Performance Management, Differentiating Task from Contextual Performance - Essay Example

Name Instructor Course Date Performance Management Summary The key aim of this review is to ascertain the significance of performance management strategies in fostering and developing employee motivation in an organization. This involves analyzing the role of the Human Resource (HR) from an appraiser to an enabler and facilitator of an organization. The study involved reviewing four different case studies and their findings used to compile the final report about organizations’ performance. Introduction Recently, the role of the HR has undergone several changes with its focus being on evolving functional strategies that will enable successful implementation of key corporate strategies. Today, the HR work towards improving and facilitating their employees’ performance by providing maximum opportunities and creating a conducive work environment for them to participate in the organization’s planning and decision making processes. Performance management is the recent catchphrase and is the necessity of organizational battle for leadership and cut throat competition. Performance management is a broader and complicated function of the HR. It covers activities such as implementing employee development programs, rewarding achievements, training and feedback for improved performance, joint goal setting, review and communication of information throughout the organization. Performance management may be regarded as a systematic through which the entire performance of an organization may be improved by improving individual performance within a team framework. Body Diagnosing the Causes of Poor Performance Awareness of the basis of poor performance is essential for a manager to carry out management actions effectively. Factors leading to the downgrade performance of an employee may originate from various reasons. It is, therefore, the duty of top managers to ensure that their managers’ performance is acceptable and carry out regular appraisals to identify the developmental needs of the organization (Griffin, 2009, p. 14). One cause of poor performance may be deficient of adequate skill carry out challenging duties. Most managers are undertaking jobs that are complex than they previously used to be. Though, the company does not recognize their efforts and often do not put resources in training to ensure that these managers develop the necessary skills. For instance, in the first case study, Heather may not be well acquainted with the current technological advances, and hence would try to dodge questions asked during the trainings. As a manager, it would be crucial to talk to members of the organization to arrange for training to help her gain the required expertise (Doherty, 2010, p. 15). Poor employee motivation may also be a cause of poor performance. Lack of motivation may be heavily influenced by the surrounding work environment. The work environment may be demoralizing and frustrating, and hence result to the poor employee motivation. For example, the information and technology sector is known to be dynamic with new advances sprouting day by day. Conservatives in such sectors find it difficult to adapt to the new changes in technology that come up and will be less motivated by the works they are undertaking. Boredom at work may also be cause of poor performance among employees. Nothing happening at the company and lack of stimulants to perform better may turn a well paying job be viewed just like another task to be accomplished. When the excitement, enthusiasm and passion of a task wane, the performance of that task also goes on a downslide. Boredom at work has been linked with a wide range of negative effects including accidents and poor job performances. Taking from the first case study, Heather may be bored by the work she has been doing for a long time and hence the decline in passion for conducting her duties. After facing a poorly performing employee with how, why and what resulted to the poor performance, it is vital to begin the process of readdressing the behaviors leading to unwanted performances. Firstly, get the employee opinion on your assessment of their behavior. Then ask them to come up with a solution or what they think ought to be done in order to address the problem. The manager should not mandate a solution, but let the employees take ownership of the situation. This will not only ensure that they have bought into the fact that they were under performing, but also enable them realize themselves and come up with a better solution. Once the interaction is over, and a solution has been agreed on, it is the duty of the manager to observe the employee’s behavior for a given time. After observing the employee making right changes and improvements, it is necessary to reinforce their actions positively by praising them for what you have seen them do differently. The clarity in communication will make the employees understand the effect of improved performance not only to them, but to the organization as a whole. Differentiating Task from Contextual Performance Task and contextual performance are two separate dimensions of behavior at work which contribute independently to the effective outcomes of an organization. Contextual performance is significant because it represents organizational behavior that is commonly under motivational control of employees. The phrase task performance refers to the key activities and technical behaviors that lead to the core maintenance and transformation of activities in an organization. Such activities include manufacturing products, acquiring inventory, selling merchandise, delivering services, or managing subordinates. Contextual performance, in contrast, refers to the behaviors that sustain the environmental climate and culture of the organization. In other words, it refers to the context within which maintenance and transformation activities are undertaken. Examples of common contextual performance behaviors include volunteering for extra works, defending an organization’s resources, persisting with enthusiasm, assisting and cooperating with coworkers, and following the rules and procedures of the organization. These behaviors are significant in achieving organization objectives and also support the long-term success of the organization (Ahmed, 2011, p. 125). Task and contextual performances are determined by different things. For instance, task performance is results from a person’s skills, knowledge and abilities. Selecting the right person for a task performance involves assessment of the candidate’s knowledge, skills and abilities, and then matching them with the requirements of the vacancy. Contextual performance, however, is best measured from personality assessment tests. Cognitive capability tests cannot determine whether the selected candidates will go the extra mile with the organization and its clients, nor will they tell the owners if the candidates selected will grieve with the organization in case of losses. Performance deficits results from either insufficient task performance or insufficient contextual performance. Resolving task performance deficits is extremely different from resolving contextual performance deficits (Marwah; et al, 2012, p. 24). People can be trained to increase their knowledge base or set of skills, but it is impossible to train them to place the interest of the organization above their own interests. From the same token, it is possible to use motivational and inspirational interventions to boost workers discretionary performance, but no amount of inspiration will turn a skilful manager into a great engineer, they will require training for that to be possible. Based on District Business Manager (DBM) job description, the following are some of the core task performance behaviors: creating the environment to develop an inventive culture, developing and articulating a vision, driving innovation through embracing change and diversity, developing and communicating the business plan, set goals and performance expectations, setting priorities, allocation of resources, and execution and implementation of the business plan. The contextual performance behaviors include workers setting examples in task performance thereby shaping cultural relations, translating the national business plan to districts and territories, taking accountability in work done, building and developing relations based on customer retention, influencing fellow workers, and motivating others (Duckworth; et al, 2010, p. 7). Choosing a Performance Measurement Effective management of performance requires a clear conception of the performance domain. That is identification of the key tasks and duty areas that form part of the job. The technique used to categorize a job by what it is made up of is known as job analysis. Job analysis may involve several approaches ranging from a motion and time study to measure the time it takes to accomplish a task to a questionnaire approach asking employees to judge the essence of an aspect of the job. A job description explains what the job is made up of in terms of tasks and the duty areas. Performance dimensions or duty areas are extensive categories of performance while tasks are items that fit into one duty area or another. For instance, a salesperson job may incorporate the duty area of consumer relations. Depending on the situation, this wide duty area may comprise of various tasks such as solving complaints in an effective and timely manner, portray a cheerful behavior when dealing with clients, and resolve the client’s problems. It is crucial to understand that how a lob is defined will strongly be influenced by the person responsible for the job definition. Who decides the essential aspects of performance and how performance should be defined and categorized is also a significant part of the job description? Technology also influences how performance may be defined. Technology can drastically eliminate or change tasks and duty areas. The sophistication and amount of technology in an organization may pose a significant impact on the job content and determine how performance is defined. Two main approaches to describe performance are the behavioral and result approaches. Behavioral approach defines job performance in terms of behaviors an employee should or should not have. The results approach defines job performance in terms of the achieved outcomes, such as the number of new customers, amount of sales, and so on. Behavioral and results approaches to job performance description and analysis have their merits and shortcomings. Both approaches can alert employees on what is vital and what needs to be completed. However, the behavioral approach stresses on the process of how the job should be carried out, whereas the results approach put more emphasis on what ought to be accomplished. These two approaches in effect stress on the means or ends of a job. The emphasis on behavioral approach is that everyone is aligned to the job in terms of how the job should be performed. A weakness with the behavioral approach is that results may or may not be realized. Likewise, the emphasis on results approach is that everybody is working towards the attainment of key business outcome; however, the means used to attain such ends may have harmful consequences and be illicit or unethical. Based on the above descriptions, Paychex Inc should apply both behavioral and results approaches in performing their outlined tasks. This is because there is no single approach that is best in all situations, and the emphasis chosen will depend on the management philosophy and circumstance. Both behavior and results approaches have their own merits and demerits as a measure of job performance. Behavioral approach provides clear examples on how employees can act in order to improve their performance, but does not necessarily result into increased profits or productivity. In contrast, the results criterion provides clear standards through which performance can be evaluated. However, the results approach offers extremely minute resources in terms of developmental response (Edwards; et al, 2008, p. 20). Behavioral approach to measuring performance is most significant when poor results are due to reasons beyond the performer’s control. This is because the approach allows directive and specific feedback to employees when responsibilities are significantly being changed or a new job is being introduced. Once the process has been learnt, the performance criterion can then shift to the outcome. Results approach to measuring performance is mostly appropriate when workers are skilled in the necessary behaviors. This is because the results approach focus on attainment of the desired goal, and everybody should work towards achieving those goals no matter the measures taken (Jamil & Mohamed, 2011, p. 12). Deliberate Practice Makes Perfect Another approach for learning at the job areas is obtained from examination of expertise development. Expert performance grows as a result of accumulated intentional practice behaviors. Deliberate practices comprise of effortful, intentionally, and goal-directed structured activities aimed at improving a person’s present performance level. Deliberate practices require time and energy. It also involves the existence of guiding feedbacks either through monitoring, self-evaluation or efforts from outside sources such as a coach or tutor (Turnock, 2011, p. 24). The concept of deliberate practice entails continuous concentration and effort and hence is different from activities that are involved for the sake of fun. Several reviews and studies have also high lightened a consistent relationship between the quality and amount of deliberate practice and performance level in a wide number of domains. This relationship is correlational, and hence it is extremely difficult to confirm that deliberate practices cause performance improvements. A close examination of deliberate practices reveals that it entails designing a training program to improve the specific aspects of performance. People must strive to exceed their present levels of performance in order to improve, and thus they have to come across numerous failures before they finally achieve or reach higher levels (Ghonsooly & Shirvan, 2011, p. 10). The steps leading to performance excellence include: 1. Being motivated to attend task at hand and provide expert effort to improve performance. 2. Design the task to take into account an individual’s pre-existing knowledge so as to understand the task completely. 3. Organize an immediate feedback mechanism based on knowledge of performance results. 4. Perform the same task repeatedly to ascertain similar results. Conclusion In an attempt to improve his presentation skills, Ricardo should carry out a research of the type of audience he is going to present his findings. Knowing the requirements of his audience will help him tailor his presentation to target their welfare and also explain how the company would benefit from the findings (Willis & Anderson, 2010, p. 8). He should also structure his presentation in a comprehensive manner. The classical format will be to tell the audience what he was going to do. The best method would be to highlight the benefits of the presentation to the audience or organization addressed. He should also rehearse his work several times before presenting it to the panel. Rehearsing boosts confidence and provides an opportunity to polish areas that are not well represented in the final draft (Ericson, 2008, p. 12). Recommendations Performance measurement is among the fundamentals to business excellence. These excellence models encourage use of performance measures and performance systems to ensure that the measures used are aligned to the strategies employed by the organization. It is crucial to consider a system that works effectively towards achieving the set organization goals. This being the case, there ought to be clearly defined objectives and strategies chosen to be attained before the right measures to accomplish them are identified. References Amit K. Marwah, Girish Thakar, & R.C Gupta. (2012). Implications of Performance Measurement Approaches on Supply Chain Performance. National Conference on Emerging Challenges for Sustainable Business, pg 1-30 Anders Ericson. (2008). Deliberate Practice and Acquisition of Expert Performance: A General Overview. Society for Academic Emmergency, 15(11), pg 1-7. Angela L. Duckworth, Teri A. Kirby, Eli Tsukayama, Heather Berstein, & Anders Ericsson. (2010). Deliberate Practice Spell Success. Social Pyschology and Personality Science, pg 1-9 Bernard J. Turnock. (2011). Guidebook for Performance Measurement. Turning Point, pg 1- 81. Behzad Ghonsooly & Majid E. Shirvan. (2011). Mediating Processes of Expert Interpreting: A Deliberate Practice Approach. Novitas Royal, 5(2), pg 1-12. Bryan D. Edwards, Suzanne T. Bell, Winfred Arthur, & Arlette D. Decuir. (2008). Relationships Between Facets of Job Satisfaction and Task and Contextual Performance. Applied Psychology, 57(3), pg 1-25. CheZuriana A. Jamil & Rapiah Mohamed (2011). Performance Measurement System (PMS) in Small Medium Enterprises. World Journal of Social Sciences, 1(3), pg 1-13. Corbertt Barr. (2012). Deliberate Practice: What It Is and Why You Need It. Retrieved from http://expertenough.com/1423/deliberate-practice Katie Willis & Jessica Anderson. (2010). Foundations for an Effective Performance Measurement System for Drug Law Enforcement, 34, pg 1-24. Mark A. Griffin. (2009). The Contribution of Task Performance and Contextual Performance to Effectiveness: Investigating the Role of Situational Constraints. Applied Psychology, 49(3), pg 1-17. Pascal Delorme & Oliver Chatelain. (2011). The Role and Use of Performance Measurement Indicators. Policy Steering, pg 1-62. Patrick K Doherty. (2010). Performance Measurement. Module 12, 1-27. Samir A. Ahmed. (2011). Transit Safety Management and Performance Measurement. Volume 1: Guide book, pg 1-143 Read More