Introduction
Performance management is a set of tools that the management uses to ensure the set strategic goals and targets are achieved. According to Insala (2006), it broadly starts from the strategic management stage, trickling down to the actual performers. Ultimately, the employees who are involved to a set of the evaluation procedure that in general constitute performance management practices. This involves planning, monitoring, developing, rating, and rewarding the human resource (Franco-Santos, et al. 2007).
Effective employee performance management
This success substantially depends on the employee’s motivation and rewards offered. According to Grumman 2005, the day-to-day management of employees’ performance is the key to effective employee performance management. First, their mindset should be structured towards greater involvement.
They are then to be monitored through continuous assessments and test. Third, their capacity to work is further improved through development programmes that tend to improve knowledge, competencies, and work related skills such as using up-to-date technological systems (Calandro and Lane 2007). They are then rated and evaluated against a given performance scale and rewarded from the appraisal reports appropriately (Rebecca, 2009).
New Trends
There is changing trend in the evaluation of employee performance in the use of systems. Most organizations are revamping their previous systems with new generation (performance) management software, according to the Development Dimensions International (DDI) (Insala, 2006). This has led to automation of the majority of the HR function that was previously done as paper work (Grumman 2005).
The human resource function is increasingly being integrated. In this endeavour, the goals of the employees are being linked with the general goals of the organization. The Business Forum (2011) suggests that the heightened link between reward programmes to performance is escalating. In addition, target learning aimed at reducing performance gaps through identification of top skills and performers for retention is on the rise.
Performance management for profit agencies
Profit agencies face many challenges. For them, ‘Training is not Enough’ (Villegas 2006). Costs in these organizations have to be minimized at every available opportunity. As such, organisations only engage in investment ventures that will ensure maximization of resources available to ensure sustained profitability in the long term (Forstenlechner et al. 2007, Fink et al. 2005).
For instance, automation would be an opportune venture as it advances to reduce the costs of hiring more workers. There is increased reliability and efficiency in the output. Notwithstanding, Rebecca (2009), suggests that employee retention is one practice that has been growing on a wide scale in various organizations across the globe, ensuring that target learning is attained to the benefit of the organization. Profit agencies have also not been left behind in the adoption of the new trend.
This is particularly because these trends are visionary in their efforts to reduce costs, improve reliability, and ensure employee satisfaction by making them feel as part of the organization when majority of the training exercise is geared towards improvement of their capacities: skills and competences (Budhwar and Aryee, nd, Spender & Marr 2006). Automation of these functions ensures decentralization thus reducing management costs.
In summary, profit agencies engage in performance measures that are geared towards the reduction of costs as the increasing majority of firms that have adopted these systems supports this notion (Grumman 2005). According to The Business Forum (2011), the future trend focuses on the purpose of increasing communication between employees and employers. The new trends adopted by the profit agencies are aimed at correcting the disconnection witnessed in these applications.
References
Budhwar P., Aryee S. An Introduction to Strategic Human Resource Management, Society for Human resource Management. Web.
Calandro, J. and Lane, S. (2007). “A new competitive analysis tool: the relative profitability and growth matrix”, Strategy and Leadership, 35 (2).
Fink, A.; Marr, B.; Siebe, A.; Kuhle, J. (2005). The future scorecard: combining external and internal scenarios to create strategic foresight. Management Decision, volume 43 issue 2.
Forstenlechner, I., Lettice, F., Bourne, M. & Webb, C., (2007). Turning knowledge into value in professional service firms. Performance Measurement and Metrics, vol. 8, no. 3.
Franco-Santos, M., Kennerley, M., Micheli, P., Martinez, V., Mason, S., Marr, B., Gray, D. and Neely, A. (2007). “Towards a definition of a business performance measurement system. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 27 No. 8.
Grumman G., (2005). Strategic HR Integration, CIO. Web.
Insala, (2006). Performance Management: Current Trends. Web.
Rebecca R. H., (2009). Customize Performance Management to Fit Global Cultures, Society for Human resource Management. Web.
Spender, J.; Marr, B., (2006). Knowledge-based human capital. Expert Systems with Applications, volume 30 issue 2.
The Business Forum, (2011). Trends in Employee Performance Management. Web.
Villegas R., (2006). Training Is Not Enough, Saipan Tribune. Web.