Significance, objectives, Pre-Requisites and Characteristics of Effective Performance Management – II

Objectives of Performance Management

According to Lockett (1992), performance management aims at developing individuals with the required commitment and competencies for working towards the shared meaningful objectives within an organizational framework.

Performance management frameworks are designed with the objective of improving both individual and organizational performance by identifying performance requirements, providing regular feedback and assisting the employees in their career development.

Performance management aims at building a high performance culture for both the individuals and the teams so that they jointly take the responsibility of improving the business processes on a continuous basis and at the same time raise the competence bar by upgrading their own skills within a leadership framework.

Its focus is on enabling goal clarity for making people do the right things in the right time. It may be said that the main objective of a performance management system is to achieve the capacity of the employees to the full potential in favor of both the employee and the organization, by defining the expectations in terms of roles, responsibilities and accountabilities, required competencies and the expected behaviors.

The main goal of performance management is to ensure that the organization as a system and its subsystems work together in an integrated fashion for accomplishing optimum results or outcomes.

The major objectives of performance management are discussed below:

• To enable the employees towards achievement of superior standards of work performance.
• To help the employees in identifying the knowledge and skills required for performing the job efficiently as this would drive their focus towards performing the right task in the right way.
• Boosting the performance of the employees by encouraging employee empowerment, motivation and implementation of an effective reward mechanism.
• Promoting a two way system of communication between the supervisors and the employees for clarifying expectations about the roles and accountabilities, communicating the functional and organizational goals, providing a regular and a transparent feedback for improving employee performance and continuous coaching.
• Identifying the barriers to effective performance and resolving those barriers through constant monitoring, coaching and development interventions.
• Creating a basis for several administrative decisions strategic planning, succession planning, promotions and performance based payment.
• Promoting personal growth and advancement in the career of the employees by helping them in acquiring the desired knowledge and skills.

Pre-requisites for a Performance Management System

Performance management can be regarded as a continuous process managing the performances of people for getting desired results. Performance management is beneficial to all the major stakeholders of an organization by clearly describing what is supposed to be done for attaining certain desired goals.

Performance management is the heart of any HR processes in an organization as it influences the rest other HR functions or processes. Focus on performance management may be fruitless without the existence of proper organizational design and management systems.

Some of the essential pre requisites without which performance management system will not function effectively in an organization are:

• Should attract very high levels of participation from all the members concerned in an organization. It should be a participative process.
• Top management support and commitment is very essential for building a sound performance culture in an organization.
• Organizational vision, mission and goals should be clearly defined and understood by all levels so that the efforts are directed towards the realization of the organizational ambitions.
• Clear definition of the roles for performing a given job within the organizational framework which emanates from the departmental and the organizational objectives. The system should also be able to explain the linkages of a role with other roles.
• Open and transparent communication should prevail which will motivate the employees for participating freely and delivering high performance. Communication is an essential pre requisite for a performance management process as it clarifies the expectations and enables the parties in understanding the desired behaviors or expected results.
• Identification of major performance parameters and definition of key performance indicators.
• Consistency and fairness in application.
• A commitment towards recognition of high performance. Rewards and recognitions should be built within the framework of performance management framework.
• Proper organizational training should be provided to the staff members based on the identification of training needs from periodic evaluation and review of performance. This will motivate the employees for a superior performance.

Characteristics of Effective Performance Management

Characteristics of Effective Performance Management Performance management is about helping staff members to work more efficiently and, by improving individual and team performance, enhancing the overall effectiveness and productivity of the organization. Successful managers and supervisors are good people managers. It is their duty to promote a workplace culture which could maximize and maintain an optimum level of work performance.

To accomplish this, it is crucial that the manager establish clear communication with the employees. Counseling and feedback are a couple of extremely important tools that one could utilize in that process. It is the responsibility of a manager to continually monitor the way employees are performing and give them proper guidance and support.

It is easy to take good work for granted and only provide unfavorable feedback when something bad happens. But if workers are to feel that their work has value their successes should also be acknowledged. Regular, positive feedback can be an effective tool to motivate employees and enhance performance. 

Features / Characteristics of Effective Performance Management in Organizations

• Managers offer leadership and incorporate performance management with many other aspects of their work.
• Those employees realize that their performance directly plays a role in the ongoing success and stability of their organization.
• Individual and team responsibilities and their performance are clearly connected to the accomplishment of program and corporate objectives and the requirements of customers.
• Individuals and teams have a clear idea of their work responsibilities and the standards of work expected of them.
• Individuals and teams satisfy the standards of behaviour expected of employees.
• Managers keep track of and appraise the performance of the employees.
• Individuals and teams get regular feedback on performance with regards to program and company objectives.
• Managers take advantage of the potential of all their employees and develop their skills by motivating individual career planning.
• Improved and valued performance is identified and rewarded.
• Managers attempt to improve poor performance and deal with continuing poor performance.