Issues in Employee Performance - Essay Example

It will use as an example a purchasing manager to clarify the arguments. The essay will refer to key issues in performance management such as strategic planning, aligning staff goals with organisational goals, dealing with underperformance, and employee development. Performance management has been defined as ‘‘a continuous process of identifying, measuring, and developing the performance of individuals and teams, and aligning such performance with the strategic goals of the organisataion” (Aguinis, 2009, p.2). Performance management process is carried out through: planning, goal setting, monitoring, providing feedback, analysing and assessing performance, reviewing, dealing with under-performers, and coaching (Armstrong, 2009).

The entire performance management system will be adversely affected in cases of poor implementation of any one of them (Aguinis, 2009). According to Armstrong (2009), performance can positively affect organisation, allowing it to concentrate on future plans and can be a factor in organizational culture. Purchasing performance evaluation is “the quantitative or qualitative assessment over a given time towards the achievement of corporate or operational goals and objectives relating to purchasing economics, efficiency and effectiveness” (Lysons, and Farrington, 2006, p634).

The significant words in this definition are illustrated in Table 1: Evaluation is a more accurate term than performance measurement. Although the performance of purchasing managers is usually assessed by means of objective, quantified measures such as cost/price reductions and contributions to added value or profitability, performance evaluation frequently uses subjective, qualitative assessment approaches Efficiency covers the relationship between the output of goods or services and the resources used to produce them, which means spending well.

Effectiveness covers the relationship between the intended