outdated process.
Gordon, J., (2003, May 9.). Engineering Reviews. Business

4. First. Louisville. Vol. 19, Iss. 41., p.
15.
Jennifer Gordon focuses this article on the format of the review
process. She says that if the businesses do not keep up with
changing situations and modify the performance evaluation
form, then employee appraisals will not be in line with company
initiatives. She also suggests setting up the appraisals based on
the job description rather than on objective behavioral traits.
Another point made in this article is that appraisals should be
done several times a year rather than just once. What I like
about this article is that it focuses on the renewing of the
appraisal form and more reviews throughout the year.
Pfau, B., Kay, I., Nowack, K., Ghorpade, J., (2002, June.). Does
360-Degree Feedback
Negatively Affect Company Performance? HR Magazine.
Alexandria. Vol. 47, Iss. 6., p. 54-59.
In this article, Watson Wyatt’s 2001 Human Capital Index is
used to evaluate how 360-degree programs figure into a
company’s value. The findings from this research suggest that
this type of program may actually be harmful to the
organization than other types of evaluations. Dr. Jeffrey C.
Pfeffer from Stanford University agrees with some of the
findings. Kenneth Nowak points out that the difference between
good and bad is that all the people involved with submitting
ratings must agree on the interpretation of the questions. There
is a lot of debate in this article, but it sums up with says that if
the program is set up right, it should be highly beneficial.
Stella, P., (2006, June 1). Don’t Undervalue Performance
Reviews. Government Video. New
York. Iss. 1707., p. 10.
This article is written as both a wake up call and also a means

5. for advice on how to write a performance review that is
meaningful and helps the employee walk away with a feeling
that he or she has done a good job but can also improve in some
areas. There are some helpful ideas like writing the article to
the employee instead of about them. It also makes a suggestion
to have the employee evaluate themselves and then compare
with the manager. The tone of the article is a little story like,
but it serves well for the reader since the advice is aimed at
making the reader a better manager. The message of this article
is clearly aimed at the manager.
Employee Performance Appraisal Process
Introduction
One of the most important roles for an organization is to
evaluate employee performance. When companies do not have a
formal method of appraising performance and communicating
with their staff, employees have a false sense of everything is
ok when things are not exactly as they appear. MHSI has
already noticed the value of this process and has instituted a
formal process that all managers perform and delivery once a
year. The question before us is whether or not the current
process provides accurate, timely, and efficient methods of
communication or feedback to employees with regard to their
specific and individual job performance in correlation to
company goals and initiatives.
Results
First we must start the process of review by understanding the
current process in place. This quick overview will help us in
analyzing the research. MHSI is an engineering firm working
with the automotive industry to develop, implement and deliver
packaging for automotive parts. The company goals include
diversification of customers, products and to delivery quality
customer service through innovation and creativity. MHSI
personnel include staff in the following departments:
Engineering, Design, Finance, Sales and Marketing, and
Analysts and other supportive staff. Appraisals for all staff are

6. done once a year and are done on a generic form, not
specifically written for any one department that measures
behavior attributes as: quality and quantity of work,
adaptability, and how much initiative an employee shows. All
employees are appraised on a scale of 1 to 6 in each area with
an overall appraisal that is the average of all sections. Each area
of the review is open to interpretation where each manager may
rate a person different under the same category. Lately,
employees are usually presented with the annual performance
review and the salary adjustments at the same time.
Knowing all this, the focus now changes to the findings within
the research. The majority of the research indicates that rating
employee’s performance is definitely a key area companies
should focus on. Secondly, appraisals should be conducted more
frequently than once a year. “Best-in-class managers don’t
review performance once or twice a year. They do it all year
long.” (Stella, p10) Third, perhaps the most important
agreement is that appraisals should be based on “job
descriptions and performance expectations [that are] clearly
documented and reviewed with the employee”. (Anonymous, p.
1) Fourth, a company should review their current process and
upgrade it. A Survey that was conducted in Chicago across “25
firms” showed that “most managers and employees do not value
their performance management system [because the] systems
were obsolete [and] feedback was insignificant”. (Brown, p. 2)
The reason for this huge discrepancy is that “a lot can happen to
an organization in five years” and when the performance system
no longer “reinforces management philosophy” or the new
company “mission and values”, the organization can not
accurately appraise performance nor provide adequate feedback
to employees. (Brown, p. 2)
The research also suggested several alternatives to the current
appraisal process in place today at MHSI. First, writing the
appraisal form so that it focuses on “individual job tasks” like
“maintaining computer hardware and software” will help
managers remove “subjective judgments” and focus on “job-

7. specific criteria” instead. (Gordon, p. 15) Using “performance
appraisal software programs” may help “formalize…appraisal
procedures” and help with customization for each department’s
needs. (Anonymous, p. 1)
What was interesting about all the research was that there was
little mention of an exact right or wrong way to write the
performance appraisals other than making sure that they line up
with job duties and company goals. Little mention of the
different types of performance appraisals was found. However,
there was an article about “360 degree feedback programs”.
(Pfau, Kay, Nowack, and Ghorpade, p. 54) With this approach,
managers, the employee and his or her co-workers partake in
this process. Each is given the same line of questions to rate.
But while some argue that the program is great because
feedback is coming from a variety of sources, other argue that it
“may hurt more than help”. (Pfau, Kay, Nowack, and Ghorpade,
p. 54) Part of the disagreement stems from “disagreements
between rater groups…resulting confusion creates challenges
for employee development”. (Pfau, Kay, Nowack, and
Ghorpade, p. 54) All that this shows is that the 360 degree
program is not all that different from what is currently used
today at MHSI. There is still a difference between managers and
how they rate individuals.
Recommendations
Te recommendation is to revise the current appraisal process by
following a simple set of steps: “start with the job description”,
“clarify performance expectations”, and “apply an objective
ratings scale”. (Anonymous, p. 1) The Human Resource
department should verify and / or develop a detailed job
description for each employee. Then using that job description,
each department should have a specifically designed appraisal
process developed. While many of the current items should be
included, the evaluation of each employee should be based on
their individual job descriptions to provide them with a clear
line of expectations. Secondly, set up a program where

8. employees and managers go through the process several times a
year. This will help communication build between the manager
and the employee and hopeful lesson any surprises at the end of
the year. In fact, let the employee have input on particular goals
they may have or where they feel they need help. This opens the
door for more “comprehensive, constructive” feedback from
both sides rather than the employee feeling left out. (Stella, p.
10)
Conclusion
In summary, the current process for evaluating employee
performance is out of date and in desperate need of attention.
Employees feel that the appraisal process is not value added and
that managers are not communicating effectively to allow
employees the chance they need to improve. The current format
is generic and very open to interpretation and no longer is in
line with current company goals and initiatives. To evaluate the
current process and adjust it to meet current company initiatives
providing more feedback between managers and employees will
provide a stable and consistent platform to evaluate employees
and help them become more focused on company goals and
initiatives. Everyone wants the opportunity to improve and feel
that they are an asset. Up grading the current process will only
help improve relations between employees and management.
Topic: Employee Discrimination
You are
an I/O Consultant preparing to advise the manager or CEO
about an issue
directly relating to their organization.

9. You will be researching a specific topic related to I/O
Psychology that would be useful
and informative to a manager or CEO of a company. You will
synthesize your findings
from the research literature and present them as if you were
advising that manager o
r
CEO on that issue.
First you will find at least four journal articles on your chosen
topic
and write an
annotated biblio
graphy summarizing each article
.
Finally you will then
synthesize your
findings in a
3 to
4
page summary paper
of what you found, the pros and cons found in
the research, and your recommendation to the manager or CEO
concerning this issue

10. in their organization.
W
rite an annotated bibliography of each summarizing their main
points in non
-
research
language, including agreements and disagreements on particular
findings. Next the
summary paper should explain why this particular topic is impor
tant to the workplace
and how the organization’s leaders and employees can use the
information.
Additionally you will make suggestions for this organization
based on your research
findings.
The paper should be presented in a professional
way, nicely form
atted, free of
spelling and grammatical errors, and presented in a clear and
structured way
.
Annotated Bibliography:
This bibliography should include the four research articles you
will use for your paper.
T
hese articles need to be on the previously approved topic for the
research summary.
For each article, you need to provide

11. ·
The citation in APA style
·
A brief (no more than 1 page) summary of each article. The
summary shoul
d include:
o
The basic premise and research question of the study
o
The methodology
o
Results
o
Conclusions
Summary Paper:
You paper should not simply be a summary of your articles (as
you did that in the
annotated bibliography). Rather, it should be geared a
t professionals who do not have