Performance Management - Essay Example

? Performance Management Performance Management Introduction This research paper focuses on identifying the role of managers and leaders in persuading employees or team members for working as a unit towards achieving organizational objectives. Different aspects of organizational processes and how objectives for the organization are identified are discussed and these are supported with the help of learning outcomes. 1. Focus on Performing Best to Achieve Organizational Objectives Link between Individuals, Team and Organizational Objectives Every organization hires and employs individuals who possess different sets of skills and are expert in their respective fields. These individuals are provided training to understand and learn what is required from them to put in their respective jobs, so that the organizational goals and objectives can be achieved. The objectives of an individual are to put their best efforts in their work so that they can earn good and move up in organizational hierarchy. Team’s objectives are to work as a unit to achieve organization’s objectives whereas the organization’s objective is to maximize the stakeholder’s wealth by performing well. The objectives of an individual are linked to the objectives of team, as when the individual being a member of the team, performs well, it will put positive impact on the moral of the team. When each individual in a team performs well, it will be easier to achieve the objectives of the team and consequently, the working relationship of individuals within a team will help the organization to achieve its objectives. Being a potential manager or a leader of team, I would focus on working with each individual in my team separately. In my opinion, it is essential for me to discuss work related issues and solutions with every individual of my team so that the team members can get motivated and work towards achieving the organizational objectives. Selection of Individual and Team Objectives Individual objectives are selected after the analysis of each individual’s personal competencies and skills, whereas the team objectives are selected after considering the nature of work that is required to be performed by the team. There are numerous reasons for setting different objectives for a team and individual to achieve. Bering on a managerial position, I would set different objectives for my team and the individuals who are member of my team. Considering the fact that organizational objectives becomes difficult to achieve due to the knowledge, skills and abilities that are required from a single person. Provided that I would select a team of diversified individual, it will provide me a chance to fill the gaps left by one individual, by utilizing the skills of other individual who have skill to fill that gap. Areas of Individual and Team Responsibility To achieve organization’s objectives, a manger must create a distinctive line between the responsibilities of team and the individuals within that team. If I were the manager, I would have based my leadership style prescribed by John Adair (Adair 2012). As proposed by Adair, an action centered leader will identify aims and vision of a group, gather resources, create a plan, allot responsibilities, set standards and control the flow of activities. Being a manager of a team, I would be responsible for establishing objectives and reaching to a point where my team members agree with my work method and than work towards achieving the objectives. On the other hand, being a manger for individuals in my team, I would assess personal skill, problems, highs and lows of every individual and than assort individual responsibilities accordingly. Need to Trust and Support An environment where every individual of a team have a right to speak and share ideas, develops self-confidence and intrinsic motivation among the individuals. As being a manager, I would pay especial consideration towards winning trust of my team and individuals within the team by supporting their ideas and motivating them by giving them value for their work. 2. Perform Well and Receive Rewards Evaluating Individual and Team Performance Evaluating individual and team’s performance for achieving the objectives of the organization is necessary in order to measure the level of efficiency with which the tasks are accomplished. Considering the fact that individuals’ performance has a vital impact on the overall output of teams, it is necessary for the managers to adapt a performance management approach. Being a manager, I will utilize the performance management systems to work performance of an individual within a team and assess how a particular individual works as an integral part of team, as undermined by organization’s strategic plans. I will also look upon individual’s capability to motivate other team members for improving the organization’s performance and effectiveness. Providing Feedback to Individuals and Team Feedback can be provided to individuals and teams by various means. A manager should take good care while communicating how an individual or a team has performed on the course of achieving organizational objectives. Team can be provided feedback by placing bulletins on notice boards, announcing incentives, providing critiques on the performance during team meetings etc. Individuals especially, should be provided feedback on their performance, by meeting them face-to-face. If a manager finds flaws in an individual’s performance, he should talk to the individual team member personally. Feedback can also be provided along with pay slips or by e-mail. As a manager, I will prefer that I provide regular and timely feedback to my team and individual members via team meetings, in order to ensure self-participation and show self-concern about their performance. Cause of Conflicts and Resolving Conflicts Conflicts can arise on the course of achieving organizational objectives. These conflicts are the resultant of employees’ negative perception towards the organization’s objectives and operational activities. An individual or team might oppose an organizational decision due to the fear that they might lose their current position and importance within the organization. Even, individuals and team see these decisions as a potential cause for taking away their jobs. Some individuals and teams create conflicts against the management’s decision because they think they are being under paid or underestimated for an organizational task, which requires extensive hard work. There are some individuals who think that the current status of organization and its operational activities is well enough to achieve organization’s objectives and a change in these systems will disturb the whole process (Manning, Curtis and McMillen 1996). As a manager, I will try to resolve conflicts by holding team meetings and one on one discussion with the individuals of my team. I will try to convince them that a change or management decision to alter operational activities intends to facilitate their work and produce more output from the operational activities. Moreover, I will communicate to them, the potential incentives and increased remuneration that they will be earning by adjusting with the new systems. Recording Systems for Performance Assessment Recording systems are monitoring systems that help a manager to monitor and assess individual and team’s performance. These recording systems provide daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports of a particular team and individuals within the team. Managers to know how an individual or a team is performing and provide feedback on the basis of this report to individuals utilize these reports. In this way, managers find it easier to criticize or appraise an individual or team’s performance via feedback and give them suggestions to improve their performance. These systems also facilitate managers to hand over suggestions regarding an individual or team to the higher management or human resource departments (Mohapatra and Singh 2012). One such monitoring system is Performance Monitoring Plan which would help me in planning, managing and documenting the performance of each individual within the team, that I m managing. The PMP will be effective in monitoring the performance of my sub-ordinates (USAID 1996). 3. Motivation is Essential for Improved Results Performance Improvement Cycle A performance improvement cycle includes different phases through which, a managers keeps control over the flow of activities on the course of accomplishing organizational goals and objectives. This process helps a manager to help the employees to improve their job related performance and produce even more output by putting less input (Baxter and Macleod 2008). A typical performance improvement cycle may include four phases, i.e. planning, testing and estimating, evaluating and implementing (Florida Department of Health 2010). As a manager, I will first gather information and prepare a plan in the light of findings fetched from information available. An efficient plan for achieving organizational objectives would help me in determining what resources and work force with particular set of skills will be required. When I have a plan and resources in my hand, I will arrange a test drill and implement my plan to assess what are the results generated by my intended plan. Upon assessing the results and making suitable alterations if necessary, I will implement the plan. Performance improvement cycle will not only help me in lining up my personal objectives against the organizational objectives, but will also be beneficial for my team members to understand what is required from them and how well they are needed to perform. Indicators of Poor Performance It is necessary for a manager of a team to understand the reasons behind poor performance of his team members. More importantly, it’s necessary for a manager to understand the indicators of poor performance. A manager can look for various cues and symptoms to conclude that an individual is performing badly at job. The most prominent indicator of poor performance at job is boredom that is experienced by the individuals. Employees start to express with their actions and thoughts that there is nothing interesting left in their jobs or they cannot find their job exciting enough. Moreover, if an employee start to create conflicts with the managers, than it is quite clears that the employee is not willing to perform well by listening to the instructions of his or her manager. Employees who are performing poorly on their jobs also start to fell short of meeting the expectations of their managers and do not put much effort on accomplishing their assigned tasks. Last but not least, employees’ personal health also gives an idea to the manager that the individual is not performing up to the standards, if his or health condition is declining. An individual’s attitude with peer workers also helps the managers to understand the performance level of that individual (Shweta 2012). Methods to Support Performance Improvement A number of methods and their variants are available to the managers to support performance improvement measures. These methods are widely used in services and manufacturing industries in order to ensure that high volume of output is generated by inputting fewer amounts of resources. One of these methods is Total Quality Management (TQM). Total quality management allows managers to set certain standards for each and every task that an individual perform (Jostes and Helms 1994). These standards bound individuals of an organization to perform their tasks and ensure that the product or service they produce or the organizational objectives they accomplish are of high standards and superior quality for satisfying the customers (Grunberg 2007). Business Process Improvement (BPI) is another tool to ensure quality and standards at each level of organizational hierarchy and systems. BPI helps managers of each and every department to understand the importance of perfection and continuous improvement for yielding high returns for the organization (Grunberg 2007). Other methods and systems that can be utilized by managers to ensure performance improvement are Total Production Maintenance (TPM), Lean Production, Process Mapping, Decision Support and Continuous Improvement Systems (CIS). Motivating employees through different intrinsic and extrinsic motivators also brings significant improvement in the performance of individuals (Lawlor 1985). Intrinsic motivators can be satisfying employees by encouraging their performance, providing them training and development facilities to boost their personal skills and handling over them responsibilities. Extrinsic motivators include financial incentives, increasing the remuneration packages of the individuals, praising good performance in front of others and giving particular attention to each and every employee (Grunberg 2007; Ljungstrom 2004). 4. Maintain Discipline and Abide by the Grievance Procedures to ensure Superior Results Organization’s Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures An organization’s disciplinary and grievance procedures help the employees to understand what behavior is acceptable within the organization and how they are bound to follow a policy framework. In an organizational setting, the managers are responsible to enforce the disciplinary codes and grievance procedures. These policy guidelines also clarify the employees about what actions they are expected to make at different stages of organization’s operational activities. The disciplinary codes and grievance procedures are designed by the higher management and the human resource departments to communicate the rights and responsibilities of employees and also outlines, how employees can appeal to the managers and owner of the companies to safe guard their rights (The Circle 2010). Grievance procedures on the other hand, are concerns raised by employees against t he unwillingness or inappropriateness of employers to meet the terms and conditions outlined in the employment contracts. Certain laws and regulations, designed by Government bodies and the organization itself, prohibits employers to treat individuals unfairly or unequally (The Circle 2010; Morrell 2010). Role of Managers in Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures Managers in an organizational setup works both as the dispute and solution to the dispute at workplace. Managers are considered to be the final authority of their respective departments and work stations. Therefore it becomes essential for managers to ensure that the organizational policies are strictly followed on the course of accomplishing organizational tasks and objectives. Moreover, managers also work as a catalyst to fasten the operational activities of an organization, without causing any disputes. This can be done by eliminating any grieves that his or her team or individual member of the team possesses against organization or the managerial style. At the same time, managers also work as a bridge between the employees and the higher management and communicate the expectations from both sides to each other on regular basis (CIPD 2008). Key Aspects of Legislation for Organization’s Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures One aspect of National Occupancy Standard B6 urges managers to ensure that the organizational operations are running smoothly in difficult and challenging times without creating conflicts with the individuals or team (UK Standards 2009). One clause in National Occupancy Standards B11 requires the managers to take suitable measures for fulfilling the basic rights of the team members (UK Standards 2009). D3 is a major unit of National Occupancy Standards, which describes the responsibility of managers regarding recruitment and selection of employees and the policies to retain these employees. This unit majorly defines procedures through which a manager can develop a working relationship with each individual in his or her team (UK Standards 2009). Conclusion This research paper helps the reader to understand different roles of a manager, for the sake of keeping organizational processes running smoothly and ensuring high returns by accomplishing organizational tasks and objectives with the help of team and the individuals with the team. List of References Adair, j., 2012. Action Centered leadership. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 24 February 2012]. Baxter, L.F. and Macleod, A.M., 2008. Managing performance improvement. London: Routledge. CIPD, 2008. Managing Conflict at Work- A guide for line managers. Research report. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel Development. Florida Department of Health, 2010. The DOH 5-Step Performance Improvement Process. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 24 February 2012]. Grunberg, T., 2007. Performance Improvement- A method to support performance improvement in Industrial operations. Research Report. Stockholm: Royal Institute of Technology. Jostes, R. and Helms, M., 1994. Total Productive Maintenance and its link to Total Quality Management. Work Study, 43(7). Lawlor, A., 1985. Productivity Improvement Manual. Aldershot: Gower Publisher Company. Ljungstrom, M., 2004. Implementation of a work development oriented strategy for continuous improvements. Research Report. Lulea: Department of Quality Environment Management. Manning, G., Curtis, K. and McMillen, S., 1996. Building Community: The Human Side of Work. Michigan: Whole Person Associates, Inc. Mohapatra, S. and Singh, R.P., 2012. Information Strategy Design and Practices. NY: Springer. Morrell, K., 2010. Discipline and Grievance Procedures. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 24 February 2012]. Shweta, 2012. Top Reasons for Poor Performance at Work. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 24 February 2012]. The Circle, 2010. Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. Research Report. Sheffield: Voluntary Action Sheffield. UK Standards, 2009. B11: Providing Direction. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 24 February 2012]. UK Standards, 2009. B6: Providing Ledaership in Your Area of Responsibility. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 24 February 2012]. USAID, 1996. Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. Research Report. NY: USAID Center for Development Information and Evaluation. Read More