Global Cultural Differences

Performance management systems and appraisals are very common in the United States and some other countries. However, challenges can be experienced when performance management approaches are used in other countries where multinational organizations have operations, or when they are used with employees who have diverse backgrounds with characteristics very different from those of an American background.

In some countries and cultures, it is uncommon for managers to rate employees or to give them feedback, particularly if some points are negative. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, China, and Japan, there is a high respect for authority and age. Furthermore, in some cultures, employees may view criticism from superiors as a personal attack rather than useful constructive criticism and feedback.

Task: Working with your HR Department, develop a short presentation for an orientation session with new employees that discusses the importance of using an ethical and respectful performance management system. Describe what it would look like with your current employer. If you are not employed, be creative and develop one you would like to implement wherever you work in the future. Alternatively, you can refer to this type of situation at a past employer.

Note that younger workers today do not want to see slides full of words or clip art. They want to see no more than “5 words and a picture” on each slide, and the pictures must be of real people. All those other words you want to put on each slide must be put on the notes pages instead of on the slides.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Your presentation should be between 8 and 12 slides (not counting the cover and reference list slides) but can be more slides to meet the preferences of today’s younger workers. (There should be only one topic on each slide—of 5 words or less.) Each slide should have a picture of real people rather than clip art people.