Performance Management, Training and Development in the Royal Australian Air Force - Term Paper Example

Critical Review [Student’s Name] [Institution Affiliation] Introduction The Royal Australian Air Force offers space and air power to the Australia’s security force. It is the second-oldest permanent and independent air force internationally and employs a workforce of approximately 13, 500 men, and women, assisted by 900 civilian public servants and 2,800 Air Force Reservists at 11 main bases (RAAF, n.d). Performance Management and Training and Development play a major function in making sure that this large workforce in the company meets the company goals in an effective manner. The two functions work hand in hand in managing the behavior and results of the employees and facilitating effective delivery of operation and strategic goals. There is an apparent and immediate correlation between using performance management programs and training management programs and the Air Force results, as the two yields a well-trained workforce, motivated employee, improved management control, and a direct financial gain. Performance Management and ‘Training and Development’ in the Royal Air force (Strengths & Weaknesses) The Air Force has integrated training and development unit referred to as the ‘Air Movement Training and Development Unit (AMTDU)’ whose mission is to offer responsive engineering, training, advice, and development in aerial delivery to improve the capability of the Australian Air Defence Force (RAAF, n.d). AMTDU provides three main aerial delivery services to the company: it trains the personnel in various delivery courses; it develops better aerial delivery abilities, which are in line with airworthiness standards; it maintains the technical airworthiness integrity of aerial delivery publications and equipment. The Air Force Training Group (AFTG) is also another long-standing strategic group in the organization, which is charged with the duty of training Air Force and chosen workforce from the Army, navy, and other international Defence Forces. This group seeks to be the excellent battle focused training organization with a duty of developing the air-power capacity by training people. It has four key components ‘Air Training Wing’, HQAFTG, RAAF College, which caters for all reserve training wing as well as ground training. AFTG is also in charge of developing training procedures as well as policy (RAAF, n.d). Performance Management is also evident in the Air Force. For instance, the Air Force rewards good performance, develops the capacity to perform through its training and development programs and continually monitoring performance. The Royal Australian Air Force Proficiency and Leadership Awards is one of the constituents of performance management in the Air Force. This Award celebrates the achievement of units and Airmen excel and inspire and the unique local solutions, which enable the Force to excel. The Air Force also rewards new innovative approaches and ideas, which improve the delivery of air power in Australia. The organization presents these awards every year for achievement and performance of the previous year. The awards operate in two categories-unit level and individual level and they promote all the units and individuals who challenge the Air Force to improve their own contribution towards creating a better Air Force (RAAF, n.d). To ensure the workplace is conducive for higher-level performance, the Air Force provides a safe working environment. Employee performance in management thus incorporates establishing work plans and setting goals. The Air Force has set strategic objectives, vision, and mission for every program. For instance, the training programs have strategic objectives, vision, and mission they aim to achieve. The AFTG vision is to be an excellent battle focused training organization with an undertaking of developing air power capacity by means of training its people. Each of its four branches has set objectives, for instance, the Air Training Wing is in charge of undertaking instructor and essential training for air combat officials, pilots and air-traffic officers; essential photographer training and aircrew battle endurance training in the Air force and for chosen Australian Defence Force personnel (RAAF, n.d).. This shows that performance management is interconnected with training and development and they function together. The second aspect of management entails developing the capacity to perform, which training and development programs cater for. One of the keys processes of performance management is developing performance- entails increasing the capacity to perform and it should be solidly integrated and strategically in line with the organizational goals. The training and development programs increase the workforce capacity to perform through formal means, and they are in line with the goals of the organizations (Pearson, 2010). Organizations develop performance so that they can increase the employees’ capacity to perform through improved skills and competencies and more effective work processes. It seeks to improve performance and address poor performance. According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright (2008), companies that seek competitive advantage through employees have to manage the results and behavior of all employees. To maximize employee performance in an organization, work processes should be continually improved and developed (Noe et al., 2008). The techniques for enhancing work processes include work teams, formal suggestion programs, and business process reengineering efforts. The formal suggestion programs ask the workers to offer suggestions for improving the manner the work is done. Work teams/ units are centered on various work processes to use high levels of employee involvement in improving and performing the work processes. The business process reengineering efforts completely redesign the manner work is done and often automates and simplifies the work. This is only evident in the Air Force safety model, which aims to develop employee participation. Employee participation is taken to be highly advantageous in the program as the employees work with the products and under the conditions on a daily basis and they are aware of the hazards and offer judgment on solutions proposed by the management (Deasel Board of Inquiry, n.d). The management, supervisors and other employee progressively work together in rectifying and identifying problems. Further teams are formed and additional training is availed in maintenance of a safe working place. Signaling theory suggests that people (workers, shareholders, customers) require substantial information to assist them comprehend the interests or future prospects (Biron, Farndale & Paauwe, 2011). The information gathered is regularly used to form inference on important issues in the organization and serve to strengthen or guide relevant behavior (Biron et al., 2011). The fourth aspect of performance management evident in Royal Australian Air force is periodic rating of performance in a summary fashion. The Air Force rates performance of the employees at the end of every year and reward performance. The core employees recognized are those with benefit to the organization in numerous ways, such as research and new product development, service delivery, problem diagnosis, and production among others. This motivates the workforce, which in turn improves the organization efficiency through keeping cost low. Such employees usually identify new market opportunities and undertake necessary administrative tasks to emerge the best. The last aspect of performance management is rewarding of good performance at the end of every year (RAAF, n.d). The functions of training and development and performance management are integrated in the Royal Air force. One of the strengths of this integration is that it improves the performance of the employees. The rewarding of employees also contributes to motivation of employees to be innovative. Their involvement in various decision-making processes empowers them, as they get to contribute to these processes and this in turn leads to improved service (Noe et al., 2008). The employee training and development activities are meant for improving performance and have managed to do so to a certain extent, nevertheless the organization does not apply some of the imperative features in the integration of performance management and training as well as development. Because the point of training as well as development is to improve the workforce performance, it is important to use them together, such that performance management process ends up communicating the kind of training and development, which are most effective in different situations in the organization. One of the weaknesses of this integration lies in the fact that it is lacking various important aspects. Performance management is a broader term and it should encompass the motivation of employees to perform; vision by employers as to what performance standards they expect of employees: ownership of management of performance at various levels in the organizations as well as monitoring and measuring of performance attained by employees (Wilson, 2005). The Royal Australian Air Force performance management is lacking in some of these aspects. This can be attributed to the management, which only employs various aspects, which they believe to be effective. According to McGregor Theory X and Theory Y, the management assumptions about employee motivation can assist them to learn to manage more efficiently (Fournies, 2000). The style of management is mostly influenced by the assumptions and beliefs about what motivates employees; in case the management believes that the team members dislike work, they will tend towards an authoritarian management style whereas the management, which assumes the employees revel in doing a good job, tend to take up a more participative style. In the case of Royal Service, the management style is participative although it is missing important aspects. An effective performance management system for the workforce offers the link between the objectives of the individuals, those of their team or units, and those of the wider organizations such that work plans are coherent across the organization and everybody knows what they are doing and the reason they are doing it (Wilson, 2005). This is not evident in the Royal Service performance management, which mostly focuses on training and development and rewarding those who come up with innovative ideas. Performance management is much more than appraising individuals; it should contribute to the attainment of culture change, and it is integrated with other major HR activities, particularly talent management, human capital management, reward management and learning and development (Thorpe & Beasley, 2004). Thus, in the Air Force, performance management should help to attain horizontal integration and bundling of HR practices such that they are interrelated, as a result complement, and reinforce each other. It should contribute to the development of more effective work systems, which largely determine performance levels, as an important constituent of a high-performance work system. One of the most central aspects employed in the process of performance management, training, and development in Royal Australian Air Force is performance appraisal. Performance is only one component of the broader processes of performance management. The reason for appraising performance in an organization is to assist employees to perform at their best in order for it to reach its goals and mission, rewarding employee in relation to these efforts and contribution as this reinforces their behaviors in a manner, which increases the possibility that they will attain their personal and organizational goals (Chukubwa, 2011). The employees in the Air Force are rewarded for their effort and contribution. This way, the management ensures the employees’ outputs and activities are matching with the organizational goal, and this is considered important to gaining a competitive advantage. Performance appraisals are thus important for effective management and evaluation of staff (Boachie-Mensah & Seidu, 2012). Guest (1999) argue that the effect of performance management- a human resource management (HRM) practice- depends on the employees’ perception and evaluation and there is need to recognize the important role of employee perceptions and to integrate them into the analysis as well as construction of performance in the organization. Nonetheless, the performance management system is not well defined. Through performance appraisal, a performance management system specifies the aspects of performance through performance, which is the only one method for managing employee performance. The company just rewards excellent performance, but has not yet set out a predefined strategy for evaluating performance. The performance management system also has to specify the aspects of performance, which are important to an organization, especially through job analysis. It also offers feedback to workers through performance feedback sessions so they can adjust their performance to the organization’s goals (Noe et al., 2008). Performance feedback is also fulfilled via tying rewards to performance through compensation system such as through bonuses and merit increases (Noe et al., 2008). The Royal Air Force thus needs to reevaluate its performance management program, especially concerning performance appraisals, feedback sessions, and performance feedback. The other important aspect in the organization model of performance management system is the organization strategy. The link between performance management and the organization strategy and goals is missing. The two are not aligned and hence the chance of achieving the objectives become small (Noe et al., 2008). The organization need to specify the things that need to be accomplished, and the type of behaviors that should be exhibited for the company strategy to be implemented. “Performance Planning and Evaluation (PPE)” systems can be used to link the organization strategies with the formal performance appraisal process by stipulating at the start of the appraisal time the level as well as types of performance that have to be realized to accomplish the approach (Noe et al., 2008). Under the PPE system, the individual and units would be assessed depending on whether their actual performance met the performance plan. At the closing stages of the appraisal period, units and individual are assessed depending on how strongly their tangible performance matches with the performance arrangement. In an ideal world, performance management systems would ensure that all activities support the organization’s strategic goals (Noe et al., 2008). To be an effective organization concerning performance management, work should be planned out beforehand. This would entail setting performance goals as well as expectations for individuals and units to direct their endeavors towards attaining the goals set by the organization. According to Pygmalion Motivation theory, communicating and setting high performance prospects can promote improved performance from the employees. Setting and communicating high objectives inspire units/ work groups and generate an upright circle leading to continuous improvement of performance (Harris & Hartman, 2002) Involving the employees in the planning course assist them to comprehend the organization objectives, the things that need to be done, the reasons for doing those things and how well they should do it (Saxena, 2009). The regulatory needs for planning employee performance would incorporate instituting standards and constituents in the performance appraisal preparations. These performance standards as well as elements should be achievable, confirmable, measureable, reasonable, and understandable. After training, the workers are held responsible as individuals or units for the job responsibilities or assignments in the Royal Air Force. The company’s employee performance plan should thus be bendable with the intention that they can be altered to change work requirements and program objectives. When used effectively, the work plans are beneficial working documents, which are often discussed, and not just paper work, which is put in a drawer, and retrieved only whilst rating of employees records are needed. The Royal Air force also fails to monitor its projects continually and assignment regularly. Monitoring is one of the important aspects of performance management in an organization (Saxena, 2009). Effective monitoring entails constantly quantifying performance and offering continuing advice to work units and employees in advancement towards attaining their objectives. The regulatory prerequisites for performance monitoring entail conducting progress appraisals with the work force whereby their performance is measured up to against standards and aspects. According to Sinclair-Hunt (2005), individuals need regular feedback on their performance in order to perform effectively and satisfy the requirements of an organization. Key performance indicators (KPI) also referred to a Key Success Indicators (KSI) can help Royal Air Force to defined and measure progress towards the goals of the organization (Parmenter, 2012) Once the organization has analyzed its mission, identified every stakeholder, and defined all its goals, it requires a means of measuring progress towards the set goals; KPI are such measurement.; they are quantifiable measurements, which are agreed in advance and which mirror the decisive success aspects of an organization (Sawang, 2011). The KPIs should reflect the goals of the Royal Air Force and they should be the key to its success. One major principle of performance management is to determine what an organization can handle. To facilitate maintenance and improvement of delivery of air power, every organization purpose has to concentrate on the segment of indicators, which they affect. The KPIs for safeguarding should be chosen guaranteeing a direct correlation between the safeguarding activities and the main performance indicator assessing it. The KPIs for continuance may consist of KPIs for other realms of responsibility in the Air Force, such as training and development and employee performance management. Continuously monitoring the employees offers the chance to check how well the workers are attaining the preset standards and to change problematic or unrealistic standards (Saxena, 2009). Continuous monitoring provides a chance to identify unacceptable performance at all times throughout the evaluation phase and support can be offered through training to address such performance as opposed to waiting until the closing stages of the phase when summary ratings are allocated (Sinclair-Hunt, 2005). In the Royal Air Force, performance is not continually monitored and the ratings are only done at the end of the year to determine the employees who have brought forth inventive ideas. Development is another important aspect concerning developing the performance of employees (Saxena, 2009). In a successful business, employee developmental requirements are assessed and dealt with. This implies the aptitude to achieve through training, offering projects, or duties, which introduce newer capabilities and superior accountability levels, and boosting work processes. This is evident in the Royal Air Force as employees are provided with training and development opportunities. Such opportunities help the workers to keep up with workplace changes, strengthen job related skills, and encourage good performance. Employing all performance management processes offers a first-rate change for identifying employees’ developmental needs. Deficiencies in performance are recognized during planning as monitoring of work and hence can be dealt with. The realms for boosting first-class performance also become clear, and the management can take action to assist the successful workers to progress further. The other important aspect in performance management and training and development is rating (Saxena, 2009). Occasionally, organizations find it valuable to summarize the performance of the employees. This is important for focusing and comparing performance after sometime and amongst different workers (Sinclair-Hunt, 2005). This assists the company to recognize their best performers. In Royal Air Force, the ratings used are innovative approaches and ideas, which improve the delivery of air power in Australia. The individual/unit performance is rated against these standards; nevertheless, records’ rating is not consigned to processes in an appraisal program. The ratings are based on work performed during a one-year appraisal period. Rewarding is also an important aspect concerning performance management (Saxena, 2009). Rewards are used well in effective organizations. Giving rewards means recognizing the workers individually or as a unit/group, for their performance and recognizing their contribution to an organization vision (Saxena, 2009). In Royal Air Force, rewards are offered annually depending on employees’ innovative approaches and ideas, which improve the delivery of air power in Australia. In managing performance effectively in Royal Air Force, goals should be set and work planned regularly. Development towards the set objectives should be evaluated and workers given feedbacks. Formal and informal incentives should be used to acknowledge results as well as behaviors that bring about the mission. There should thus be planning, monitoring, developing, rating, and rewarding for employee performance management to be effective in the Royal Air Force (Saxena, 2009). The management should primarily control performance through influencing outputs, for instance through training and development, and the feedback offered by assessments-outputs. After setting performance, the Air Force should establish an approach for measuring performance. Currently, there is no established means of measuring performance; good performance is rewarded based on inventing new ideas and approaches, which improve the delivery of air power. They are different methods that the Air Force can use to measure performance; the comparative approach, the attribute approach, the behavioral approach, the Quality approach, and the results approach (Neo et al., 2008). The comparative strategy to managing performance comprises of practices, which necessitates the rater to evaluate a worker performance with that of other workers. Under this approach, there are techniques such as ranking, forced distribution and paired comparison. This approach can come in handy in differentiating employee performance. It is easy to use and develop (Neo et al., 2008). The attribute approach to managing performance can also be used to measure performance. It focuses on the degree to which the workers have particular traits or attributes, which are deemed important for the success of the company (Noe et al., 2008). The mixed standard scales and graphic rating scales fall under this strategy. The behavioral strategy to management of performance endeavors to identify the behaviors that the employees should portray to be effective in undertaking a task (Noe et al., 2008). The critical incidents, “behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS), Behavioral Observation scales (BOS) and organization behavior modification (OBM)” all fall under the behavioral plan. The results strategy to managing performance focuses on managing by objective, quantifiable outcomes of a unit or individuals. Management by Objectives (MBO) is one of the most commonly used approaches in performance management. MBO is an organized and systematic approach that enables the management of an organization to focus on achievable objectives and to achieve the best possible results from the resources at hand. MBO aims to increase organization by aligning the subordinate objectives and goals in the whole organization. The workers normally get a strong input to identify their objectives, completion time and include ongoing training and feedback in the process of reaching objectives. It is a cooperative objective-setting progression; the managers and every subordinate agree upon the goals, which become standards for evaluating an employee performance (Noe et al., 2008). Management By Objectives systems have three main constituents: they call for explicit, objective, and difficult ends; the objectives are set by the management and individuals and the manager offers objective pointers all the way through the rating advancement towards the objectives (Noe et al., 2008). MBO boosts output and is very successful when there is considerable obligation from the management. Royal Air Force should establish one of the approaches identified for measuring performance. The main aim of a performance management process is to align the workers performance with that of the organization hence the process should direct the workers about the organization priorities, goals, and expectations as well as the best methods of contributing to them. The Royal Air Force has developed some of the aspects of performance management processes, such as development of employees, rating, and reward to motivate the employees. This process can be improved by establishing expectations and offering feedback on an employee progress towards meeting the expectations through work plans. The Air Force can then target training to deal with the weaknesses identified or areas of possible growth. In addition, the Air Force can implement a compensation scheme for rewarding the achievement of set goals. This would result in higher employee satisfaction and morale (Saxena, 2009). The focus of a performance management system should be performance appraisal, which is a systematic and formal process for appraising performance and offering a written or oral feedback to employees about their performance. The Air Force should thus establish a performance appraisal system for evaluating employee performance. The feedback from performance review is what the Air Force should use as basis of improvement and development. References Biron, M., Farndale, E., & Paauwe, J. (2011). Performance management effectiveness: lessons from world-leading firms. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22 (6), 1294-1311 Boachie-Mensah, F., & Seidu, P. (2012). Employees’ perception of performance appraisal system: a case study. International Journal of Business & Management, 7(2), 73-88 Chukwuba, K. (2011). Performance appraisal in the workplace. Journal of Management & Marketing Research, 1- 6 Douglas McGregor-theory X Y. Douglas McGregor’s XY Theory, Managing an X Theory boss, and Willian Ouchi’s Theory Z, Retrieved from http://pa341.rcopper.com/files/Douglas_McGregor_theory_x_theory_y.pdf Fournies, F. (2000). Coaching for improved work performance. New York: McGraw Hill. Guest, D. (1999). Human resource management: the workers' verdict. 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