QUESTION

I got this assignment for managing human resources. Can you tell me if you are able to do this assignment and how much you are going to charge for this. and last date for completion is

A copy of the assignment needs to be placed in the assignment drop box at the 6354 on-line unit (Moodle) website. Length of this assignment is to be approximately 2000 words. All questions need to be answered.

-What is the difference between performance management and performance appraisal?
-What are the characteristics of an unsuccessful versus a successful performance management

system?
-What are some common errors and how can they be eliminated?

You must use a minimum of 8 references from various sources. At least 4 references should be peer reviewed journal articles.

SOLUTION

Introduction

Performance appraisal

Performance appraisals are one of the crucial aspects of professionally managed organizations across the world. Each organization has set an appraisal system in place in order to gauge its employees’ performance over a period of time. They are based on a review of the performance of an employee on the tasks assigned to it. They are used for many aspects such as salary revision, bonus provisions, promotions etc. These reviews are mostly conducted annually, but may be considered quarterly or half-yearly as well depending upon the HR policies of the organizations. Mostly, Human Resource department takes the lead in conducting formal performance appraisals. (Potgieter, 2002)

Performance management

Performance management systems are set in place to guide the employees to achieve a desired level of performance. It is basically a definition of what organization expects from employee over the next appraisal period. Specific objectives are set for short term (say next quarter), and employee is prepared to achieve the desired outcomes by meeting these short term targets. These targets are defined by the job description along with the desired outcome of the jobs. (Potgieter, 2002).This helps employees to determine the gaps in their performance and thus helps them to improve before the final performance appraisal happens after a year or six months.

Performance management aims at overall personal development of the employees. It is a form of constructive feedback which encourages continuous improvement. It is helpful to both employee as well as appraiser. There is frequent communication between them which helps in setting right goals for the employee and possible guidelines from appraiser to achieve those goals in an effective manner. It therefore saves employees from the bitter feeling that comes at year end when they feel that they have wasted one whole year without any substantial value addition. (Lyle, 2002)

Difference between Performance appraisal and Performance management

Although most of the organizations don’t see any differences between the two terms, yet there are crucial differences between the two. A typical performance appraisal process results in rating the past performance of the employees. So, a performance appraisal is based on the past data of employees’ performance, over which the employees have no control at that time as they can’t rectify their inefficiencies or mistakes of past year. (Funham, 2004)

On the other hand, a performance management system involves using the past data of employee to set new objectives for next year and properly defining the expected results. It thus helps in aligning routine activities of employees with the performance targets. Moreover, the performance management system ensures that frequent communication happens between the employees and their appraisers and hence ensuring a regular feedback on the progress of employees. Hence focus is not just achievement of goals but more concentration on how the goals are achieved. Such a system creates a sense of trust for organization among its employees and the performance appraisal becomes fair and transparent process.

A performance appraisal may or may not motivate an employee to achieve a desired performance whereas performance management automatically motivates the employee to improve (Fletcher, 2001). Since performance management is a continuous process, employees get more clarity as well as time for their improvement. Thus, employee development is the core principle of a performance management system.

In the broader context, performance appraisal is but one part of the performance management process. Thus we can say that performance management is a holistic concept whereas performance appraisal is a silo.

Successful Performance Management System

Implementation of a successful Performance Management System is a step-wise approach which should be followed in most systematic way. The key consideration should be that the employees must be satisfied with the system and should feel that it is adding some value to their day to day activities. Following are some steps that can be taken, in general, for implementation of a successful performance management system that differentiates it from an unsuccessful one.

I.                 Proper communication plan

Before even attempting to implement a performance management system, it is crucial to communicate its need and benefits to all employees affected by it. A proper communication plan must convey the description of the system and its objectives very clearly. Employees should be able to understand as to how the performance management system is aligned with the overall organizational strategy and how they will play their part in it (Baker, 1999). Thorough analysis must be done on how the system will add value to employees and the same must be presented to all of them. Each employee should know his/her role and responsibilities after the implementation of the system.

Overall, a successful performance management system involves all employees irrespective of their roles. If the employees don’t support the idea of performance system, then its implementation can never be successful. It is thus very important to clarify any doubts or biases in the minds of employee for successful performance management system.

II.             Proper processes and control

Once the employees agree for the implementation, the organization must include all important features to cater crucial processes. Some of the processes that should be there in a successful performance management system can be:

1. Goal setting (with milestones set for specific time periods by mutual discussion among employee and appraiser)
2. Tracking milestones (with appraiser’s feedback after every milestone)
3.  Ratings after every milestone (to give an objective assessment to the employee)
4. Grievance system (which will help employees to raise their concerns if the ratings are not fair to them)

These processes, once in place, will always help in the management of performance of employees from time to time. In fact, some organizations do have systems in place where they can map the competencies of the employees to a specific role and targets are set accordingly.

Thus, a successful performance management system is fair to both employees as well as their appraisers. HR department should mediate the amicable settlement of the grievances raised, if any, by the employees.

III.           Proper training program

Howsoever stringent processes and systems are in place, rating the performance is always a subjective parameter. In order to bring objectivity in the whole rating performance management process, it is important to train the employees on how to utilize the performance management tool to guide them towards an unbiased and fair performance appraisal. Various training programs that can be implemented are as follows (Baker, 1999):

1. Frame of reference training

It aims at guiding the appraisers to identify multiple dimensions on the basis of which they should gauge the performance of the employees. It must be appreciated that every employee has certain areas of strengths and certain areas of weaknesses. It is thus very important for an appraiser to set the performance goals in a balanced manner focussing on strengthening the strong areas and improving the weak areas of any employee. This training helps appraisers to develop a common frame of reference for whole team and thus fair to all team members.

2. Behavioural observation training

This training helps the appraisers to develop tools to understand how employees are making efforts to achieve their set goals. This helps appraisers to keep a track on the strengths and weaknesses of their employees and guide them in a proper way from time to time. The tools such as diaries, worksheets etc. help in objective assessment of the efforts put in by the employees irrespective of the end results. The ratings thus incorporate these inputs and seem fairer to employees.

3. Rater Error Training

This training is meant for appraisers as well as employees. This training gives an idea of the common errors that can happen in the performance management systems that can ultimately lead to wrong performance ratings. The errors may be in form of wrong weightage given to different goals, wrong milestones set and manual errors such as wrong dates etc. Though these things are not very crucial but yet they are necessary to put a standard process in place.

Thus, a successful performance management system is backed by a proper training program in order to deliver the results in more transparent and fair manner, which is acceptable to both employees as well as their appraisers.

IV.           Pilot test

It is very important to do a pilot run for the performance management system in one department before implementing it in the whole organization. The pilot test will highlight the difficulties and the bottlenecks of the system. The feedback from the actual users will help in refining the system and thus giving it a shape in which the whole organization wants it to be implemented.

Blind implementation of the system may pose greater difficulties in the future thus leading to an unsuccessful performance management system.

V.              Continuous monitoring and evaluation

Every system evolves with time. It is thus very important to monitor the performance management system from time to time and improve upon its shortcomings. Depending upon the size of the organizations, the evaluation of system may be done after certain interval. The feedback from the employees must be duly incorporated in the system. It is continuous improvement that differentiates a successful performance management system from an unsuccessful one.

Common errors

Some common errors while putting up a performance management system in any organization may be faced if the system is not implemented properly.

The most common errors come while customizing the system for a specific organization. If the culture of the organization is not taken into consideration, then the performance management system becomes a liability rather than value addition activity. With time, the employees lose faith in the system and it creates mistrust between them and the organization. Hence, the pulse of employees must not be ignored. The cultural shift may also be required in certain cases. In such cases, there should be a gradual process of implementation of the system which will give time to employees to adapt to the system.

The other important error is inability to map the roles with competencies and goals. As most of the organizations have variety of roles, it becomes difficult to set all employees at par while setting their targets. The roles and the desired competencies evolve with time and thus they should be incorporated in the system. Hence, the performance management system should have the flexibility to customize it any time as per the requirements.

The manual errors may creep in while setting the goals, weightages, ratings etc. The trainings may be useful to a certain extent but since the process is manual, the errors may not be completely avoided. In order to minimize them, the system must be technologically advanced enough to check these errors and report them in due time. The use of technology thus optimizes the benefits.

The performance management system should be regularly monitored and evaluated to check these errors and rectify them as soon as possible. The complexity and size of the organization may pose a challenge to frequently monitor these errors but processes must be put in place to avoid them wherever possible.

Conclusion

Performance management system serves the holistic perspective of aligning the organizational objectives with the employees’ performance. It aims at employee development by providing him/her regular feedback on his jobs and thus motivating him to meet the desired performance levels when performance appraisal happens. Unlike performance appraisal, which happens once or twice a year, performance management is an ongoing process. Proper steps mentioned above must be taken to implement a successful performance management system in any organization.

It must however be understood that just by putting a performance management system in place will not automatically motivate the employees. Its execution is far more important and it must be monitored and improved from time to time. Moreover, each employee should take up its ownership and help organization in complying with the processes through the system.

Bibliography

Baker, D., 1999, Strategic human resource management: performance, alignment, management

Fletcher, C., 2001, ‘Performance appraisal and management: The developing research agenda’, Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology

Furnham, A., 2004, ‘Performance management systems’, European Business Journal

Graham, J., 2004, ‘Developing a Performance-Based Culture’, Journal for Quality & Participation

Harris, L., 2001, ‘Rewarding employee performance: line managers’ values, beliefs and perspectives’, International Journal of Human Resource Management

Potgieter, Lyle, 2002, Performance Management

Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T. & Shapiro, D. L., 2004, ‘The Future of Work Motivation Theory’, Academy of Management Review

Swinburne University, Managing for Performance and Engagement, accessed April6, 2012, <http://www.swinburne.edu.au/corporate/hr/perfdev/manager_assistance/management_behaviour/MngPerf&EngageDraft.pdf>

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