Excellence in the Workplace Equals Success

Excellence in the Workplace Equals Success

America is commonly known as the land of opportunity. Many Americans throughout history have started their own businesses with very few employees and strived to the top of the market achieving big names like Nike, Target, and Polo Ralph. With many locations of such large businesses, it is almost impossible to keep track of every hired individual. An easy solution created by Grapevine is the 360 Evaluation process. However, it does have a cost. After all, hardly anything in life is free. So, why do companies buy this program? Grapevine evaluations are used by companies such as A.T. Kearney, Pandora, and Macys to achieve one common goal; excellence in the workplace. Upon excellence, there will be success. Excellence in the workplace can only be achieved when these core values are simultaneously present; teamwork, communication, and commitment. With employee evaluations, it can be ensured that these core values are present among every employee.

I am an incoming freshman at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. While I may be new to the language of business, I understand that success among any group of individuals needs teamwork to succeed. I was on my High School's Varsity Volleyball team for four years. I was captain for two years, and player of the year during my senior year. With a young team comprised of many underclassman my senior year, this quote was very important; \"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.\" I understood that in order to win, I needed to push the younger players to my level of play. I needed to raise them up, because without everyone actively striving for success, the team as a whole will not achieve it. Applying this to a business, even with good individual employees, a business needs teamwork to succeed. Weak links will simply bring the business down. It's the great employees that make the \"link\" stronger by raising them to higher standards so that they can be an actively involved teammate. Employee evaluations can make apparent the weakest link to the stronger individuals so that they may teach and mentor that employee to become stronger. Teamwork is not present without efficient communication. In order for team members to succeed, an expectation must be established. Team leaders must communicate the expectation and do so in an effective manner. The communication must be honest; there is no room for \"sugar coating” in the workplace. Not only must team leaders be effective communicators, but also all of the team's members. Evaluations must be designed to categorize employees by how well they communicate to their team members and to customers. Poor communication skills cannot be tolerated in the workplace because this can lead to mistakes, and mistakes in the workplace can burden a heavy fee. Managers that desire maximum profit do not wish to burden unnecessary fees.

Most important of all, success cannot be existent with commitment. On the volleyball court, it was evident that many players had natural skills. However, it was the players who were the most committed that achieved the most. This can easily be applied to a business. While many employees may be more than qualified for the job, they may not have the necessary mindset to perform the task at hand to the highest expectations. The harsh reality of today’s competitive economy is that being a merely satisfactory business is no longer a feasible option. No longer are customers dependent on the companies and with plenty of other businesses on the market; a switch to a rivaling company is simply one call away. Employees with a lack of commitment are satisfactory at most; they are not excellent. Employee evaluations must be done in order to assemble the most effective team of qualified individuals to ensure an excellent business far from satisfactory. Success needs a team of employees to work together by communicating with one another and showing that they are committed to their business. By actively doing evaluations and hearing from other employees, managers can learn a lot about their employees. Depending on how the evaluation is done, it can tell managers how well employees perform their job with others, how well they work under stress, and how committed they are to the business’s common goal. This information is very beneficial to employers because it can create a more effective team. Employers can drop weakly evaluated employees and add new ones, or they can simply make the “weak links” stronger. Regardless, employee evaluations help ensure excellence in the workplace, and thus ensure success. When an individual sees their evaluation, it can either give them pride in their work, or push them to work harder. Intrinsic motivation and competition can push employees to work at higher levels. A business is merely a large volleyball team, if you will. Without communication, there will be chaos. Each individual needs to actively participate and pull their weight. When the core values of teamwork, communication, and commitment are present among all employee evaluations, that’s when the team, and thus the business, can expect to see great results.

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