Performance Management - Case Study Example

Introduction Organizations are increasingly becoming complex and it has became important for the firms to ensure that they generate the desired levelof performance from their employees to maintain and generate the competitive advantage. It is however, important to note that high performance can only be achieved when organizations can actually develop an environment which can foster the required level of creativity and innovation. Culture is therefore another important variable which needs to be explored in order to ensure that employees get the right kind of environment and culture to support and reward high performance. It is however important to consider whether the organizations can change their existing culture and develop a new culture to achieve the same level of performance. To achieve such cultural change, leadership of the organization therefore has to play important role in identifying and exploring the gaps which need to be filled in order to comprehensively revamp the culture of the organization and achieve the desired level of performance. HR is another important organizational arm which can help develop such an environment and achieve the required level of cultural change so that the organizations can become more responsive and conducive for the tapping the untapped potential of the organization. (Daniels and Daniels) This paper will therefore aim to explore and discuss some of the key aspects of performance management including role of culture in achieving high level performance, whether organizations can actually change their culture to achieve such objectives, the role of leader and the HRM function within the organization. Impact of culture on performance Before discussing the impact of culture on performance, it is important to understand the overall concept of performance management and how it fits together with organizational culture. Performance management is often considered as a process of achieving the organizational goals and objectives efficiently and effectively. Performance management therefore not only includes the management of the results but also the behaviors of the employees as behavior can have significant impact on the performance. It is argued that culture can significantly impact the organizational performance however, it is important to explore as to which elements of the culture exactly can influence the performance of the organization. (Lee and Yu). It is further argued that organizational performance is linked with good cultures and good cultures in return are focused on achieving excellence, profitability, strong team orientation as well as honesty and will to succeed. These characteristics form the part of the good culture which invariably fosters creativity and innovation within the employees and the organizations to make them more productive and performance oriented. Since culture of an organization outlines its overall values and belief systems therefore the underlying performance of the firms are also directed at ensuring that such values and belief systems are complied with. Organizations having performance oriented values tend to perform better than the organizations which are not focused on achieving excellence in performance. Further, through careful cultural engineering, organizations can actually achieve the significant improvement in their overall performance because cultural shift provides new means of achieving the required excellence. Can the culture of an organization be changed to increase performance? The process of cultural engineering is considered as one of the methods through which organizations basically attempt to change the culture and redirect it towards the achievement of excellence performance. For example, a shift towards more open culture may allow employees to become more creative and express their opinions more frequently. This openness of the culture therefore can offer a unique and diverse perspective on its core strengths and how a change in the organizational culture can effectively ensure performance. Apple Inc was primarily focused on the development of computers however, a cultural shift resulted into the shift of whole managerial paradigm and Apple shifted its focus to become consumer Electronics Company. It was this shift in the culture and values of the organization which allowed Apple to actually dominate the consumer electronics market. Its products such as Apple Iphone, IPAD as well as IPOD are industry’s leading products but they also outline as to how a shift towards more performance oriented culture can actually result into better and superior performance. This was only possible owing to openness of the Apple’s organizational culture and the commitment of its top management to achieve excellence. In order to achieve such change, however, leadership of the organization has to take initiatives and bring on changes which support such culture. A total commitment from top management of the firm would result into better strategic focus and realignment of organizational capabilities with its culture thus resulting into better performance. Leadership, culture and performance Leaders have the job of providing strategic direction to the firm and set its future course of action so that organization as a whole can perform and achieve its objectives. It is however, important to understand that in order to bring such change in the culture to achieve performance improvement; leaders have to bring in certain set of values and perceptions which can help them to build an image for themselves within the organizations. Leaders are also required to bring in a particular set of skills and experiences which can help them to identify the gaps between good and bad culture. (Bruno) As a senior leader, one of the key elements to bring in the change is the performance of the leader himself. The consistency in the performance of the leader as well as the ability of the leader to achieve better performance from others is what a leader should do in order to ensure that the culture supports the performance. (Svensson and Wood) A senior leader within the organization therefore shall also be able to identify the performance gaps and how they could be overcome and filled. As such issues such as compensation, motivation and loyalty are some of the ways in which leaders can actually influence and change the culture to achieve superior performance. The overall culture of performance therefore could only be achieved once it is supported by the personal values and competencies of the leader himself. HR and Organizational Performance Human Resource as a function holds key strategic advantage for the firm if it is managed in effective manner. It is important to understand that strategic management of human resource can allow an organization to actually develop its core competencies through an effective and skilled human resource base. HR as a function therefore can play significant role in achieving the organizational performance through the design, development and implementation of effective HR policies. One of the key issues to achieve the higher level of performance is to design and develop a just and equitable compensation structure within the organization. Thus the biggest challenge for HR to achieve and contribute towards the achievement of higher performance is to develop a better and more balanced compensation and rewards system within the organization. Further, the hiring as well as placement of right kind of employees at the right positions can allow the development of a culture of merit and honesty. Such characteristics within organizational culture therefore can allow an organization to develop an environment which can force the employees to perform better considering the fairness of opportunities available to them. It is also important to understand that HR can also contribute towards the development of open lines of communication within the organization. By allowing employees to become more open in sharing their ideas and continuously communicating to them the ideas and vision of higher management of the firm, HR as a function can result into achievement of higher motivation levels and hence better performance. Probably the most important role HR can play in improving the performance of the employees is to provide them right kind of training opportunities. Developing effective training and development program can equip the employees with new tools and techniques to better perform the work and improve their productivity. Development can also allow employees to develop their skills to meet the future organizational needs therefore equipping organizations with the human resource base which may be fully capable of meeting the future challenges. Coaching culture and organizational Performance Coaching is important because it can provide employees an opportunity to learn and improve their skills. Coaching is unique in the sense that it can be imparted within the organizations and senior managers can actually serve as the coaches to impart on their knowledge and experience. Coaching can be significantly more important because managers can share their experiences and knowledge specially to the junior employees to upgrade their skills. (Brumwell and Reynolds) The most important aspect of coaching is the developmental coaching which actually fulfills two important tasks. First it ensures that the overall objectives of the team, business or organization are fulfilled and than to help the employees to grow from their work and improve their capabilities and skills to meet the future challenges. (Hunt and Weintraub). It is also important to understand that coaching as a method can also become more effective because managers through their effective conversation can actually help extract the fears and reservations of the employees which can be hindrance in the achievement of better performance. Senior Line management and performance In order to create a significant shift in the culture of the organization, I would focus on ensuring that the critical skills and knowledge base of the employees is constantly upgraded. One of the key efforts from my side would therefore be to develop and foster an environment where knowledge can be easily shared and the employees become keen to learn new set of skills and attitudes. This cultural shift can only be achieved once the needs of the employees can be properly addressed and the employees are motivated. In order to improve the skills set of the employees, it will be ensured that the employees are passed through developmental coaching process with defined goals and objectives to be achieved. Once this is achieved, the next step would be to ensure that the right kind of employees is identified for future growth and investment in terms of improving their skills and attitudes. This could however, can only be achieved if a cultural shift towards more openness, honesty and integrity is made. Probably the most important evidence to judge whether such cultural shift has resulted into the higher performance will be the achievement of financial results. If financial results are improving, costs are being reduced, few errors occur during the work, these signs can be considered as strong signs for assuming that employees are marching towards achieving higher performance levels. In order to make an alignment of the same on the organization wide level, it is important to ensure that a culture of openness and honesty is implemented across the organization. The implementation of such values and belief systems in different departments of the organization will actually allow different departments to become more responsive to the external challenges and develop their internal strengths to achieve higher performance. It is also important to note that at the organization wide, the culture of meritocracy as well as flourishing of creativity and innovation should be implemented. As such different departments within the organization should identify their core staff and engage into developing their capabilities either through coaching or well defined and prepared training and development process. The performance measurement however, could be in terms of achieving improved financial results as well as the cost cutting. However, performance can also be measured in terms of the overall motivation and willingness of the employees to go extra mile in order to achieve the desired level of performance. Thus the performance could be measured by using both the qualitative as well as quantitative measures of performance measurement. Conclusion Performance measurement is one of the key aspects of the modern organizations in achieving their overall competitive advantage. However, in order to achieve better performance, it is important that overall culture of the organization is conducive and leadership of the organization should be ready to bring in cultural change required for achieving higher level of performance. The role of senior management as well as HR of the organization is also critical in ensuring high performance and creating a culture for such change. Works Cited Brumwell, Ian and Paul Reynolds. "How coaching cuts costs and saves time at BT Retail: Improving overall performance through coaching sessions." Strategic HR Review 5.5 (2006): 20 - 23. Bruno, Léo F. C. LEADERSHIP AND PERFORMANCE BEYOND EXPECTATIONS. 2008. 03 May 2011 . Daniels, A. and J. Daniels. Performance Management, Changing Behavior That Drives Organizational Effectiveness,. New York: Performance Management Publications, 2006. Hunt, J. and J Weintraub. The Coaching Manager, Developing Top Talent In Business. 2nd Edition. New York: Sage Publications, Inc, 2011. Lee, Siew Kim Jean and Kelvin Yu. "Corporate culture and organizational performance." Journal of Managerial Psychology 19.4 (2004): 340 - 359. Svensson, Göran and Greg Wood. "Sustainable components of leadership effectiveness in organizational performance." Sustainable components of leadership effectiveness in organizational performance 25.6 (2006): 522 - 534. Read More