Performance_Management

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Dessler, D. (2009) defined performance management as a process employers use to ensure employees are working towards organization goals. (p. 191). My company’s performance management is a formal process that begins with planning, feedback, development and links performance with pay. Planning: Helps employee to understand what is expected of them. Feedback: Employee will understand how they are doing Development: Employees will learn ways to improve their performance Link between performance and pay: Employees will understand how their performance affects compensation. The process allows and supports managers and employees to work collaboratively to discuss and understand performance expectations, create steps for advancement, monitor performance against business goals, offer feedback and review actual performance. GOALS OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Under the performance management, the company makes every effort to achieve high level of performance by providing employees with specific and constant feedback and by creating a link to the company’s business goals. The goal of the company’s performance management is to encourage open discussions between employees and managers which help facilitates frequent and specific feedback on performance. It also inspires and support professional development for employees and ensures that the company’s business strategies are directly linked to departmental and individual goals. Most importantly, performance management provides information that can be used to recognize employees for good performance and award them accordingly. BENEFITS OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Performance management creates the opportunity to participate in setting goals and expectations. It gives a clear understanding of how performance and behaviors affect the success of the company. It gives the employee an opportunity to discuss and implement training and development needs with management. It helps reinforces employee behavior with business goals and promotes accountability and the value of team work. Due to the joint effort of managers and employees in creating goals and objectives, performance management strengthens the leader/employee relationship and promotes consistent treatment and development of employees regardless of race, color, age, culture. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Performance appraisal assess employees performance and provides feedback to improve job performance ( Peretz, H., & Fried, Y. (2008)). My company’s performance appraisal starts with a performance process cycle which begins during the first quarter of each year. The cycle is a three phase process similar to Kinicki, A., & Kreitner, R. (2009) steps to follow when implementing a goal setting program (p. 186). It starts with setting expectation, performance to expectation, and assessment &development review. England described this type of technique as “Management by Objective (MBO)” in which both employees and managers jointly set objectives and the performance evaluation is based on the achievement of meeting the goals (Engalnd, R., & Pane, W. (1987)) Set expectations: This is when employees meet with their managers to sets their goals and objectives. Goals and Objectives are set using the SMART method identified by Dessler, D. (2009) (p. 194). The goals and objectives must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely (Kinicki, A., & Kreitner, R. (2009) p. 191). Performance to expectation: Throughout the year, employees and their managers will continue to work together in achieving the goals and objectives set in the beginning of the year. They will continue to discuss about performance relative to objectives, development activities, career interests, and training needed to meet the goals. Assessment and Development Review: This is the yearly review when employees will meet with their managers to discuss their performance through the year. The performance review identifies strengths of the employee and identifies areas needed for improvement. Employees will receive open and direct feedback on their performance and will discuss development planning for the following year. The yearly performance will be reviewed and graded based performance ratings. The performance ratings determine the employee’s compensation. PERFORMANCE RATINGS The goal in creating the performance ratings was to ensure an appropriateness differentiation among categories that accurately reflect each employee’s contribution. Due to the current MBO method, rating is solely based on job performance with no consideration for behavioral and communication performance. The company’s performance rating system can be divided into five categories: Exceptional: Possesses a unique set of abilities that lead to superior results. Continually goes above and beyond, consistently exceeding objectives and expectations. An example will be an Accountant who is very knowledgeable in contracts, procurements, program management, and Internal controls and uses all these functions interchangeable for efficient and productive work responsibilities. People rarely fall into this category. High contributor: This is a person willing go extra mile and must exceed key objectives and expectation. An example is a Sr. Financial Analyst whose main responsibility is to invoice clients and account for the profitability of each project at the end of the month. That employee can go above and beyond to account for profits that should have been recognizing two years ago. She/he accounts for the profit by taking an extra step to print out the profit and Loss statement, analyze it by identifying costs that were not generating revenue. He corrects the problem and all these costs now generate revenue, it creates profit for a project that would have been a loss there by increasing the gross margin percentage. Successful contributor: A competent performer and valued team player, who meets objectives and expectations of the position. For example, a cashier with a two year experience from another company will be a successful contributor after his first year at the new company. Most people that have been with the company for two or more years fall in this category. Basic Contributor: Meets objectives and basic expectations, but may require assistance to perform assignments. An entry level position for a recent college graduate who had never worked will be a perfect example for this type of rating after his first year with the company. Unsatisfactory: Performance falls short of expectation both in quality and quantity. This person frequently requires excessive supervision. Advantages The above method has an advantage of rewarding job performance. This is an advantage because the employee knows what is expected of him from the goals and objectives set in the beginning of the year and as long as he works towards the goals, he’ll be rewarded. Disadvantages The method does not recognize or reward behavioral and communication performance. Behavioral and communication performance encourages team work. The method makes it difficult to motivate employees to perform to their full potential within a team setting ( Killingsworth, B., Hayden, M., Crawford, D., & Schellenberger, R. (2001)). Behavioral rating affects things such as tardiness, unreliability, responsiveness, communication, getting along with co-workers, and Absenteeism (Kinicki, A., & Kreitner, R. (2009) p. 163) LEGAL OR ETHICAL ISSUES Performance appraisal affects an employee’s promotions, yearly raises and career development. Economic situation and a biased manager (Dessler, D. (2009) p. 208) can pose ethical or legal issues for a performance appraisal. The most recent appraisal conducted at my company was based on economic condition. Managers were given certain percentages to rate their employees in the performance rating category with the most percentage assigned to a Basic Contributor. This forced the managers to rate or categorizes a successful contributor under the basic contributor. This is very unethical because it discourages hard work and does not properly appraise the employees. RECOMMENDATION I’ll highly recommend the Graphic rating scale method (Dessler, D. (2009) p. 197). This is because the method ratings are based on job performance, behavioral performance, and communication performance which is a combination of what an employee needs to work both independently and in a team environment. CONCLUSION Employees at my corporations work individually and collectively to meet business goals which strengthens the customers and shareholders’ value. The important work performed by the employees has a direct impact on my corporation’s performance. Employees earn recognition for their individual contribution but not enough emphasis on team contributions. As a future leader, I’ll continue to develop and reward employees using the Graphic rating scale. This will encourage both individual performances as well as encourage team work which in the long run will effectively meet customer’s goals and strengthens employee’s values. REFERENCES Dessler, D. (2009). A Framework for Human Resource Management. (5th ed.). NJ: Upper Saddle River. Engalnd, R., & Pane, W. (1987). Nonmanagarial Performance Appraisal Practices in Large American Cities. Public Administration Review, 47(6), Retrieved from Business Source Complete database. Killingsworth, B., Hayden, M., Crawford, D., & Schellenberger, R. (2001). A Model for Motivation and Measuring Quality Performance in Information Systems Staff. Information Systems Management, 18(2), 8. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database. Kinicki, A., & Kreitner, R. (2009). Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills & Best Practices. Managing People and Groups in the Workplace. (4th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Learning Solutions. Peretz, H., & Fried, Y. (2008). National Values, Performance Appraisal Practices, and Organizational Performance: A Study Across 21 Countries. Academy of Management Proceedings, 1-6. Retrieved from Business Source Complete Database.