Managing Performance - Week 6

Performance Management

FIgure 1, Source :www.cornerstoneondemand.co.uk

Performance management plays a key in any organisation. This is the process where the organisations manage, motivate, and develop their employee performances. This process conducted through the entire organisation where it will motivate the employees and make a positive impact on employee's efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the company goal.


Definition of Performance Management

‘Performance management is a continuous process of identifying, measuring and developing the performance of individuals and teams and aligning performance with the strategic goals of the organization.’ Its five elements are agreement, measurement, feedback, positive reinforcement and dialogue'( Aguinis cited in Armstrong, 2014).



Performance management very often related to the past performance of the employee, we tend to discuss or review how an individual or team has performed in the last 6 or 12 months. But According to CIPD, (2012) Angela Baron emphasises the importance of looking forward in the performance management process. She points out that it should be focusing on the future, it must be about encouraging people to develop their capabilities, equipping people to be successful, making the staffs more flexible so they adapt to the changing environment. By just focusing on the past, it makes the performance management very limiting and damaging.

Performance management is a continues process, It must include, Plan, Act, Monitor, and Review and the following diagram illustrates the full cycle of the performance management.

Figure 2: The Performance management cycle, Source: Armstrong, 2014. page 337

Performance appraisal 

Both Performance Management and Performance Appraisal are usually thought to be the same. But in reality, performance appraisal is one of the biggest components of the performance management process. 

Figure 3, Source: empxtrack.com

According to CIPD, (2017) "Performance appraisals, sometimes called performance reviews, are one of a number of performance management tools that aim to ensure employees’ performance contributes to business objectives and should be used as part of a holistic approach to managing performance. The value of annual performance appraisals has increasingly been challenged in recent years in favour of more regular ‘performance conversations’. However, performance feedback or appraisal remains a crucial aspect of the performance management cycle".

Performance appraisal gives the organisation the opportunity to complete the performance cycle. This process helps to implement the elements of a performance management which are agreement, measurement, feedback, positive reinforcement, and dialogue. Performance appraisal meetings open the window of opportunity for the line managers to effectively communicate the company objectives and goals (Armstrong, 2014)

Traditional performance management is being challenged and organisations are trying to look at it from a different angle. Organisations are coming up with new ways to implement this process which will be suitable for the ever changing and ever challenging business world.

"Colorcon had found a more effective way of reinforcing desired behaviours and managing performance: Supervisors were giving people instant feedback, tying it to individuals’ own goals, and handing out small weekly bonuses to employees they saw doing good things"(Cappelli & Tavis, 2016).

The traditional method of reviewing once a year or twice in a year is not bringing the real essence of the performance management. It must be done very often and frequent. Issues need to be addressed as soon as possible and when it takes too long to rectify a problem then the business output will get affected.

"Once-a-year goals are too “batched” for a real-time world, and conversations about year-end ratings are generally less valuable than conversations conducted in the moment about actual performance. But the need for change didn’t crystallise until we decided to count things. Specifically, we tallied the number of hours the organisation was spending on performance management—and found that completing the forms, holding the meetings, and creating the ratings consumed close to 2 million hours a year. As we studied how those hours were spent, we realised that many of them were eaten up by leaders’ discussions behind closed doors about the outcomes of the process" (Buckingham & Goodall, 2015).




By implementing a successful performance management process, organisations will be able to achieve short-term and long-term goals. A good performance management process will motivate the employees to work towards the company goal with one shared vision. By rewarding, recognising and providing them with positive feedback employees will feel connected with the organisation. Performance management plays a vital role in any organisation which is driven by its workforce. 

References:

Armstrong, M., Taylor, S. 2014. Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 13th edition, London. KP.

Cappelli, P., Tavis, A., 2016. The Performance Management Revolution. Harvard Business Review, [Online]. October 2016, 58-67. Available at: https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-performance-managementrevolution.pdf [Accessed 3 September 2018].

Buckingham, M., Goodall. A., 2015. Reinventing Performance Management. Harvard Business Review, [Online]. April 2015, 40-50. Available at: https://hbr.org/2015/04/reinventing-performancemanagement [Accessed 3 September 2018].

CIPD. (2012). Implementing effective performance management. CIPD Podcast 72. [ONLINE]. 14 November 2012. Available from: https://www.cipd.co.uk/podcasts/implementing-effectiveperformance-management [Accessed: 3 September 2018].

CIPD. 2017. CIPD. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/people/performance/factsheet#26083. [Accessed 3 September 2018].

CIPD. 2017. CIPD. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/people/performance/appraisals-factsheet. [Accessed 3 September 2018].

Image sources:

Image 1: https:///blog/performance-management-40-how-can-we-motivate-workforce

Image 2: Armstrong, M., Taylor, S. 2014. Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 13th edition, page 337, London. KP.

Image 3: https://empxtrack.com/blog/why-annual-performance-appraisal-fails-how-to-save-them/