What is performance management?

‘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

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

Types of appraisal systems

• Objective-setting

• Behaviourally-anchored rating scales (BARSs)

• Simple rating systems (eg merit rating)

• Critical incidents

• Blank sheet

Who could be involved in appraisal?

• The manager/supervisor

• The appraisee, via self-assessment

• Peers

• Subordinates

• External parties (ie customers, clients, suppliers, etc)

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

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’

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

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

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

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