(1)   Within the Discussion Board area, write 400-600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions with your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Senior leadership has emphasized that effective performance management is critical to long-term success at Matrix. Communication in performance management is the next topic that you will explore. Since communicating objectives, discussing performance expectations, and dialogue between employees and managers builds success, you will need to discover some best practices to share with the HR department. With you follow classmates, please discuss the following:
Complete the following:

• What are some formal methods of communication in an effective performance management system?
• What are some informal methods of communication in an effective performance management system
• What are some advantages and disadvantages of formal methods and informal methods? 

(2)   5–7 PowerPoint slides; 200–250 words speaker notes per slide; min. 4 

Senior leadership at Matrix International Corporation now has a strong understanding of the importance of performance management and its value to the company. Their knowledge came as a result of the information that you provided to them in your executive summary. The human resources department and your supervisor, Annalise Zajac, the Director of Human Resources, are very proud of the foundation that you have built for them. Annalise has asked you to prepare a PowerPoint presentation in which you evaluate a minimum of 3 different approaches to evaluating performance to share with the HR department. The following must be included in your PowerPoint presentation:

• What are three approaches to evaluating performance?
• How is each typically used?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? 

(3)   Within the Discussion Board area, write 400-600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions with your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

A performance appraisal meeting is held periodically at Matrix so that managers and employees can discuss the results of the performance review and develop positive outcomes. Although at times, managers and employees may have challenges conducting a productive performance appraisal meeting, there are some strategies that can be used to add value and reduce anxiety among managers and employees. With your fellow classmates, please discuss the following:

• What makes performance appraisal meetings valuable?
• Why is it important to discuss the performance diagnosis and future planning during the meeting?
• Why should the manager and employee arrange follow up meetings?