Assignment Instructions
- Propose solutions to a situation involving work ethic, variability in approaches to care that may be questioned by staff or patients, or need for better compliance with evidence-based practice.
- Discuss the pros and cons of annual employee performance appraisals. Do you feel performance appraisals are the most important part of employee development? Why or why not?
Sample Answer
Propose solutions to a situation involving work ethic, variability in approaches to care that may be questioned by staff or patients, or need for better compliance with evidence-based practice.
One of the situations that involved compliance with Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is on preventing falls among the elderly. In preventing falls, some of the team members might be advocating for restraining the elderly and others on enhancing the elderly's engagement in physical activities. Elderly engagement in exercise is an evidence-based guideline for fall prevention and thus, it is necessary to ensure that all the team members agree on the fall prevention technique (Sherrington et al., 2020). Compliance with the evidence-based guidelines can be enhanced by providing comprehensive training to nurses on the risk factors of falls and fall prevention strategies. This will reduce the nurses' resistance to change and encourage their engagement in fall prevention strategies.
Discuss the pros and cons of annual employee performance appraisals. Do you feel performance appraisals are the most important part of employee development? Why or why not?
Performance appraisals are crucial in evaluating the job performance of employees over a specific time. There are various advantages and disadvantages of employee performance appraisals. Performance appraisals are important as they can be used as a document of the performance of employees over time. The appraisals create a structure where the managers can discuss the employee's performance and it acts as a source of feedback for the employees who are willing to improve their performance. Performance appraisals are essential in clarifying the expectations as employees must have an understanding of what they are expected from them. Additionally, performance appraisals motivate employees by rewarding them with an increase in merit as a part of a comprehensive compensation strategy (Lotich, 2023). Performance appraisals are disadvantageous if not done right; they create negative experiences for both the employees and managers. Other times, performance appraisals are time-consuming for both employees and managers as at specific times, they are responsible for conducting hundreds of appraisals. The appraisals can be subject to natural biases that result in errors in rating. There is a need for managers to understand the biases and eliminate them. If performance appraisals are not conducted properly, the entire process can be a waste of time. Additionally, performance appraisals create a stressful work environment for both the managers and employees (Lotich, 2023). In my opinion, performance appraisals are not the most important part of employee development. This is because I feel that appraisals are only meant to make corrections but not foster the best performance of employees over time.
References
Lotich, P. (2023). Advantages and disadvantages of performance appraisals. Thriving Small Business. https://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-performance-appraisals/
Sherrington, C., Fairhall, N., Kwok, W., Wallbank, G., Tiedemann, A., Michaleff, Z. A., & Bauman, A. (2020). Evidence on physical activity and falls prevention for people aged 65+ years: systematic review to inform the WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. International journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 17(1), 1-9. https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-020-01041-3