Performance Management and Appraisal MEDICAL CENTER This healthcare organization provides a wide array of services including inpatient services, transitional care services, and outpatient treatment and testing. A few years ago, the facility changed its performance appraisal methodology. It shifted from a subjective performance appraisal system to a more objective rating system that focused on the actions and behaviors of the employee. This shift can be considered as a good move because the use of behavior-based scales tends to overcome evaluation errors that plague more subjective evaluations. Employee evaluations in this organization were performed once a year. The performance appraisal system was instituted in this healthcare organization as a four-step process: Step 1: The employee performs a self-appraisal first by completing an appraisal sheet and then submitting it to his or her supervisor. Employees generally welcome use of self-appraisal, and it tends to decrease defensiveness about the process. Step 2: The supervisor then responds to the same questions the employee had previously answered based on his or her perceptions and observations of the employee’s performance. Step 3: Finally, the supervisor and employee meet and discuss the ratings on the evaluation. Step 4: The results of the evaluation are intended to then be used as a guiding tool to determine the annual raise of the employee. The questions in the performance evaluation questionnaire were divided into two sections. The first section was based on the overall organizational standards that had been set for the entire hospital. Areas addressed in this section include professionalism, efficiency, and quality of work, respect, and service. Every employee, full-time and part-time, has to complete this section of the performance appraisal. The second section of the appraisal consisted of various competencies for each individual position. These competencies were specific to the tasks required to fulfill the duties of the individual in their respective positions. The competencies, varying greatly from position to position, were based strictly on duties required for that position. This is important, as having similarly situated employees evaluated on like criteria improves the consistency of the appraisal process. In this healthcare organization, both the employee and the supervisor were instructed on the evaluation instrument to rate the employee on each of the areas on the following scale: 0 = Not Applicable 1 = Does Not Meet Expectations 2 = Meets Expectations 3 = Exceeds Expectations This system was implemented to improve performance appraisals and make them more objective. The use of the same evaluation form throughout the organization improved the consistency in the evaluation process. The healthcare organization also used some guidelines regarding what should be done if an employee obtained a certain score. Here is a brief description of the organization’s policies. If ...

1. Performance Management and Appraisal
MEDICAL CENTER
This healthcare organization provides a wide array of services
including inpatient services, transitional care services, and
outpatient treatment and testing.
A few years ago, the facility changed its performance appraisal
methodology. It shifted from a subjective performance appraisal
system to a more objective rating system that focused on the
actions and behaviors of the employee. This shift can be
considered as a good move because the use of behavior-based
scales tends to overcome evaluation errors that plague more
subjective evaluations. Employee evaluations in this
organization were performed once a year.
The performance appraisal system was instituted in this
healthcare organization as a four-step process:
Step 1: The employee performs a self-appraisal first by
completing an appraisal sheet and then submitting it to his or
her supervisor. Employees generally welcome use of self-
appraisal, and it tends to decrease defensiveness about the
process.
Step 2: The supervisor then responds to the same questions the
employee had previously answered based on his or her
perceptions and observations of the employee’s performance.
Step 3: Finally, the supervisor and employee meet and discuss
the ratings on the evaluation.
Step 4: The results of the evaluation are intended to then be
used as a guiding tool to determine the annual raise of the
employee.
The questions in the performance evaluation questionnaire were
divided into two sections. The first section was based on the
overall organizational standards that had been set for the entire
hospital. Areas addressed in this section include
professionalism, efficiency, and quality of work, respect, and

2. service. Every employee, full-time and part-time, has to
complete this section of the performance appraisal. The second
section of the appraisal consisted of various competencies for
each individual position. These competencies were specific to
the tasks required to fulfill the duties of the individual in their
respective positions. The competencies, varying greatly from
position to position, were based strictly on duties required for
that position. This is important, as having similarly situated
employees evaluated on like criteria improves the consistency
of the appraisal process.
In this healthcare organization, both the employee and the
supervisor were instructed on the evaluation instrument to rate
the employee on each of the areas on the following scale:
0 = Not Applicable
1 = Does Not Meet Expectations
2 = Meets Expectations
3 = Exceeds Expectations
This system was implemented to improve performance
appraisals and make them more objective. The use of the same
evaluation form throughout the organization improved the
consistency in the evaluation process.
The healthcare organization also used some guidelines
regarding what should be done if an employee obtained a certain
score. Here is a brief description of the organization’s policies.
If the person being rated received a mark of 1 or 3, then
documentation had to be provided to justify that rating. Also, if
the employee was given a rating of 1 by the supervisor, then
some method of learning was to be designed to help the
employee to achieve a level of meeting expectations. Following
this, the employee was to be reevaluated in this area and was
required to demonstrate abilities to meet expectations.
QUESTIONS
1. Do you think the new system is really more objective?
2. Why do you think the organization requires documentation
for certain ratings?

3. 3. What strengths do you see in the new system? What
weaknesses do you see in the process?
2
MADE to STICK
SUCCESs Model
www.MADE to STICK.com
PRINCIPLE 1
SIMPLE
PRINCIPLE 2
UNEXPECTED
PRINCIPLE 3
CONCRETE
PRINCIPLE 4
CREDIBLE
PRINCIPLE 5
EMOTIONAL
PRINCIPLE 6
STORIES

4. © 2008 by Chip and Dan Heath. All rights reserved. Do not
replicate without written permission.
S U C C E S s
A sticky idea is understood, it’s remembered, and it changes
something. Sticky ideas of all kinds—ranging from the “kidney
thieves” urban
legend to JFK’s “Man on the Moon” speech—have six traits in
common. If you make use of these traits in your communication,
you’ll make
your ideas stickier. (You don’t need all 6 to have a sticky idea,
but it’s fair to say the more, the better!)
Simplicity isn’t about
dumbing down, it’s
about prioritizing.
(Southwest will be
THE low-fare airline.)
What’s the core of
your message? Can
you communicate it
with an analogy or
high-concept pitch?
To get attention,
violate a schema. (The
Nordie who ironed a
shirt…) To hold
attention, use
curiosity gaps. (What
are Saturn’s rings
made of?) Before your
message can stick,
your audience has to
want it.

5. To be concrete, use
sensory language.
(Think Aesop’s
fables.) Paint a mental
picture. (“A man on
the moon…”)
Remember the Velcro
theory of memory—try
to hook into multiple
types of memory.
Ideas can get
credibility from
outside (authorities
or anti-authorities)
or from within, using
human-scale statistics
or vivid details. Let
people “try before
they buy.” (Where’s
the Beef?)
People care about
people, not numbers.
(Remember Rokia.)
Don’t forget the
WIIFY (What’s In It
For You). But identity
appeals can often
trump self-interest.
(“Don’t Mess With
Texas” spoke to
Bubba’s identity.)
Stories drive action

6. through simulation
(what to do) and
inspiration (the
motivation to do it).
Think Jared. Spring-
board stories (See
Denning’s World Bank
tale) help people see
how an existing
problem might
change.
How to Write a Business Memo
Integrated Marketing Communications
‹#›
Why is this important?
Business memos are the most common form of communications
within a corporation, agency or any business.
Writing a succinct, clear, intelligent business memo will help
you succeed in your career.
Your competition already knows how to do this.
Integrated Marketing Communications
‹#›
Format
Virtually all business memos follow this format:
TO: the recipient(s) of this
communications, as specific

7. as possible
FROM: your name and title
DATE: the date the memo is sent
SUBJECT: brief descriptor of the memo’s
contents
CC: who will receive copies (if any)
Integrated Marketing Communications
‹#›
Format
It looks like this:
Integrated Marketing Communications
‹#›
Contents
Generally, there is a logical order to a memo, based on the
assumption that the reader is pressed for time.
Opening Paragraph – Concise reason for the memo and an
overview of information presented
Background – the information that places the opening paragraph
in context
Analysis/Statement of Facts – what you have found
Recommendation – your recommended action
Summary/Next Steps – a very brief recap of the above (if
necessary); what the next steps should be
Integrated Marketing Communications
‹#›

8. Points to remember . . .
Omit the complimentary opening (Dear Dr. Bartlett) and
complimentary close (Sincerely, Mary Walker); this is not a
letter
If sending a hard copy, initial or sign the memo
Make sure you label the memo “Memo” or “Memorandum”
Headings or sub-heads can be very helpful and can tell your
story for you
The body of the memo should be single spaced, double space
between paragraphs
Integrated Marketing Communications
‹#›
MEMORANDUM
To: Date:
From: Copies:
Subject:
Book Reviews
Book Review Editor: Preston G. Smith, CMC
Books reviewed in this issue:
’ Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others
Die
’ Think, Play, Do: Technology, Innovation, and
Organization
’ Results without Authority: Controlling a Project

9. When the Team Doesn’t Report to You
’ The Pursuit of New Product Development: The
Business Development Process
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and
Others Die
Chip Heath and Dan Heath. New York: Random
House, 2007. 291þx pages. US$24.95.
Practitioners working in the innovation front end
need to read Made to Stick at least twice. Read the
book once for pure pleasure with a highlighter nearby.
Read it a second time when you are getting your latest
product idea ready to run the investment-approval
gauntlet for money, people, and time. Applying the
insights and nuggets of wisdom delivered by this book
will help people understand your idea, care about
your idea, and act on it.
By stick the authors mean that sticky ideas are
understood, remembered, and thus have a lasting
impact. The authors’ discussions of practical commu-
nication rest on a foundation of scholarly research.
The Notes section at the book’s end collects the ref-
erences (pp. 259–276). In a welcome touch, Chip
Heath and Dan Heath’s comments on many of the
references bring to life what could have been just a dry
listing. Also in the back of the book is ‘‘The Easy
Reference Guide,’’ comprising key thoughts and es-
sential take-aways from each chapter (pp. 253–257).
Scattered throughout the book are sidebars to the
text, ‘‘Idea Clinics,’’ with before and after examples
showing how to make an idea stickier.
Students in Chip Heath’s Organizational Behavior

10. Course 368 at Stanford Graduate School of Business
helped test and refine the book’s framework. His
coauthor and brother, Dan Heath, is a consultant at
Duke Corporate Education—the custom executive
education practice of Duke University’s Fuqua
School of Business.
In the introduction, the Heaths describe how they
discovered the book’s content by pouring over hun-
dreds of sticky ideas. They found six principles always
at work when building a sticky idea: simplicity, un-
expectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and
stories. Each principle serves as title of the six chap-
ters that follow.
They also discovered an arch villain, the Curse of
Knowledge: ‘‘But wait a minute. We claim that using
these principles is easy. And most of them do seem
relatively commonsensical. So why aren’t we deluged
with brilliantly designed sticky ideas? Why is our life
filled with more process memos than proverbs? Sadly,
there is a villain in our story. The villain is a natural
psychological tendency that consistently confounds
our ability to create ideas using these principles. It’s
called the Curse of Knowledge’’ (p. 19).
In the innovation front end, the Curse of Knowl-
edge often surfaces. The innovator knows more about
this product idea than anybody else. Given this
knowledge it is hard for the innovator to imagine
what it is like not to know it. Because the innovators
cannot readily recreate others’ not-knowing state of
mind, it is tough for most innovators to share their
knowledge with others. The innovators’ knowledge
has ‘‘cursed’’ the innovators’ task of communicating
their knowledge to executives and colleagues.

11. The authors suggest you try the following experi-
ment to make obvious the power of the Curse of
Knowledge. Give a list of 25 well-known songs such
as ‘‘Happy Birthday’’ or the ‘‘The Star-Spangled Ban-
ner’’ to a musically inclined friend—who is assigned
to be the ‘‘tapper.’’ The tapper picks out a song and
J PROD INNOV MANAG 2008;25:103–110
r 2008 Product Development & Management Association
taps out its rhythm to you—the ‘‘listener’’—by
knocking on a table. Before you guess the name of
the song ask the tapper to predict the odds you will
guess correctly.
This simple game was the foundation of a Stanford
University Ph.D. dissertation (Newton, 1990). New-
ton found that the listener’s job—your job in the
game—is not straightforward. Over the course of
Newton’s research 120 songs were tapped out. Lis-
teners guessed only 3 out of the 120. Tappers esti-
mated before the game that at least 50 percent of the
listeners would correctly identify the song compared
with a true accuracy rate of 3 percent.
What accounts for this striking overestimation by
the tappers? Tappers can ‘‘hear’’ the tune, words to
the song, and even the orchestration. This makes it
impossible for them to imagine what it is like to lack
knowledge of the tune, the words, and the orchestra-
tion. On the other hand, listeners are limited to a se-
ries of taps not knowing whether the silences between
the taps are sustained notes or musical ‘‘rests’’ be-

12. tween notes.
Innovators should not unlearn the knowledge they
already have about their product idea. However, they
can use the checklist of the authors’ six principles to
tailor their ideas so other people can recognize their
idea’s ‘‘melody’’ as clearly as the innovator ‘‘hears’’ it
internally.
Discovering the core of an idea is the first of two
steps in making an idea sticky: ‘‘Finding the core
means stripping an idea down to its most critical es-
sence. To get to the core, we’ve got to weed out su-
perfluous and tangential elements. But that’s the easy
part. The hard part is weeding out ideas that may be
really important but just aren’t the most important
idea . . . . It’s about discarding a lot of great insights in
order to let the most important insight shine’’ (p. 28).
The authors deal with finding the core in the first
chapter, titled ‘‘Simple.’’ They use examples drawn
from the Army (‘‘the Commander’s Intent’’) and from
start-ups such as Southwest Airlines (‘‘We are the low-
fare airline’’). The Commander’s Intent is a crisp,
plain-talk statement that appears at the top of every
order. It specifies the desired end state of the order:
‘‘ ‘My intent is to have Third Battalion on Hill 4305,
to have the hill cleared of enemy, with only ineffective
remnants remaining, so we can protect the flank of
Third Brigade as they pass through the lines’ . . .
Commander’s Intent manages to align the behavior
of soldiers at all levels without requiring play-by-play
instructions from their leader’’ (p. 26).
The remaining chapters deal with sharing the
core—ways to get the core idea to stick with others.

13. Unexpected is the second characteristic of sticky ideas.
It focuses on two questions: How do I get people’s
attention? And how do I keep it?
Unexpected ideas are more likely to stick because
surprise makes us pay attention. However, the sur-
prise needs to be applicable to the core idea, or else it
is a worthless gimmick. Holding people’s attention
once they are surprised involves creating a mystery to
produce curiosity.
Concrete, the third characteristic, helps people un-
derstand and remember. Concrete language is a key
ingredient of a sticky idea. It helps newcomers under-
stand concepts. Concrete language also helps people
find a common ground for coordination.
For example, in the innovation front end you have
technologists, marketers, engineers, and executive de-
cision makers all wanting to take in the innovator’s
expert knowledge. However, the difference between
the expert and these newcomers to the idea is the
ability to think abstractly about the idea. The inno-
vator sees the idea’s details as symbols of patterns the
innovator has learned through longer association with
the idea than the newcomers. And the Curse of
Knowledge kicks in because the innovator sees at a
higher level of insight and often talks about these
abstract insights much to the befuddlement of the
listeners.
Credible, the fourth characteristic, helps people be-
lieve. To make an idea sticky, the idea needs vivid,
truthful, core details. The Idea Clinic sidebar in this
chapter asks the question, Which of these animals is
more likely to kill you: a shark or a deer? The answer

14. is, A deer is 300 times more likely to kill you (via a
collision with your car). The idea taps hard statistics
from the Florida Museum of Natural History for
credibility. It is also simple, unexpected, concrete, and
emotional.
Emotional is the fifth characteristic of stickiness. To
make an idea sticky, make people care. The Heaths’
observation, and Idea Clinic teaching in this chapter,
is that empathy emerges from the particular rather
than the pattern. We make people care about our
ideas by associating them with things people already
care about. We avoid the Curse of Knowledge by not
assuming that others care at the same level we do.
Stories, the last characteristic, get people to act.
A story, the Creativity plot, about Ingersoll-Rand’s
overcoming slowness in bringing a new product to
market illustrates the use of stories. The Creativity
104 J PROD INNOV MANAG
2008;25:103–110
BOOK REVIEWS
plot reinforced the Ingersoll-Rand team’s new culture.
Its underlying message was, ‘‘We still need to get the
right data to make decisions. We just need to do it a
lot quicker’’ (p. 230). The team came up with a simple
but effective test that substantially cut the time to turn
out essential data. Inspirational stories have two other
key plots: Challenge (overcoming obstacles) and Con-
nection (developing a relationship that bridges gaps).

15. Most stories contain unexpected, concrete, credi-
ble, and emotional characteristics from the checklist
of six principles. The most difficult characteristic to
build into stories is keeping them simple. Again, it’s
the arch-villain, the Curse of Knowledge, that makes
it difficult to keep stories simple. The arch-villain
strikes most often when the story does not reflect
the core message. The speaker is ‘‘tapping,’’ but the
audience cannot hear the same tune the speaker’s
mind hears.
The Heaths present their book’s subject with skill
and authority. It is a first-class and highly practical
account of how one presents ideas so they are accept-
ed by others.
Reference
Newton, Elizabeth (1990). Overconfidence in the
Communication of In-
tent: Heard and Unheard Melodies, Ph.D. diss., Stanford
Universi-
ty, Stanford, CA.
George Castellion
SSC Associates
Think, Play, Do: Technology, Innovation, and
Organization
Mark Dodgson, David Gann, and Amon Salter. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 254þxiv pages.
US$49.95.
Every once in a while a book comes along that does a
good job of pulling a varied array of elements into a
coherent, useful whole. That is the accomplishment of

16. this book, which, despite the simplicity of its title,
deals with the complexity of the product innovation
process as it applies across a broad spectrum of pro-
jects.
As defined by the authors, these elements fall into
three groups:
(1) Information and communication technology
(ICT), described as ‘‘an enabling technology for
innovation’’ (p. 7)
(2) Operations and manufacturing technology
(OMT), concerned
with the implementation of innovation
(3) Innovation technology (IvT), which is the tech-
nology for creating innovation
The application of the third of these groups is the
primary focus of this book. IvT includes simulation
and modeling tools, virtual reality, data mining, and
rapid prototyping.
The aim of IvT is to facilitate thinking, playing,
and doing (TPD) as a different and superior approach
to the innovation process. Instead of dividing that
process into discrete functions, for example, research
and development (R&D) and engineering, TPD re-
sults in more fluid boundaries between them. The au-
thors argue persuasively, using their research on a
wide variety of in-depth examples of the application
of IvT, that its use ‘‘has the potential to alter radically
the ways in which innovation occurs, and to amelio-
rate many of the uncertainties associated with it,
bringing greater predictability and direction to the

17. process’’ (p. 3).
These advantages are illustrated in the widely var-
ied examples that were the subject of the authors’
research. It should be noted, however, that in the
opinion of this reviewer, TPD is not so much a re-
placement for the multiple stages usually thought of
as defining the innovation process as it is a superior
approach to their consideration and execution.
At its essence, the book consists of three parts. The
first three chapters provide the background for un-
derstanding TPD. Chapter 1, ‘‘Innovation Technolo-
gy,’’ establishes the basis of the TPD approach to
innovation. The material in Chapter 2, ‘‘Understand-
ing Innovation,’’ will be familiar to those working in
the product innovation area.
Chapter 3, ‘‘Using Innovation Technology,’’ illus-
trates the value of IvT for innovation using two very
different examples: Procter & Gamble and Arup, an
international engineering and design services compa-
ny. Arup Fire division, for example, uses simulation
and modeling techniques to design buildings for
speedy emergency evacuations. For one tall London
building, Arup Fire concluded that, contrary to ex-
pectations, evacuation using elevators would be al-
most twice as fast as using stairways (p. 75).
Chapters 4–6 constitute the heart of the book, with
a chapter devoted to ‘‘Think,’’ ‘‘Play,’’ and ‘‘Do,’’
respectively. Thus, Chapter 4 examines the extent
to which IvT technology has provided new aids to
BOOK REVIEWS J PROD INNOV MANAG
2008;25:103–110

18. 105