Performance Management

Instructions

Read the case study “Dovernet” (Simons & Kindred, 2017)

Question 2
Develop the following tools for supervisors to evaluate competencies of product team managers at Dovernet:

a) Behavioural rating scales for three competencies: leadership potential, mentoring skills, and team cohesion. Perform some desktop research to ensure that the competencies are appropriate to the case context. (20 marks)

b) A competencies development plan: Using course concepts, explain the reasoning behind this development plan. Provide ONE (1) example of a development plan for an employee described in the case study. (10 marks)

c) A set of goals that cover the three competencies (leadership potential, mentoring skills, and team cohesion): Using course concepts, develop a set of goals for an employee described in the case study. Explain the reasoning behind the goals you have set for the employee.

Dovernet

“Zynga’s Tough Culture Risks a Talent Drain,” by E. M. Rusli,

General managers submit weekly reports, measuring factors like traffic and customer satisfaction. Every quarter, teams assess their priorities under an Intel-pioneered system called “objectives and key results.” And Mr. Pincus, a professed data obsessive, devours all the reports, using multiple spreadsheets, to carefully track the progress of Zynga’s games and its roughly 3,000 employees.

But the heavy focus on metrics, in this already competitive industry, has also fostered an uncompromising culture, one where employees are constantly measured and game designers are pushed to meet aggressive deadlines.

Several former employees describe emotionally charged encounters, including loud outbursts from Mr. Pincus, threats from senior leaders, and moments when colleagues broke down into tears. For the top performers, the rewards are handsome. Zynga dispenses lavish gifts like vacations and $100,000 invested stock.

Those who do not perform can perish. While such a culture is not uncommon in the game industry, it can create problems. Employees at Electronic Arts and Activision Bli77ard have filed lawsuits against their employers, with claims of hostile work conditions and withheld compensation.

We’ve learned that when companies treat talent as a commodity, the consequences are severe,” said Ms. Toledano of Electronic Arts. “It takes years to repair a reputation.”