“Allocating Merit Raise” Case Analysis

Abstract Small State University is facing the dilemma of how to allocate the $17,400 that the state agreed to give to the management department. Each qualified candidate’s employment information is given to help determine the merit raise decision. Before the decision can finalize, research and analysis will be conducted. A case solution will include the implementation of management approval, budget recommendations, communication and essential steps of the new policy to the university, and fair distribution of merit raise. Keywords: merit raise, human resources, performance evaluation, merit raise procedures Introduction Small State University has 40 full-time and more than 30 part-time faculty members and enrolls about 8,000 students. There are five departments within the university, which include management, marketing, finance, and accounting, decision sciences, and information technology. The state agreed to give raises of $17,400 to the management department. The faculties in the department are evaluating yearly and their performance is based on teaching, research, and service. The department chairs utilize Far Exceeds Standards, Exceed Standards, Meets Standards, and Fails to Meet Standards are to use judge a faculty’s performance. At Small State, teaching and research are more important than service. A two year student course evaluation is used to measure a faculty’s teaching performance. The number of articles published over a three-year period is use to evaluate a faculty’s research performance. Lastly, service is based on the accomplishments of service to the university, college, profession, and community within a two-year period. As the department chair, it is my responsibility to divide the $17,400 fairly among the faculty members within the law. As an educational institution, merit pay is designed to encourage high effort by rewarding productivity. However, there are times that merit pay is overly awarded, which cause employees to think of it as an incentive. The decision of who deserves the merit pay can be a complication. There are six recipients who are equally qualified for the $17,400 that the state is willing to issue. First, it is important to look at the individual’s profile. Policy The annual faculty evaluation considers teach, research, and service to evaluate a faculty’s performance. To provide the department chair with the information, each eligible member is requiring submitting an Anticipated Activities Plan (See Appendix A) and an Annual Activities Report (See Appendix B) each year. Both reports are due in the month of June each year and will be kept in the member’s file. The department chair will consult members to insure that the scope of the effort and distribution among the criteria is appropriate. How it is determine is based on the nature of the member’s appointment and their anticipated activities report. Procedures Evaluation The department chair will conduct an evaluation by comparing the two reports. When comparing, the report is view as the goal of the plan. In addition, the department chair will use the student and peer evaluations. After the evaluation, each member will be given the opportunity to review the decision and have five days to appeal. After the time is due, the department chair will submit an official written evaluation to the Dean for determination. Determination Merit raises are derived from the evaluations using the four category rating scale in each of the three performance areas. Rating Scale: Far Exceeds Standards 3 Exceed Standards 2 Meets Standards 1 Fails to Meet Standards 0 For Small State University, there are a total of six faculties and an incremental merit of $17,400, which made the merit increment to $2,900. Each member will received as followed: | | Review Cycle Ending: | Be as specific as possible describing anticipated activates in Teaching, Research and Service for the upcoming academic year. Address your plans for the following two years in a more general manner. Identify any major change of emphasis since the last reporting cycle. Emphasize major goals, expected changes in status of ongoing projects, or new initiatives. Indicate what department resources you anticipate are required to accomplish your plan. For example, if you are planning a sabbatical, are considering retirement, see a semester with heavier than normal research demands, envision changing space needs, and list this in as much detail as possible. Context: Major Career Goals In this section, describe the vision you have for your career. Indicate the broad interests or goals that guide your anticipated activities and bind your work into a coherent whole. Provide a context for the anticipate activities listed below so that the way in which each activity supports the common thread is apparent. | | Upcoming Academic Year |Teaching | | |Research | | |Service | | The Academic Year after next |Teaching | | |Research | | |Service | | Two Academic Years from Now Teaching | | |Research | | |Service | | Appendix B Department of business management annual Activities REPORT Faculty Member: |For the Period : | | |June 16, 2010 – June 15, 2011 | All responses go into tables and nearly all responses require that you put your name with each entry. This greatly facilitates the compiling of the information into a department summary for the annual report. All entries below should be in 10 point type to ensure uniformity when compiling. TEACHING A. Classes. For each academic session of the reporting period (Summer, Fall, Spring) list all courses and sections taught. Put one section per line and give the enrollment for that section. Fall Semester | |Course designator, number and full title |Section number |Enrollment | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Spring Semester | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Summer Semester | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | B. Significant contributions. Describe any significant teaching contributions related to these courses (include development of new courses, substantive revisions in content, new instructional techniques, etc. ). If there are anomalies that affect your teaching (for example: extended absence for research or health, unusually high or low teaching l oads, unique teaching assignments, etc. ), discuss them here. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. | | | C. Self-improvement. List changes you have made in your teaching that are the direct result of feedback from students (via evaluations or otherwise) or colleagues. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. | | | D. Independent study/research. This includes PHYS 297, 298, 397, 398, 497, 498, 499, and research not associated with a formal course. This includes students who registered for the class and received credit and for students who worked on a research project and received wages. Include the topic, the student’s name, whether the work is for credit hours or salary, the approximate number of hours per week worked by student, and the outcome(s) for the student. For example, was a paper, a poster, an internal report, an oral presentation, etc. produced? If the student is participating in part of an ongoing project and there is not yet an outcome, indicate this. If a refereed paper was written, a presentation given by the student (oral or poster), or the student simply attended a workshop or conference, note this here and give full information in sections IIC – IIF as appropriate. Fall | |Course and |Student Name |Credit or Salary |Student hours/wk |Student Outcome | |Topic Title | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Spring | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Summer | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | E. Significance of student research. Discuss the significance of these student independent study/research contributions to your research program and to the students. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. | | | SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT A. Grant applications submitted. Put all submitted and newly funded grants here. Provide complete information. The â€Å"life of grant† should give beginning and end dates. Any co-PI’s in other departments at JMU should include the name of their respective departments; co-PI’s from other institutions should list their institutions. In any event, all PI’s and co-PI’s are to be listed. Grant Title |PI |Co-PI |Agency |Life of Grant |1st Year Amt |Total Request |Funded | | | | | | | | |Yes/No | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | B. Ongoing Grants. List here all multi-year grants that are in their second or subsequent years. Here, â€Å"single year amt† refe rs the amount for the current year. Grant Title |PI |Co-PI |Agency |Life of Grant |Single Year Amt |Total Amt | | | | | | | | | C. Publications. List here all papers published in refereed journals. Give complete citation information. In the case of large collaborations (more than ~10), you need list only the name of the collaboration and the JMU collaborators (although you may list all collaborators if you wish). However, it is important that at least the names of all JMU authors are listed so that a unique list of the department’s publication record can be generated. For smaller collaborations, always list all authors. Title |Author |Co-Author(s) |Student(s) |Journal / Volume/ Page |Year | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | D. Published Abstracts. As for publications, always list all JMU authors. Also list student abstracts for which your name does not appear but you supervised the work as listed above in section ID. Title |Author |Co-Author |Student |Jo urnal / Number |Year | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | E. Scholarly presentations. List all presentations given, both on and off campus. Under the â€Å"Meeting/Venue† heading indicate either the meeting (full meeting name and location) or the on-campus function (give specific class, event or symposium). Indicate whether you, your student or collaborator presented the paper in each case by putting the presenter’s name in bold. Title |Author |Co-Author |Student |Meeting/Venue |Date | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F. Presentations given to a general audience. List all presentations given, both on and off campus. Presentations given to school groups should be listed under outreach (section IIID). Under the â€Å"Meeting/Venue† heading indicate either the meeting (full name and location) or the on-campus function (class, event, etc. ). Indicate whether you, your student or collaborator presented the paper in each case by putting t he presenter’s name in bold. Title |Author |Co-Author |Student |Meeting/Venue |Date | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | G. Conferences Attended. Make entries here if either you or your student(s) or both attended a conference, workshop or collaboration meeting. Conference Title |Faculty |Student(s) |Date | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | H. Professional Workshop/Short Course Participation. |Workshop |Faculty |Where |Dates | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | I. Membership in Professional Organizations. Please give the full organization name, not just the abbreviation or acronym. Organization |Faculty name |Office Held | | | | | | | | | | | | | J. Membership in Research Collaborations. List the collaborations to which you belong. Under â€Å"Leadership Role(s)† indicate the collaboration activities for which you are a leader. Under â€Å"List of Projects† list your responsibilities/contributions as a collaboration member. If you are a leader or spokesperson for more than one experiment/project, make a separate entry in the table for each. Collaboration name |Faculty name |Primary research location |Office held |Leadership Role(s) |List of Projects | |or collaborator list | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | K. Honors and Special Recognition Received. Faculty name |Honor /Award |Honoring Organization |Date | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | L. Reviewing/Editing Manuscripts for Scholarly Journals. Include JMU Publications but clearly indicate them as such. Faculty name |Manuscript Title |Journal | | | | | | | | | | | | | M. Reviewing Manuscripts for funding agencies. If the review is done as a member of a panel, give the panel dates, give the number of proposals you read and the subject area of the panel. Faculty name |Manuscript Title |Agency |Dates | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | N. Other significant contributions. List any other scholarly achievements hat you feel are significant but do not fit into the above categories. For example, indicate contributions to funded research for which you are not listed as a PI or co-PI or patents granted. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. | | | O. Significance of your scholarship. Discuss the significance of the items listed in IIA through IIM. Particularly discuss your contributions to collaborative efforts and put these in context. Indicate which items are particularly noteworthy and explain why. For efforts that are part of an ongoing program, put this year’s work into a context. Indicate which, if any, items represent the conclusion of a particular component in your work or the initiation of a new direction. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. | | | PROFESSIONAL SERVICE A. Committees. List the name of the committee chair and indicate the level of the committee. Your name will appear twice if you are the chair of the committee. |Level | Your name |Committee Title |Chairperson |Dept |College |University | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | B. Exceptional contributions. If your contributions to any of the above ommittees are significant (beyond the usual work load and/or of particular importance to the department, college or university), please explain. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. | | | C. Professional consultations. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. At a minimum, include the name of the person/entity/organization with whom you consulted, the dates and outcomes. | | | D. Community and public school outreach activities. Be specific about your role in these activities and put your contribution in context. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. | | | E. Other professional service. List here anything that does not fit into any of the above categories. Explain why these are noteworthy and how they impact your scholarship, teaching or service. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. | | THIS YEAR’S MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT Indicate what you feel is your single most significant accomplishment this year. Explain why it is particularly important to you, your students or the department. Describe how it has or will impact your scholarship, teaching or service. If you expect this accomplishment to have a continuing impact and appear in your anticipated activities report, note this and explain. If this will have a broader impact on the department, discu ss this. Put your name in the left hand cell and the information in the right hand cell of the table. | | |