Team Performance Measurement and Management - Coursework Example

Running head: Restructuring and Team Management. Team Performance Measurement and Management. In APA Style By Aruna Nemani Academia Research University. Abstract Restructuring requirements, job descriptions and qualifications, necessity of training program, Methods for team performance evaluation, challenges of team performance evaluation which include team dynamics like: differences between two appraisal systems, difficulties of evaluation team performance, unique needs of team performance measurement, team motivation and expectations, individual equity and its impact on team performance, strategies to avoid social loafing, individual responsibilities, incentives and benefit packages, strategies for employee career development, compensation plan. Introductory Note to the Management In view of the ongoing general slowdown in the economy, it is observed that the FMCG sector in which our firm is a niche player is experiencing margin pressures which may, going further, dent the profitability as well as the confidence of the stakeholders of the firm. Efforts as such, are to be made to save the firm from entering into the recessionary troubles. For this sake, a minor restructuring exercise may be appreciable wherein the number of intermediaries in the supply chain of our products may be reduced so that our products can reach the customers at reduced cost prices. One such effective way of reducing the intermediaries is by recruiting few sales personnel who can directly deal with the retail outlets thereby cutting down the intervention of dealers and distributor’s thus reaping lower built up value (B.V.) to offer our products at reduced cost price to our customers: B.V. Before restructuring: Raw Material Production + Components Manufacture+ Product Manufacture+ Distributor+ Service Provider + Customer. B.V. After restructuring: Raw Material Production + Components Manufacture + Product Manufacture+ Salaries of Sales Personnel + Customer (Brown, Besant. L., Jones, 2001). For this purpose, a business proposal is laid down regarding the following topics: 1. The number of new positions to be created, job specifications and the qualifications suitable for those jobs, 2. Training facilities required to train the inception/existing employees for facing the customers with more confidence, 3. Periodical evaluation of individual and team performance vis-à-vis the standards set forth for performing those jobs, 4. Factors effecting team performance, 5. Conclusion. The number of new positions to be created, job specifications and the qualifications suitable for those jobs: It is planned that four sales personnel and one front end sales executive may be recruited for the purpose. The sales personnel would be gathering data of the customers in the vicinity of the firm and categorize the customers of the firm into I, II, III and IV classes depending on the order sizes and the regularity of the order placements. Once the categories are drawn up, these classes are to be served by the four sales personnel on a circular basis to avoid favoritism for any single customer. Efforts are also to be made up to introduce new customers and this data should have a target growth of 10% (in view of the present slowdown) for which incentives are to be given to the personnel on a commission basis. A master’s degree or an MBA from any reputed institution along with 2 years functional experience would be the right qualification for this type of jobs. As there are a series of job cuts in the economy, hiring these personnel could be done on a reasonably fair valuation. The front end sales executive would assist these sales personnel in answering the customer queries and exhibiting hospitality to the visitors/would be customers of our firm. Picking up leads from various business databases or yellow pages and performing tele-calling duties would also be a part of the job for which fixed monthly salary plus a commission based on the leads provided would be advisable. A bachelor degree from any reputed institution with a one year experience in an organized BPO would be the preferable qualification for this job. Training facilities required for inception/existing employees for facing the customers: It has been observed that customers need a preferential treatment in these turbulent days and even a single unsatisfied customer can spread the news of bad service to at least 10 of their friends thus diverting them to other brands which is even more dangerous. To avoid these problems, it is suggested that induction training facilities may be provided to the newly recruited personnel so that they become well-versed with the products offered, the services under the purview, the service guidelines followed and the business policies of the firm. Additionally, it is suggested that the existing staff in the various departments of the firm may also be trained on the above lines so that they may also be well-conversant with the business needs. Incentives may also be offered to them also if they happen to provide any futuristic customer leads which may turn up to be profitable in the times to come. While planning for the training needs, focus has to be done on the good customer service practices like Giving importance to the customers, saving them from undue hardships, creatively delighting them, giving sound advice about the company products and their uses, serving them satisfactorily even in busy schedules, consistently offering logical solutions to their problems, giving a clear cut view of the refund policies and showing concern if any unnecessary trouble is caused unknowingly (Moffatt. L., 2002). It is expected that these training efforts to the new/existing staff may result in building up of goodwill and further brand building in the present markets. Periodical evaluation of individual and team performance vis-à-vis the standards set forth for performing those jobs: It is envisaged that evaluation of the individual and team performance on a periodical basis would help gaining an understanding about the processes employed and the success achieved through those activities. While a number of research programs like the TADMUS, A2C2 etc. are in vogue, insight into the factors which affect the team performance has to be studied to achieve the required results. These factors may be measured in two ways – Observer Based and Participant Based. Challenges of team performance evaluation: Differences between the two appraisal systems: While observer based appraisal systems are arrived from the observations of knowledge oriented, experienced personnel who can arrive at logical conclusions of the team performance as a whole, based on the simulative scenario run, participant based appraisal systems can focus on individual as well as team performance and also on the other team member’s performance. Observer based appraisal systems measure the performance during the scenario run while the participant based appraisal systems give the results only after the scenario run. If in case, measures are to be taken in the midst of the scenario run, then, the process could be halted for a while for recording the required observations. Observer based appraisal systems focus on the team performance outcome, teamwork, verbal communications which determine the quality of the team and the effect of the communications which the team exercises during the experimental run. These are measured based on various pre-set standard scales and thus ratings are given and the final score is the mean of all these ratings. Participant based appraisal systems focus on the otherwise difficult measures for the observer based appraisal systems. They enumerate the team processes and dynamics, workload which the team has to handle, congruence of the mentalities of the members in the team and their awareness towards the organization as a whole, the tools provided during the scenario run and the climate/attitude of the team members towards the scenario run. These are developed by designing questionnaires at the end of the scenarios which the participants are supposed to answer and before arriving at conclusions based on these questionnaires, deviations of the answers are measured and their standard deviations are calculated to deduct those figures from the actual mean of the questionnaires (Elliott & Eileen, 2008). Difficulties of evaluating team performance: As much focus has not been put into the team performance measures, picking up experienced observers for the purpose would be a difficulty. Similarly, while designing participant based measures, reliability of the data depends on the right attitude and sincerity of the participants.These measures are also time and money consuming. Unique needs of performance appraisal system: It is to be understood that measurement of team performance has to be comprehensive in every aspect so that valuable inferences could be drawn from these exercises. Hence, progressive evaluations are more preferred so that the required data is generated after the scenario run. For this sake, the observers in the case of observer based appraisal systems have to be experienced and well-equipped to arrive at accurate outcomes. While designing the participant based appraisal systems, explanatory materials and training if necessary to the participants have to be accomplished before the scenario run. Here, the point to be noted is that, in view of the perspective of our firm, both the appraisal systems may be followed at appropriate places for desired results. Hence, performance measurement system requirements have to be arranged accordingly. Team motivation and expectations: Retaining the thus recruited staff would be a herculean task if motivation mechanisms are not in place. Appreciation is the key to motivation. Successful team building can be achieved by following five simple rules of appreciation namely: Specific to the point: When a team is being appreciated, they should know the reason for that appreciation. Timely response boosts the morale: Forgetting to appreciate due to work pressure may demoralize the team’s spirits as the delay in applause may sometimes reduce the positive effect. Fair and Consistent appreciation: It is always a welcome as it set standards of the organization culture in the minds of the team members very clearly and they try to excel those standards in every job assigned to them. In this course, certain guidelines to be followed are: Following consistent rules while doing an appreciation. Creative finding out of the strengths of sub-ordinates. Extending appreciation with a whole heart. Publicly praising the good work done is contagious that it impacts positively on the work atmosphere. Care must be taken that over praising is dangerous that small good work need not be extravagantly praised. Keep the good words for better performance. Understanding the sub-ordinates, their zeal to work, their strong points and their aspirations serve as good contribution to the team as a whole (Sykes. E., 2008). Thus by following these simple techniques, lower attrition rates may be achieved in the firm. Individual equity and how it impacts team performance: The personal attitudes of the team members individually also has an impact on the team performance. If a person is objectively driven and goal oriented, then there is every chance that his attitude spells a work-orientation in the team as a whole. On the other hand, lethargic and confused team members spoil the team spirit and even the workaholics may be sometimes affected that they may not find any results in spite of their hard work thus discouraging them towards achieving goals. Hence, individual equity which means the sense of possession about the work taken up and timely completion of the same following the organization culture and standards is a very important aspect towards effective team performance. Explaining individual employee responsibilities and Strategies to discourage Social Loafing: To achieve effective team performance, it is very crucial that every individual in the team has a clear cut view of his responsibilities. Following deadlines are important while delivering the work assigned for which the following schedules have to be followed: Realistic schedules should be set so that the targets can be achievable. Unnecessarily fixing of hectic deadlines may dampen the spirit of achievement as the team members may be unenthusiastic owing to the non-achievability of the targets. Hence, care should be taken while setting up of deadlines. Standard work culture example setting by the management helps in winning over procrastination. Consequences of non-performance should be clearly explained to the team members so that they are confident about their ratings of appraisal while performing their duties. Strategic team performance can be achieved if the team members individually understand the overall picture of the various stakeholders. Hence, they have to be explained well at the time of inception itself. Preparing a clear team charter removes the ambiguity of roles and responsibilities of every individual in the team and hence, there would be no gaps between the different tasks performed thereby ensuring a perfect standardized delivery (Purnima. N.S., 2008). These practices have to be consistently adhered to achieve excellence and goodwill for the firm. While following these guidelines, care should be taken that the team members do not over smart the management by creating opportunities of social loafing. Their inclination to ‘goof off’ the work has to be pre-determined by the management and necessary disciplinary steps like eliminating the real culprits have to be taken up in the right time so that the others sense a fear to follow suit. If in any case, the five personnel whom we plan to recruit happen to be more than what their job requires, due consideration has to be given to reduce the work force according to the requirement so that none of them stays leisure during the work hours thereby de motivating the other working staff. Incentives and Benefit Packages: The perfect team has to be rewarded with the right incentives and benefit packages which are both tangible and intangible. While tangible benefits comprise of Salary and other perquisites, bonuses, lump sum awards, allowances and long-term cash awards, the intangible benefits comprise of use of transportation facilities of the firm, awards to the best performing teams etc. These go a long way in encouraging the employee to perform high-quality job while discouraging waste of materials or equipment which may increase the product costs. A fair and appropriate compensation plan: It is one which takes into account various factors like: The real worth of the job to the firm Classification of jobs by benchmarking them to some set standard jobs Mental effort and skills to be put up for performing that job Physical effort requirements by the job Job responsibility pressures and The conduciveness of the prevailing conditions for performing the job (Wild R., 2002). According to all the above factors, equal pay has to be designed for equal level of performance requirements. This ensures consistency in the work culture of the organization. Strategies for Managing Employees Career Development: In addition to all these, in built mechanisms have to be developed that the sub-ordinates learn advanced skills during their work tenure so that when there is any opening of a higher level in the organization, they may be considered thus paving way for internal job advancement. This helps the employee to save the time in jumping into various organizations and understanding their processes regularly. It is been observed that only financial gain is not the only motive for job changes. Actually, hierarchy of needs plays a vital role in the job satisfaction. When one level of need is satisfied, it is the general tendency of every individual to aspire for new goals (In Maslow. Motivation and Personality, 1954). It is the duty of the management to identify these requirements of every individual of the team and give them a chance to perform according to their aspirations for effective performance. In this way, career advancement of the sub-ordinates can be ensured. Conclusion: By following all the above-said methods, it is estimated that our firm can manage to retain the staff which is to be further employed and also extend the incentives so that they perform in line to our existing standards. Book References: Brown, Bessant. L. & Jones. (2001). Strategic Operations Management. Supply Management. 131-159. Woburn. Butterworth – Heinemann. Moffatt. L. (2002). Ahead of the Game. Marketing Guide for Small Business. 156-167. U.K. Tata Mc. Graw Hill. Prasad. L. M. (2006) Organizational Behavior. Motivation. 151 New Delhi. Sultan Chand & Sons. Wild. R. (2002). Operations Management. Payment and Incentives. 275-281. London. Continuum. Online References: Elliot. E. & Eileen. B. (2008). Measures for Evaluation of Team Processes and Performance in Experiments and Exercises. (Sep. 2008). http://mentalmodels.mitre.org/cog_eng/reference_documents/measures%20for%20evaluation%20of%20team%20processes%20and%20performance%20in%20experiments%20and%20exercises.pdf Sykes. E. (2008). Motivate Your Team. “Preparing you Today for Tomorrow’s Opportunities (Sep. 2008). http://www.thesykesgrp.com/MotivateTeamRules01.htm News paper References: Purnima N.S. (Sep. 17, 2008). Create a Culture of Timeliness in your Team. The Hindu – Opportunities. http://www.hinduonnet.com/jobs/ Read More