Alex Sander Case

This case is about Alex Sander, Product Manager for Landon Care Products, Inc., a cosmetics products company. Sander is, to put it nicely, not the easiest manager to deal with. Landon uses 360 degree performance reviews for their employees. 360 degree performance reviews allow employees to receive feedback from supervisors, peers, direct reports, and sometimes-even customers. This allows for a complete overview of your work ethics by those who know and deal with you the most. Sander, while very young and successful, does not have the most personable work style. Therefore, he feels that the 360 degree performance reviews will not be in his favor.

I work for a community foundation, which is a small non-profit organization that administers endowments and awards grants and scholarships. There are only four employees at the Foundation. Being that it is a non-profit; many executive directors have come and gone through the years. This creates inconsistencies in the organization. No one has created a performance review system for employees. Most of the time it is a once a year sit down with the executive director. They tell you the areas you excel in and the areas that they think need work. There is no input from your peers on your work style, most of whom you deal with more than the executive director does. The executive director in turn, is reviewed by the president of the board of directors. The president does not spend tons of time with the executive director throughout the year, and does not ask for employees opinions. Therefore, the review process, in my opinion, is biased. You cannot properly review someone that you are not dealing with on a day-to-day basis. The process also is not effective because there is no follow up to the suggestions made during the review. For example, the executive director tells an employee that they would like minutes written up within one week of the meeting so information is fresh in the employee’s