41 Sunglow:

An Appraisal Role Play

J. Malcolm Rigby

Goals
To practice skills in counseling, coaching, and active listening. To increase awareness of behavioral and interpersonal factors that inuence an interview. To provide feedback on interviewing effectiveness.

Group Size
Two subgroups of four to six members each. (Additional participants serve as process observers.)

Time Required
Two to two and one-half hours.

Materials
A copy of the Sunglow Background Information Sheet for each participant. A copy of the Sunglow Employee Background Data Sheet and a copy of the Sunglow Appraisal Report Sheet for each member of the managerial team. A copy of the Sunglow Employee Biography Sheet for each member of the employee team. A copy of the Sunglow Interview-Skills Observer Sheet for each observer. A pencil for each participant. A newsprint ip chart and a felt-tipped marker.
The Pfeiffer Handbook of Structured Experiences: Personal Development. Copyright 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. www.pfeiffer.com

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Physical Setting
A room large enough to contain all participants in two face-to-face teams and two separate rooms in which the teams can read and discuss their roles.

Process
1. The facilitator gives a lecturette on the skills required in appraisal interviewing. He or she may elicit such a list from the participants and post it. 2. The participants are divided into two subgroups of equal size, each containing four or six members. Additional participants act as observers. One subgroup collectively is designated as the employee, Fredrich van den Nerk; the other group collectively represents the engineering manager, J.C. Rist. 3. Each participant is given a copy of the Sunglow Background Information Sheet and a pencil. Each member of the managerial team receives a copy of the Sunglow Employee Background Data Sheet and a copy of the Sunglow Appraisal Report Sheet. Each member of the employee team receives a copy of the Sunglow Employee Biography Sheet. Each observer receives a copy of the Sunglow Interview-Skills Observer Sheet. 4. The facilitator explains that all senior staff employees in the Sunglow Pe t r oleum Co. Ltd. are formally appraised once each year by their immediate supervisors. The ultimate purpose of the appraisals, according to the companys guide for managers, is to ensure that each member of the staff makes the optimum contribution to prot improvement within his or her power and to help the individual attain the highest possible satisfaction from the job. The two aims are interrelated. (The facilitator may wish to write this goal on newsprint and post it where all participants can see it.) The facilitator adds that the completed appraisal reports are ultimately sent to the companys central ofce, where they serve as the basis for decisions on staff transfers and promotions. The object of the appraisal interview is to assess the employees performance over the past year as comprehensively and constructively as possible, to discuss and analyze with the employee those factors that have inuenced his or her performance, and to establish a plan of action for the year to come. 5. The facilitator directs the managerial team and the employee team to their separate rooms and tells them that they have one-half hour in which to read the data and discuss the situation. He or she tells them that they will not elect a representative for the interview but that all will play the part of manager or employee, as though each member represented a part of that individuals perThe Pfeiffer Handbook of Structured Experiences: Personal Development. Copyright 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. www.pfeiffer.com

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sonality. In this way several different ways of approaching the interview, for both the manager and the employee, may be tried and processed in the shortest possible time. 6. After one-half hour, the managerial team is instructed to call the employee team into the large room, and the interview begins. 7. After thirty to forty-ve minutes the facilitator stops the interview and leads the participants in a review of the activity. He or she encourages the managers and employees to give feedback to one another. Observers then give their reports. The facilitator solicits examples of helpful and hindering behaviors during the interview and of counseling, coaching, and listening skills used by participants. The group members are encouraged to generalize some learnings about interviewing and to suggest how these could be applied in real-life situations.

Variations
The role play can be followed by a short lecture on transactional analysis and the interview role played once more with each party trying to remain in the Adult ego state. This second role play can involve individual managers and employees, with observers noting the extent to which both parties communicate clearly, listen actively, and stay in their Adult in the TA sense of the term. The effect on the outcome of the interview of Adult-Adult exchanges versus Parent-Child exchanges can be emphasized. Videotape can be used to replay the interview before step 7. The role play can be done in trios (employee, supervisor, observer). The supervisor and employee can reverse roles halfway through the interview. New information about the employee can be introduced into the process.

The Pfeiffer Handbook of Structured Experiences: Personal Development. Copyright 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. www.pfeiffer.com