Significance of Performance Management in the Middle East - Essay Example

?Industry Report OR Design of a Performance In an organization with effective performance management, the managers perform performance management process and carry out each component of the process effectively. Only planning for any business is not sufficient, a company also needs to concentrate on the way by which a task can be accomplished. Here lies the need for performance management. An examination of the progress is required for measuring the performance of employee. This can guarantee that the task is accomplished within respective period and cost. Performance management assists to encourage employees for performing any task. The improvement is not restricted to any individual employee; a performance management process locates the performance of whole team and ensures versatile improvement. Performance management can reveal the current position and skills of employees and areas where employees need to be developed. The research paper will describe and analyze the performance management system and good business practices of one healthcare organization in UAE, named RAK Hospital. In hospital industry the performance of employees are vital for company’s success. It can ensure good customer satisfaction and create a good image of company. This paper will describe the good business practices of RAK Hospital which is one the reasons for its success. Further, it will recommend the possible solutions which can improve the performance management system in RAK Hospital. Table of Contents Industry Report OR Design of a Performance 1 Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction to Performance management 4 RAK Hospital 5 Significance of Performance Management in Middle East 6 Analysis of RAK Hospital’s Policy & Practices 9 Business Practices of RAK Hospital 10 Performance Management of RAK Hospital 13 Recommendation for Improving Performance Management 16 Conclusion 18 References 19 Bibliography 22 Introduction to Performance management Performance management is a vital as well as an essential part for employees and organizational efficiency. It is an organized procedure where an employee is involved as a member of team and as an individual to improve the organizational efficiency in order to achieve company’s mission and objectives (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, n.d.) Performance management is defined as a continuing procedure of communication that is commenced by an employee and his immediate boss. Through performance management an employee can recognize the essential task that the company expects from him and how the task of the employee can contribute to the mission and objectives of the company. Performance management can ensure to improve the performance of employees in case any employee is performing below the desired level of efficiency or replicating similar mistakes (Bacal, 1999). To mange the performance efficiently it requires an understanding of the framework in which the performance management procedure occurs. The performance management procedure must be initiated along with keeping in mind the strategic goals and core values of the company. It is important for any company to select the right employee into the system (Cardy & Et. Al., 2011). The performance management process includes planning, monitoring, developing, rating and rewarding. Source: (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, n.d.). These five components can make a successful performance management. RAK Hospital RAK is one of the superior hospitals of the Middle East nation UAE. The hospital was established by the joint venture between government of ‘Ras Al Khaimah’ and ‘ETA Star Healthcare’ in Dubai city. ETA Star Healthcare has a medical library in Dubai city and it is active in the business of medicinal, diagnostic and imaging tools. The RAK hospital is sponsored by Arabian Healthcare. The design of the hospital is developed by Eller Becket which is one of the top engineering, interior design and manufacture companies of the US. This hospital provides variety of premium rooms with a capacity of 65 beds, but it can increase the number of beds according to needs by more than 100. The hospital is established in the land of 140,000 square foot. RAK Hospital comprises of 8 Intensive Care divisions, six Nursery divisions, and four NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). RAK Hospital has also a pharmacy which provides 24 hours service and self-service restaurant. The hospital has a tie-up with ‘Sonnenhof Swiss Health Limited’ which is a company of Switzerland for providing specialized support and operational management (Al Tenaji Group, 2009) & (RAK Hospital, n.d.). Significance of Performance Management in Middle East In the Middle East, many companies had faced enormous turmoil and alteration. Quite a few companies had restructured their organization, re-staffed and re–skilled the employees and suspended redundant employees. To survive in the industry, a company has to make hard decisions. An organization needs to identify and welcome its custom for risk taking. In the current environment, a strategy needs to be re–thought as an organization continues to operate throughout the business planning cycle. The important feature of capitalizing the business strategy is through employee. The companies in the Middle East have faced many key challenges because of economic downturn. The surviving companies have to conquer the challenges which have occurred. They have to obtain new skills, new techniques and improve knowledge. As the economy rises up, a talented employee has plenty of options because of the gap in suspension and re–organization. To fulfill the gap because of economic downturn a company can select new talent and skills. To drive the business strategy there is need to evaluate the reward system and procedure to make sure that appropriate performance are rewarded. The performance management system can help a company to guarantee the arrangement of desired performance. Often, it has been found that after evaluating the organization system, a company is providing rewards for incorrect performance. Thus, there is a need to develop a connection between performance management system and organizational goals. There lies the importance of good performance management system. There are certain aspects which must be considered for successful performance management system which are business framework, employees’ needs, performance management plan and design and managing business by people. Source: (Walsh & Tarr, 2010). For successfully implementing the performance management the business strategy needs to be evaluated and the organization structure must be redefined. In order to redefine the business strategy, a company must consider the impact of performance management on the mission and objectives of the company. The organizational structure must fit with the purpose of the company. After defining the strategy and structure the essential skill of employees must be examined that is needed to accomplish the business strategy. A company can start the performance management system after reviewing the requisite employee requirement. To establish the performance management plan proper measures must be ascertained. A company should consider the employee development plan, preferred behavior, feedback process while commencing the performance strategy. Once the performance strategy is designed, a company must continuously examine and scrutinize the employee performance. It can help to recognize the drawback in performance and fulfill it with proper training. The appropriate reward scheme must be considered to retain the talented employees. It is the responsibility of HR to reveal the relationship between performance management and the expected activities of employee (Walsh & Tarr, 2010). The following graph describes the business value and return on investment that can be accomplished by good performance management system. Source: (Stratus Consulting, n.d.), Analysis of RAK Hospital’s Policy & Practices RAK Hospital seeks to provide international standard of healthcare service with highly experienced medical employee and trained nursing care. It redefines the standards of superiority in treatment with premium generosity. According to a report of RAK Hospital, almost 30% of UAE’s population can receive private health care, 20% of population has health insurance, 5% can meet the expense of private health care without any medical insurance coverage and 5% takes medical health care by other ways. RAK Hospital provides health insurance. The hospital has connection with many medical insurance provider companies by which it provides insurance to people. The health system of RAK Hospital is centralized. According to new policy of RAK Hospital, the administration of the health care is divided into three divisions which are support services, licensing and public health policy. The support services division deals with human resources and legal relationships. The licensing division is in charge of registration and official approval of new medicines. The public heal policy manages the health insurance and regulations. It also responds to the matters of state. In the new policy of RAK Hospital, there had been an increase in the management of budgetary funding and expenditure. In RAK, there are 18 health centers which are spread in such a way that any person can reach nearby centre in almost 15 minutes. The demand for private health is huge in RAK. There is a big market for emigrant from Europe and through their marketing strategies RAK Hospital has been able to successfully capture the market of health care. RAK Hospital had developed mutual trust with ‘Swiss Health Care’ by their good policies. According to the policy of RAK Hospital the prime focus is upon 11 major areas. Among them the major priorities are good teamwork, superior medical services, prevention of infection, and protection of patients. RAK Hospital provides education which teaches child health, emergency care, general health, medication, nutrition and information about human body system. There are three major procedures which RAK Hospital provides for employees which are training, documentation and implementation. RAK Hospital ensures that the employees are recognized with the policy, procedure and subsequently the procedure is executed with the policies outlined. RAK Hospital provides information to patients about the number of days for staying in the hospital and also the charge of extra services. RAK Hospital always maintains the rights of the patients. The administration is always aware in case any patient is overcharged for any service. RAK Hospital is always conscious about the infectious viruses and it offers multidisciplinary healing facility which covers all checkup fields (RAK Hospital, n.d.) & (RAK Hospital, n.d.). Business Practices of RAK Hospital According to WHO’s (World Health Organization) estimation in 2010, almost 35% – 40% people are in risk of getting diabetes because of no physical exercises and no dieting controls. There is also risk of hypertension and heart diseases. Thus, RAK Hospital had established awareness programmes by health center because many people are ignorant about the risks about those diseases. RAK Hospital has developed plan for investing almost 2 billion USD in next five years for improving the health care competencies (RAK Hospital, n.d.). Besides providing general services such as other hospitals, RAK Hospital had also performed many business practices in UAE. In the year 2009, RAK Hospital had promoted to the citizens of the nation about the healthy approach for living. This campaign had been initiated by joint cooperation with Tufts University of the US. The aim of this campaign is to counter the problem of obesity among UAE people. As a part of the campaign RAK Hospital had prepared CME (Continuing Medical Education) campaign which teaches about the nourishment and good health. The campaign consists of debate about diet, diabetes and nutrition food. The key issues which had been focused in this campaign were the importance of Vitamin D, dietary fatty acid, lipoproteins and improvement of bone health (BI-ME, 2009). To develop health understanding among teenage groups, RAK Hospital had organized summer campsite in UAE with the help of Ministry of Youth. The teenagers were taught about the hygienic factors and its significance in good health, importance of taking right nutrition, significance of physical exercise and right methods of cleaning teeth. The general household people were also part of the campaign. There was discussion about managing minor home injury, children obesity and diabetes (RAK Hospital, 2010). In the year 2010, RAK Hospital had offered free consultation and radiography for the citizens of RAK. The objective of RAK Hospital is to increase the awareness of the people in the age group of 40 years and above about the bone and joint health. This program helps people to know their body after crossing 40 years because in this period people usually face difficulties regarding bone and joints. The orthopedics division of RAK Hospital provides surgeries such as joint replacement, spinal instrumentation, limb expansion and adjustment of any defects of the people (Khaleej Times, 2010). In the same year i.e. 2010, RAK Hospital had initiated a nationwide HCV awareness program by joint union with Roche Pharmaceuticals. The program aims at providing information about the HCV (Hepatitis C Virus). In the year 2010, the number of HCV infected persons in UAE was almost 2 hundred million. It has been found that almost 0.5–1% reason for infection with HCV is due to no compulsory HCV test (RAK Hospital, 2010). Performance Management of RAK Hospital In the healthcare industry, it is difficult to understand procedures and build criteria to direct and assess them. A hospital needs to manage over the results and develop them. RAK Hospital had developed performance metrics known as KPI. KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is generally attached to the goal and signified how far that metric is over or underneath the expected target. KPI helps to recognize the user whether an organization is going according to plan or not. RAK Hospital uses dashboard system to collect the matrices. The main advantages of using dashboard system are that it is based on development and identifies any fault in the way of improvement. The information of dashboard system is accurate which increases the transparency of RAK Hospital’s performance. It has several indicators which can scrutinize real time performance silently. This system is comparable with BMS (Building Management System) which has multiple physical interfaces. Source: (David, n.d.). RAK Hospital makes the progress of the operations quite easy to handle and operate by using software. It conducts usual hospital-wide presentation with employees. RAK Hospital utilizes quality data and every decision is based on data on a regular basis in the ground level. This system ensures that the decisions are based on specific subjects and are not personal. For better performance management, RAK Hospital performs the following activities: Planning the service mix Performing ‘Root Cause Analysis’ Conducting Trend Analysis Providing alert for practical indicator management Carrying out several data visualization & mining patterns and reports These activities can help to identify any problem and change as it occurs. It can avoid solving the problem by preventing them. RAK Hospital rewards for quality performance. It pays incentives and rewards for good performance of employee. To provide reward for performance, firstly the performance indicator is recognized. Then, the indicator is confirmed and measured with the expected performance. After evaluating the performance the reward is provided to the prospective employee. The aim of the rewarding system is to support and emphasize employees and team for good performance. Source: (David, n.d.). Recommendation for Improving Performance Management Nowadays, hospitals are inundated by increasing cost as the expenses related with providing good service has persisted to increase sharply. The hospital industry also faces declining profit due to reduction in the healthcare expenditure. Thus, for a big hospital such as RAK, there is a need to employ aggressive measures to increase the effectiveness and better control the finances while providing superior quality of care and patient satisfaction. In the current system of RAK Hospital there is lack of motivation for employees. The manager needs to discover a method to convince, satisfy, inspire and retain employees and enhance their performance, or else in future RAK Hospital can lose the capable and creative employees to other companies which are ready to meet their needs and requirements. The psychological contract of employee and organization needs to be identified by survey and interview. RAK Hospital must realize that the performance of employees is determined by level of motivation and satisfaction. Open communication with supervisor or manager is vital to remove the gap in expectations through developing and conducting motivation survey. RAK Hospital can examine the link between motivation, employee satisfaction and performance by proper research which can help to strengthen performance management (Suliman & Sabri, 2009). To ensure the peak performance, RAK Hospital must keep close track of admission tendency, bed possession, employee productivity, duration of their work and allocation of worker and patient. These indicators can help to improve necessary functions of hospital and thus performance management. As the healthcare industry in UAE has became more competitive than before, RAK Hospital needs to ensure that the patients are satisfied as well as employees of the organization are motivated. Conclusion For several years, the economy of UAE has showed rapid growth. The demand for high quality health care system is high in UAE. Meanwhile, the infrastructure of RAK Hospital is adapted with the expectations of people who demand standard system. RAK Hospital is a suitable destination for the patients of UAE as well as countries outside UAE. The employees are committed to make their clients and families feel comfortable and satisfied. Presently, RAK Hospital has established itself well and maintains its development through good performance management. RAK Hospital must ensure to encourage employees by proper management since there are other competitors who can provide similar services alike RAK Hospital and are eager to employ talented employee. References Al Tenaji Group, 2009. RAK Hospitals. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.tenaiji.com/(X(1)A(MTg08scjaIMg5YKvVNxhN7M8Pl7tbcKYaj--QaMw7MyhWHy-CJ88B5NjiezDvW5aOjx0fGkKgnmltNTtF9xSDQYvsP__daSSjnTyPeVY0P-OiVhxfvcdufkMGlWiATOQRpcLvmCNlp9RNK_1r8R82NHI1ZA1))/hospitals.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 [Accessed June 22, 2011]. Bacal, R., 1999. Performance Management. McGraw-Hill Professional. BI-ME, 2009. RAK Hospital Partners With Tufts University. Business Intelligence Middle East. [Online] Available at: http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=39926&t=1 [Accessed June 22, 2011]. Cardy, R. L. & Et. Al., 2011. Performance Management: Concepts, Skills and Exercises. M.E. Sharpe. David, A., No Date. Effective Integrated Quality Measurement & Performance Improvement For Your Organization. Performance Metrics. [Online] Available at: http://www.iirpresentations.com/A1125/Day2/Arpan%20David.pdf [Accessed June 22, 2011]. Khaleej Times, 2010. RAK Hospital Offers Free Consultation for Bone Complaints. Nation. 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European Management Review. Hill, T. J., No Date. Performance Management: Improving and Sustaining Performance in Rural Hospitals. Rural Minnesota Journal, Volume 2, Issue 2. [Online] Available at: http://www.mnsu.edu/ruralmn/pages/Publications/rmj/RMJ2-07/Hill.pdf [Accessed June 22, 2011]. Read More