Managing Employee Performance - Essay Example

Issues in Employee Performance Introduction Employee performance has been a major challenge and concern for the managers, directors and supervisors since ages. Issues in employee performance are directly related to the efficiency and productivity of the organization (Messmer, 2003). The more employees are supportive the better the organization will perform and vice versa. However, it is rarely acknowledged that the performance of the employees does not occur in a vacuum. It is not only the employee but the system too, which can have positive or negative impacts on the employee performance. Managing employee performance is not as much difficult or troublesome as many perceive it. It is just like the story of an everyday science student in his/her first science class worrying about the concept in science. When he/she comes to know that the everyday science is what he/she has been doing at home then he/she says, “This is what I have already being doing.” Managing performance well is like using scientific notions with or without understanding them. Many managers will be managing employee performance as a routine process (Messmer, 2003; Ripley, pp. 19-26, 2002). Employee performance management may either have traditional way of “fix the employees” (Messmer, 2003) concerning following regulatory requirements or following as systematic process such as mentioned by the Office of Personal Management (2001, p. 3): Planning Monitoring Developing Rating Rewarding The interdependence of these components is shown in the following diagram: Performance Management’s Five Key Components Adapted from Office of Personal Management (OPM) (2001, p.3) Almost all other performance management circles include the same elements of planning, monitoring, developing, rating and rewarding. There are slight changes in terminologies such as coaching, evaluating, recognizing (Hartman, Kurtz, & Moser, pp. 1-11, 1994; University of Missouri, pp. 20-22, 2008) and so on. The five components of performance management given in OPM (2003) are explained as below: Planning Every effective organization has a guideline or plan of activities to be undertaken within a specified period. It contains all the organization goals, objectives and targets to be achieved in the given timeframe. Careful planning keeps employees focused and the targets are met easily without any mishap. Planning should be realistic and well thought of so that there will be little chances of deviation from the plan. It should be flexible and implementable. It should not only be a theoretical framework but also a practical guideline that could guide the employees in performing their duties well in time. Monitoring Monitoring is an ongoing process of evaluating and facilitating employee’s performance. Instead of waiting for the due dates of the assignments and then assessing the performance, employees are given feedback on day-to-day basis. This helps employees become more productive and efficient in their work. In this way, they come to know that they are moving in a right direction. In the monitoring process the performance of the employees are compared with the given standards or elements of the performance. Developing Developing in the context of managing employee’s performance means the capacity building of the employees when such needs arise in the course of performing a certain task. It is a good opportunity for employer and employees to identify the deficiencies on the part of human resources or skilled required by an individual to complete an assigned work successfully. Such deficiencies are removed through continuous training, specific feedback and providing guidelines to the employees. The development of the employees becomes an asset for the organization if such skills are needed to perform another similar task. Rating Rating employee’s performance against a set of predetermined and agreed upon standards or elements helps understand the level of progress made by every individual in the organization. The rating can be done in relation to other employees or the previous performances of the employee. The achievements of the employee over a period are recorded. These ratings will help employers give extra benefits to the employees or retain them whenever there is downsizing in the organization. Rewarding Rewarding means recognizing and acknowledging an employee’s performance and his/her contribution towards the organizational mission. The rewards can be cash, a token of appreciation, promotion and so on. A good manager will not wait for the last to reward an employee for his/her sound performance. Rather he/she will keep on recognizing and acknowledging the desired performance through verbal rewards such as saying, “thank you” which involves no money or organizational regulations. Dealing with the performance of employees requires understanding of critical and non-critical elements of the performance. Critical elements include all those employee performances that are critical to the organizational growth. The unacceptable performance of such elements will not be acceptable. The non-critical elements unlike the critical elements do not have adverse effects on the performance of the employees. These are the organizational expectations other than the critical elements (Ripley, pp. 50-55, 2002; University of Missouri, pp. 23-28, 2008). Issues in employee performance may also relate to the working environment in which employees work. Therefore, dealing with the system factors in the working environment should also be taken into consideration. Gilbert (1996, pp. 11-17) provides a relatively simple and effective way of looking into this issue through a diagnostic tool called Behaviour Engineering Model (BEM). The BEM looks into the following six areas: 1. Information 2. Resources 3. Incentives 4. Skills and Knowledge 5. Capacity 6. Motivation These areas can be identified as system factors and person factors. The first three areas (Information, Resources & Incentives) can be grouped as system factors. These factors need to be considered before looking into the last areas (Skills and Knowledge, Capacity & Motivation) relating to the person factors. These factors affect each other and need careful consideration (Ripley, pp. 10-16, 2002). Once the system factors are addressed, then employees should be provided with such a context of performance management in which individual performance is aligned with the organizational mission, goals and objectives. The starting point for Performance Management Process includes two components as identified by University of Missouri (2008). These are: 1. Information and Data Gathering The performance management process should link individual performance to that of the organizational success, its goals and objectives. The employee performance goals should be aligned with the organizational goals. The type of information and data required in this process may consist of the following: The strategic plan of the organization The tactical plans of the departments The operational plans of each section Individual employee performance indicators or job descriptions Performance appraisal records from the previous years 2. Preparing and Educating Staff The employees need to be well aware of the performance management process. They need to know the tasks, their personal expectations and achievements required from them. Some of the critical “need to know” issues for employees may include: How performance management is going to work and why is it important? How can they benefit from it and benefit the organization? What will be the supervisor’s philosophy or approach? What will be expected of them during the whole process of activities The role of supervisor in the process of performance management is crucial. He/she should clearly understand the whole process and guide the employees towards better performance. Having sound knowledge and skills of the work that employees are performing is equally important for the supervisor. Otherwise, he/she may not be able to judge the desired performance properly. The supervisor should be able to keep employees informed; develop and maintain working relationships with the employees; recognize good performance; monitor, evaluate and correct unacceptable performance (Ripley, pp. 13-15, 2002; University of Missouri, pp. 16-19, 2008). It is an observation that counselling has been the solution to a number of employee performance issues or problems. It is a formal get together with the employee in order to work together to find a solution. Through carefully listening to the employee, a performance action plan can be developed, which will help assess his/her performance later (University of Missouri, pp. 33-38, 2008). The way of counselling can also be informal. However, the outcome of any of the counselling (whether formal or informal) should be a positive corrective action. If the desired behaviour was not shown and the performance remained below expectations, then the employee can be given either a verbal warning (such as suspension) or a written warning (such as termination) (Ripley, pp. 15-18, 2002; University of Missouri, pp. 41-47, 2008). The performance appraisal of an employee should be for the development of the employee. It should not be a tool in the hands of the supervisor to punish or harm the individual employee. It is important to identify the functions that the appraisal will serve in order to develop sound criteria accordingly. Some of the functions of the performance appraisal are (Ripley, pp. 39-42, 2002; University of Missouri, pp. 1-15, 2008): Performance Feedback Training and development of the employee Tool for decision making provided performance descriptors are correctly identified and mentioned in the appraisal form A tool to evaluate training (if any conducted for the employees), policies, strategies and programmes Validation of the employee selection process for a particular assignment The overall purpose of performance appraisal and/performance management should be the improvement in employee performance. It should help strengthen the linkages between the individual performance goals and those of the organization. The focus of performance management should shift from a single event (the annual performance evaluation) to an ongoing and systematic process of feedback and encouragement (Hartman, Kurtz, & Moser, pp. 46-50, 1994; University of Missouri, pp. 26-30, 2008). While evaluating performance, it is desirable to engage employee in self-assessment. It will help employee recall the responsibilities and commitments that he/she had to accomplish within the given period. This will be a thought provoking activity for the employee that will be empowering for him/her as a future player in the organization (Shepard, pp. 4-14, 2000). The ongoing or terminal feedback given to the employee should follow this self-assessment activity. The feedback should specifically be related to the performance with an intention to improve the lacking performance. Performance evaluation must be free of subjectivity and anything personal between the employee and the evaluator. After conducting the performance evaluation (appraisal or assessment), the employee should be assigned with some tasks and the same process of performance management should be followed. Before assigning any new task to the employee, it must be ascertained that the employee is well aware of his strengths and weaknesses. He/she has to have a thorough understanding of the jobs. It is essential to review the job description of the employee to ensure that the information is up-to-date and the task is according to the job description of the employee. The employee must also know the significance and importance of performance management and appreciate the role of performance manager (Ripley, pp. 4-19, 2002; University of Missouri, 2008). Issues in employee performance usually arise due to poor employee motivation and motivation depends on the support and clarity given to the employee by the organization. If employee is provided with clear guidelines through a process of performance management then such issues will no more become a concern for both the employee and the organization. The predetermined criteria for performance evaluation, preplanning and ongoing coaching and support to the employee will enhance employee’s motivation towards the accomplishments of the task. This will develop a sense of ownership in the employees that will result in productivity and improvement in the service delivery of the organization (Hartman, Kurtz, & Moser, pp. 56-60, 1994; Ripley, pp. 31-37, 2002; University of Missouri, pp. 23-28, 2008). References Gilbert, T. F. (1996). Human competence. Washington, DC: The International Society for Performance Improvement. Hartman, R. J., Kurtz, E. M., & Moser, E. K. (1994). Incentive programs to improve transit employee performance. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Messmer, M. (2003). Managing Employee Performance Issues. Retrieved May 16, 2010 from http://www.imanet.org/pdf/1912.pdf Office of Personal Management (2001). “A handbook for measuring employee performance: aligning employee performance plans with organizational goals.” In Performance Management Practitioners Series. Retrieved May 16, 2010 from http://www.opm.gov/perform/wppdf/handbook.pdf Ripley, D. (2002). Improving employee performance: moving beyond traditional HRM responses. Washington, DC: The International Society for Performance Improvement. Shepard, L. A. (2000). “The role of assessment in learning culture.” Educational Researcher. Volume 29, Issue 7, pp. 4-14. University of Missouri. (2008). Performance management: a tool for employee success. Kansas: Division of Finance & Administration. Read More