Performance and Career Management Issues - Essay Example

Performance and Career management Employee appraisal form (done every six months) Employee Age: Gender: Job: Date of review The quality of work is consistent over months and complete Excellent Above expectations Satisfactory Needs a little improvement Unacceptable/ poor Employee is able to meet the targets given for sales For six months Five months Four months Three months Two months One month Never met target Job or content knowledge Excellent Above expectations Satisfactory Needs a little improvement Unacceptable/ poor Leadership skills Excellent Above expectations Satisfactory Needs a little improvement Unacceptable/ poor Team player Excellent Above expectations Satisfactory Needs a little improvement Unacceptable/ poor Learning ability Excellent Above expectations Satisfactory Needs a little improvement Unacceptable/ poor Ability to teach/train subordinates Excellent Above expectations Satisfactory Needs a little improvement Unacceptable/ poor Overall communication skills Excellent Above expectations Satisfactory Needs a little improvement Unacceptable/ poor Most important skill for sales: communication skills (boxes checked if applicable) Clear articulation Comfortable talker in public Communicates the ideas properly in team meetings Excellent in presentations Persuasive enough while presenting arguments Does not use slang words during conversation Participates in all meetings and discussions Needs little to no guidance in preparing documents Effective listening power Flexible in style of talking according to customers Open comments ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Career Management Plan The basic idea behind a career management plan is to first know where the concerned person stands at present in terms of skills and ability to work hard. These are to be specified for particular kind of job. Here it is sales. Therefore as manager I need to know whether they stand first. A general one-to-one discussion about their career so far (before they joined my team) and the challenges faced by them would help me get an idea about their abilities. While talking some inherent skills like that of communication and proper body language become transparent. Some common questions related to sales activities might make the understanding stronger. The career management process should be continuous and new goals should be set as soon as the previous ones have been achieved. (Career management 2002) This is achieved only through a periodic feedback process after assessment. The performance evaluation might be done according to the performance appraisal form given above. This will lead to an appraisal/ reprisal according to the assessment. After the feedback sheet is sent through email to every employee a group meeting will be called. In general all the common weaknesses and areas of improvements in order to gains stability should be discussed. If some team member has surpassed expectations then he or she should be presented as a role model before others. After this session a one-to-one session will be held where every employee will be given a chance to speak about their problems and even grudges against the mangers or their immediate seniors. Any psychological issue, which is hindering them from improvement, should also be dealt with and explained as much as possible. Individual weaknesses should be pointed out and if anyone has done miserably he or she should be warned. However the employees will be given a chance here to even challenge any assessment made under any of the categories. Examples need to be cited by them to prove their point. In case they are uncomfortable to pick such issues in face-to-face conversation, they might even send an email. After all these contradictions are dealt with, a final evaluation sheet is sent to them base don which the appraisal takes place. Identification of one’s strength and weaknesses is a major part of career management and the feedback system enforces this. After the identification of the strengths and weaknesses it is time to encourage improvement and provide further training for some individuals if required. (Career management 2002) Special training sessions or educational programs will be held for such employees. This will help that individual to overcome the barriers and go forward for higher performance. The next evaluation will prove the effectiveness of the training on the employees’ performance. For the ones who have met the expectations or have flared well in the main areas (like those of communication, learning ability, consistent work, meeting targets and job knowledge) immediate appraisal is declared and the day might be celebrated with a half day provided there is no urgent work or deadlines. Since the people in my team are from different job categories the areas of performance where they need to give stress on also will vary. This needs to be explained at individual level and this is where the individual session is helpful. The diversity needs to be handled like this and appraisal for them would also be on different basis. For instance in case of an outdoor sales representative, stress is given on communication with customers and public and meeting targets. A sales manager needs to ensure whether others are functioning properly or not and needs to be a confident speaker, possess leadership skills, good team player, take part in discussions and presentations. It needs to be explained how close they are to their goals. How many categories in the appraisal form they did/did not meet should be analysis for this purpose. Hence a career development plan needs to be drawn out and studied by them. Now, assuming that there is no monetary promise on my part and only a detailed report of their skills and performance, the career management plans still should be working. Psychologically I need to influence them through praises and public appreciation or humiliation. This will affect the state of mind of a person and someone positive will always take humiliation positively. On the other hand praises helps in increasing one’s level of confidence and provide inspiration to work harder. Thus words can do wonder even if there is no gifts or perks involved. The costs involved here is psychological. The investment here is in terms of time, energy and involvement with every employee. The benefits would surely be greater scope, realization and constructive improvement. This process will also help identify and eliminate the lousy ones with too much ego and no urge to improve. References Career management (2002), Nova Scotia Canada, Public Service Commission, available at: http://www.gov.ns.ca/PSC/default.asp?mn=1.162.303 (accessed on November 14, 2009) Read More