Dear All,

Grateful for a response iro the following:

Is it correct to take a corrective action by penalising a staff during performance appraisal following an error which he/she has made in a process which have led to a customer complaint?

Thanks
Dharmanand

What is the root cause? Usually, staff errors answers the first of the 5whys and because it's superficial, it appears so to an outsider who doesn't know what happens in the organization.

If somebody determines that the buck should stop at the first level, then it would appear that actions should be taken to penalize that particular person. But if you are interested in justice and dig deeper, be ready for some surprises!

Dear All,

Grateful for a response iro the following:

Is it correct to take a corrective action by penalising a staff during performance appraisal following an error which he/she has made in a process which have led to a customer complaint?

Thanks
Dharmanand

As Harry suggested, you have to investigate deep into the staff error to find out the root cause.

But remember, TO ERR IS HUMAN ;)

All humans make mistake and even the person who penalize the staff might have done some mistake. So if I were to confront this issue, I will gauge the complaint and whether it was intentional or unintentional before penalizing. Sometimes a brief counselling also helps.

Dear All,

Grateful for a response iro the following:

Is it correct to take a corrective action by penalising a staff during performance appraisal following an error which he/she has made in a process which have led to a customer complaint?

Thanks
DharmanandThe Deminguite in me is scandalized by the idea: "You have made an error. Whack! Whack!" :whip:

What would be the outcome of this? I have decided, after several years in the military and more in QA since then, that "discipline" is not the same thing as punishment. Discipline is not requiring correction based on personal action.

But correct personal action requires all the employees' input to be correct too. Was it? Correct personal action also requires an absence of constraints to acting properly. Are all constraints to good performance removed?

Is the process well defined? Does everyone understand it? Does it suit the need? Have they been warned before? There are so many questions to ask before I would even fathom touching people's performance reviews.

No is the answer.

Only if the person maliciously sabotaged the process in order to cause the problem for their own personal gain or to make someone else look bad. And it is doubtful that is what happened, now isn't it? Remember, you, or whomever came up with this punishment may make a mistake sometime, too.

Is it correct to take a corrective action by penalising a staff during performance appraisal following an error which he/she has made in a process which have led to a customer complaint?



I say a big NO - never. I would ask - if this mistake has to be escalated to reflect on the performance review - why is this person still employeed by your company?

As Harry said - you need to find the root cause.

Operators don't make mistakes. The process allows a mistake to happen.

If you have this firmly in your mind when you conduct a root cause investigation, you will quickly proceed to the real root cause.

Dear All,

Grateful for a response iro the following:

Is it correct to take a corrective action by penalising a staff during performance appraisal following an error which he/she has made in a process which have led to a customer complaint?

Thanks
Dharmanand

One way to answer this is to put yourself in this situation - how would you feel as that employee? (I'm guessing you aren't...........;))

Dear All,

Grateful for a response iro the following:

Is it correct to take a corrective action by penalising a staff during performance appraisal following an error which he/she has made in a process which have led to a customer complaint?

Thanks
Dharmanand

No, but it happens all the time. You know why? It's easier to find people and beat 'm up than finding true root causes....:(

History is full of "fall guys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_guy)."

Stijloor.