It is my pleasure to write this foreword. This is a topic dear to my heart. Perhaps I should say it addresses one of the most vexing dilemmas in my work life as a leader and manager.

How do you move your organization forward, keeping your employees positive, committed and focused on continuous improvement? An effective manager needs to identify areas for improvement, to have them understood, accepted and implemented with zest. This is an ideal state. But what is the real state in most organizations?

I've supervised units at two universities in the United States for more than 30 years. The annual performance evaluations happen in the last quarter of the year when we are involved in the budgeting process for the next year and in the final rush of student recruitment. The performance evaluation process disrupts the positive energy developed with staff during the year and worse; I suspect no one at senior levels has time to really read the evaluations and the forms thoroughly.

In the end, salary is really the most important symbol of achievement to the employee – the percentage increase is really determined by a gross ranking of employees by the supervisor.

In a rush, the percentage increase is determined without effective communication between senior managers and line managers. Many factors impacting on performance and results fail to come into play in the process.

More often than not, the employee gets a decent raise, but is perturbed by a few words pointing out areas for improvement, written perhaps in a rush, that irritate more than motivate. One result of this is an employee may react by disagreeing with much of the evaluation or ask for examples, putting the manager in a defensive position. Alternatively, he or she may act as if any negative feedback does not matter and will harbor strong feelings about fairness. Some individuals who are too reticent to speak up due to shyness or cultural norms are clearly hurt in this process because supervisors may respond to assertive staff members more.

It is often said that people in business schools "can teach but cannot do." I have a hunch too that many people in businesses also read and think, but seldom do. We have yet to develop a good system that connects corporate strategy and measurement at the operational level with performance management, evaluation and an equitable reward determination process based on real performance results.

Let's hope this pragmatic book and the ideas in it can invigorate some organizations to re-look at the way individual performers are measured and managed in a supportive systematic way to avoid a year-end rush.

Hopefully managerial time can be more effectively used and negative vibes from valued employees in our organizations can be reduced by designing feedback loops that do not undermine morale and the line manager's credibility.

I am proud that Ong Teong Wan, one of our highly regarded graduates, has made such a clear-headed and experience-backed effort to refresh us all. This seemingly basic but important book needs to be taken seriously.

Jack G. Lewis, Ph.D.

Associate Dean, IBEAR MBA & International MBA Outreach Marshall School of Business University of Southern California