GENERAL >IICROSCOPY 



uum, iiidcpcMident of what is generally paid 

 by other firms. 



Accordingly, as in most management prac- 

 tice, the top level of each research salary 

 range is determined by surveys in coopera- 

 tion with similar research organizations. 

 Once the broad salary ranges have been es- 

 tablished, it is possible to fit in the various 

 levels of competence required in research 

 work. Here again despite numerous experi- 

 ments, psychologists and testing experts 

 have never been able to come up with a 

 screening method which can evaluate the 

 ability of professional personnel independent 

 of the two major factors of education and 

 experience. For this reason, the compensa- 

 tion for new research personnel coming di- 

 rectly from the university is based on their 

 level of education. 



In attempting to fulfill its responsibility 

 of utilizing personnel at their highest poten- 

 tial, our research management has developed 

 a combined evaluation and counselling pro- 

 gram. This involves the use of a Counselling 

 Guide and a Performance Review form, in 

 conjunction with two employee interviews. 



The objective of this method of review of 

 an employee's performance is twofold: 



1. For Management: To provide the im- 

 mediate supervisor and higher levels of man- 

 agement with a means of evaluating the 

 performance and potential of each employee 

 and of summarizing this information in re- 

 ports. 



2. For the Employee: To enable him to 

 review his own performance objectively, 

 both alone and with his supervisors; to 

 learn how he is doing and where he is going, 

 and to insure that he has the fullest oppor- 

 tunity for maximum improvement and de- 

 velopment. 



The Counselling program involves five 

 general steps to complete the review of an 

 employee's performance through forms and 

 interviews. They are: 



1. Distribution and explanation of forms 

 to employee. 



2. Com{)lcli(jn of the forms, insofar as 

 possible, by both the employee and his 

 supervisor, independently, prior to the 

 counselling interview. 



3. The coun.selling and performance re- 

 view interview between the employee and 

 his supervisor. 



4. Discussion of the completed forms by 

 the supervisor and the next level of super- 

 vision. 



5. An interview between the employee 

 and his second-level supervisor to discuss 

 results of the evaluation and the interview 

 with the employee's immediate supervisor. 



Why do we suggest distribution of these 

 forms to the employees as a first step? Pri- 

 marily, because we know that people tend 

 to dislike and distrust what they do not 

 understand. By giving them an opportunity 

 to look over the forms at their leisure — and 

 by suggesting that they make an attempt 

 at a self-analysis, we believe some normal 

 psychological resistance may be removed. 



The Counselling Interview is probably the 

 most difficult step in the over-all Counselling 

 Program because the supervisor and em- 

 ployee meet face to face to discuss personal 

 opinions. The supervisor should conduct the 

 interview skillfully and with great tact so 

 that criticism will remain factual and con- 

 structive rather than subjective and emo- 

 tional. The two persons should meet in an 

 atmosphere of mutual respect and with the 

 same objective of further developing pro- 

 fessional or administrative ability. 



In conclusion, I want to make it clear that 

 the specialist or professional we are talking 

 about is a scientist who is advancing his 

 knowledge and not just going along on his 

 own experience. He does not know all the 

 answers and will try new approaches and 

 experiments to try to solve even old prob- 

 lems. The specialist who knows all the an- 

 swers is not growing in his profession, he is 

 a technician getting more proficient doing 

 things over and over again with exacting 

 skill. 



George L. Royer 



384 



