Globalization and the Performance Management Process - Assignment Example

School: Topic: GLOBALIZATION AND THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS Lecturer: Evolution of performance management The counts in terms of changes in international business that have contributed to the evolution of performance management are countless. Two of these that are very critical to the development of any business or organization that wants to take advantage of globalization are the advent of the universal customer and the advent of the international competitor. Today, as part of the globalization drive, companies no longer look at their customer base as that little market niche or segment that is a hand stretch away from its business operations.

Again, that customer who constantly walks to the office or premises of the company to have a direct interaction with officers of the organization cannot be said to be its only customers. Rather, the actual customers of the organization are all people who through the power of technology can have any form of virtual and actual engagement with the organization. For example people who visit the website of the company or have access to their social media platforms can all be considered part of the universal customers of the company (Hellqvist, 2011).

The reason this is said is that through such means as electronic commerce, these people easily transact business with the company, no matter where they are located. Similarly, through the advent of the internet and electronic commerce, any competitor in any little corner of the world can be considered a competitor of a particular organization. Indeed the universal customer and the international competitor have taken competition in today’s business environment into an all-new level. Based on the impact that the universal customer and the international competitor has on competition, organizations are forced to have the realization that anything they do within their fold is not done only to please a few people who can easily be counted as having day-to-day direct interaction with the company.

Given the fact that employees are the engine of growth and the pivot around which the productivity of the organization revolves, it is expected that organizations will respond to their global competition created by the universal customer and international competitor by focusing very directly on the employee. Indeed the best way to respond to a universal customer is to have a universally dynamic employee (Farndale, Hope-Hailey & Kelliher, 2011). At the same time, the best way to respond to the international competitor is to have an employee with international standard (Van Dooren, 2011).

With this said, it cannot be denied that performance management is one of the most effective ways to keep employees in shape so as to ensure that they are in a position to offer to the company the kind of output needed of them (Hellqvist, 2011). Evolution with performance management has therefore taken place mainly because of the changing face of competition for the organizations, which has now focused more on the universal customer and international competitor. Without these major changes, chances are that organizations will continue to approach performance management in the very same old ways in which they did.

Such old ways would be devoid of a real sense of global urgency and would see only few customers and competitors to satisfy and beat. Factors to be effective in an international business environment After acknowledging that performance management has now taken a global shape, it is important that organizations will be aware of the factors the need to put in place in order for performance management to be effective in an international business environment. First of these is the use of internationally accredited and accepted metrics.

The use of performance management metrics remains crucial in getting the needed outcomes with any performance management process. However, in order to compete globally, it is important that the metrics that will be used to measure employee performance will be those that are of international repute. Secondly, the organization must be aware of the presence and use of global benchmarking outcomes in critiquing their employees. By global benchmarking outcomes, reference is being made to the practice of setting standards for employees that reflect the global demand from the labor field as far as employee delivery and capabilities are concerned (Farndale, Hope-Hailey & Kelliher, 2011).

In a localized setting, an employee whose competence is to deliver an example of 3 tracks of supplies in a week may be considered topmost. But when this same employee is benchmarked with another in a different country doing 7 tracks in 4 days, it would be seen that the first employee’s capabilities are abysmal and thus need much development to be of international standard. Finally, it is very important that as part of the response to international changes, there will be the use of quality and standards assurance services.

There is a saying that he who makes a path does not know that his back is crooked. This means that when a person is performing any action, he or she requires another person who views from afar to pass judgment on real performance. Linking this to performance management, it will be relevant that the services of internationally recognized quality and standards assurance team will be employed to critique the company’s performance management system. Factors that could have a negative impact on performance management for an international business When engaging in performance management to compete internationally, there are some crucial factors that must be observed and avoided in order not to fail.

First of these is the practice of ‘Jack of all trade’ with the performance management process. It is always important to understand that as far as the international competition is concerned, there will be more areas and tasks to cover to get the performance management process successfully carried out. As a result of this, efficiency must be promoted by including more hands in the process (Van Dooren, 2011). Secondly, resistance to change is something can cause a total collapse of the system.

Indeed the whole globalization concept is about changes that have taken over the way to modern business thinking. In line with this, both leaders and their followers must always be ready to embrace any kinds of changes that are relevant for their move from localization to internationalization. When such changes are resisted in order to serve the selfish interest of some few people, chances are that the needed success will not be realized. In relation to the point that was made earlier, setting lower benchmarks can be a serious hindrance to international success.

This is because when lower benchmarks are set, the organization may see itself as really performing well but it would only be seen as a tall person among dwarves. What this means is that setting low standards that focus on local performance may make the organization think that it is really doing well but its appraised performance may only be good as a local champion. References Farndale, E., Hope-Hailey, V., & Kelliher, C. (2011). High commitment performance management: The roles of justice and trust.

Personnel Review, 40(1), 523. Hellqvist, N. (2011). Global performance management: A research agenda. Management Research Review, 34(8), 927946. Van Dooren, W. (2011). Better performance management. Public Performance & Management Review, 34(3), 420-433.