Employees often perceive periods of change—no matter how warranted or beneficial—as crises, exhibiting both cognitive and emotional reactions including feelings of insecurity and uncertainty, even fear, chaos, stress, betrayal, grief, and anger. Management must have a clear strategy for communicating with employees through change, as employee expectations for open and honest communication are increased in times of shift and uncertainty. Open, honest, and regular communication is essential to keeping employees motivated and productive. Benefits of effective communication in times of change include higher employee satisfaction and engagement, lower turnover, and stronger long-term commitment. Solid internal relationships also strengthen ethics-related outcomes such as fraud reduction and reputation management.

People need clear, direct feedback about their performance if they are to improve their communication skills. This need is as true for students as it is for employees. Unfortunately, many evaluators—including classroom instructors—find it very difficult to provide such feedback. This article briefly discusses a performance appraisal system specifically designed for classroom use, including a discussion of communication techniques appropriate for providing feedback about students' performance.