A Large Project Engineering Company Assigns Engineering, Purchasing, Marketing and Support

question 18

Essay

A large project engineering company assigns engineering, purchasing, marketing and support staff to client-based projects, which last anywhere from four months to one year. These project staff report to both the project leader and the manager of their functional specialization. For example, a marketing employee in Project Z would receive day-to-day instructions from the Project Z manager, but would receive career development guidance from the company's director of marketing. The functional manager also places employees in future projects. In the past, project staff were evaluated by the employee's project leader at the time of the annual performance evaluation. However, some employees complained that they had just started the project, so the project leader didn't know their performance. The company wants to introduce a 360-degree feedback process to overcome this and other problems with the performance evaluation system. Describe the specific characteristics of a 360-degree feedback process for project staff at this company and identify two problems that the company should know about 360-degree feedback systems.

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Definitions:

Upward-Sloping Line

A graphical representation indicating a positive relationship between two variables, such that as one variable increases, so does the other.

Positive Correlation

A relationship between two variables where they both increase or decrease together.

Causal Relationship

A connection between two variables where a change in one directly results in a change in the other.

Negatively Correlated

A statistical term indicating that as one variable increases, the other decreases, showing an inverse relationship between two variables.