Evaluating Improvement Performance - Essay Example

EVALUATING IMPROVEMENT PERFORMANCE Evaluating Improvement Performance There are a number of models that can be used in the evaluation of performance improvement in an organization. These models include: 360-Degree Feedback, staright ranking and Work-Group Performance. The staright ranking model compares employees to each other, thus ranking them from the best employee to the worst. A 360-Degree Feedback involves collecting information about an employee’s conduct with the aim of determining their performance. The group work performance model is assessing how an employee conducts themselves when they are part of a team. The straight ranking method might have negative effects as compared to the other models because the employees on the bottom of the list might feel like they are not close to being what is expected thus laxity in improvement. While the group work performance model aims at seeing the ability of individuals to work together for a common course, direct ranking might result to negative competition among employees. This is because employees will be seeing their co-workers as competitive rather than partners. In this case Group work performance model is going to be used for an intervention for the decline in sales volume in Tesco supermarket. There are a number of situations when group work is deemed to be necessary. For instance, Tesco Supermarket settled for this approach after realizing that the decline in sales would have been as a result of poor performance in various departments including purchases, marketing, customer service, and human resource. Multiple people can be involved in decision making in a scenario where decisions made by the management are not supported by the subordinates (Pershing, 2006). The choice of using a team might be influenced by the experience that the members of a team have had in the past with regard to working together. The use of group work can also be possible with abundance of time. When a business organization is in crisis, it is always advisable to call a meeting involving the entire stakeholder so that the decision made should be made with the contribution of all the types of stakeholders that an organization sees necessary. It has also been noticed that the use of group work can be suitable in a case that the intended goal is supposed to be satisfactory to people with various tastes. If decisions are made in accordance with the preference of one individual, then there is a very high possibility that many other people will find the result of the decision made inappropriately. In the case of Tesco supermarket the decision to use teamwork approach was necessitated by the fact that the company wanted to know how the individual performances by the employees would have resulted to the situation and how the situation could be solved. There has always been a debate on how the success of a group can be measured. Some might argue that a group that works harmoniously and efficiently is successful. However, many of such groups have produced bad decisions. For instance, in the case of Tesco the teams involved in the above mentioned processes worked harmoniously with high efficiency, but the results were not desirable. On the other hand, there are some groups with members personally attacking each other bust still manage to get positive results (Moseley, Dessinger& International Society for Performance Improvement, 2009). This implies that bad groups can get good results while good ones get bad results. when a group gets negative results does not mean that the team members are not skilled or that they did not do their best. In the same way, it cannot be said that every positive result from teamwork means that a team is perfect. Therefore, the results can be ineffective in evaluating groups. The way in which a group function is what matters. A group is supposed to have a clear issue or problem that is supposed to be solved. In the case of Tesco supermarket the main problem was the decline in sales. Apart from the clear problem, every member should have a specific role or responsibility (Allcorn, 2003). Members from the different departments were supposed to come up with a possible explanation of the decrease in sales in accordance with how their department operates. It should be noted that it is of high importance for a group to have chatter. As much as this might seem obvious, it is a common scenario that a team will not have a clearly stated purpose or levels of authority. Creation of a charter is of importance in making sure that all the members of the team know exactly why the team was convened and the clear targets that should be met in a given period. A charter will also be important in distinguishing between the long-term and short-term goals of a team. It is of importance of a team to be issued or problem focused. A common mistake made in teams is making assumptions that end up being inaccurate. This might be as a result of miscommunication of a problem. A common cause of such a problem is focusing on the signs of a problem instead of focusing on the causes of the same problem. This does not imply that the signs cannot be important in solving problems. However, the problem in this case is that focusing on the signs of a problem or its relations might not necessarily be the best way to get to the cause of the problem. A good example of such a scenario is the case at Tesco supermarket where it was assumed that insufficient expenditure on advertisement might be the main cause, since the sales had reduced after the company had reduced the amount of financial resources that they spend on advertisement. It was later discovered that the relation between the two factors was just a sign of underlying causes of the problem. There are a number of things that should be done in order to make sure that when working with a group everything goes as planned. All the group members should be well informed of the goals of the group and the problems that are supposed to be solved (Lowe, 2010). Every member of a group should be given the roles and responsibilities that they are most comfortable with Van (Tiem, Moseley &Dessinger, 2012). As for the case of Tesco every group member should have been given a role in which they are well conversant with. It should be noted that when putting up a team one of the most important aspect of the whole process is selection of members. Members of a team should be people with good teamwork abilities. A person that is not used to working with other people will have a hard time trying to work with other people. Another thing that should be considered is the fact that a team is not made up of numbers, but the qualities of the numbers that are brought together. This implies that having the right individuals in a team is of high importance. A team might have many members, but still fail to be successful because of the contribution of the members. The skills and experiences of team members should be selected in a manner that every role that is supposed to be played to be during the process is well taken care of. Consideration of the qualities that are needed for the process will also be important in making sure that a manager does not allocate more than needed individuals in solving specific problems. Knowing every skills that are needed for the goals to be met will make it easier for a manager to make up a team with the right number and quality of individuals. In a team there are always those individuals who are kept in charge of the process or activity that the team is supposed to take care of. The most important thing when it comes to selecting a team leader is selecting the right person. Not every team member can make a good leader. Since the success of a team relies on the kind of the leadership that a team has, a manager would consider a person with good leadership qualities. In most cases it is always advisable to choose an individual whom all the group members can listen to. They should be people with experience and people that have the highest possible level of experience in the field that the team will be dealing. A team leader should be someone who is ready to lead by example. This implies that they should be people who do not mind going an extra mile as long as they know that whatever they are involving themselves in will take the group closer to attaining its goals. They should also ne the people who are willing to help the other group members in whatever role that they have and make sure that every member of the team is comfortable. Given the financial values attached to leadership positions managers should always be keen when selecting team leaders. References Allcorn, S. (2003).The dynamic workplace: Present structure and future redesign. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Lowe, G. S. (2010). Creating healthy organizations: How vibrant workplaces inspire employees to achieve sustainable success. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Moseley, J. L., Dessinger, J. C., & International Society for Performance Improvement. (2009). Handbook of improving performance in the workplace: Volume three. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Pershing, J. A. (Ed.). (2006). Handbook of human performance technology. San Francisco, CA Van Tiem, D., Moseley, J. L., &Dessinger, J. C. (2012) Fundamentals of performance improvement: A guide to improving people, process, and performance. Read More