Performance Management

 

Performance management is a process that contemporary businesses have initiated. In order to be in a competitive advantage, organizations must enhance performance and maintain continuous improvements of staff at all levels (Charles M, 2002).

Performance management is vital in any organization to educate employees and support the performance towards the company’s goals. Performance management does not happen automatically. The key is to be provocative in the partnership between the employee and the management and neither will work without the commitment of both parties. In order to maximize the full potential, the employee should be given the freedom to take responsibility for managing performance without worrying about second-guesses. The organization can still assign permission before they act (Charles M, 2002).

Although the performance management system positively supports the organization and the employee, the reality could be different for the practitioner and sometimes very blunt performance appraisal practices and has been referred to as ‘’ Achilles heel’’ (Brown, 2018). Even though there are arguments against it, routinizing the employee performance can help make the most of the company’s resources, its people (Harvard, 2017).

The problems are not ambition or intent but rather practice and deliver (Armstrong, 2017).Perhaps this skeptical view has drastically changed how the process is been viewed in a more comprehensive and holistic way. If the systems are implemented poorly, which would result in lowered self-esteem, decreased motivation, waste of time and money and labor turnover (Aguinis,2013).

Performance management is a primarily a development process, strategic communication, relationship building, employee development and employee evaluation. Maintaining the relationship between the developmental and evaluative is troublesome and undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges. Nevertheless, if a proper system is implemented, the motivation to perform would increase, commitment and intentions to stay in the organization (Aguinis,2013). In fact, performance management can serve as a catalyst for on boarding where new employees try to fathom the types of behavior and results that are valued and rewarded.

 

 

Using performance objectives and standards, managers can identify the gap and give specific feedback between the expectation and actual performance. Objectives are to be set SMART.

Source: (Bhattacharyya, 2011)

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Relevant

T = Timely

 

Underpinning theories of performance management

1)     Goal theory highlights of four mechanisms that will connect to goals to performance outcomes. 1) Focus on Targets, 2) Stimulate effort, 3) motivate the employees to share the knowledge and skills to increase the chances of success and 4) the more challenging the goal, the more people will draw full repertoire of skills (Armstrong, 2017).

2)     Control theory which focuses on the feedback of shaping behavior. Employees appreciate the discrepancy between what is being done and what is required and take corrective actions to overcome through feedback and a crucial part of performance management (Armstrong, 2017). 

3)     Social cognitive theory developed by Bandura (1986). Which is based on self-efficacy. This suggests that people believe what can or cannot do impacts on their performance. Developing and strengthening self-belief is an important performance management objective (Armstrong, 2017)

 

Strategies, values, and culture might differ in an organization, but the performance management can be customized to help the team and employees deliver strong results for the organization while developing a professional aspiration (Harvard, 2017).

 

List of References

Aguinis, H. (2013). Performance Management 3rd Ed. New Jersey: Pearson.

Aguinis, H. (2018). Performance Management, fourth edition. Chicago Business Press.

Armstrong, M. (2017). Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. London: Kogan Page.

Bhattacharyya, D. K. (2011). Performance Management Systems and Strategies 1st Ed. India: Pearson.

Brown, T. C. (2018). Performance Management: A Scoping Review of the Literature and an Agenda for Future Research. 02.

Charles M, C. (2002). Performance Managment.

Harvard. (2017). Harvard Business Review Guide to Performance Management. Harvard Business Review.