What is performance management?

1. ‘A strategic and integrated approach to delivering sustained success to organisations by improving the performance of people who work in them and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors’ Armstrong and Baron 1998 ‘Formal performance management of the holistic, comprehensive, integrated kind that is advocated in the literature is rare. The dominant approach to managing employee performance still rests on objective-setting and annual appraisal” Williams 2002 What is performance management?

2. Designing and implementing appraisal systems • Select the right people • Decide on a process to guide your design • Assess the current organisational situation • Establish the system’s purpose and objectives • Design the performance appraisal system • Experiment with implementation Mohrman et al 1989

3. Types of appraisal systems • Objective-setting • Behaviourally-anchored rating scales (BARSs) • Simple rating systems (eg merit rating) • Critical incidents • Blank sheet

4. Who could be involved in appraisal? • The manager/supervisor • The appraisee, via self-assessment • Peers • Subordinates • External parties (ie customers, clients, suppliers, etc)

5. Essential skills for effectiveappraisal interviewing • Active listening • Providing motivation and constructive criticism • Seeking agreement • Persuading and negotiating • Giving praise • Formulating objectives • Comparing and ranking performance • Identifying training needs

6. Contrasting appraisal interview styles Autocratic ‘I will tell you what I think about your performance, so please listen’ Participative ‘Let’s discuss both our views of your performance together’ Joint learning ‘Let’s discuss both our views of your performance, and please let me know how you think I have contributed’

7. Key issues in determining the suitability of development methods • Likely effectiveness in meeting the need • Direct and indirect costs involved • Ease of access to the development method • Learning preferences of the individual • Motivational effects of the method • Consequences in terms of time spent away from the job Lamb 2006

8. Individual differences and rewards ‘Different people react to different incentives in different ways… People differ in personality, ability, values, and needs, and these differences manifest themselves in different desires and different reactions.’ Dessler 2005 ‘We have noted that employees are motivated in different ways. The reasons for this are complex and hard to pin down… Moreover, employee needs and motivators do not remain static and are likely to change throughout a person’s life.’ Lamb 2006

9. Expectancy theory and performance The reward must be: • valued by the employee (and valued above alternative rewards) • seen as attainable via effort • clear to the employee in terms of what is expected of him or her • within the skill and knowledge capabilities of the employee Porter and Lawler 1968

10. Factors influencing the success of IPRP • The context in which it is introduced • The values and attitudes of employees • The ease or difficulty with which performance can be measured • Perceptions as to fairness in assessments • The difference to lifestyle that awards for good performance will make Lamb 2006