Performance Management Definition
Performance management is a corporate management method used by managers to evaluate the work performed by an employee in the organization. It helps to create an atmosphere where employees can work to the best of their skills, knowledge, and abilities and produce high-quality output in the organization’s most effective and efficient way possible or attainable.
Purpose of Communication in Performance Management
Performance management is usually an ongoing process between the supervisor, the employee’s manager, and the employees. The process of communication usually entails the following:
Objectives setting
Aims are set and then agreed upon by the manager and the employee. These are usually based on the competency of the employees and previous work history.
Clarifying expectations
Clarity is important to allow the employee to work using a certain channel to give the desired output by the employees.
Feedback provision
Any successful performance cycle needs periodic assessment and feedback about the employees’ goals set to be achieved. This helps ensure that the employees follow the right path and that any difficulties experienced are resolved to reduce the work backlog.
Results review
The results obtained at the end of the performance management cycle must be reviewed to ascertain the employees’ output quality. This review against one employee’s previous reviews helps provide vital information about their performance.
Types of Performance Management
The following are some of the types of managing employees’ performance:
1. General appraisal
In this method, the manager and the employee have continuous communication about the set goals, feedback on the performance, and whether or not to set new goals.
2. 360-degree management
In this performance management method, the feedback on the performance and the general conduct of the employee is brought forward by the manager of the employees.
3. Technological performance Management
This type of management is based solely on the technical knowledge and skills of the employees, as identified by the manager in charge.
4. Self-assessment performance management
Employees compare their performance with the set standards to ascertain whether they perform above or below a threshold. Achievements, failures, and other aspects of employee self-assessment are usually discussed.
5. Manager performance management
Here, the feedback from team members and clients is obtained and used to determine the level of performance of the manager in charge.
6. Review of project evaluation
This is one of the best ways to consider an employee’s performance. After successfully evaluating a completed project, an employee can be assigned another project based on the assessment of the just concluded project.
Elements of Performance Management
These are core features of performance management that must be included in any performance related to an employee. They include:
1. Expectations setting and planning
Goals are usually set, and the means to achieve such goals are clearly outlined and given a specific time frame. Performance management requires clear planning and proper goal-setting aligned with the organization’s objectives.
2. Monitoring
The best performance management tools are inculcated into the management process. This includes a management system that gives periodic feedback on the progress of the employees and the employee’s manager.
Monitoring allows for easy problem-solving and updating of the employee’s goals and objectives. This element allows an employee to cultivate the best work channels and effective working methods in the organization.
3. Improvement and development
Employees may need encouragement and further improvement on their working methods to increase their work effectiveness and efficiency.
Ways to perform above thresholds set by the employee-manager are crucial to allow the employee to provide better results than anticipated by both the employee and the employee manager.
4. Rating of performance periodically
Periodic checks on the performance of an employee are crucial to any organization. This ensures that employees are on the right track to help achieve the set goals and objectives.
Any veering off from the proper channels is quickly detected and corrected accordingly. This also helps obtain new and more effective employee performance appraisal channels.
5. Rewards and compensation
When addressing employees’ performance, perhaps this is the most crucial element. Employees need to feel recognized and motivated in the workplace. There’s no better way to achieve this than through rewards to employees and compensation. A motivated employee strives to work even harder and give more output than before.
Purpose of Performance Management
1. Achieving set target through communication
Perhaps the sole purpose of performance management is to ensure the employees help achieve their set targets individually and collectively. This cooperation helps the organization or business firm thrive and compete adequately through its employees.
2. Encouraging collaboration and teamwork
Performance management aims to enhance corporation among employees and create an atmosphere where employees can share knowledge and enrich each other through sharing. It also enhances teamwork for group projects.
3. Identifying development areas
Performance management helps identify sectional areas of the organization that are slow and provides ways to develop them. This also helps identify those areas that need improvement and which ones can be done away with to reduce cost.
4. Offering recognition and reward
Performance management helps identify those employees who have performed exemplary and deserve to be motivated further. It also helps identify employees who may not be performing above threshold standards and ways to help improve on their areas sought and adopted.
5. Providing meaningful feedback
Performance management helps create a flow of information regarding employees’ performance regularly. This ongoing feedback helps a better working condition where information flow is not restricted and, in turn, creates a better working environment.
Factors Affecting Performance Management
1. Employee incentives
Employees ask themselves constantly what they get from the organization. If it is unsatisfactory, many employees will opt not to work for the organization or perform below the threshold.
Incentives give the employees the morale to work harder since they are appreciated more and are rewarded more for their efforts. These incentives include:
- Work that is meaningful and engaging
- Channels for development career-wise
- Compensations and rewards are given fairly
- The feedback that is constructive and applicable
2. Tools and a proper working environment
It questions whether employees have better working tools or equipment to carry out their work efficiently and effectively. The lack of these tools creates unnecessary struggles for employees in the workplace, frustrating them and negatively impacting their performance. These include furniture, water, proper ventilation and lighting, safety measures, and connectivity.
3. Skill sets and knowledge
This factor asks whether the employees possess the necessary skills and experience to carry out there. Highly skilled employees generate high-quality output compared to employees with low skills and experience levels. These skills may be not only technical but also relational skills. Such include teamwork, leadership skills, and professional and basic education.
4. External factors
These are factors that the organization has no authority over and affects its performance. These include infrastructure, national laws and regulations, political changes, and societal norms. All of these affect how the organization functions and thus affect its performance.
Barriers to Performance Management
1. Biasness
If, in any case, the supervisor or the employee’s manager is biased, the performance management may be flawed since it is partial. Such performance reviews may be misleading and reduce the value of performance management for the organization.
2. Time and expenses
Carrying out performance management for an organization with a large workforce may be difficult, time-consuming, and ineffective for deciding which areas to improve and which to lay off.
3. Focusing on current events
Too much focus on certain current events about the employees may reduce the effectiveness of performance appraisal. Paying a great deal of attention to employees in certain aspects such as skill set and ignoring others may not give the full account of the employee’s performance.
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