Performance Management Persuasive

Introduction

Performance management is one of the most important aspects of organizational management.  It is a process that involves assessment of the progress towards achieving organizational goals. This means that it is a component of the strategic management process which brings together different management strategies to assist the organization to achieve given goals.  Performance management is therefore geared towards assessing the progress the organization is making towards achieving the strategic goals.  Unlike the normal management process, performance management harnesses the data from different sectors of the organization in order to ensure that the organization is on track towards achieving the set goals.

As a strategic management process, performance management integrates individual objectives and organizational objectives to ensure that they align with each others. Performance management should therefore be integrated with human resource management in order to maximize the performance of individual employee. Performance management is closely related to performance measurement and the two are used interchangeably. However, performance management encompasses performance measurement as one of its important component. Performance measurement is an important management process that assesses the organization track towards achieving its goals and objectives.

Performance management

Performance management is a holistic process that brings together different elements that encompass successful people management practice.  It is a complex process that is quite difficult to understand (Armstrong and Baron 2004, p. 49).  Armstrong and Baron assert that performance management encompasses an integrated process which contributes effective people management strategies in order to a chive higher organizational performance.  In essence it links with the overall strategic process.  It establishes common understanding between what is to be achieved and the approach that will be used by the organization in order to manage people to steer them towards achieving those goals (Houldsworth 2007, p. 20).

Performance management goes beyond the normal management process. It encompass different strategies and any activity in the organization which is geared toward improving human resource policies, organizational culture and the communication systems to bring them together for higher organizational performance (Risher 2005, p. 73). However, the nature of the performance management strategy depends on the individual organization and can vary or be similar between organization (Houldsworth and Jirasinghe 2006, p. 101).  In other words, performance management needs to be strategic in that it is concerned with broader issues and longer term goals and at the same time it has to be interactive in that it links different business aspects, human resource management, and many others.  It should be an integrative process involving performance improvement, development and management of behaviors (Cunneen 2006, p. 57).

One of the common kinds of performance management is organizational development performance. Under this performance, there is consideration of the actual results against the desired results and a discrepancy between the two lead to formation of performance improvement zone (Armstrong and Baron 2004, p. 31). This is one of the most practical ways of integrating employee performance with the strategic organizational goals.  This strategy is recommended for employee development in the sense that it takes into the consideration the current performance of employees against the desired personal and   organizational goals.  Performance management and improvement then goes through different cycles including performance planning to integrate goals and objectives, performance coaching through which a manager can intervene in order to give feedback to employees on the progress made, and lastly performance appraisal through which individual performance by employees is documented and  a feedback is delivered.  These steps would therefore lead to a performance improvement in order to close the gap between actual results and the desired results. (Risher 2005, p. 73)

For successful engagement of the employees, there must be effective communication with employees. As we have discussed above, communicating feedback to employees is one of the most important factor in the overall performance management process. In strategic management, constant communication is very crucial since it assists the management to get back the strategy on track before it drifts. Performance management encompasses constant engagement with the employees including communication feedback and discussing the ways to overcome challenges arising from the implemented strategy. (Cunneen 2006, p. 57)

Performance management has succeeded employee appraisals. Through employee appraisals, managers regularly monitor the performance of individual employees.  It also records the potential and development needs of the employees following a top-down process. However, there were a number of weaknesses that were noted in the appraisal system that eventually led to the development of performance management.  In the 21^st century, organizations have realized that having a learned and motivated workforce can be a source of competitive advantage. Therefore performance management is aimed at improving performance of employees which in return leads to improved organizational performance. (Houldsworth and Jirasinghe 2006, p. 91)

Performance management should be integrated with a wide range of activities that are aimed at improving the performance of employees (Gillen 2007, p. 129). Most important there should be a direct link between learning and development of employees and performance management. Learning and development is the most critical route that is followed by organizations aiming at improving the overall performance of their employees.  While some organization prefer to use Performance review as important learning event for employees, other organizations have come up with personal development plan which sets out the actions  that are geared towards improving employee performance (Armstrong and Baron 2004, p. 15).

The aim of any human resource department is to have low employee turnover. This can be achieved only when employees are satisfied with the work process in the organization.  Employee motivation is another factor that has led to low turnover of employees.  Performance management should therefore include various monetary and non monetary strategies to motivate employees.  In particular performance management should have a reward system that recognizes the efforts and improvement in overall performance for every employee. In particular most organizations have come to terms with performance-related pay which ensures that employees are paid based on their performance. (Gillen 2007, p. 121)

Conclusion

Performance management is a process through which an organization monitors its progress towards achievement of its goals. Performance management is an integral part of strategic management which is concerned with improvement of employee performance to assist the organization to achieve its goals. Performance management should be integrated with different aspect of human resource management including motivation, reward system and others. Performance management is therefore an integral management process that assists to improve organization performance to assist the organization to achieve its goals.

Bibliography

Armstrong, M. & Baron, A 2004, Managing performance: performance management in action, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London

Cunneen, P 2006, How to improve performance management, People Management, Vol. 12, No 1, p. 12

Gillen, T 2007, Performance management and appraisal, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London

Houldsworth, E 2007, In the same boat, People Management, Vol. 13, No 2

Houldsworth, E. & Jirasinghe, D 2006, Managing and measuring employee performance, Kogan Page, London

Risher, H 2005, Getting serious about performance management, Compensation and Benefits Review, Vol. 37, No 6