It is our belief at Booze-Allen that in any business innovation the key to success and thus the need to study the market lies in operating and suggesting crucial realignments that will help the company remain competitive on the market. This is followed by the deduction of what a performance management strategy is and the basic variables that are important and how to tackle each of them in a best way. In addition, there is an in-depth coverage of potential value that a company gets from having a tailor-made performance management strategy. This is closely followed by a set of recommendations that are helpful in ensuring that a company gets the biggest advantages from its performance management policy. The last stage of the report contains a conclusion, where the key highlights of the report are outlined with an assertion that the company needs to hire the right experts indeed, as they will plan and develop a good performance management system that will help enhance value addition.
In any market there is the need to ensure that an organization clearly understands the demands and dynamics of its operation market. It comes from the clear identification of consumers' and competition demands that an organization can realign accordingly to be able to maintain a competitive edge in the market (Aguinis, 2013). Currently, competition in the field of business is at its highest point due to the opening the market and due to the globalization process, as there is a free transnational movement of goods and services. Moreover, there is also the need to guarantee that the customers' demands shape any decision or action made within the organization. This approach is essential to any organization with regard to the fact that a vast majority of successful companies are the ones that are customer-centered (De Waal, 2013). However, in to meet all of the abovementioned demands, among the most important assets the organization can have are the workforce. On condition of having the right workforce, the organization can shoulder its responsibilities for the customers in a professional and sustainable manner. Thus, there is a need to ensure that any organization hires, empowers, and keeps the reliable workforce with the help of the appropriate performance management strategy. Additionally, this report aims at illustrating the value a company gets from having a comprehensive performance management strategy that comes from hiring experts in strategic planning and development docket.
Performance Management Strategy
A good performance management plan needs to establish the environment where the employees have clear guidelines of what can be expected from them. It should also provide a clear understanding of how the employees are supposed to achieve their target. A good strategy needs to have a strong basis, where there is a healthy exchange between the management and employees as a means of empowering the employees (Aguinis, 2013). It is also essential to ensure that there is a clear evaluation process aimed at ensuring that the individual input can be measured and recorded to control it and that the needed realignments are made at the right time. In addition to this, the performance management strategy needs to provide a clear way of recognizing and rewarding good performance (Aguinis, 2013). It is for these variables that not only provide room for the employees' growth within a company but also empower a company to keep its best-sourced talents This especially caused by constructive feedback the employees get from their supervisors, not to mention the recognition and rewarding of their efforts (De Waal, 2013). According to McClelland's Human Motivation Theory, employees are more motivated if their leaders appreciate and recognize their efforts (Jost, 2014). Hence, a performance management strategy provides a clear guideline that allows a company to have highly committed and motivated employees that lead to improved final output.
Key Variables in a Performance Management Strategy
Performance Planning
This is the stage that starts the formulation of a performance management strategy, where both the management and the employees engage with the intention to familiarize the employees with their expected performance and goals. Furthermore, during this stage the desired behavior is communicated so that the employees need to emulate within the organization (De Waal, 2013). As a consequence, the two key variables expressed are the result expectations and the behavioral expectations. This promotes clear and effective communication as to how the employee will be involved at individual and group level in terms of safeguarding the interest of the company. To achieve better results, the goals must be definite and accompanied by a clear conception of the end result. Moreover, there is the need to ensure that the goals correspond to the values of the organization. This is vital in ensuring safety and checking that there is no conflict of interests between departmental goals and overall company goals.
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Continuous Feedback
This is one of the major aspects of the performance management if the aim is to frequently transmit information on progress regarding the realization of the set goals. However, this is an aspect that is typically absent in many organizations owing to the lack of knowledge of the best ways to apply certain aspects of performance management. Another problem is the fact that in many organizations continuous feedback is perceived as a management initiative, where it is only the managers who inform the employees about the progress made or the required changes (De Waal, 2013). Nevertheless, this should not be the case, since for the feedback to be effective the employees also need to inform the management about their experience and success in the progress. It is for this healthy exchange between the employees and the management department that fosters mutual growth within a company where the employees and the management have the sufficient information that helps in making the needed changes (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, 2013). On the contrary, there is a real need for the pertinent information that is specific enough to minimize the time taken by the concerned party to make the needed realignments. Furthermore, the employees have to be empowered to choose the best way to engage with the management to ensure that there is no vital information that is missed.
Employee Input
This is the variable that leads to ownership among the employees by controlling the input for their performance evaluations. It must also be a high priority for the management as this information is essential in identifying the approaches adopted by different employees when attempting to meet their targets (De Waal, 2013). In addition to this, it improves the level of communication between the employees and the management. For instance, sometimes the employees' perception of their own achievements is used as the basis of appraisal. Basically, the information provided by the employees is also applied by the management during recognition and reward stage to ensure that there is minimal if any conflicting cases that influence the employees' performance. As a consequence, the employee input into performance management results in improved cohesion within a company and improved integration of the employees into the ideals of the company.
Performance Evaluation
During the performance planning, the result and behavioral expectations are of the utmost importance. Therefore, when it comes to performance evaluation, these are the two variables that are evaluated. In regard to behavioral evaluation, the goal is to capture the employees' level of competency being manifested by the employees. A competency model is a standard tool many organizations are applying in the evaluation of their employees' skills (Blawatt, 2014). This level of evaluation is critical in analyzing the available skills within the company and a feedback. On the one hand, it is crucial in making strategic staffing promotion and above all performance management. On the other hand, result evaluation is centered upon the identification of the attained employees' results. The main intention is to correlate the set results with achieved results of capturing the employees' level of output (De Waal, 2013). This is a process that should be objective, since different employees are engaged in various tasks that do not necessarily yield similar results. Therefore, it is useful to monitor the result evaluation process to make certain that it appreciates the uniqueness present in the company, so that the final analysis reflects the actual results produced within a company. The importance of this procedure cannot be overemphasized as on condition that the resulting analysis is done with due diligence and consideration, the final data is not only useful for reward undertakings but also avail of crucial data to the management that incorporates it in making operational changes needed to improve the company's output.
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Performance Review
This stage occurs when the findings on performance evaluation are presented. Here the management during the meeting with the employees discusses the ratings given per employee and the rationale which is the assigned rating. Next the review is presented as a pictorial coverage of the evaluation process where the aim is to clarify the assigned performance mark given to employees who might have an issue with the rating (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, 2013). It is also a matter of the performance review that management and the employees identify areas of weakness in the company and then devise a developmental plan. While identifying the areas of weakness is a simple strategy used by many companies, the real task at this stage is identifying the right set of interventions. This is because it demands a detailed analysis that yields the best combination of strategies that will solve the identified weaknesses and safeguard the elements of strengths at the same time (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, 2013). Recognition and rewarding process is also used after the discussion and the explanation for the assigned ratings. This is crucial in bringing openness of both the recognition and rewarding of the employees.
Implementation of Performance Management Strategy
When it comes to performance management strategy, the success comes not from having a well-outlined plan, but from the skillful methods of the implementation of the strategy. Therefore, to be certain and confident in the performance strategy, there is the need to ensure that it correlates with the human resource systems. This is a reasonable demand, since it guarantees that the parameters used as means of evaluation as, for example, competency model which is applicable to the nature of staffing under the human resources (Aguinis, 2013). The strategy also needs to be inclusive as this will provide support by the relevant parties within the organization (Blawatt, 2014). In other words, the implementation process should encourage teamwork to improve the speed and accuracy in meeting the set demands. Besides, there is the need to ensure that the strategy is accompanied by the necessary communications that will enable the relevant stakeholders to understand its aims and demands. In addition, the company must train the management and employees to apply the policy necessary for the performance improvement and for attaining the set goals.
Value Added to a Company by a Performance Management Strategy
One of the most outstanding values added by a performance management strategy is the crucial reference point needed in making realignments in the company. It also provides a platform where there is constant interaction between the management and the employees and this provides an avenue where these two parties empower one another (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, 2013). The employees are guided informed through the areas that demand improvement, whereas the management is informed about operational areas that need certain changes to enhance the company's ability to meet the predetermined goals. Performance management strategy also serves as evidence that the employees are integrated in the decision-making process of a company. This is especially true during the employees' input stage where this index is highly valuable in capturing the existing performance approach by the employees. When the workers are integrated into the decision-making process, there is the element of shared responsibility that makes the employees more committed to meeting the company's targets.
At the heart of the performance management strategy lies the element of continuous feedback and review, where the employees are constantly empowered through objective information availed after the analysis of the current level of performance. This measure, in turn, helps the employees make the needed realignment at the right time a phenomenon that not only helps a company improve its output but also cautions itself from costs from inappropriate operation approaches (Blawatt, 2014). Moreover, to achieve a continuous feedback means a company is consistently involved in concurrent auditing undertakings that make it more proactive in identifying areas of weakness. This also makes a company maintain a high level of output and efficiency - a phenomenon that helps the company possess a competitive edge in the market (Aguinis, 2013). Additionally, the recognition and rewarding aspect of a performance management system play a crucial role in motivating the employees (Jost, 2014). This is still in process of the realization that their efforts are appreciated and valued by the company, not to mention the personal gains through the rewarding system that the employees who had not attained their goals get. It is thus clear that a comprehensive performance management strategy improves cohesion, teamwork, empowerment, motivation, and efficiency as these company variables in turn increase value addition to the concerned company significantly.
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Recommendations
From the analysis, it is clear that a performance management strategy is a crucial measure in a company ability to have a team of employees that are fully committed to upholding the interests of the company. However, it is evident that the success of any performance management policy heavily depends on the implementation (Blawatt, 2014), where it has to be compatible with the demands and intentions of all the relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, it is obvious that there is the need to have a strategy that provides a stage where the employees and the management are working in a complementary manner. To demonstrate the appreciation of this demand, there is the need to ensure that the following demand is met.
- There is the need to ascertain that the employers and the employees are fully conversant with its demands through effective communication.
- There is the need to ensure that the formulated performance management strategy captures the core values of the company.
- There is the need to control the strategy whether it is empowering and is based on realistic goals that the employees and the management can relate to thus guaranteeing commitment.
- There is the need to hire experts that will ensure there is the formulation of a detailed strategic planning and development in the company.
Conclusion
It is not difficult to understand that the proper performance management strategy is a crucial variable in a company that enhances its competitive edge in a market. It is also clear that this strategy is a multi-staged undertaking that requires experts to formulate its demands in relation to the primary ideals of a company. Besides, it is understandable that this strategy adds a lot of value to a company through improved efficiency, employees' commitment, and motivation. Employees' empowerment is another element that is highly present in a performance management policy that improves the employees' ability to serve a company. The strong interaction between the employees and management clearly provide room for mutual empowerment, thus, assistance in the realization of the needed changes at the rights time. Furthermore, it is evident that if a company hires experts in the planning and development dockets and they organize a relevant performance management strategy, the company gets a lot of value that is very helpful to remain competitive in the market.
