I was reading my classmate Aaron Shin’s fourth blog and was very interested in his argument that anonymous peer evaluations are not a helpful as they are hurtful to improving performance.  He points out that often people will change their behavior and focus not on working hard and trying to improve, but on how they can get higher marks from their group members.  Thus, group members focus on themselves and how they can extract better review, and the group is less cohesive.

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I have been in similar situations where I think that keeping my thoughts to myself would be better for my team marks.  However, as we learned in class 2, an important part of teamwork is making sure feedback is rooted in good intention, and additionally, criticism and ideas are well communicated.  I disagree that anonymous peer evaluations do not improve team efficiency and is an obstacle.  I believe that a more overwhelming change other than pulling back efforts and communication, would be better and harder work and more contribution.  When I know I will be judged on my performance, I will work harder to be a better teammate, including giving constructive criticism.  With peer evaluations, members who put in more effort and contributions would be recognized and rewarded, and team members that do not will receive tangible feedback.  If they are unhappy with the judgement, the specified suggestions from team members provide a helpful framework on how to improve (as they should be with good intentions) and motivate change and betterment.  I think the negative effects of peer evaluations that Aaron cites are not systematic, but a consequence of poor communication.  Although peer evaluations could initially cause problems in a team, I believe that they can greatly improve a team.

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Samsung has reported record profits in the last quarter.  However, in a shock decision, CEO Kwon Oh-hyun has resigned from his position.  Kwon cites the crisis within the company for his move.  The heir to the company, Lee Jae-yong was found guilty of embezzlement and corruption last month.  Despite this reason, some are calling this a surprise as Samsung seems to be operating smoothly and recorded 12.8 billion dollars in profit last quarter.

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When I first saw the article, I was surprised as well.  Being the head of a company as large as Samsung while it’s doing so well must be a dream.  When I really started to think about it, I realized this would be the perfect time for him to step down.  The performance of the company is a result of his work, but from some time ago.  The net profit figure that is breaking records now is not because of the state of the company now, but when they made the decisions on what to develop and spend their time on, and now it is paying off.  And now that Lee has been found guilty, it could change the executive operations and mindset in the company for the worst.  That will heavily impact the performance of Samsung and it’s profits.  Samsung will start to struggle; not now, but after Kwon is long gone.  I think this is a perfect example of a lagging indicator that can show something entirely different on the surface than what is really happening on the inside, and how that can influence business decisions. Because of this, Kwon will be able to say he brought Samsung up to 12.8 billion dollars in profit, not down from it.

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