I need your opinion about unfair performance appraisal in our company.

As the production supervisor for a company, Allan was generally well regarded by most of his subordinates. Allan was an easygoing individual who tried to help his employees in any way he could. If a worker needed a small loan until payday, he would dig into his pocket with no questions asked. Should an employee need some time off to attend to a personal problem, Allan would not dock the individual’s pay; rather, he would take up the slack himself until the worker returned.

Everything had been going smoothly, at least until the last performance appraisal period. One of Allan’s workers, Bill, had been experiencing a large number of personal problems for the past year. Bill’s wife had been sick much of the time and her medical expenses were high. Bill’s son had a speech impediment and the doctors had recommended a special clinic. Bill, who had already borrowed the limit the bank would loan, he had become upset and despondent over his general circumstances.

When it was time for Bill’s annual performance appraisal, Allan decided he was going to do as much as possible to help him. Although Bill could not be considered more than an average worker, Allan rated him outstanding in virtually every category. Because the firm’s compensation system was heavily tied to performance appraisal, Bill would be eligible for a merit increase of 10 percent in addition to a regular cost-of-living raise.

Allan explained to Bill why he was giving him such ratings, and Bill acknowledged that his performance had really been no better than average. Bill was very grateful and expressed this to Allan. As Bill left the office, he was excitedly looking forward to telling his friends about what a wonderful boss he had. Seeing Bill smile as he left gave Allan a warm feeling.

1- From company standpoint, what difficulties might Allan performance appraisal practices create?

2- What can Allan do now to diminish the negative impact of his evaluation of Bill?
Christian Onate