Performance Management: Strategic Planning

• Performance management includes various components as a continuous process
• Performance management needs to be managed by each unit and is not exclusively "owned" by HR
• Poor implementation of any element of performance management will negatively affect the whole system
• The chapter provides an overview of the components covered more deeply in subsequent chapters

Prerequisites for Performance Management

• Knowledge of the organization's mission and strategic goals is a critical prerequisite
• Requires first knowing the mission and vision statements

Strategic Planning

• Enables an organization to define its purpose, future aspirations, goals, and strategies
• Helps formulate departments to set goals and contribute towards the objectives
• These goals extend to every employee so they can help achieve goals

Knowledge of the Job

• Job analysis determines key job components, like activities, tasks, products, services, and processes
• Job analysis is essential for defining the required duties of a job
• Without it, knowing how to evaluate an employee is impossible
• Requires knowing about knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs)
• Knowledge involves having the information needed to perform tasks
• Skills are attributes gained through past work experience
• Ability refers to physical, emotional, intellectual, and psychological fitness
• Tasks and required KSAs are in the job description
• Job analysis can utilize observation, questionnaires, and interviews
• Data is collected from current job holders

Performance Planning

• Should have knowledge of their performance management system
• The employee and manager meet to discuss expectations and how to achieve them at the start
• Results and behaviors, along with development plans need to be considered in meetings
• An agreement contract can be entered into

Results

• It defines what outcomes an employee must produce
• Includes key areas of responsibility for producing results
• Drawn from the job description
• Results discussion covers specific goals the employee aims to reach
• Setting performance standards involves defining the yardstick (quality, quantity, time, cost) used to measure success
• For example: a university professor's key responsibilities are teaching and research
• Teaching objective will involve student evals
• A research goal would be to publish 2 articles
• Minimum acceptable performance has to be defined as an objective

Behaviors

• Results measurement is important, results alone provide an uncomplete representation of performance
• Sometimes precise objectives and standards are hard to form
• Sales performance affected by assigned territory can be hard to control
• Focus on how the job is done rather than sole result
• Survey feedback can involve skills and knowledge
• Competencies are measurable KSA clusters for determining how results are achieved, such as customer service
• Behaviors become more important than results such as teaching that is done online and results in low evals

Development Plan

• Employee and supervisor need to agree to a set of goals
• Focuses on any areas for improvement

Performance Execution

• Employee strives towards results, agreed-upon behaviors, and meeting development goals
• Responsibility and ownership
• Requires feedback from job descriptions, performance standards, and rating forms
• Employee engagement is a factor during the review cycle that fosters communication

Goal Achievement

• Employees need to feel committed to the goals that were set, and be active in setting goals

Check-ins and Touchpoints

• Employees should obtain feedback through touchpoints
• Soliciting feedback helps with coaching with a manager

Collecting and Sharing Data

• Employee is responsible for sharing progress updates towards goals with their managers regularly

Preparing for Performance Reviews

• Employees should be involved in the review to provide any corrective action
• Solicit feedback from peers and customers

Performance Assessment

• Employees and managers must evaluate extent of desired behaviors

• Information can be collected from supervisors, team members etc

• Both must evaluate goals achievement of development plan

• Employee also evaluates personal performance

• Involving both parties is beneficial for review phase

• Useful for future production

Self-Ratings

• Improve any discrepancies between self-views and others
• Identify areas for improvement based on feedback
• Beneficial and provides more info
• Reduces employee defensiveness and increases job satisfaction

Performance Review

• Appraisal occurs between employee and manager review
• Usually called meetings or discussions
• Allows for feedback

Appraisal Meeting of Performance

• Managers might feel uneasy when providing any feedback if performance is lacking
• Should be done effectively as improvements and satisfaction is crucial
• Giving negative feedback should be avoided due mediocrity is acceptable and can damage productive employees

Meeting

• Should evaluate previous performance and behaviors
• Employee progress, development and future plans need to be discussed
• Develop development plans for the next review period
• Discussions might be incentives discussions

Performance Renewal and Recontracting

• End process and identical to the planning component
• Uses insights from other areas
• Goals get set based on certain financial year downturn

Performance Management

• Includes cycle that starts and ends with prerequisites, recontracting and renewal
• Factors such as product changes, market changes, and customer preferences must be monitored for objective

Effective Performance

• Includes both behavior and result measures
• Definiton does not include outcomes
• Employees behavior affects performance
• Judged as negative, neutral or positive
• Behavior is displayed and agreed upon in plans
• Required behavior aligned with goals and vision
• Can vary is a contribution towards the company

Performance

• Is multidimensional meaning many types of behaviors have capacity to hinder or advance goals
• Influences organization performance
• Performance features behavior (actions) and results (outcomes)
• Contribute to an impact on achievements
• Measurable as positive, neutral or negative

Performance Determinants

Factors that allow people to perform on high levels

• Include skills, knowledge, traits and the context of the situation
• Cognitive skills (intelligence), mindset
• Malleable states of motivation, attitudes and knowledge of job
• Divided into facts and information
• Requires identifying things and tasks

Procedural Knowledge

• Combine knowing what and how to perform something
• Includes motor personal and interpersonal skills
• Compensation and HR systems involve leadership and culture
• Factors lead to a relationship
• May be affected by motivation and skills

Four performance dimensions

• Performance is multidimensional
• Includes:
  • Task Performance
  • Adaptive Performance
  • Prosocial or organizational citizenship performance
  • Counterproductive Performance
• Management should involve KPIs

Task Performance

• Transforms raw material for company purposes
• Helps transformation process

Contextual Performance

• Contributes to organization and tasks
• Can boost organizational effectivenss
• Involves extra effort and enthusiams
• Helps operating tasks even when the task is not designated to them
• Support organization goals (rules and procedures)
• Task performance varies across positions

Contextual similarities

• Is similar across hiercharies and levels

• Employee is accountable and tasked with supporting roles

• Behavior and task are influenced by personality

• Includes openness, physical traits etc

• Should be inlcuded as it is global

• Workforce can engage in positive performance

• Need to be outstanding for customers

• Helps put effort to satisfy the consumer

• Teams form into employees

• Teamwork is key

Counterproductive Performance

• Voluntary results and behaviors that violate norms
• Threatens the well-being of members and organizations with norms that violate
• Can engage in both contextual and counter
• Examples:
  • Exaggerated work hours
  • Spreading rumors
  • Blaming others
  • Intentionally careless

Adaptive Performance

• Adapting to an individual within the organization
• Includes factors for a constant change of nature and organization
• Includes resources etc

KPI for adaptive performance

• Handling crisis situations
• Handling stress
• Creative problem solving
• Uncertain work situations adaptability
• Work learning
• Interpersonal and cultural performance performance
• Physical adjustments

Ways To Measure Perfomance

• Should be mindful that certain behaviors result to certain results working in the organization
• Same employee may behave and produce results if it is changed

Behavior Approach

• Focuses on what employees do, not outcomes
• Process emphasizes how employees do the job, not what the y produce
• Link is not always obvious

Measurements that are beneficial

• Measurements in distant future
• Improve performance and skills
• There are different ways to perform the task

Results Approach

• Emphasizes outcomes produced
• Not concerned about processes but focused on production
• Involves fewer steps to achieving a goal and measuring
• More data needed and appropriate
• Workers possess knowledge, need and abilities
• Process related problems fixed