Issues in Employee Performance - Case Study Example

Issues in Employee Performance Table of Contents Issues in Employee Performance Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Ways to measure work performance of local government officer 4 Ways to Enhance Employee Performance 5 Program to measure Employee (Local Government Officer) Performance 6 3 Steps to Measure the work of a Supervisor 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction Performance management system necessarily demands an efficient evaluation of the employees’ accomplishments. In order to achieve the aforesaid process, the management should ensure that the objectives are properly defined, the expectations of the company are clearly conveyed and the feedback properly generated for the employees to improve their performance. This project attempts to measure the work performance of a local government officer whose job is to supervise the staffs in a one-stop-shop strictly meant for the council customers who wants to make use of council services. It also focuses on developing and presenting a performance management system and extending it to inter-governmental relations. There has been a natural tendency to implement integration between departments in government organisations and public utility firms. This project attempts to provide some recommendations in order to improve the work performance of government officials. It is known that the structure of government organisations is significantly different from that of the profit making organisations. Thus any organisational development initiative has to encounter a number of resistances before they are effectively implemented. Literature Review ‘Managing employee performance’ is a responsibility that all companies must undertake to ensure its joyride in the industry. The conspicuous absence of it has been a cause of serious concern in the government sector. It can however be implemented by introducing new decision making tools in the public sector. This includes new accounting techniques and tools. Australia was the first to initiate the process. The primary reason was to promote a culture which would focus on employee performance by making the public sector more effective to the needs and requirements of the public. This can be achieved by improving the accountability of the management and promoting effectiveness and efficiency in the organisational culture. It is also suggested that “consultative decision making” is also a potential alternative since it focuses more on customer demands (Hogue & Adams, 2008. p.6). The Government of UK believes that productivity can be improved by the combined effort of the firms and its employees in building a “high performance workplaces”. “High performance workplaces” demonstrate increased level of adaptability and flexibility, high level of involvement of employers and their employees (Hewitt, 2002, p.10). Ways to measure work performance of local government officer The most common way of measuring the performance of an employee is to take an account of the number of units produced by him. In this case, it is important to make an assessment of the quality of service provided by the employee, or the local government officer. Feedback taken from the customers, who wish to avail council services, would provide the relevant data needed for measuring the performance of the staff as well as their supervisor. The speed with which a task is accomplished is another way of measuring an employee’s performance. Since the local government officer is the subject of the project, his efficiency will be measured by his response to the customer’s queries and problems. The performance of a service based organisation is measured as a percentage of customer’s enquiries that have been effectively addressed by the organisation Another area that needs a constant monitoring is absenteeism. Government organizations need to be very prompt in providing service. Absence of an employee when he should be at work causes serious backlog in the work process, especially because the departments are interrelated. Interrelatedness and complicated organization structures are characteristics of any government organization. The functions of one department are dependent on the functions of the adjoining departments which often lead to bottlenecks in organizations. To avoid this, absenteeism should be avoided and proper work schedule should be maintained. Cost effectiveness is another process of measuring employee performance, especially in profit making organisations. Since this is a non- profit making body and mainly focuses on customer needs and queries, the representative’s performance is indicated by the number of calls he/she escalates to their senior representatives. Ways to Enhance Employee Performance Since the past few decades, the government institutions are working under budget constraints because of the prevailing perception that civil servants are overpaid and under-worked. They are battling with these constraints to find ways to improve performance of the public sector. Apart from reorganising government structures they are also going for privatisation for certain services like water and telecommunications. They are also working towards modernising management system of the civil servants (OECD, 2005, p.1). The question on how to reward government servants have remained a matter of concern. Public sector is becoming increasingly competitive in an attempt to keep itself at par with the private sector. To enhance their performance, the government too is changing its remuneration policies to maintain the parity with that of other sectors. This project studies a local government officer and attempts to evaluate his remuneration in order to measure the level of his performance. The local government officer is in charge of supervising the staffs in a one-stop-drop centre meant for council customers who wish to make use of council services. His performance is depended on the performance of his staff. This mission of this project is to access whether the management has the required managerial skills to monitor the performance of his staff. His leadership skill is a measure of his performance. The manner in which he motivates his employees and rewards their performance is one way of measuring his performance. He must have a keen understanding of how to compliment his team and motivate them to perform to their fullest potential. An effective employee is one that lives up to the expectation of the customers. A supervisor should set goals for his team and maintain this standard throughout the year. He must take regular follow-up of this progress and provide the necessary feedback to his senior representatives. Finally, he should also measure their progress against the set standards. Program to measure Employee (Local Government Officer) Performance Measuring employee performance is systematic process of “planning work and setting expectations”; “continually monitoring performance”; “developing the capacity to perform”; “periodically rating performance in summary fashion” and Rewarding good performance. (OPM, 2001. P.5) 3 Steps to Measure the work of a Supervisor One way of implementing the three steps is to focus mainly on the results. His work is manifested in the services provided by the organisation and also in the smooth running of the unit comprising of his staff and subordinates. This unit’s performance is the measure of the performance of the supervisor. Achieving these results need a good amount of management and supervisory skills, and “human resource management skills of the supervisor” (OPM, 2000.). Step 1: This step takes into account the yearly performance plan of the firm and sets targets that each of the supervisors should strive for. The performance plan is aligned with the following goals of the organisation. It is done by maintaining the previous year’s customer satisfaction level with the quality of the services produced and the punctuality maintained. A safe and secure working environment is also provided to ensure smooth working of the supervisor. It also aims at promoting leadership and enhancing the productivity of employees. Step 2: This step describes the services that the firm must provide in order to achieve its goals. The firm and its employees must have vivid picture of what they are producing and what exactly is expected of them. This helps them to work towards the set goal. Step 3: This step is the most important one. It measures the “quality, quantity and timeliness” (OPM, 2000) of the products and services provided by the organisation. It also takes into account the safety and security of the workplace. Lastly, the supervisory qualities are also measured which directly accounts for the “productive subordinates” (OPM, 2000). It also notes if the supervisor is creating ways to reduce cost. It also evaluates if the decisions taken by the organisation is benefitting it and are satisfactory. The supervisor is also meant to implement discipline and consistency. He is the one to ensure that the training requirements of his subordinates are met. He must ensure that each of the employees is aware of the goals of the organisation and is taking the right amount of effort to achieve it. Conclusion From the above study it is evident that the performance of an organisation is dependent on the performance of its employees. Hence, it becomes imperative to measure the performance of each employee so as to ensure a sustainable growth of the organisation. Performance management measures the efficiency with which an employee carries out his regular daily activities. In case of supervisor, these activities include, balancing of manpower between departments, scheduling the work for himself and also his subordinates to meet deadlines, performing inter-departmental administrative work functions, and notifying senior representatives in case of any serious issues. This project attempts to measure the performance of a local government officer by measuring the performance of the staffs that he handles. It also formulates policies for enhancing the performance of this officer and his team. Results are evaluated after implementing the procedure and are measured against the previous data. If the results are satisfactory, then the existing system is continued with, and if not, necessary corrective measures are taken. References Hewitt, P. July 2002, High Performance Workplaces. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file26555.pdf. [Accessed on July 13, 2010]. Hoque, Z. & Adams, C. 2008. Measuring Public Sector Performance. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/cps/rde/xbcr/cpa-site/measuring-public-sector-performance-study.pdf. [Accessed on July 13, 2010]. OECD. May 2005, Paying for Performance: Policies for Government Employees. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/13/51/34910926.pdf. [Accessed on July 14, 2010]. OPM, January 2001, A Handbook for Measuring Employee Performance. [Online]. Available at: http://www.opm.gov/perform/wppdf/handbook.pdf [Accessed on July 14, 2010]. OPM, August 2000, Performance Management. [Online]. Available at: http://www.opm.gov/perform/articles/2000/aug00-4.asp [Accessed on July 14, 2010]. Read More