Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Ethics of Interviewing - Section H
How would you handle ethically handle this employment situation as proposed in our text, “Communicating at Work” by Adler and Elmhorst? You know that an employee has been leaving work early for the past several months. You hope he will volunteer this information, without you having to confront him. During his performance appraisal, how can you raise the issue with this employee? This blog comment is due by the beginning of class on Friday, Feb. 13th.
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During this employee's appraisal, it would be treated as a standard interview. As the interviewer, I would start using the “funnel” style, which allows for more open-ended questions first, slowly getting down to direct questions. I would ask questions such as, “How is your life at home going?”, “Is there anything you plan on doing over the upcoming weekend?” By giving my employee the open-ended questions first, he will hopefully become more comfortable talking with me. By doing this, he may admit to leaving work early or disclose the reason why. He may have felt intimidated over the past few months and was unsure if he asked for a change in hours what would happen.
ReplyDeleteIf this did not work, I would have to directly ask him why he was leaving work early since this is obviously an issue since it has been happening over the past few months. If nothing could be done to settle his later working hours, then as his supervisor, I would ask him to come in early to offset the time he has been skipping on or come to compromise on his reasoning.
Then after bringing this up, and possibly being too forceful, I would modify the style to resemble an “hour-glass”. I would do this only to keep my employee calm, comfortable with working for me, and relaxed with myself, so if there is a problem in the future, it can be resolved sooner.
According to Adler and Elmhorst, a performance appraisal interview reviews the performance of employees and help sets targets for the future. In this case the employee who has consistently been leaving work early for the past few months should receive a poor performance appraisal. Without the employee offering this information its important one asks a series of questions in order to resolve this issue. By defining the goal as changing the behavior of the employee, one must offer a sense of understanding and commitment. This should be a moderately structured interview which ensures the importance of the situation but should also offer flexibility and circumstantial. I would begin asking the employee some basic open questions to relax the interviewee and understand his feelings and opinions. This would give the employee a chance to admit and explain his inability to stay at work for the full time over the course of a couple months. If he failed to admit to leaving work early I would start asking direct questions such as “Why have you been leaving work early?” “Is there a problem?” This is direct and offers a chance for valid explanation from the employee. Through this whole process I would maintain myself and be calm and collected so it would be reflected through the employee.
ReplyDeleteTo handle this situation, I would approach my employer in an interview like manner. I would assume that by doing so, he would eventually own up to his own mistake without me pursuing further and telling the boss. I would start making conversation with the employer than hopefully it would form into a interview like format. I would start the conversation with open-ended friendly comments, just about his everyday life and how things were going. I would than proceed to asking him more hypothetical questions. In this case, a good question would be, "What would you do if you caught a fellow employer leaving work early". If this didn't get him to own up to his actions than I would go with a different approach. I might try asking leading questions, to get him to eventually answer with the correct response. An appropriate question might be, "You aren't really leaving work early are you?". If this didn't work my final attempt before approaching the boss would be asking him a direct question like, "Are you leaving work early?"
ReplyDeleteAs illustrated in our text, “Communicating at Work," a performance appraisal is a form of interview in which the quality of a subordinate's work is discussed. As the interviewer, I would be prepared to discuss the worker's early departure from work over the past few months, however, I would not want to bring the subject up. I would hope that he would admit this information.
ReplyDeleteI would start off the appraisal by asking open ended questions such as "How are you today?" and "How is your family doing?" The purpose of these open ended questions is to relax the employee, and gain his trust. In gaining his trust, I would hope that he would admit that he has been leaving work early. This form of interviewing is illustrated in the text as the "funnel" form, in which the interviewer begins with open questions, and then ends with closed questions.
I would also incorporate some primary questions, which introduce new topics or areas within topics. I would say something such as "Have you had enough time to get your work done?" I would hope that in asking the employee this type of question, that it would open the topic of his leaving early for the past several months.
During an appraisal interview, the interviewer is the party who has a serious, particular purpose. The interviewer’s purpose is to find out why his employee has been leaving work early for several months. I would use a moderately structured interview. I would prepare possible questions in order of seriousness; it would not be affective to directly ask the interviewee why he has been leaving work early. I would ease into the topic without seeming disrespectful, intimidating or careless of the other party’s feelings. Making the interviewee as comfortable as possible will result in an honest response.
ReplyDeleteIn this situation, the use the hourglass question-response phase would work best. This phase starts out with open questions, continues to closed questions, and ends with open questions. Open questions, in the beginning of the interview, can give me, the interviewer, a chance to ask questions about how the employee is dealing with work. These questions will help the interviewee relax, so he is at ease once it is time for me to ask questions regarding the objective of the interview. These questions can slowly lead into more direct questions about his early absence, such as “have you been leaving work early?” or “Is there a reason for you leaving work so early?” Then, the questions turn back into open questions. This gives the interviewee a chance to explain himself and his actions.
This interview should take place in a private setting, such as an office with the door closed. Both parties should be free of distractions and away from employees who might eaves drop. This is personal information between only the interviewee and me. The goal of the interview is to find out why the employee is leaving early. As the interviewer, the best way to reach the goal is to make the interviewee as calm as possible, so that the problem can be resolved peacefully.
When handling this employees performance appraisal I would approach it as a moderately structured interview. I would start asking the employee some open-ended questions like how his personal life is going and if everything is good. This would hopefully allow for the employee to become relaxed and open up. I would then start a new topic by using a primary question such as, " How do you think your performance has been over the past few months?". Hopefully this would get the employee to admit that he has been leaving work frequently. If that didn't work I would then use an opinion question, "What would you do if your employee's were leaving early?". If they employee still didn't admit that they were leaving early I would finally just use the direct question, "Are you leaving work early?". They would have to then answer the question that they are leaving work early.
ReplyDeleteI would begin the employee's appraisal the same way as any other; by reviewing his progress and reminding him of his goals. This would not only revive his work ethic, but it will also draw away any doubts he might have going into the interview. If he is still startled, I will ask one or two open-ended questions to pacify him further; all the while keeping a forward yet relaxed attitude. After that, however, I will begin to get serious with the employee as I ask closed questions about his recent activity. When I get around to asking about problems, though, I will ask the question openly, hoping that my previous hospitality will allow him to come clean with his lateness. If he gives a justifiable reason, I will ask that he and I arrange a time schedule that works for him and, if he chooses to do so, that he adds his reasoning to the report as an attachment. If his explanation is weak, however, I will regain my seriousness but still show mercy by assigning his days an hour earlier in a calm manner, telling him he has one more chance. In short, the meeting will either be an hourglass wide at the very center (for the question of issue) or two funnels stacked upright (question of issue starts the second) if he answers truthfully or not, respectively.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to give this employee a performance appraisal, I would handle it like a routine interview. I would begin with an open question in order to break the ice and begin some sort of conversation. I would then use the "funnel" question response phase to narrow the conversation down to what I as the interviewee, want to talk about. I would then ask an indirect question like, "if you were in my position, and an employee repeatedly left work early without informing their boss or supervisor, what would you do?” and see how they respond to your question. I would then let them respond to the question however they chose to, and if they did not come clean about them leaving early, I would move to my next question. I would then ask a direct question like, “Do you have a problem with your job, or hours?” because maybe they have family things they need to take care of and is why they leave work early. I would listen intently, and if there was no indication of family or other important issues I would then ask another direct question like, “Why do you leave work early repeatedly?” and be nothing but straight forward with them. If there was no legitimate excuse, I would inform the worker that they are obligated to work a full work day and that I do not expect to see them leaving work early unannounced again. Though I would be stern, I would also have to being understandable and listen intently to what they have to say.
ReplyDeleteThe issue can be raised by asking different types of questions to try and tempt the employee to discuss his or her leaving of work early. Confronting the employee or brining the topic up on my own is unethical and could create an uncomfortable situation for both parties involved. The textbook explains that a performance appraisal looks back at overall performance of an employee and sets goals for the employee’s future. The funnel question sequence would be the most effective way to tackle the issue. First, open questions would be asked to allow answers to be more detailed about the employee’s past. If open questions fail to tempt the employee to talk, then closed questions could be used to keep the performance appraisal structured and restrict the employee’s response. The funnel structure should raise the issue, but if not an adjustment in question type is needed. I would move on and ask an opinion question to see what the employee’s judgment is about leaving work early. The question is not directly asking the employee if they have left work, but it opens up discussion on the topic. My last resort to solve the issue would be to ask a direct question. A direct question is straight-forward, but the employee many not want to answer the question because he or she is embarrassed about their actions. There is no easy way to avoid confrontation with the employee, but different tactics could be used to try and ease the conflict of the issue. The employee should act ethically and volunteer that he or she has left work early for the past several months.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, to handle this situation fairly and ethically, I would ask myself the question, what benefits and what harms will each course of action produce, and which alternative will lead to the best overall consequences? After thinking this over, I would treat this appraisal like an employer to employee interview. I will use the hour-glass interview which starts with open-ended question, then closed-ended questions, and finally ending with open-ended questions again. The reason for this is because I would like to begin the interview by keeping the employee calm. By doing this, I would easily be able to analyze the person and make him or her feel comfortable. I would ask question such as “how are you doing?” and “how is life at home going?” With these simple questions, I would hope the employee will come straight forward and tell me why he or she has been leaving work early. If these questions fail to get an answer, I would have no choice but to ask closed ended questions that get right to the point. An example of this would include “So why have you been leaving work early the last few months, is everything okay?” After finding out the reason why the employee has been leaving work early, I would come to the decision if he or she was right or wrong. I would conclude the interview with open-ended question to make the employee feel comfortable again. By using this hour-glass interview, I would hope the employee understands why I had no choice but to confront him or her, and realizes that I acted ethically by giving him or her a chance to speak their mind.
ReplyDeleteThe performance appraisal interview is used to discuss the quality of the subordinate's performance. The employee would receive poor marks and ask them if they think they could improve in any way. After talking through the employee things that could help him improve a suggestion for them to stay extra time to help the company out might bring out the fact that they have been leaving early. This review interview also gives you time to touch base with the employee. Try to find out if everything outside of work is going well. Before rapping up the interview questions should be asked on what things management could do better, and also ask if their work hours are acceptable and ask if they are working to much. Management and the subordinate should each set goals for each other and the interview considered over.
ReplyDeleteDuring the performance appraisal, I would use the funnel sequence approach to raise the issue of leaving work early with my employee. I would first start off with open-ended questions so that the employee can get comfortable. One open-ended question I would ask is how the employee views his overall performance is at the job. This can lead to the employee acknowledging the fact that he has not been doing his best. If this does not work, then when I start to get to the closed questions, I would then ask the employee directly about why he has been leaving work early. I would remain calm and respectful throughout the interview and I would give the employee chance to inform me about the fact that he leaves early. It is also the responsibility of the interviewee to be honest, so I would hope the employee would be honest.
ReplyDeleteThe interview I would be having with this employee would be an appraisal interview. I would begin the conversation asking him or her questions concerning how things may be at home. I would ask them if everything was okay and offer any type of help. Hopefully this will improve our employment relationship. I would then ask him/her indirect questions about the issue of them leaving early, which will hopefully get the employee to admit to their wrongdoing. If the employee does not confess then I will be more direct with them. After finding out the reasons, I would let them know that this behavior was inappropriate and how we, as a team, can resolve this situation. I would follow up by counseling the employee and letting them know where they stand, as for areas they are doing well in and areas that they need improvement. I would like them to feel they are essential to the company, but to a certain extent. Finally I would set goals for the future. The goals I set will allow the employee to see that they must become more serious about their job if they plan to be successful. My objective of the appraisal interview would allow the employee to come to me about any problems, bringing more comfort to the workplace. The employee should have the feeling that we care, as a company, and we are here for them as they should be here for us; that we took the effort to work with them about their issue and that if the action would be repeated they would be letting us down. Hopefully this interview will resolve the problem avoiding any embarrassment or resentment but rather content on how the situation was approached and resolved.
ReplyDeleteIf an employee has been leaving work early for the past several months, the proper way to confront him or her is during a performance appraisal styled interview. Holding a performance appraisal styled interview would be used to discuss the overall quality of a subordinates work, and during this time, questions could be brought up about the issue at hand. The interview would most likely be more of a structured interview where the interviewer would have more control over the situation, yet not too structured where it would be a quick interview with little information given. The format would start out as a “funnel” styled interview, and judging by the interviewee’s answers would either stay as a funnel or switch over to an hourglass style. The reasoning for a funnel interview would be to ease the employee into the answering the question or coming out with the motive for leaving work early. Early questions would regard the employee’s personal life, as well as personal feelings and or other issues with the employee. If the interviewer did not receive enough information, the interviewer would have to switch forward to a more concise approach and ask direct questions. By going into the funnel or hourglass approach you would try to build a trust bond with the interviewee, and since honesty would be extremely important in a situation of this nature, this would allow the interviewer to get the answers they were looking for. After asking direct questions to the employee, if the interviewer has their questions answered they can choose to calmly end the interview in a more open ended fashion, as well as finalizing the issues of the situation with the employee at hand.
ReplyDeleteI, as the interviewer, would want to start with some open-ended questions just to get the employee to start opening up to me. I would ask how the employee is doing and how his family is doing to see if the employee would tell me why he might be leaving early. Then I would start to focus the questions making them more closed-ended, like in an hourglass style interview. I would also emphasize that what he says will stay between us unless completely necessary to divulge it. Also, I would tell him that I would try to work with him to figure out how to make sure all of the work continues to get done, if he needs to continue to leave early. Then, in order to try to keep our professional relationship from becoming awkward, I would move back towards open-ended questions finishing the hourglass. I would finish up by asking for any questions and seeing if there was anything that the managers could do better to help in the future.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Adler and Elmhorst, they explain that as an interviewer you need to allow the interviewee to be allowed to make free responses. This simply means, you need to ask open ended questions that will allow the interviewee to give which ever answer he wants. To do this the best way you would use the hour glass approach. Firstly, you get the interviewee to start talking a lot. Secondly, you get the interviewee to answer a couple short direct question. The point of this is to clarify exactly what is going on. Lastly, you end with an open ended question such as, What do you think of people who leave work early? or What kind of reasons would someone have for leaving work early? However the interviewee answers the question you will accept and move on.
ReplyDelete-Eric B
Interviewing employees can be nerve racking, especially when the interviewer has a specific problem they’d like to address. In this case, an employee has been skipping out of work early for a couple months and the interviewer is reviewing his/her performance and has to undoubtedly confront the person about it. In my opinion, the interviewer should use the “funneling sequence” to conduct the interview. Building rapport, especially in this situation, is necessary. When the interviewer has completed orienting themselves with the employee, they should begin to gently motivate them in the direction they want the interview to go. Hopefully, when the employee feels comfortable, they will see fit to volunteer the information that they have been skipping out of work early. If not, the interviewer should be prepared to move into phase two and use “critical incident questions” in their interview. I believe this would be better than using indirect questions and beating around the bush to arrive at the conclusion. The interviewer should try being unbiased and be fair and listen to everything the employee has to say. Once the incident is resolved, hopefully the interview would flow smoothly and comfortably. If I were the interviewer, and the meeting ended with the employee’s job still intact, I would be sure to highlight their other good qualities and mention some first-rate work they have done to make them feel better. You do not want the interviewee leaving after phase three feeling sour and demeaned.
ReplyDeleteA performance appraisal is a good time to share with your employee how you feel they are doing with their job and if you think that they can work on anything to improve. The employer should share with the employee an outline of what will be talked about and about how long the process will take. First, as the employer, I would review the employees progress. I would reiterate what we will be discussing and let them know that if they want to share anything at all with me to share at anytime. Then I would discuss the employees successes, problems, and needs. Talking about the employees successes first will help to put the employee at ease and will help them to feel comfortable talking to me because they know that I have noticed all the work that they have been putting in. Then I would ask them what they felt they were having problems with. If clocking out early was not one of the problems that they voluntarily shared with me I would probably share with them that I had noticed a change in their working habits. I would then show them their out times recently compared with the hours they used to work. It is important to maintain a balance throughout the evaluation, so by sharing their successes and problems are sort of evening the playing field. I would say while you are excelling in your work, this is something that you need to work on. I would then begin to set goals with the employee that I feel they should work on. When setting these goals it is important to keep in mind to only focus on the most important aspects of the job, to be specific, and should be slightly challenging to the worker. I would make leaving at the scheduled time one of their goals, and I would share that if they are having any problems with their schedule to talk to me about it and maybe I could move around their schedule. It is always good to compromise with your employees, they will in turn respect you more. If that employee needed to be out earlier I would simply ask them to come in a little bit earlier. There are always ways to be able to make your workers happy, it is just a matter of communication in order to do that.
ReplyDeleteIn a situation where an employee is leaving work early, I would begin by asking him general question about his job here and review what he has done for the company during his employment at his performance appraisal. While looking up his file, check to see if his early departure from work has hurt the company in any way. During his performance appraisal, I would begin by asking him indirect questions to gather information about him and later more direct questions. I would ask him how the workplace has been for him, if he feels uncomfortable around any other employees and other questions pertaining to the job and whether it has been challenging or too easy. Then I would ask him about his personal life and whether anything has been troubling him back at home and if it affects him in any way. There is a possibility that through the use of these questions one can find the source of his actions and explain why he has been leaving so early from work. If these questions haven’t presented the evidence you needed to come up with an explanation I would then start asking him more direct and open ended questions including the answer to why he has been leaving work so early and whether or not he has comments as to why he has done so. This method, in my opinion is the best way to confront the issue in a manner in which the employee doesn’t feel uncomfortable and would allow him to answer more truthfully.
ReplyDeleteThis could potentially be a tough situation for a manager, but if you use the proper questions and interviewing style, it can be fairly simple. First off, I would use the funneling sequence of questions. Meaning, the first questions I start off with are fairly open-ended, so I could become comfortable with the employee. I would begin the interview with building a proper rapport, explaining the reason I was there was for a performance appraisal. After we became well oriented with each other, I would motivate him into stressing the importance of being honest with me during this interview. If I am expecting honesty from this employee during this ethical situation, I, as the interviewer, have to follow through on my proper obligations as well. How can I expect someone to be honest with me if I do not follow the proper guidelines? I would only make claims that I can guarantee to the employee in the future. For example, if I told him or her that I would be able to have shifts moved around amongst employees to help his problem (if such a problem exists), than I would have to deliver with this promise. It would only be ethically right for me to do so. I would also promise the interviewee that anything spoke about between us is absolutely 100% confidential. Of course I would give the interviewee my full attention and treat him or her with utmost respect, allowing him or her to make willing responses and feel comfortable doing so.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would like to believe that if I was the boss of this employee I would have brought this problem up to the employee before it became a problem. It is ridiculous to think that a boss would allow unacceptable behavior to continue for several months and do nothing, let alone say nothing to the employee. First of all I would try to think logically about why the person may be leaving work early. The first thing to think about is that the employee may have a problem in his/her personal life that he/she is uncomfortable talking about. In that case it is important to approach the subject "indirectly" in order to allow the employee to offer their information on a level that they are more comfortable with. Once finding out if the employee has a personal problem it is important to let him/her know that it is possible to reach a compromise and that the company is only trying to help. Another thing to consider is that the employee may not feel excited in his/her job anymore and therefore has lost motivation to do their best at work. That being said this problem may not be the employees but rather a motivation issue of the entire company. That being said I would ask the employee if he finds his work interesting, and challenging? If there is anything that can be done in order to better motivate employees. These questions are open questions for the employee although they are specific enough that the employee will be able to answer it concisely and specifically in turn. Finally it is also possible that the employee is finishing his/her work early and is leaving early in turn. This is entirely possible, because if the employee was falling behind prior to this performance appraisal it would have most definitely come up at an earlier date. If this is the case maybe the employee should be taking on more work, or more difficult work. The important thing to do in this situation is treat the employee as a team member. This is not a parent scolding a child, this is a Company trying to make its employees aspirations and the Company's aspirations in sync. The employee may feel bombarded as this is the first time I have approached him with this topic, that is why creating a common goal is important. Assuring the employee that we are trying to do what is best for the company as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI would handle the employee’s performance appraisal in a funnel sequence within a moderately structured interview. I would begin with the open-ended questions that would allow the employee to feel comfortable and would then begin to indirectly approach the subject. I would have them tell me what they felt their goals were, how their work was progressing, and what they could to do improve. I would follow up with what was expected of them from an employer standpoint. I would follow the open-ended questions with a hypothetical situation similar to that of the employee’s. I would continue to lead the questions towards the situation at hand. During this interview process I would be sure to follow the ethical ideas of allowing the interviewee to make free responses and treating the interviewee with respect. Although they’re performance has not been as it should be, I would allow them a chance to defend and explain their actions. I would try very hard to work with the employee to solve this issue at hand.
ReplyDeletePerformance appraisal interviews are to discuss the quality of the subordinate’s performance and letting the employee know where he or she stand. During the interview raising the issue of the employee leaving work without actually confronting him could be done with good questioning. The interview is to help develops the employee’s skills by showing them how to do a better job but instead of asking the employee directly if he has been leaving work early I would trying to get him to admit to it using a “funnel” type of interview. This type starts with open-ended questions where you would just ask general questions like “how do you feel about your job now compared to a few months ago?” just to get some round about answers of how he is feeling about his job. This will help learn the employee’s point of view of the company and possibly lead to why he has been missing work. Also, this is the time to possibly find out about family problems or issues this employee might be running into with staying at work the full time. As the interview winds down the interview becomes more directed as you start using closed-ended questions. If the employee has not already admitted to leaving early you could ask a question like “have you ever left work early?” which the employee would have to answer because of how direct the question is. If after this point the employee has still not admitted to leaving early the last few months I would just bring it up at this point because the issue needs to be addressed in the performance appraisal interview and not afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to start out by saying that leaving work early is unacceptable under any circumstance,even if you have closed the books for the month and have nothing to do. Maybe you should research more in depth about your company and think of creative ideas. But through the Appraisal process is the way we would like to get this information out of the employee, without any confrontation because that could get messy. First we would start out by reviewing all of the employees work since the last meeting to see how productive he has been and whether he has been beneficiary to the company. Then we would discuss the successes, problems and Needs. The one thing to watch out is to make sure that all the facts are correct and none of them are wrong because that is the biggest mistake the evaluator can make. I would just ask the employee " Some people have been noticing that you(employee) have been leaving work early once in a while, could you please explain what might be the situation about?". Hopefully the employee would acknowledge this question and explain the situation. This would be by far the best solution because this would include the least drama and conflict.
ReplyDeleteYaro
As an employer, I would plan for this interview to be a moderately structured interview. This way, I would be able to have control of the interview, but with more flexibility in case my employee decides to confess to leaving work early. I would start by asking an open question, to help but the employee to ease, such as "What do you think you could do to be more productive?" I would then follow with the indirect question of "How would you feel if a fellow employee has been skipping out of work early?" This would give them the hint that I may know that he or she has been leaving early. If this does not result in a confession, I would ask the leading question of "Do you think it's wrong to be leaving early everyday?" By now the employee should know that I've found out what he or she has been doing. If they still have not confessed, I would ask the direct question of "Have you been leaving work early for the past few months?" I would then tell the employee the consequences of their actions if they do continue. I feel as if this would be the best case scenario to relay to your employee that their actions have been wrong and can no longer continue.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the book by Adler and Elmhorst, “performance appraisal interviews review the performance of employees and help set targets for the future.” I would start out with the nonstructured interview because this is the easiest way to drop in on the employee and start a general conversation about their feelings at work or personal life. This will give the employee some time to relax and maybe start going off and talking about why he or she has been leaving so early from work. If this doesn’t get your employee to speak up about leaving work early then I would try more direct questions because it’s a great way to get right to the point and get the answer I am looking for. This puts your employee on the spot, but this should make them tell you the truth about leaving work early. If this situation ended up not working I would have to use the inverted funnel sequence to relax my employee and possibly get the answer I have been looking for from the start of the interview.
ReplyDeleteBefore going into the performance appraisal, I would gather all the information needed, making sure this employer is doing everything up too par and his performance is beyond average. If I see that the employee has been slacking at all recently I would start of the interview with open ended questions such as "Is everything going well at home?" "How's the family doing?" etc, making sure he's not stressed out at home and making him feel more comfortable. Once the employee is comfortable with me then I might start asking more direct questions trying to get to the point of why he's been leaving work early. Using the funnel method would really set the mood to be more relaxed but still getting down to the point later on in the interview. Hopefully the employee will come clean and explain why he has been leaving work early and to come to an arrangement, whether it be changing his work hours to comply with his life at home.
ReplyDelete