Appraisal Methods: Performance appraisal means evaluating an employee's current and/or past performance relative to his or her performance standards. Stripped to its essentials, performance appraisal always involves (1) setting work standards, (2) assessing the employee's actual performance relative to those standards, and (3) providing feedback to the employee with the aim of motivating him or her to eliminate performance deficiencies or to continue to perform above par (Dessler, 2015, p. 260). Reflect on your own personal experience with performance appraisal:

A. Identify one performance appraisal method with which you are familiar.

B. Provide the textbook definition for that particular performance appraisal (from our current textbook or other valid resource).

C. Describe the pros and cons of the performance appraisal as identified in the textbook or other valid resource.

D. Tell about your own personal experience with its use and whether you would recommend the continuation of the method or the suggestion of another.

HR Metrics: According to the web page article, "20 Common HR Metrics and their Formulas," located on the ERC: Where Great Workplaces Start blog site at http://www.yourerc.com/blog/post/20-Common-HR-Metrics-and-their-Formulas.aspx HR metrics and measurements can be powerful in showing areas where we could improve and better meet the needs of our organization and its employees. They can also provide meaningful data to help us make good decisions for our business and department ("20 Common HR Metrics and their Formulas," 2014, para 1).

A. What metrics do you think are most crucial to your organization? Why? (Identify at least two (2) metrics and provide the formula that would be used for each.)

B. What data or information needs to be gathered or tracked to calculate these metrics?

C. How will the data be analyzed or benchmarked? In other words, what will you compare the data to?

D. How will the analysis be used for action planning, development/ improvement, or problem solving?

Going International: You are the president of a small business. What are some of the ways you expect "going international" will affect HR activities?

The initial posting is to be 200-300 words in length and supported by at least two sources properly cited and referenced: an academic journal article published within the last 3-5 years.