Effective People Management - Report Example

Effective People Management Name Institution Tutor Course Date Effective People Management Introduction One way that an organization can strive to have an effective employee management system is by implementing a workable staff appraisal system (Overland, 2002). Staff appraisal is basically a periodical advisory and supportive discussion held between staff members and members from the management team. The main features of a staff appraisal include; good preparation, structured discussion, agreement of targets, confidentiality, and regularity. In staff appraisal, employees are accorded an opportunity to discuss about the objectives of an organization they work for. It is also during this forum that staffs are also given a chance to elaborate their personal contributions towards the achievement of the said objectives (Teicher & Holland, 2006). Likewise, the management personnel also get an opportunity to discuss the organization’s objectives and are able to identify specific contributions that individual employees have to the overall objectives. The objective of an appraisal is to try and identify the employee’s performance gap. To be able to identify the performance gap, one is required to identify the gap between the employee’s actual performance and the expectations of the organization he is working for. Many organizations use staff appraisal system in certain ways. Performance appraisals are designed in such a way that they are able to evaluate the performance on individual employees so that management can get appropriate feedback. Basically during appraisal meeting an employee is given an opportunity to interact with the management team where he can speak any problems faced in the organization without fear. By giving the employees feedback on their performance an appraisal can be said to assist in increasing employees’ productivity and efficiency in an organization. Through the appraisal system management is able to identify certain traits possessed by their employees. These could be their strengths and weaknesses in their job performance. Once this is identified, the management can then make a decision on whether to retain an employee or not. An appraisal system allows all employees to understand their objectives in an organization clearly and hat is expected of them by their employers. Since an appraisal system gives employees a chance to interact with their seniors, it then helps in building healthy working relationships among employees and members of the management team. The relationship between staff is based on mutual respect and trust. In most cases where organizations conduct annual appraisals, managers and subordinates have noticed positive benefits whenever an appraisal is conducted properly. Management is able to identify the need for individual training depending on the capabilities reflected during the appraisal system (Borune, 1998). Once some weaknesses are identified in the employees, the management arranges on what needs to be improved, and this may involve enrolling staff for more training to increase their productivity. Boosting employees’ productivity reflects in the whole organization and may work in improving the reputation and the image of an organization. In many organizations, the gap between the employees and their supervisors is generally big. The appraisal interview offers employees a chance to close that gap by having an interrupted access to their seniors. Being able to sit down with senior managers and being accorded a chance to ask questions and contribute in the talk cannot be underestimated as many employees are used to receiving orders from their employers. Performance appraisal provides motivation and satisfaction to the workers in an organization. Many employees work in their sections and fulfill their duties and responsibilities as stipulated in their job descriptions, but few remember their overall objectives in the organization. During the appraisal employees are reminded of the goals that they might have forgotten. When a senior manager reminds the employees of their overall objective and targets to be achieved, this acts as a motivation tool. Workers also feel satisfied and appreciated when they are taken for further training to allow them to carry their duties appropriately and to be able to fit in the changing world. When employees are satisfied and motivated, they tend to put all their effort in their duties and work with minimum supervision without being pushed around by the managers. This in the long run saves time and increases efficiency in an organization. Employees feel appreciated ones they are taken through the performance appraisal. Being recognized in an organization boosts employees’ morale. At times employees would rather be recognized negatively rather than not being recognized at all. Being recognized and appreciated in an organization plays a major role in lowering the labor turnover which is mostly high when the employees are dissatisfied with their work. It is an objective of every employer to ensure high staff retention rates. An appraisal system in an organization indicates to the employees that they are valued and that their employers are genuinely concerned with their performance and career development. This alone can have a major impact on the employees’ commitment and worth. Commitment leads to reduction of lateness and absenteeism among the employees. When a performance appraisal is being carried out, members of the management team are presented with a perfect opportunity to identify situations where an employee may be lacking in skills (Teicher, Holland & Gough, 2006). Mangers and their subordinates are able to agree on the best ways to improve on the working skills that may be lacking in certain individuals. The idea of training and development is well understood when employees are given a chance to identify the areas that they might need training on. During appraisals the need for training in staff is linked to the individual performance outcomes and any future aspiration on career development. Training needs in an organization are identified and categorized as per various departments that are used in the overall running of the organization. The data collected during the performance appraisal is analyzed in terms of job categories and departments, and hence provides an audit for training needs required in the whole organization. Appraisal data is also used to monitor the success of the staff training and induction processes. For instance the management is able to analyze staff performance based on the years they were trained or inducted into an organization’s system (Teicher, Holland & Gough, 2006). The data collected during an appraisal exercise may be used in identifying on the effectiveness of the staff induction program or any other recruitment criteria that may have been used. If the performance is commendable then the management may wish to extend using similar strategies with an aim of retain same results or even getting better results with time. It is important for the management team to analyze whether the employees’ quality is improving, steady, or deteriorating. The need for an organization to evaluate its employees may create tension among the staff as some may fear losing their jobs if their performance appraisals are not ratified. Organizations use different methods for staff appraisal with some opting not to have appraisals at all. Organizations that lack staff appraisals claim that the process of carrying out staff appraisal is tedious and that judging or evaluating employees may be dehumanizing and a source of anxiety to employees. From an individual’s point of view, performance appraisal should be about self analysis, his work analysis, areas of improvement and personal rewards for work well done (Serpas, 2004). In general employee appraisal system is about mutual objectives, emphasis on individual and organizational growth, improvement on employees’ productivity, emphasis on employee retention, and the overall profitability of an organization. For a performance appraisal to be effective an organization must have clear and articulate objectives for undertaking performance reviews. Some managers especially in large organizations tend to routinely fill out appraisal forms. The employees are not followed until after one year during the annual appraisals. To succeed in performing an appraisal all the members of an organization, including both the employees and the senior management, should understand the objectives of carrying out the staff appraisal (De Ceiri & Kramer, 2003). If a performance appraisal is not associated with the philosophy of effective employee management and clarity of purpose, then it is bound to fail. Besides capitalizing on the development and performance of employees, the practice of appraisal should be of value to an organization as a whole. The process of performance appraisals in some organizations may lack credibility. This is caused by lack of clear measures or job aspects that are to be evaluated. The standards to be used in measuring performance should be clear to all employees as soon as they are assigned their tasks in an organization. When these aspects are not well elaborated then it may lead to dishonesty during the evaluation, and unfair ratings and hence lowering the credibility of the whole process. Queensland Police Service in Australia puts a lot of emphasis in performance appraisal as illustrated in their strategic plan (Lynch, 2005). The appraisal system used in Qld Police Service is known as Operational Performance Review (OPR). When an appraisal is being carried at the Qld Police Service there are a number of individual performance indicators that are used in analyzing the employees for the purposes of appraisal ratings. The percentage of the total time that a police officer has directed toward the community safety is considered. This indicator is in line with the objective of responding professionally and timely to the needs of clients. During the appraisal, the rating of the officers may also depend on the level of community satisfaction with the police in terms of quality delivery. Police officers are also appraised depending on how they observe personal safety in the course of their work. There is an objective that mandates a police officer to promote the prevention of crime in the society but they have to ensure their personal safety as they accomplish this objective. The overall time spent on crime management is also another factor that is considered during the annual staff appraisal of police officers. This could be determined by the number of offences that are reported and cleared by an individual police officer in the whole year. In Queensland Police Service it is the policy of the organization to evaluate the employees’ work at least once in a year. The supervisors are held accountable to the work performance of their subordinates. The objectives of the Operational Performance Review (OPR) include the provision of a record of the employee development and their work performance. Through the use of the OPR management is informed on the basis used for promotions, pay increments, trainings, reductions in force, police awards and executing of disciplinary actions. Employees are also informed of what is expected of them and whether they are meeting the expectations. The annual employees’ appraisals held at Queensland Police Service, is also used as an encouragement tool where employees are motivated to have total commitment to the established goals in the organization (Metcalfe & Dick, 2001). Depending on the results of the performance appraisal the management determines the needs for training and career development in the employees of Queensland Police Service. Performance appraisal in Queensland is also supposed to improve the use of the personnel resources where individual police officers are encouraged to make maximum use of their capabilities. This is based on individual strengths that can be measured in terms of experience or skills. The OPR has also been used to foster work relationships between the supervisors and the other employees. This achieved by giving the employees a chance to interact with their supervisors during the appraisal service where they also get an opportunity to direct questions to their supervisors concerning their job satisfaction. The OPR ensures that supervisors and managers are evaluated depending on the administration of the whole system of the employee evaluation (Metcalfe & Dick, 2001). People, who are given the responsibility of rating the employees (raters), are evaluated by their seniors on the nature of ratings given to the employees and whether fairness and impartiality was adhered to. The raters are also required by the policy to engage employee in some short sessions of counseling after they have been rated. The raters should also have the capability to administer the ratings uniformly in to all the subordinates. It is also important for the raters to be privy to all the regulations of the Police Planning Appraisal Program pertaining performance evaluations. Supervisors at Queensland Police Service are assigned the responsibility to develop the work performance plans that also include the job responsibilities and employees expectations in every department. It is crucial for employees to understand the scope of responsibility and performance expectations of their positions (Metcalfe & Dick, 2001). Supervisors should conduct a minimum of one counseling session with an employee during the period of appraisal. Supervisors keep employees’ record in individual files which contains details about the employee’s job performance. All the completed assignments or any work in progress are also documented. All the materials in the supervisory files are only valid for a period of twelve months just for the purposes of the annual staff appraisal (Overland, 2002). Once the period of one year elapses, the materials contained in the supervisory file are deemed irrelevant. The policy of the Queensland Police Service states that employees must be informed of any information to be placed in their personal supervisory files an d are also given a chance to challenge any information that does not satisfy them. Ideally employees are supposed to receive a copy of the information contained in the supervisory files. The content of a supervisory file can be reviewed if the concerned employee request so but no any other individual has the mandate to review the contents of someone else’ supervisory file. The rating procedure used for the performance appraisal at Queensland Police Service is such that supervisors conduct an annual evaluation of the performance of every employee. The evaluation is only based on the designated period of time. Supervisors are also required to complete the performance evaluation form two weeks prior to the end of the rating period which must be twelve months. The employee being evaluated is given an opportunity to discuss, review, and sign the supervisor’s evaluation and comment on it. Supervisors are supposed to review the work performance of each employee four months before the end of the evaluation period. If the supervisor notes any deficiency during the preliminary review, the supervisor proceeds to conduct some counseling session with the identified employee to recommend on how the employee can improve. The results of the counseling session are written down and the employee concerned is given a copy. If the employee’s work performance fails to improve another counseling session is held 90 days before the evaluation period ends (Metcalfe & Dick, 2001). During the second session, the supervisor mentions the specific areas that were unsatisfactory and informs the employee that if no improvement is made then increment and other benefits might be delayed. If the employee fails to improve even after the second counseling session, then the supervisor proceeds and documents all the work performance deficiencies in the final evaluation report. Supervisors may recommend a service increment delay to any employee who has a poor work performance. In such an incident the employee’s personal appraisal form must be submitted before the actual date of the employee’s increment (Walsh, 2000). The supervisor is also required to indicate the recommended period that the increment should be delayed. The Chief of Police at Queensland Police Service must inform all the concerned employee of the intention to delay their service increment before the increment date. Documentation is required by the Police Personnel Division three weeks before the actual employee’s increment date. All the signed evaluations are forwarded to the bureau chief following the necessary chain of command. Bureau Chiefs are supposed to review the performance evaluations and ensure that they are complaint with all the requirements as required by the Queensland Police Service. The evaluations are then handed over to the Personnel Division for final processing. The Police Personnel Division plays the role of conducting the reviews of the performance evaluations on annual basis (Lynch, 2005). What follows is a written report to the Chief of Police and should contain all the contested evaluation with all the reasons cited. Employee appraisals are retained by the Police Personnel Division as illustrated by Personnel Regulations. The evaluations can be used by the management in assessing whether an employee is suitable for certain work assignment or promotion in their careers. The Operation Performance Review used by the Queensland Police Service as a staff appraisal system has many benefits to the organization (Overland, 2002). Supervisors are assigned employees who they are supposed to evaluate in the whole duration of the evaluation which is normally one year. Before employees start working for the Queensland Police Service, they are informed of all the objectives of the organization as part of their orientation. What the organization expects of then is also elaborated and they are given a chance to ask questions in case the objectives are not clear. To ensure that the organization’s objectives are met, the supervisor constantly reviews the assigned employee to ensure that individual work performance in aimed at achieving the overall objectives of the organizations (Dick, 2004). Queensland Police Service aims to retail employees who have high skills in its team. Through the performance appraisal this objective is met as individual skills are identified and promoted. The appraisal system used at Queensland Police Service involves continuous assessment of all the employees in the organization. Each supervisor is assigned several employees to evaluate throughout the year (Walsh, 2000). This is unlike other organizations that use staff appraisal as just a routine activity that has to be performed. Where seriousness is not involved in the staff appraisal system, the objectives of an organization cannot be achieved since the evaluation may not even reflect the true character of the employees being evaluated. Conclusion In conclusion one aspect that makes the employee appraisal system in Queensland Police Service to be effective in the achievement of the organization’s objectives is the fact that even the supervisors involved in the evaluation are well aware of the expected objectives and they monitor the employees to ensure that their work performance is geared towards achieving those goals. The use of the Operation Performance Review is therefore a vital aspect in ensuring that Queensland Police Service achieves its objectives. References Teicher, J., Holland, P., & Gough, R. (2006). Employee relations management: Australia in a global context. NSW: Pearsons Education. Lynch, J. (2005). Looking to the future: Implications of emerging trends for police workforce planning. New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House. Metcalfe, B., & Dick, G. (2001). Exploring organization commitment in the police: Implications for human resource strategy. Manchester: University of Manchester. Overland, S. (2002). 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