What is Performance Management - Essay Example

Quiz Performance Management Q1: What is performance management? What value does performance management have for an organization? What value for an individual? A: Performance management refers to two different styles of management. One aspect refers to the analysis of the company’s performance as a whole and the evaluation of the managers and heads of companies in achieving their goals. Performance management is also a system used to evaluate employees and help them reach their goals, thus improving company performance as a whole (Christensen 2011). It is a systematic process by which a company involves its employees in improving the effectiveness of the organization and accomplishing its goals. The value of performance management lies in the fact that it helps distinguish between employees who are active and those who are actually working and motivates the former to be more like the latter, thus improving the overall performance in the organization. Also, when a customer is rewarded adequately for good work (whether monetarily or through promotions), they are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, thus increasing the company’s retention rate. Also, it helps align the organization’s activities and the efforts of the employees with the goals of the organization. Employees are more engaged in their work. They look to take on more challenging assignments and enjoy working at their workplace, motivated to achieve the best that they can. This also results in timely and high quality work by the organization in turn. From the employee’s perspective, he / she has greater motivation to work in that organization. An employee who performs well has motivation to continue doing so and an employee who is slacking off is motivated to perform better when they see a coworker being rewarded. Performance management also drives employees to become responsible for their individual performances and drives a better employee experience in the organization. It makes employees strive for greater success and makes them more conscientious of their work. Q2: What is meant by the term Business is Behavior? What are the unbreakable behavior laws? Why is behavior considered key to quality? The statement ‘Business is behavior’ refers to the need for organizations to adopt a behavioral approach to management systems. This is due to the huge gap between an organization’s technical competence and the performance of their employees due to a poor understanding of social skills (Rana 2). Simply put, unless an organization succeeds in promoting positive work behavior and decreasing instances of negative work behavior among employees, it will never be able to actualize its potential no matter how well it boosts its other capabilities. Its success in business is limited by the least progressive factor which is often linked to human behavior. The unbreakable behavior laws prescribe behavior that is mandatory within an organization. They help a manager decide what behavior is appreciated, tolerated and punished. These can be divided into behavior that is appropriate and desirable, behavior that is disruptive, but not dangerous and behavior that is dangerous. Behavior is considered key to quality simply because it controls the quality of a company’s product or service is interminably linked to the cooperation of the employee. An employee indulging in unacceptable behavior would motivate other employees to follow suit if unchecked. This would consequently affect the overall quality of the organization’s product. Even if the unacceptable behavior helps meet goals faster and more efficiently, the behavior itself can be damaging to the company’s reputation. This can be illustrated with an example. A credit card collection agency employee might be able to persuade customers to pay up by threatening lawsuit or forceful repossession of the debtor’s property. While this might make the consumer pay, it would land the company in trouble because the act is against the law. Also, if an employee prefers to work from home, calls in sick often and still does his job well, not nipping such behavior in the bud may boost absenteeism in the organization, eventually decreasing performance. Q3: What is Pinpointing? How does pinpointing apply to performance management? What is meant by the ‘right pinpoint’? What value does pinpointing have in managing performance? A: Pinpointing is the act of describing behavior in a language that makes it more specific and quantifiable. Since behavior is variable from person to person and depends on their understanding, it can be hard to describe and often involves fuzzy, abstract and generalized terms. By pinpointing, the manager attempts to express these in terms that would convey the same meaning to most. This is important because confusion in understanding what is expected of them may lead employees to perform differently and often in undesirable ways. Pinpointing is required to bridge communication gaps. A manager who has good employee performance and meets his goals regularly does not usually need to pinpoint. However, pinpointing is particularly useful in identifying areas an employee needs to work on. For example, if a manager tells an employee to develop the right attitude, the employee would likely be confused as to what is expected of him. However, by using statements like ‘be more punctual’ or ‘take action without being prompted by the supervisor’, he is pinpointing the areas of concern and helping the employee improve his performance. In short, pinpointing helps translate behavior descriptions in terms that are observable by others (Reichert 2) The right pinpoint is one that describes an activity in observable terms. To know whether a pinpoint is right or not, a manager should think whether it is possible to observe a person performing that activity with the manager present in the location at that time. For example, it’s hard to observe an employee ‘generating rapport’. However, it is not hard to observe them speaking in a friendly tone, wishing the customer a good morning, asking after their health, saying ‘thank you’ etc. Pinpointing removes the communication gap between managers and employees and helps managers communicate exactly what kind of behavior is expected from their employees. This is why it is crucial to performance management. Q: What is Performance feedback? What value does performance feedback have for an individual? What value for an organization? A: “Performance feedback is the ongoing process between employee and manager where information is exchanged concerning the performance expected and performance exhibited” (Indiana University, 2006). In other words, performance feedback is a process that highlights the difference in the performance expected of an employee and the performance of the employee thus far. It helps the employee understand areas where they have been found lacking and where they are doing well and make adjustments required for them to meet the manager’s expectations. Performance feedback is invaluable to both the individual as well as the organization. For the individual, performance feedback helps them stay on the right track or change course if they are on the wrong one. An individual may be dissatisfied with an organization if they do not know why their performance is not satisfactory. On the other hand, appreciation of an employee’s diligence at the job serves to encourage them to perform better, improving their overall productivity. The interaction with their manager about their performance also serves to strengthen their rapport and build confidence in each other. Another benefit is that organizations also offer rewards to employees for a job well done. From the organization’s point of view, performance feedback can help improve employee performance in a number of ways. If an employee is found to be lacking in certain skills and extremely talented elsewhere, the management can reassign the employee to boost their productivity. It can also help identify employees who are not productive and eliminate them. Performance feedback also helps a company maintain an employee’s record. This is useful when the employee is considered for a promotion. The company can wisely choose to promote the more consistent employees over those whose performance is inconsistent. Performance feedback is also important for organizations to improve employee morale. An employee won’t be satisfied if he or she is not rewarded for good performance or if someone else is rewarded without basis. Q5: What is the coaching manager? What do successful coaching managers do? What is meant by coaching mindset? What is a coaching dialog? How does coaching apply to performance management? What value does coaching have in performance management? A: The coaching manager is one who uses coaching to develop a talent in their business unit in order to achieve organizational results (Weintraub 2). A successful coaching manager manages to enhance organizational capability by promoting a coaching friendly environment in their teams. They identify problems faced by employees and help them develop and grow in the manner required for them to counter these challenges. Financial success is no longer the only thing required of a manager by a company. Their success in motivating and pushing their employees forward is just as important. This is where the coaching mindset comes in. A manager with a coaching mindset creates a work environment that encourages learning, independent thinking and opportunities to contribute (Tough 2011). To accomplish the goals of nurturing his or her employee’s talent, the coaching manager makes use of a coaching dialogue. A coaching dialogue is simply a formal or informal exchange between the coaching manager and the employee to discuss problems they are facing with their work. Rather than meet only to discuss the results, the coaching manager takes active interest in the employee’s work and offers impartial and unconditional aid and counsel to the employee. Coaching is an important tool in performance management. It increases openness to personal learning and development, helps the individual identify solutions to work related issues, increases responsibility, improves clarity in roles and objectives, corrects employee behavior, improves the employee’s skills and improves their overall productivity. The organization also benefits from coaching in that it motivates employees to perform better, increases cooperation between individuals and different departments, allows employees fuller use of their potential and also demonstrates a commitment to their development. Overall, this translates into higher productivity for the organization and is therefore a worthy investment. Works Cited Christensen Tricia E. What is Performance Management. 18 March 2011. Web. 04 April 2011. Rana Imran Ahmad. Quality Management Systems, Human Behavior and Business Excellence. Treet Corporation Limited. n.d. Web. 04 April 2011. Reichert Gail. Pinpointing Behavior. Leader’s Edge Ltd. 2005. Web. 04 April 2011. Indiana University Human Resource Services. Organizational Development. Indiana University. 26 July 2006. Web. 04 April 2011. Weintraub Joseph R. and Hunt James M. The Coaching Manager. Develping Top Talent in Business. Sage Publications Inc. 2011. Print. 04 April, 2011. Tough Megan. Coaching – The New Word in Management. Siliconfareast.com. n.d. Web. 04 April, 2011. Read More