Performance management, week 10

Key concepts

Performance appraisal includes the identification, measurement and management of human performance in organizations. Identification means the key areas where the manager will focus when measuring performance. Measurement is the phase where the manager will evaluate how the employee is doing. Management refers to the actual appraisal and how it should be future-oriented, which means that the managers should give constructive feedback and tips how to develop to give better performance at work. Appraisals can be used for administrative and/or development purposes. (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy 2016)

The whole performance appraisal process begins by identifying the dimensions on which the managers want to focus on as well as find out how the performance is in the company in different, specific fields.

Tools for measuring the performance:

• Key Performance Indicator (KPI) (Mind Tools Content Team n.k.)
• Productivity tests (Mayhew n.k.)
• 360-degree feedback (Mayhew n.k.)
• Management by objectives (MBO) (Mayhew n.k.)
• Graphic rating scales (The Hartford n.k.)
• Checklists (The Hartford n.k.)

Managers face five challenges in measuring performance: rate errors and bias, the influence of liking, organizational politics, whether to focus on the individual or the group, and legal issues (including discrimination and employment at will). (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy 2016) Risks in performance appraisals are that if it’s not done well, in the worst scenario the employee will feel like he/she is not appreciated. Bad appraisal experience may cause the employee to lose his motivation and interest working in the company. 

Overall, performance management is a challenging field. You need to identify clear dimensions, which tools to use for the measurement and how to collect the data and findings as well as how to give the actual feedback in a way which will be done in good terms with the employees. You can’t highlight enough that when having appraisals face-to-face, it needs to be done in a constructive way, which will give helpful tools for the employees to perform better.

Case 1

Like seen in this very specific case (Bumgarner 2011), about performance appraisals, it is crucially important to have professional discussions and feedback about how an employee is doing his/her job, how to develop and what kind of goals there are to be achieved. When this kind of appraisals will be done in a professional and constructive way, it will be rewarding for the employee but as well for the manager. When setting clear goals and giving the instructions how to do and achieve them, it will be easier for the employees also know what is expected from them. Not only the employees need to receive the feedback, also the managers need it. Then the managers will know how they can do their job better and to give more beneficial appraisals for the employees.

Adobe – Learning from a failed experiment

Adobe famously removed all formal performance management from the company, citing the labor-intensive nature of annual reviews and the copious time performance management takes as the reasons for its decision. The experiment failed. Adobe realized no performance management was not working and it needed some kind of solution.

Adobe introduced “Check-in,” its performance management system, to enable seamless performance reviews and to transform the employee experience within the company. This taskforce partnered closely with Adobe’s executive team. They were keenly aware that the ‘check-in’ model needed to be role-modeled from the top for employees to learn by example. 

Adobe made training management a priority within the company. Communication became key. Adobe employees from all levels of the company were included in the decision making process before the implementation of ‘check-in.’ Adobe created a centralized Employee Resource Center to help scale the program. (Maier 2017)

References

Bumgarner, J. 2011. A performance appraisal horror story (with a happy ending). URL: http://www.cascadeemployersblog.com/salarytrends/a-performance-appraisal-horror-story-with-a-happy-ending. Accessed: 27 February 2020

Gomez-Mejia, L.R., Balkin, D.B. and Cardy, R.L. 2016. Managing Human Resources. Appraising and managing performance, pp. 231-262. Global Edition 8/E. Pearson. London.

Maier, S. 2017. How 3 companies benefited by changing performance management. URL: https://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/how-3-companies-benefited-by-changing-performance-management/. Accessed: 27 February 2020

Mayhew, R. N.k. Employee performance measurement tools. URL: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/employee-performance-measurement-tools-1952.html. Accessed: 27 February 2020

Mind Tools Content Team. N.k. Performance management and KPIs. URL: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_87.htm. Accessed: 27 February 2020

The Hartford. N.k. How to measure and evaluate employee performance data. URL: https://www.thehartford.com/business-insurance/strategy/employee-performance/measuring-data. Accessed: 27 February 2020