Dear Mike: Please never apologize for your contribution- I've seen them
in the past and they have been insightful and thoughtful. You're bang
on re: sidling up to the prof. It is done to me every term- and I know
it when it's happening. Part of what I don't like about it is the
insincerity and manipulation that it implies. I wonder when students
tell me they think I'm a great prof if they really mean it or if they
want to score points. Some are very sincere and I form wonderful
relationships with some. But subjectivity is very fraught with
problems.
I've seen it outside of academia as Mike well knows. The resentment that
is harboured by those employees who 'suck it up' is detrimental to a
department or to a work group. The manager who tolerates, even
encourages it, is seen as unfair and playing favourites. It makes those
who either don't play the suck it game or who aren't one of the
favourites feel very defeated about every being able to break through or
make a difference. It is a part of the organizational culture and is
usually a systemic issue which runs through different parts of the
organization.
People need to know their legitimate work will be measured on a fair and
equitable basis and rewarded accordingly. I'm not sure why some people
think grades are a stupid way of evaluating students. I have found it
valuable over the years- as a professor and as a student. They serve as
valuable guides and useful indicators of how we measure up and where we
fell short and could improve, I get very few arguments from students
about grades primarily because they receive what they expected. The
major arguments arise from those who didn't do what was expected, get a
lower grade, and then try to negotiate and rationalize why it wasn't
their fault- you know the drill. Tough love life, too much work, stress
etc etc. Grading is tough- it holds professors accountable to students
and must make you face those whom you may disappoint with a less than
favourable grade. But our jobs aren't to make students happy- it is to
help them learn and improve. Sometimes the only message some get is via
a grade.
I have found that dialogue along the way makes a huge difference to
manage expectations and provide people with clear guidance to
improvement. Therefore, the midterm I set is not a breeze- it is close
in format to the final which is considered tricky but fair. I tell my
students that the midterm is an indicator to them of how they will do in
the final. If they aren't happy with their results and do nothing to
change their practices, they can expect a similar performance. I also
tell them that anyone with a 60% or less must have a meeting with me so
that we can review where they think they went wrong, look at their prep
for the midterm and pull together their plan for how they are going to
improve. In almost all cases they sheepishly admit to be unprepared and
not having done what was expected of them. Those who care usually
always improve their grade on the final. Those who don't, don't. But
all agree that the process was fair, I was their to help and guide them
along if they needed it , and the outcome is rarely a shock.
Mike, not sure how much of this translates for you but my sense, as an
ex-employee, ex-manager and consultant, that lots of talk and feedback-
and most importantly, a transparent and apparent process goes very far
in dealing with the angst. As I told my son's principal, his report
card should never be a surprise to me. It should simply be confirmatory
of what I should have known already through much dialogue, feedback, and
problem-solving through the term. Same applies to the business world.
Phew!! What a long post. Didn't expect to babble on so much. Maybe I
needed to articulate this to myself as well. Thanks for the opportunity.
Cheers
deborah
Deborah Nixon
University of Toronto
704 Windermere Ave
Toronto Ont M6S 3M1
Ph: 416-763-6985
Fax: 416-763-3361
-----Original Message-----
From: Management Education and Development Discussion
[mailto:
MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU] On Behalf Of Mike Kiska
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 12:26 PM
To:
MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: HR Student Reading: Professors Explain it Through Journalis
ts
From Fred Nikols
"On what basis would those grades be awarded?" The "quality" of the
discussions? If so, how are you defining "quality" in that context?
The "relationship" with the professor (or the instructor)? If so, how
are you defining (a) "quality" and (b) "the relationship"?"
My response: What if there were no definitions. What if "quality" were
in the eye of the instructor (I'll know it when I see it.). That
describes our current performance appraisal system. As Deborah Nixon
has so eloquently expressed in a previous post, "Students would want to
know how I would evaluate ... and I think that's a legitimate request.
They don't want things to be arbitrary and unpredictable."
"It's akin to the performance evaluation discussion the other day. While
you want discretion, people need to be clear about what the expectations
are and how the supervisor is evaluating that. Otherwise, it's too
random and you never know how and if you met expectations." (Deborah,
please forgive me for using the above without first getting your
permission.)
In the absence of definitions/expectations, I could see some students
trying to influence instructor subjectivity by developing as close a
personal relationship to the instructor as possible - much the way I saw
some of my mother's students attempt to do with her.
My mother, brother, and uncle have labored in academia, each in a
different university system, for some 25 years or more, so I have some
understanding of how different students approach getting the grade.
Although I hesitated to post my "real world" problem to an academic list
(it probably would be more appropriate for your listserv, Fred), I know
what thoughtful consideration folks in academia contribute to their
chosen fields, and I value such wisdom highly.
Toward the end of every year the organization that currently employs me
goes through a month of performance appraisals, followed by a month of
angst over how distasteful and unfair the process is. This year, since
they have now hired an O.D. guy (me), they want me to earn my keep and
"fix it"! So my thoughts and questions have a real basis behind them.
If any of you have a theory, I would certainly be willing to try to put
it into practice.
Mike Kiska
Training & O.D. Manager - Administrative Services
Jefferson County Public Library
Find us on the Web: http://jefferson.lib.co.us