Performance Management

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

Introduction:

Performance has the potential to gain future success through the implementation of actions in order to reach desired objectives and targets (Lebas, 1995). Performance specifically be measured not so much about past achievements but about future capability evalution. To improve performance a cyclic process called ‘peformance management’ is aimed, which involves different principles like appraisal, action and monitoring and has foundations in terms of performance measurement. It includes activities to ensure that goals are consitently being met in an effective and efficient manner. Performance Management can be used either for maximising performance of an individual, team or organisation or for dealing with underperforming individuals (or teams). This underperformance, also called as poor performance, is a result of ineffective management and hence employers should have flexible procedures in place to deal with substandard performance. In implementing these procedures it should be known that what the organization needs from its performance management system, and also what does their employee wants from it, in order to make it most effective as it plays an important role in maintaining the culture of an organization and improving the quality of team performance.

Poor Performance:

Poor Performance is employee’s overall performance which becomes unacceptable when the desired targets are not met. By desired target it means a work, assignment or responsibility that is critical for the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives and for overall success in the employee’s position. Now this unsatisfactory work performance can be the resultant or outcome of many reasons which can be categorised in terms of stress, being deficient in impetus, lack of communication, clashes within the organizations and so on.

When talking about stress we can term it as an impairment of spatial memory formation resulting in poor performance (Holscher, 1999). A poorly performing team member can take up a great deal of the team’s time and energy and hence can cause many problems. This will automatically results in poor customer satisfaction which gives high monetary compensation and high level of escalation to supervisors/managers. This chronic pressure also declines the confidence and efficiency leading to a destructive cycle of poor performance. Stress can occur in any sort of job, position, department or organization. It can be because of the working environment (physical surroundings, office/factory design and facilities), the job itself (too much/too little to do, conflicting roles and responsibilities, badly designed shifts and rotas), home/work interface (dual career problems, conflicting demands of work and home), career development (career uncertainty, stagnation, status, pay and conditions, insecurity and low social value of the work). It is also a truth that some employees bring family problems to work, far more take work worries home with them, and that for the majority of employees work worries are increasing. Job security is an obvious source of anxiety which is affected both by the employee's personal circumstances and by company culture.

Motivation also known as a fuel for performance (Green, 2000, 4) is an important factor for the development of individual’s performance. Lack in motivation gives poor performance which can be an outcome of poor employee’s satisfaction which will results in low retention and low morale of employees with high absence rate. It can be due to low outcome of incentives and lack of appreciation from the higher staff. Not achieving the desired level or standard also lowers the motivation in both the employee and the organization.

Anxiety can lead to distress if the company has no clear communication with employees. This can be associated with the interpersonal relationships at work and can be linked with company’s culture in terms of poor communication, unsupportive management, feeling of change, uncertainty, lack of control over workload and workplace.

Conflicts within the organization are also crucial for developing poor performance among the employees. By conflicts it means the role by the organisation in terms of ambiguity, arguments, high responsibility for people. Conflicts occur when the goal of the organization is not clear by the organizations itself and by its managers and employees.

The incompetence of managing things mentioned above, during pressure results in poor working standards with frequent blunders and incapability of dealing with instructions and hence affects the business through:

Deficiency in the required skill, knowledge, motivation and work required
Failure to priorities tasks resulting in inability to handle with a reasonable volume of work to a satisfactory standard
Inconsistent in behaviour or method ensuing appalling attitude to work, e.g. poor interpersonal skills, lack of commitment and drive
The result of over-promotion, also termed as ‘Peter Principle’ by J. Peter in 1969, which makes employee above its competence
Unavailability of proper assets, support and assistance from others
Frequent alteration in the performance management system

Given the cost of recruitment, it is always worth trying to help an ...

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Deficiency in the required skill, knowledge, motivation and work required
Failure to priorities tasks resulting in inability to handle with a reasonable volume of work to a satisfactory standard
Inconsistent in behaviour or method ensuing appalling attitude to work, e.g. poor interpersonal skills, lack of commitment and drive
The result of over-promotion, also termed as ‘Peter Principle’ by J. Peter in 1969, which makes employee above its competence
Unavailability of proper assets, support and assistance from others
Frequent alteration in the performance management system

Given the cost of recruitment, it is always worth trying to help an individual to move from poor to acceptable performance. So effective management of performance—particularly poor performance—is crucial.

Performance Management System:

Performance management is the process of creating a work environment in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. Performance management is a whole work system that begins when a job is defined as needed and ends when an employee leaves an organization. In designing a performance management a perfect structure is required which can grade the performance from top to bottom in a cyclic manner as follows:

This Performance Management System, also known as the appraisal system, should be effective enough to improve not only the overall weaknesses of the organization but also the reasons that results for poor performances. The initial step for the designing of an appraisal system is the Planning which must be given a proper consideration.

While planning, it should be known that ‘what’ to measure and ‘how’ to follow it. Planning must be carried in collaboration of both the employees and the supervisors through communication on individual, team and organizational responsibilities and expected contribution in relation to the effects and achievement (NSPS, 2006). Planning also suggests the way system should be designed as it can be either top-down or encompasses an open discussion bases. It should strictly adhere to the rules and regulation governing merit system principles, prohibiting personnel practices and equal employment opportunity. But it must also address the poor performance whereas fostering and rewarding the excellent performance making meaningful distinction among employees based in performance and contribution. Apart from this, in referencing Armstrong (2002, pp374-375), it should involve all employees equally concerning with all aspects of performance including skills and competency levels, hence avoiding the over-promotion (Peter’s Principle). Planning must encourage a continuous process with emphasis on continual growth and improvement of performance looking it in a constructive and forward manner. It should be constructive enough to promote self-management and self-motivation. In short, this planning phase should follow a ‘SMART’ objective which means it should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based (NSPS, 2006) making it focused towards the required goal.

When it comes to the phase of monitoring, the progress of planned performance management system should be checked with focus on objectives through necessary adjustments. In an effective organisation, assignments and projects are monitored continually. Monitoring means consistently measuring performance and providing ongoing feedback to employees and work groups on their progress toward reaching their goals which can be examined through the use of appropriate monitoring techniques which includes feedbacks through questionnaires, surveys, focus groups and judging the performance through mystery shopping exercise. These techniques not only help in developing the skills on individuals but will gain in overall benefit for the organization. Survey is one of the important measurement criteria for most of the researches that can be done through questionnaire or interviews and encompass procedures that involve asking questions of respondents in order to gather information from large number of users. Focus group which is a form of group interviewing based on topics that are supplied by the researcher (Morgan, 1997, 12), draw focus upon respondents’ attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences and reactions in a way which would not be feasible using other methods enabling them to ask questions to each other, as well as to re-evaluate and reconsider their own understandings of their specific experiences. Mystery Shopping exercise on the other hand is used for measuring ongoing effective monitoring of customer service levels within the organisation giving opportunity to ensure that organisational standards and policies are adhered. It can also become a powerful tool for motivating people in sales and services in which management and employees knows that they're going to be evaluated by a mystery shopper, but they doesn't know who the shopper is or when they will be shopped. This helps to ensure that each prospect and visitor will receive prompt and friendly service -- which should lead to more satisfied customers and repeat business and is more cost effective way of collecting reliable evaluation data for managerial decision making (Finn and Kayandé, 1999). These techniques give ability to identify weaknesses in current processes for attaining a better understanding of the perceptions for fostering amongst stakeholders.

In an effective organisation, employee developmental needs are evaluated and addressed. Developing in this instance means increasing the capacity to perform through training, giving assignments that introduce new skills or higher levels of responsibility, improving work processes. Training is an essential part for performance perfection and to drive the employees for the accomplishment of the assigned tasks. By training it is meant that employees should be taught with adequate knowledge and practice leading them to skilled behaviour, which will result in organization’s benefit. Along with training motivation plays a vital role for developing employee’s aptitude which can be done by consigning them responsibilities and fulfilling their needs as linked by many scholars with their diverse motivation theories. There are many different motivation theories out of which five major approaches that have led to understanding of motivation are Maslow's need-hierarchy theory, Herzberg's two- factor theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, Adams' equity theory and Skinner's reinforcement theory. Maslow theory of needs have some very vital implications for management in this present world of knowledge which can help the managers for motivating their employees through management style, job design, company events and compensation packages by fulfilling their physiological needs (proper breaks in order to purchase sufficient essentials of life), safety needs (by providing safe working environment, retirement benefits and job security), social needs (by creating a sense of community for the employees), esteem needs (appreciating and valuing employees by recognizing there achievements), self-actualization needs (challenging employees and providing challenges to reach their full career potential). Herzberg on the other hand categorized motivation into two factors: ‘motivators’ such as achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction, and ‘hygiene’ such as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959). Skinner's theory simply states those employees' behaviours that lead to positive outcomes will be repeated whereas behaviours that lead to negative outcomes will not be repeated (Skinner, 1953). Vroom's theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards (Vroom, 1964). Adams’ theory states that employees strive for equity which is achieved when the ratio of employee outcomes over inputs is equal to other employee outcomes over inputs (Adams, 1965). Knowing what motivates employees and incorporating this knowledge into the reward system will help identify, recruit, employ, train, and retain a productive workforce which requires both managers and employees working together (Buford, 1993).

Rating official must prepare a narrative assessment describing the employee's accomplishments and contributions to the organization relative to his or her performance expectations, including an assessment of job objectives and associated contributing factors. Rating means evaluating employee or group performance against the elements and standards in an employee’s performance plan and assigning a summary rating of record. It is based on work performed during an entire appraisal period. This Employee self-assessment and other input will assist the rating official in evaluating more fully the employee’s performance and results of that performance. Rating factor plans, organizes, prioritizes and schedules own working activities to compete assignments in a timely and effective manner and makes adjustments to respond to changing situations, which demonstrates a willingness to accept and execute new assignments and responsibilities. It also achieves outcomes and results that are superior in quality, quantity, and/or impact to what would ordinarily be expected at this level and persists in overcoming obstacles and puts forth extra effort to accomplish difficult assignments when demands are very heavy, seeking out new responsibilities, assignments, and opportunities to contribute beyond what is expected. Hence it exhibits the highest standards of professionalism.

Organizations do need to be creative in developing a wide range of rewards to meet the diverse needs of their employees. Rewarding means recognising employees for their performance and acknowledging their contributions to the organisation’s mission. When designing a reward system two caveats are important to keep in mind. Many organizations make the mistake of offering rewards that are good at attracting employees but fail to motivate them to perform. For example, lucrative retirement plans and service awards may attract and retain the type of people who want a steady long-term relationship, but they are not likely to motivate employees to perform well. In order to motivate performance, an organization must offer rewards for performance that pull people toward high performance levels (Lawler, 2003). Moreover it must not just attract and motivate people; but also keep the deserving ones. It also needs to stress that people are awarded for performance and skill development. If this is interpreted into the right combination of reward system practices, people will be motivated to excel and those who excel will be motivated to stay because they will be highly rewarded (Lawler, 2003). It is essential for the organization to measure the skills of the employee and reward them individually for developing their skills in order to increase their value in the labor market. Rewarding individuals for organizational performance also very much constitutes treating them right. It is at the core of creating a virtuous spiral organization, in which individuals have the opportunity to grow, develop and thrive, when the organization prospers. Rewarding individuals well in the absence of organizations performing well may, in the short-term, seem like treating people right, but it cannot last. There are simply too many competitors who will take advantage of the situation and ultimately make it impossible for an organization to reward its employees well. Thus, in today’s world, treating people right means having a clearly developed employment contract with them that rewards them for performance and encourages them to continue to develop their skills and knowledge.

As a whole, giving constructive performance feedback (Gael Lindenfield) discusses the benefits and difficulties of providing constructive performance feedback either informally or during appraisal or review, providing an easy to use mechanism for giving constructive feedback to others thereby creating a more relaxed, open and trusting atmosphere. Now how to profile a role, track performance & manage development (Jenny Hill) guides for describing and managing the performance of others in an innovative and time efficient way, analyzing colleague and roleholder expectations, develop a role profile and track development needs and performance on a regular basis. Managing Poor Performance (Sarah Cook) provides a framework for holding a discussion about a team member's performance shortfall. It helps demonstrate leadership giving a framework and a fun activity for holding a discussion on a face to face basis with a virtual team member to correct a performance shortfall. Coaching to improve performance (Sarah Cook) provides with a coaching discussion framework and a checklist of a variety of individual development options facilitating their development in order to maximise their potential. Performance and Corrective Coaching (Bernard Wynne and Jenny Hill) develops one-to-one leadership skills when managing the performance of individuals helping subordinates achieve the standards of performance expected of them which is an important task for any leader. Hence to follow-up performance as part of performance review (Patricia Tallack) it identifies the important actions and feedback skills involved in a performance review follow-up discussion ensuring that follow-up discussions are consistent and effectively carried out.

Conclusion:

Performance management is a system that affects everyone in the organization. It helps the organization achieve desired business results and maintain its desired culture. It helps employees understand how they are contributing to the organization’s goals, what’s expected of them, how they are doing, and how they can continue to grow, develop, and add value to the business. Performance management precedes and follows performance measurement, in a virtuous spiral and performance management creates a context for measurement. In effective organisations, managers and employees have been practicing good performance management naturally all their lives, executing each key component process well. Goals are set and work is planned routinely. Progress toward those goals is measured and employees get feedback. High standards are set, but care is also taken to develop the skills needed to reach them. Formal and informal rewards are used to recognise the behaviour and results that accomplish the mission. All five component processes working together and supporting each other will achieve natural, effective performance management. The realities of the contemporary workplace will continue to challenge existing paradigms and should be considered in managing the performance of employees in a dynamic working environment.

As Swami Vivekananda said,

“All power is within you, you can do anything and everything”

We should rely upon and realise the power within us.

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