Performance Management - Essay Example

?A Reflective Essay on Performance Management In this essay I will be arguing that positive team management, good supervisory skills, 360 degrees feedback, good quality work positively affect individual performance and team performance as well. The Argument in detail I will be justifying my argument by first drawing an analogy between my team performance and literature from various scholarly books and references. Firstly I will be basing my argument on the fact that apart from financial measures ‘Non-financial indicators is likely to be used for identifying best practices within cooperative relationships’ (Patelli and Dossi, 2012). Next the team’s activities will be further related with job satisfaction and motivation as a consequence of 360 degree feedback, supervisor skills and work itself. (Shah et al, 2012) A positive relationship can be found between Job Satisfaction and motivation and Reward and Recognition, Supervision and Work itself. The fact that a healthy supervision was maintained through relative feedback and unbiased opinion through rotation of team leaders will be discussed later in the subsequent paragraphs.(Shah et al, 2012). In our 6 weeks of reading and team activities we have been taken through various stages. Every week was characterised by a unique and essential quality of team work, individual performance, relative moderation all of which sum up to give a first-hand experience of the following experiences: relationship between professional work and supervision( through weekly activities), supervisory skills (Through weekly rotation of the role of a leader) and balance between nature of work, reward and recognition and intrinsic motivation towards one’s job (Through weekly diverse activities, 360 degree feedback, incentives, prizes and rewards) and finally the urge to contribute more as a result of motivation. Approaching the argument The argument that I would build upon is that a high employee engagement and intrinsic motivation is directly and positively related to 360 degree feedback involving a holistic approach to performance management. Performance Management is also related to day to day work and supervisory/ people management skills. The relationship between feedback, work and motivation is seen through the course of the weekly activities and the supporting literature studied over the course of this activity. Performance Management in context of group activities Performance Management is not a one-dimensional activity as seen from the weekly group activities, involving not only supervision, but also assessment, emotional understanding, intellectual brainstorming seen in week 2 and 3 activities of questionnaire on a summary and the debate. In the same way Performance Management relies not just on absolute parameters and outcomes but relative analysis. As shared by one of the subsidiaries, ‘In our company, we pay much attention to information-sharing, and relative performance evaluation is one way to learn from each other’ ( Dossi and Patelli, 2012). Reflective analysis of weekly activities The diverse tasks in the first activity like: reading out a summary, comprehending the same and testing the assimilation and understanding through a rapid fire round of question, followed by subsequent critique by the leader and an open discussion gives an all-round practical exposure to Performance and Talent Management. My group is composed of 6 participants, all of them being female. Participant A is an Australian local, participant B is another Australian local who already has a job and some work experience. Participant C is an international citizen thirty five year of age and having two children. Participants C, D and E are Chinese full time student. I am participant E. As can be observed form the above assimilation of participants. They have a balanced mix of students and professionals, young and middle aged participants, locals and foreign nationals, college graduates, undergraduates and working professionals. Various stages of Forming Storming, Norming, Confirming and Performing can be observed over a period of 7 to 8 weeks of activities with different members taking turns to become the leader. The diverse activities like weekly reading, discussion, debates, rapid fire Question and Answer round, Storming and Norming on Team Development strategies and theory put to practice in the field of HR and Team Management try and take this exercise to its logical conclusion of getting a healthy team with diverse opinions. Cultural Diversity The team is composed of individuals from different parts of the world and therefore is based on the fundamental good practices of HR Management for modern day organisations: Diversity. Cultural diversity exists through the inclusion of Australian locals, Japanese lady, and Chinese students. The overall performance of the team is influenced by the cultural diversity which in turn influences the mind-sets, work culture, professional interaction, method and style of work. Age Diversity The group also has a healthy mix of young students, young and middle aged professionals. This facilitates varying perspective and balances the emotional and intellectual quotient of the team. The thought processes of the team is guided by the insights and outlooks of its team members and in this case my team has demonstrates diversity in views and approaches through the healthy mix of participants from different ages groups. My group demonstrates the important quality of Inclusiveness. It follows inclusion through the acceptance and assimilation of people having different nationalities, from diverse educational background, diverse economic, cultural, social and professional background. It also allows participants from different age group. Therefore my group can be considered to have followed the principles of Inclusion to the core. The week 2 activity focuses a shift from Traditional Performance Management approaches to contemporary processes Week 3 activities focus on the motivational aspect of performance. Week two activity involves dividing the group into two and pitching them against one another in a debate on whether the paper is successful in showing that a positive relationship exists between reward and recognition, supervision and work itself, with job satisfaction and spontaneous motivation. (Shah et al, 2012). We are taken through the aspects and importance of motivation at work, and playing to one’s strengths through the motivation received from supervisors, seniors and even from colleagues. The following key concepts were studied in week 3: What is motivation? How do we motivate? How hard do we try? Being self-motivated, channelizing motivation into better productivity, Test of Perseverance. (Shah et al, 2012) Content and Process Theories like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Mc Clelland’s Three-needs theory for work Mc Gregor’s Theories X and Y and Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory. Process theories were also studied in conjunction with the Content and Process Theories. A form relation between Goal Setting and motivation was also seen. In our weekly activity for week 3 we saw the various arguments coming up for and against the motion. Reflecting on this I feel that Motivation is vital for better performance, and the group supporting the motion made strong points in line with the discussion. (Shah et al, 2012) The relationship between rewards and recognition, supervision and work with job satisfaction, and a positive balance between job satisfaction and inner motivation was explored through the debate. A reflective analysis brings out the fact that these relationships are quite logical and hardwired in human psychology, that job satisfaction is a direction quotient arising out of the appreciation, supervision and day to day work. The paper presents the facts of a working environment and sheds light on the responsibilities of an employer (i.e., commensurate rewards, employee satisfaction and positive work environment). The other side of the argument was seen through the experience shared by team member C, the Japanese person having work experience. Insights and experiences were shared out of personal professional interactions in the past and a strong argument against the motion was made. However a balanced debate took place and valuable reflections were drawn from the discourse. Proceeding to the Week 4’s group activity, with another shuffling of the role of a leader, the focus was on team management. An insight into the combination of MBO (Management by Objectives) and Team Development Stage Theory without any empirical data was made. The team discussed on the critics and limitations, the potency and success rate of the MBO and TDST method, experiences on team working, particular cases where the team failed and the stage of failure. Management by Objectives was studied and discussed in conjunction with the stages of Team Working: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. (Fulk et al, 2011) My team was taken through the same stages of Team Management and every activity brought about the execution of a particular stage interlocking with the previous and next stages. In the next week, (Week 5) of team activities, “Leader Delegation in Global Software Teams Its occurrences and effects”, was the prescribed reading. It was based on the concept of delegation. A reflection on the activity is that strong scenario construction skills, far sightedness, anticipation of critical situations, communication skills and interpersonal skills are positively affected. (Zhang etal, 2012) The above qualities are honed through role-play based activities. A dual point of view can be cultivated giving a balanced perspective and a professional attitude. The role play involved the first group playing the role of employees and the remaining three putting themselves in the shoes of Managers. Various perspectives came out in the discussion that involved suggestions to managers from employee’s point of view and advice and relative requirements from managers put forward for employees. Reflecting on this I would say that a perfectly universal picture was draw taking into considerations the expectations and justifications of managers and management in general in their delegation based decisions and the meaningfulness seen by employees while being delegated for a particular task, responsibility or role. The overall business perspective right from scheduling responsibility, people management, and resource and talent management to the ultimate goal of employee satisfaction was captured through the role play based activity. Lastly the strongest reflective analysis derived from this activity was making the right decisions regarding delegation in global software teams, so that the people with the right skills, experience, motivation, attitude and connections are mapped to the right roles, tasks or assignments. The last two weeks focused on dwelling upon and practising 360 degrees feedback and a real life scenario of crisis management and adoption of performance management strategies to stay relevant, competitive and up to date in the market. Week 6 involved the process of obtaining 360 degree feedback, its relation with an effective performance management system and its effect on the on employee behaviour. The final target being a change in employee behaviour, temperament and a shift in attitude through constant feedback, HR system, Alignment/ Focus, Constraints, 360 degree feedback was demonstrated to play a crucial role in a successful performance management system. (Bracken and Rose, 2011) The reflective analysis on the 360 degree feedback activity was that it is effective and has certain limitations as well. The success of the 360 degree feedback model depends on credible and reliable data, relevant content, accountability, census (organisational participation). These above factors in conjunction give rise to a successful 360 degree feedback process and its logical consequence. (Bracken and Rose, 2011) The same process was applied in Week 2 activity wherein 360 degree feedback was incorporated in deciding who was the best speaker and who was the most active participants. This sort of feedback employed a relative assessment, wherein an individual’s answer was snot assessed on absolute terms but put on a scale with the best answer form the group and the overall performance of the group was taken into consideration. Lastly in the week 7 activity the focus was on employing Management Strategies in the face of economic challenges and competitor threats. Learning to cope with hard times, focusing on performance, cutting costs, adhering to customer needs and staying relevant were the reflection that I drew from the last activity. The group undergoes its first stage of forming through Group Activity in Week Two with the weekly leader being member A, who is an Australian local without any work experience. Essentially the first week forms a part of the ice-breaking practise with the team interacting amongst themselves, understanding the skills and temperament of peers and learning to work with one another. The activity of listening to the summary of an article, followed by answering a round of quick questions on the article, followed by participant A’s personal critique and finally concluding with an open discussion. The group’s diversity and intellectual colour is put to test. This activity was not only important from an ice-breaking point of view, but also from identifying initial talent and people with management, speaking and listening skills. I felt participant B was the best out of the lot, answering most questions, speaking out and being heard. Participant B according to my opinion had the power of speech and expression. She did a great job by seizing the opportunity, acting quick on it, expressing herself and attracting attention towards her through her speaking skills. The common instinct of any group newly formed is to enter into a stage of storming. Storming is the inevitable phase of team building where members confront one another with differing views, varying opinions and opposing decisions. This is the logically subsequent stage to ‘Forming’ a group. As different minds, intellects and individuals are put in the same plain, they tend to fill it up with themselves and so does other individuals too. In the process, the initial collision happens bringing into picture the disagreements and disparities within the group, which only settle down through a healthy discussion and debate. Mutually cantered decisions are taken by considering the points and arguments of individual participants. Into Week 3, and that of Storming we had participant B as the leader. The weekly activity was to debate amongst us on whether the paper is successful in showing that there is a positive relationship between reward and recognition, supervision and works itself with job satisfaction, and a positive relationship between job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation?. The teams consisted of A, D and F on one side and B, C and E on the other side each choosing to either be for the motion or against the motion. The topic itself was quite deeply rooted into Performance Management Principles and Process and based on situation and context with respect to a particular organisation or team. Being a complex question addressing various Performance Management areas like: Reward and Recognition, Supervision, Nature of Work/ Quality of Work, Job Satisfaction and Intrinsic Motivation, the topic was tricky to build a discussion or debate on. However the process of Storming started inevitably with team members A and B using their power of speech and command over English language. Participant C shared her working experience with an American medical equipment company in arguing that the paper was not successful in showing a positive relation between rewards, supervision and nature of work and a healthy balance between job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation. Participant C’s experience and age came into the picture here. Her, previous experience with organisations helped her based her argument on solid experience and factual data. This steered the debate in a logical discussion well-fortified with facts and authentic information. The stage of Forming now is giving way to efficient decision making and working together as a team. Week 4’s activity involved team member C as the leader. The activity was based on thorough reading of Week 4 article related to Team Management. Applying team management skills based on work ethics, work culture influenced and based on cultural composition and professional exposure of individual team members which build an overall spirit and system of working. The critics and limitations of MBO and Team Development Stage Theory were suggested by member A, although she did not read the article thoroughly. The third part of the question was answered by all members and feedback was given to weekly leader C. In week 4 we saw experiences coming into the picture and new perspectives surfacing out from old and established system of thinking and understanding. Age diversity and professional diversity played a very important in a balanced opinion and a diverse range of answers and experiences related to the working with teams that failed and the various stages at which they failed. Group activity dealt with Leaders Delegation by global software teams: occurrences and effects. This activity required members to assume they were either managers or employees and then put forward propositions for the betterment of the individual and the organisation. This activity turned out to be interesting, through the acting, assumption and role play skills of the participants and realistic approach to a hypothetical situation. Attention to detail, analogy to real time reality, relevancy with the theme of suggestion of new ideas and expressing oneself with clarity and precision were observed. The enactment of an employee or a manager and put forth suggestions turned out to be successful with experience-based suggestions as well as new and radical thoughts coming to the forefront. Members A, E (I) and F played the role of Manager whereas members B, C and D played the role of employees, each one attending to their roles quite well. This stage of team building and this particular activity of role play turned out to be effective in grasping the thought processes, intellect, perception of reality, temperament and speaking skills of individual members. Week 6 involved the reading of the weekly article and leading the discussion by weekly leader, team member F. This activity banked on the definitive and theoretical understanding of 360 degree feedback, practical experience on 360 degree feedback and graphical illustration of 360 degree feedback. As the team starts confirming to one another and decisions, the shift in the working pattern of the team, reflected through their discussions and thoughts were clearly visible. The team has already started maturing into a closely knot unit, working together and phasing into resonance with one another from a previous state of collisions and confrontation. The graphical analogy of 360 degree feedback was quite interesting. This revealed the thoughts and perception of 360 degree feedback of individual participants. It gave a clear idea on the impact and importance of 360 degree feedback and also incorporating it while doing an activity as a team. Looking back the same was followed in Week 2 activity with team member A as the leader. A 360 degree feedback on the quality of answers was obtained by taking into consideration the teams response with respect to the individual’s response in deciding whether to reward the individual or not. In the last and final week of activities i.e. week 7, reading of an article about the measures taken by New Zealand to avoid the dot.com collapse was discussed. The article was done by two groups comprising of members A, D, F and B, C, E. The first half of the article critique was taken up by the first group and the remaining portion of the article was taken by the other group. Through the above activities accomplished through Forming, Storming, Norming, confirming and performing we have observed that the team has utilised its resources to the maximum. From week 1 till week7 the group had moved from one stage to another, from beginning to understand the team and the objectives of the weekly assignments, to working together as a synchronous unit and achieving objectives collectively. 360 degrees feedback was made a point during the appraisals after each activity and that ensured a healthy reward system in line with performance and contribution of individual with relative to the overall team’s performance. The cultural, professional and age diversity played an important role in making my group come up with diverse ideas, and arguments, which ultimately helped the objective of every activity, i.e., building a healthy and balanced discussion and concluding every activity with diverse and vivid responses or results. To conclude and also in reflection of the weekly readings, lectures and the 7 week group activity I feel that my team has had the advantage of being diverse in terms of professional exposure ( Japanese lady with experience, Australian lady with a job, three full time students), in terms of culture, in terms of age and society. Due to cultural, professional, age and social diversity the basic pre-requisites of a high performing and balanced team were met. Tying the introduction, the logical argument that there is a positive relation between work, rewards and intrinsic motivation and the group’s weekly activities it can be said that the feedback system was healthy and not skewed or misrepresentative of a person’s skills. Whether there were language barriers or lack of experience etc the overall contribution of each member was weighed against that of the team in deciding the rewards. Sound 360 degree feedback was ensured through relative moderation and periodic rotation of group leaders or initiators. The argument that, work, supervision and rewards and recognition have a positive relationship with job satisfaction and that job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation are positively related stands testified through the positive outcome of the team activity, increased knowledge and awareness and a better performing team. References: 1. Aguinis, Herman (2008). Performance Management, 2nd Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, New York 2. De Janasz S., Wood G., Gottschalk, L., Dowd K. and Schneider B.(2006). Interpersonal Skills in Organisations. North Ryde, Australia. McGraw Hill 3. Salovey, P. & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 9, 185-211. 4. Muhammad Jamal Shah, Musawwir-Ur-Rehman, Gulnaz Akhtar,Huma Zafar, Adnan Riaz. (2012), Job Satisfaction and Motivation of Teachers of Public Educational Institutions. International Journal of Business and Social Science 5. Fulk, H. K., Bell, R. L., Bodie, N., (2012). Team Management by Objectives: Enhancing Developing. Journal of Management Policy and Practice vol. 12(3) 6. Zhang, S., Tremaine, M., Milewski, A. E., Fjermestad J., and O’Sullivan P. (2012). Leader delegation in global software teams: occurrence and effects. Institute of Information Management, University 7. Dossi, A. and Patelli, L. (2012).You Learn From What You Measure: Financial and Nonfinancial Performance Measures in Multinational Companies 8. Berg, N., Holtbrugge D., (2010).Team Performance Management: Global teams: a network analysis 9. Schwartz A. E., (2012) Performance Management Performance Management 10. Morgan, J. (2012). 2 Weeks 2 Better Team Work. Team Trainers. The Science of Teams Read More