Jelly Belly makes some of the most innovative flavors of candy including popular flavors Buttered Popcorn, Cappuccino, Caramel Apple, and some not‐as‐popular flavors like Draft (tastes like beer) or Rotten Egg, Booger, and Baby Wipes, created for their Bean-Boozled guessing game. Innovation didn’t extend to their outdated performance appraisal processes. The problem came to light a few years ago when two branches of the family‐owned business merged, creating one company with two ineffective performance appraisal processes that depended on paper forms and outdated software.

Knowing that accurate reviews with clearly communicated expectations and measurable objectives increase employee satisfaction, the HR department set several goals for a new performance appraisal process as they began their research:

• Easy to use so managers would use it. 

• Save time for everyone.

• Web‐based for consistent appraisal processes across multiple locations. 

• Flexible enough to customize different types of forms with competencies.

Once vendor Halogen was selected, Jelly Belly HR spent 2 days in training, and then trained 50 managers on how to use the new system. Benefits were realized quickly. Traveling managers appreciated having access to forms and data necessary to evaluate staff no matter where they were. Supervisors appreciated the ability to provide more relevant comments than they could before. Employees felt the appraisals were better aligned with their job competencies and more interactive with the ability to make comments. The process also met Jelly Belly’s goals for time savings and ease of use, and that’s pretty sweet. 

Questions: 

1. How do the performance management changes made at Jelly Belly address the four purposes of performance management systems in Chapter 3?

2. Explain which of the six steps in the appraisal process seem to be addressed and how they are affected by the new system. 

3. Research: What other companies offer performance management system software? Research two of those systems and explain how their products seem to address the purposes and steps of performance appraisal processes.