Performance Management and Employee Engagement - Report Example

Performance Management Introduction Performance management is a strategy used by an organization’s management to understand the most effective operations of a business within an environment whose economy is challenging. An organization meets the needs and the requirements to compete in a challenging economy through some strategies such as the systems of managing performance. Performance management can support several decisions operating within the human resource department of an organization. These decisions may include; promotion decision, pay decisions, force reductions and development of employees among others. Weight of many obligations and lack of focus may lead to the failure of a system of performance management attempting to make many decisions that ought to achieve many objectives. Each organization has a system of performance management that can achieve numerous objectives in the firm. This paper focuses on evaluating the management of performance systems used in many contemporary organizations. The main objective of this paper is to examine different methods used by contemporary organizations in order to manage the performance of organization effectively in a challenging economy. The paper will also examine the implications of performance management for both the employers and the employees. In addition to this, this paper will discuss the process of managing performance as well as its significance to the paper and the topic. Many organizations use the system of performance management to determine and measure the employees’ efficiency as well as their effectiveness in the business. Different employees use different approaches and attitudes in performing their duties. As a result, the need for the system of performance management is essential and necessary in many organizations. The performance of work, communications, determination of them potential of employees and counselling employees are some of the main benefit and aims of the performance management. Overview of Performance Management Performance management which also known as performance evaluation, performance, review, performance appraisal and performance measurement among many others, is composed of four different dimensions, namely; technical, appraisal, extended and maintenance also known as the TEAM. The requirements and the needs of an organization, determines the management of performance in the organization (Lee et.al, 2004 pp78). The development of employees in an organization depend on the decisions made by the management of performance in the organization. The employees are managed and assessed in order to improve business performance in the organization. The information of appraisal is used to perform various human resource actions such as the workforce reduction, increment of salaries and pay to the employees, promotions and transfers among others(Lee et.al, 2004 pp78). Actions on the appraisal and the performance management information are determined by the decision made for performance management. On the other hand, using performance management for the purpose of development of the employees and the organization, the information of appraisal or the performance management is applied in mentoring the employees, training the employees and monitoring their job experiences among many other actions that might lead to the development of an employee. Alternatively, the system of performance management can be used to serve the purpose of both development and he making of decisions. An organization having an effective system of managing the performance of employees is able to meet the needs of the organization such as; achieve the activities of evaluation among others. Performance management system ensures that all employees are equally treated. The process of performance management is vital for the development of any organization as well as the growth and the increase of the employees’ performances within the organization. The performance management is used and applied many companies and organizations in a similar process. The chart below represent a common process of managing performance used in many organizations to increase and improve the development of the employees effectively. Performance planning is at the beginning of the cycle of the performance management. The performance planning is composed of the expectations of performance such as the expected behavior of the employee, and the results the employees are expected obtain. The significance of the employees’ behavior in the management of performance reflects the criteria used by the employees to complete the job as well as their duties. The behaviors of employees that are reviewed in the cycle of performance management include the supports of the individual to the team, mentor and communication of the employees among others. On the other hand, there are behaviors possessed by some employees such unhelpful, poor communication and difficult to work with among others. These employees may tend to be disruptive and the performance of such employees do not meet the expected results as well as the needs and the requirements of the employees. Ongoing feedback is another component in the process of the performance management, which follows after the behavior and the expectations of the results are reviewed in the performance planning. After the review of the two situations, their performances are discussed in the ongoing feedback. The ongoing feedback can be provided in two dimensions. First, the feedback might be provided anytime a poor or an exceptional behavior is observed and secondly, the feedback can be provided on a daily basis. This is a tricky and difficult process to provide especially for managers who are supposed to give the daily feedback of an employee. Delivering the feedback appropriately and productive requires certain skills. Many managers are not fully skilled to perform the feedback delivering process. The employee input is the third component operating within the cycle of the performance management process. The employee input provides the opportunity for the employees to asses themselves and provide a rating of their performances. The self-ratings of the employees’ performances are compared with the managers’ ratings and discussed. However, the component can be effective in many organizations but can as well create disputes, hard feelings or disagreements between the employees. The method can however be effectively done without creating disagreements between the employees and the managers by asking the employees to prepare and design the statements of their significant results and accomplishments in the business at the end of the period of rating. This appears to be an alternative method of collecting the inputs of the employees. Collecting the inputs of the employees determines the progress of their performance and can be used to predict the performance of the employees in other tasks. Body Performance management is a strategy or a tool that manages in many organizations use to examine and determine the performance of the employees and hence develop the economic status of the organization in the global and the local world. The techniques and methods used to manage the performance of contemporary organizations is divide into two different categories. Both categories are measured using the objective measures which examines directly and the subjective measures which examines indirectly. The two categories of the methods used by different organizations to manage the performance of the employees are the traditional methods and the modern methods. This paper will assess both methods and evaluate how effective the methods are to the economy of the organization. The traditional methods are older than the modern methods of managing performance. The method focuses on examining the qualities of the employees. The personal qualities may include leadership, loyalty, initiative, knowledge and judgment among others. The traditional method is composed of four different methods. The first method is the ranking method. This method is used to rank employees in a descending order from the best to the worst or the highest to the lowest according to their personal qualities. Ranking is significant to the management of performance because it provides the information of the qualities of the employees. It compares the employees hence determining the efforts of the employees and the potential employees in the business. The method is effective in the management of performance in the organization since it ensures that the employees are treated fairly. The best performing employees are promoted and rewarded as an aspect of motivating others and improving their performances. The ranking is essential to the development and growth of the organization in terms of production and economic development. Secondly, the graphic scales of rating is the other method falling within the traditional method of managing performance. This method originated from Paterson in the year 1922 who developed a graphic scale for several objectives such as provision of practicality, usefulness, reliability and consistency among others. In the year 1931, Bradshaw improved the graphic rating scale by discussing about the behaviorism that examines and illustrates the qualities and the character traits of the employees. Later in the year 1972, discussed about the results of the five to nine points of the graphic rating scale. The points according Flynn resulted in the highest quality of the employees. Therefore, the graphic scale of rating provides a list of qualities and character traits of the employees that determines the performances of the employees. The other method of the traditional methods of managing the performances of the employees in many organizations is the critical incident method. The method was established in the year 1947 by Jones and Fitts. They made the classification of the error in the interpretation and reading of the instruments in aircrafts. Today the findings and the results of Fitts and Jones is known as the critical incident method. Changing the name from errors to the term critical incident method was the idea of John Flanagan in the year 1954. He then defined the term as the criteria used to describe the behavior of human beings through the collection of the significant events in the human resource management. The method is used in many organizations to review the behavior of the employees towards the work or the events in the organization. Examining the behaviors of the employees is significant in determining the performance management of the individuals. The review of the behaviors will ensure that the managers are able to evaluate the capability of the employees and improve the development and the performances of the employees. The behaviors of the employees might lead to the decrease in the production and hence the economic development of the organization. Finally, the other method in the traditional methods applied by many organization to manage the performances of the employees is the narration of essays. This method focuses on evaluating the behavior and the performance of the employees. The human resource managers are responsible for writing an essay about a specific employ. The essay evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the employee, performance of the employee within a certain duration of time, and the previous performances as influenced by the behavior of the employee (Gruman, 2011 pp 133). The essay also compares the current performance and the previous performance in order to determine the effect of the employee to the performance of the entire organization. This method is significant in assessing the performance of an organization in terms of production, sales and the development of economy. The second category of the methods used in managing the performance of an organization within a certain time-frame is the modern methods of managing performance. The modern methods are the improvement of the traditional methods. The traditional methods have some shortcomings such as subjectivity and biasness among others. The modern methods are designed in order to improve the shortcomings of the traditional methods. The modern methods are discussed in this paper in order to support the argument that the management of performance is a strategy used by the managers to understand the operations of the business in the economic development. This Paper also discusses the methods in order to evaluate the significance and the relevance of the methods to the contemporary organizations (Gruman, 2011 pp 123). The methods are discussed as the modern methods because they consider the mistakes skipped in the traditional methods. The first method of the modern methods of the management of performance is management by objectives. This method is composed of three blocks of building namely; performance feedback, execution process and object formulation. Weihrich proposed a new model in the year 2000. The mode which he named the SAMBO is composed of seven components including; strategic planning, objectives setting, action planning, MBO implementation, appraisal and control, subsystems, development management and organizational. This method evaluates the ability of the employees in accomplishing certain objectives set in order to determine the completion of the work successfully. The method motivates the employees and creates the awareness of the employees to the expected roles and works. It is easy to measure the method as well as implement it in the human resource management of performance of an organization. Secondly, the method introduced by Kendall and Smith in the year 1963, known as the BARS or the behaviorally Anchored scale of rating. The method was introduced basing on the validity as well as the reliability of the performances of the employees. The scales provides a more valid information than the simple numbers. BARS use the examples and statements of behaviors to examine and describe several performances levels. Generally, BARS combines the graphic rating scale and the critical incidents. The rating of the employees is done according to the elements on the scale of numbers (Gruman, 2011 pp 128). The method evaluate the performance of the employees according to the behavior and the attitude of the employee towards the job. The method involves the participation of managers and employees hence more acceptance. The method is a combination of the two methods, hence has more objectives. However, the method is time consuming but accurate and significant to an organization in the management of performance. The third modern method of managing the performances of the employees is the accounting of the human resource. The concept of the human resource accounting originated from Sir William Petty in the year 1691. This concept was first referred to as the resource of an organization. People are valued as the resources of an organization. Investment information as well as the human resource value is essential in making the right decisions for an organization. This method is essential to the management of performance by developing the human resource department, execution as well as the planning of the individual’s policies. The methods also increases the efficiency of the employees. Evidently, this method is focused on improving and developing the employees. For instance, if the efficiency of the employees is increased, the workforce in an organization is increased. Therefore, the production of the firm also increase and maintains the economic status of the organization. Assessment centers is a modern method of managing the performance of an employee in an organization. The method involves of evaluation of the employees within a certain time-frame. The human resource managers observes the behaviors of the employs across a certain job or work assigned to the employee. Assessment takes place within a very short time such as a day or two. Its idea is simple for the managers and the employees to follow an implement. As a result of the method, the needs of the employees are met such as promotions and rewards. Also the managers are able to identify the efficiency and the efforts of the employees. Providing that the employees required in a certain organization should be efficient. The managers and the employers evaluates the employees and the lazy employees are laid off from the job. This concept is significant and relevant to an organization. Many organizations uses the method in order to separate and distinguish efficient employees from inefficient employees. As a result, the organizations are able to give opportunity to efficient workers who maximize the production of such organizations. Finally, the other techniques used by contemporary organizations to deal with the issue of economy is the 360 and the 720 degrees. The 360 degree is a method used by many organizations in order to manage the performance of the employees. Involves examining the input within the organization and other sources outside the organization. The method is reliable and accurate and focusses on multiple objectives. On the other hand, the 720 degrees method is similar to the 360 degrees only that the 720 degrees is practiced twice the 360 degrees (DeNisi & Kluger 2000 pp129). After the evaluation of the performance of the employees, the managers or the owners of a firm talks with the assessed employee on their performance and gives them a chance to improve the performance (DeNisi & Kluger 2000 pp129).. This applies to employees whose performances are not as expected by the managers. They are talked down and given the chance to change and improve their performances. This is important to the organization since it saves the time of firing inefficient employees and hiring new ones. The employees are given the second chance to prove to the managers that they can improve their work performances. When given the second opportunity, the employees get time to develop and improve their qualities. Improving their qualities and performances will definitely lead to the development of the organization in terms of production and economic status. Conclusion In conclusion, performance management is a strategy or a tool used by many organizations in order to improve the management of employees in the human resource. Management of performance is a process done in order to determine the performance of employees in different dimensions such as their behaviors, traits and qualities among others. The employees are evaluated in different methods but with a common purpose of improving and developing their performances. The type of method an organization chooses to use in managing the performances of their employees, depends on the size of the firm, the type of the work and duties among many others. The paper analyzed the various methods used by different organizations to manage the performances of the employees. Evidently, all the methods supports the objectives and the aims of the paper. The objective of the paper was to determine how the management of performance is used in contemporary organizations by managers to examine how the business operates in challenging economy. The objective of this paper is accomplished by evaluation of various methods of managing performance and their implications to the employees as well as the employers. References Bernardin, H. J., & Wiatrowski, M. 2013. Performance appraisal. Psychology and Policing, 257. 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