You have been asked to return to your alma mater and speak to current students about performance management issues. To make the most of this experience for yourself and the students, write a three-to-five page paper (not including the title and reference pages) to help you prepare. Your paper should be written in a scholarly third-person tone; it should be in APA format. In addition to the introduction and conclusion, your paper should address the following:
Explain the concept of “performance management.”
Identify the most prominent types of performance management plans.
Compare the plans’ impact on the employee and the organization.
Discuss the relationship between performance management and compensation.
Evaluate the factors that should be considered when successfully implementing performance management within an organization.
In addition to the text, cite at least two scholarly references to support your discussion.
Performance Management Issues
Organizational performance is an important outcome for companies since it is at the core of goal achievement. The human resource management department focuses on ensuring that employees perform exceptionally and achieve their job-related objectives for the overall business success. Thus, they should have effective means to track the performance of all employees and address related issues. Performance management is an ongoing process that helps management communicate with employees about strategic objectives and expectations. Performance management and addressing related issues are the most important activities for human resource management because they improve communication about objectives, expectations, feedback, and outcomes.
The Concept of Performance Management
The concept of performance management refers to the strategic approach that highlights the collaboration between the supervisor and employees to plan, assess progress towards achievement, and provide feedback relating to individual and organizational performance (Aguinis, 2019). Performance management is not a one-time annual process but an ongoing activity intended to maximize employee effectiveness. The process also involves critical feedback after achieving objectives and recommendations for learning and improvement for job performance. In performance management, the supervisor works with the employee to evaluate the extent to which goals are achieved and what they can change to improve future performance (Demartini, 2014). Companies increase their focus on performance management and employee efficiency as they invest in their training and development to become more productive and competitive. Thus, human resource teams should prepare to invest time and resources in performance management for improved quality outcomes.
The most Prominent Types of Performance Management Plans
Organizations can use any of the numerous types of performance management plans to assess the performance of their employees. The different types take different forms, such as guidelines approaches, ranking scales, 360 measure suggestions, or management by goals. Score scales use various numerical scales with criteria for evaluation and ratings ranging from satisfactory to poor. After taking the assessment, the assessor calculates the total numerical ranking to conclude about the level of performance (Aguinis, 2019). The assessor can also use a checklist system, which uses a list of conditions the employee is expected to meet to determine the level of performance. Most of the systems involve the employee responding to a list of questions that the assessor evaluates to conclude about the level of performance.
Compare the Plans’ Impact on the Employee and the Organization
The management uses performance management plans to improve employee efficiency, but their plans differ in their impact and outcomes. Administration through pursuit helps managers create objectives to pursue and evaluate how employees achieve them. The plans collect objective numerical data, such as through a rating system, to determine the performance outcomes. Management by objectives identifies the areas to improve depending on the outcome of the assessment. However, the plan has a drawback in that it is not relevant to all jobs. The plan can improve some areas and forget about others not included in the objectives. The 360-degree feedback plan helps to address the drawback by providing an all-around assessment. The method covers various talents and individual characteristics at a relatively lower cost and with minimal effort. The method also focuses on efficient knowledge collected from numerous sources, including managers, supervisors, peers, and the employee (Aguinis, 2019). The method is also useful in measuring interpersonal competence, consumer satisfaction, and job satisfaction. The plans that generate clear and effective outcomes that managers use efficiently can generate employee satisfaction and motivation to improve performance. For instance, managing through ambitions can help the management recognize performance gaps and address future improvement. 360 measure feedbacks and provide information that managers use to address weaknesses in employees. They can help to improve employee efficiency and effectiveness for improving overall performance.
The Relationship between Performance Management and Compensation
Performance management has a close relationship with compensation since the two factors influence organizational productivity. Performance management can improve compensation decisions by using their outcomes of efficiency (Heger et al., 2017). At the same time, proper compensation can influence performance outcomes through motivation. Compensation can be the basis to manage employee efficiency and motivate them to become more productive. Thus, managers should understand how to manage the two areas adequately for the best productivity outcomes. Creating a balance between the two will make a difference between successful and unsuccessful organizations.
Factors to Consider when Implementing Performance Management
Various factors should be considered when implementing performance management in an organization. Technical factors and organizational variables are key points to consider in the process. The organization should consider resource and time availability. They should also consider skills availability to conduct a performance management assessment. Organizational structure and culture also affect performance management (Demartini, 2014). The management should also align the program with an organizational strategic plan for its effectiveness.
Conclusion
Performance management is a key activity in organizations because they hire and manage employees to achieve organizational goals. Thus, supervisors and human resource managers should identify the most effective performance management plan to achieve favorable outcomes. They should also develop skills to conduct assessments and use results to improve performance.
References
Aguinis, H. (2019). Performance management for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
Demartini, C. (2014). Performance management systems. Contributions to Management Science,© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Heger, C., van Hoorn, A., Mann, M., & Okanović, D. (2017, April). Application performance management: State of the art and challenges for the future. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM/SPEC on International Conference on Performance Engineering (pp. 429-432).