Real Communication An Introduction

Appendix A   Competent Interviewing^503

problem-solving questions that will help both you and the doctor to better assess

your health (Dwamena, Mavis, Holmes-Rovner, Walsh, & Loyson, 2009) and

you should be ready to volunteer information that may help solve the problem

(Coulehan & Block, 2006).

Another type of persuasive interview is the motivational interview, which

elicits change collaboratively. Here interviewers use goal-oriented question-

ing that’s designed to inspire and strengthen personal motivation (Miller &

Rollnick, 2013). Showing acceptance and compassion, interviewers can help

interviewees become more confident in their ability to make behavioral changes,

for example, to lose weight (Wong & Cheng, 2013), deal with pain (Tse, Vong,

& Tang, 2013), avoid high-risk drinking and illicit drug use (Kazemi, Levine,

Dmochowski, Nies, & Sun, 2013), or quit smoking (Myhre & Adelman, 2013).

Appraisal Interviews

In just about every career—including your academic career—performance

appraisals are a regular part of reviewing your accomplishments and developing

goals for the future. In most corporate environments, a performance appraisal

is a highly structured routine dictated by company policies, involving a written

appraisal and a one-on-one interview between a supervisor and an employee. But

in other less structured performance appraisals, you might meet with your pro-

fessor to discuss a project or paper or lobby for a change in your grade. Formal

appraisals that give only critical, negative feedback do little to improve employee

behavior (Asmuß, 2008) and can be very stressful. Effective appraisals will offer

insight into strengths as well as weaknesses and help both parties focus on the de-

velopment of mutual goals for the future (Asmuß, 2013). In other words, if the

appraisal interview offers reassurance about what you’re doing well and focuses

on collaborative goal-setting and continuous improvement, it is less threatening

and more useful (Culbert, 2010, 2011).

Exit Interviews

Recruiting and training new people is an expensive pro-

cess in terms of both time and money, so most organiza-

tions want to keep good employees. By conducting exit

interviews with employees who opt to leave the organi-

zation, employers can identify organizational problems—

such as poor management style, noncompetitive salary,

or weak employee benefits—that might affect employee

retention. Your college might conduct an exit interview

with you as you graduate to identify the highs and lows

of your college experience (and perhaps recruit you for

the alumni association).

Exit interviews should be carefully evaluated, as people

leaving an organization may hide their true reasons for

departing in an effort to put a “positive face” on the situ-

ation. Also, interviewers may take that information at face

value, reporting more confidence back to the organization

Do you think of a problem-

solving interview as a repri-

mand or as an opportunity

to create needed changes?

How can you change the

nature of an interview with

a negative tone into a more

positive experience?

AND YOU?

AN EXIT INTERVIEW

provides the chance to voice

some of the frustrations you

experienced as an employee

while letting the employer

learn about ways to improve

the organization in the

future. Getty Images/Onoky

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