Implementing Management Performance Systems

Introduction

Management performance system/models are very important in the modern day management of businesses or organizations. They help in measuring the performance of various components/elements within the organization. Therefore, the process of implementing management performance systems is very crucial. It calls for the involvement of all stakeholders within the organization in order to make the process a success. This paper seeks to discuss the main issues as well as problems that companies face in during the implementation of the management performance models/systems. It will go further to analyze the skills that managers, as well as human resource specialist, should possess in order to address the issues that arises during the implementation stage of management performance models/systems (Graham,2004).

Implementing Management Performance Systems

A performance management model can be said as a set of processes, tools and measures that assist you to make best use of your workforce. At the same time as a chief executive officer, you desire to obtain the paramount returns on your venture and workers are perhaps the most exclusive and precious talent you posses. It simply makes logic to do all you are capable of to obtain the paramount performance from your workers. In reality, if you fail to consider your employees as the most vital talent then you are making a costly mistake that will cost the overall well being of the organization.

Each and every individual likes to be acquainted with what is demanded of him/her, in details. We too like to be familiar with the outcomes we are getting from our jobs against those demands put on us and finally, we desire to build ourselves to meet up some gaps in outcomes /performance as well as to progress toward greater accountability and rewards.

There are a number of key elements that require working collectively to create a management performance system that is working.

1. Job Plan, as well as Performance demands – This a type of document, contain guidelines, in the inscription by the group, what are the demands of a given worker and may also contain: business manufactured goods as well as service information, following inner processes, convention essential work program, cooperation, client service among other important details. The aim is to break down the job of a given position or person to various likely categories, perhaps less than ten categories tend to makes some sense and subsequently put in writing the exact expectations/ demands in the category in question (Harris, 2001). Take into account that not all categories will contain matters that are independently quantifiable; at hand, there will be some items that tend to be skewed, like teamwork/cooperation.
2. Performance Review – This is a different document used in the organization to record the actual results of a worker against the procedures that were outlined in the Performance demands and job plan guideline document. Besides writing the evaluative observations in all categories, or arithmetic specifics, there is the need for the organization to have a system for rating in place (Guest, 2001). The score structure should facilitate the classification of things that surpass Job Requirements, meet up Job Requirements as well as those which fails to Job specifications. You have to decide as the CEO how rough you would like this situation to be. The key is that you apply a rating to each category and to overall performance.
3. Development Plan – This is another document (or it could be on the Performance Review document) that outlines by each category what actions will be taken to improve performance in that category. Then, the next review part of the performance evaluation is how well the employee accomplished the development actions (Glendinning,2002).
4. Communication – one of the critical items. It is important to understand that all the above documents can not work as intended if there is good communication channels within the organization. Take into account that this course of action is always two-way avenues. Most workers have more facts than a good number of managers on their course of action as well as how they execute their duties. You should pay attention and build the process as a exchange of ideas with an aim of gaining accord on anticipated and tangible outcomes within the organization.

The rate of recurrence of undertaking a Performance evaluation may differ depending on the nature of commerce, the responsibility of a give position, your reward structure as well as other important variables. The secret is to ensure that it is done on frequent basis.

Issues and Problems for Companies in Implementing Performance Management Systems

Implementation of performance management systems remains a major problem to many companies around the globe. This part of the paper seek to identify the main issues and problems various companies faces as they implement performance management in their organization. These challenges during implementation can be said to originate within the organization especially if all the stakeholders are not involved during the design and implementation of performance management systems.

The following are the main challenges/problems that are encountered during the implementation of performance management systems.

• Limitation due to financial systems that are in existence- in most of the companies the account chart that is in place for the purposes of structuring the budget development process, as well as aid in the financial performance reporting in most cases, is not aligned away that it can support operational examination within various organizational units. For example in construction companies the financial models that are in place tend to have no capacity that can aid in data sorting as well as reporting in order to support the process of performance reporting. This is made difficult in construction and manufacturing companies because data that is used do not support linkage between operational and financial in order to aid the process of determining the cost per unit of production or service or within other competence metrics within various operational/production units.
• Fears within the organization- in many circumstances workers view implementation of performance management systems as methods or retrenching them. This is the case mainly in public limited companies which have been underperforming thereby they tend to be uncooperative during the implementation process. Departments may be reluctant to support the process of introduction of performance management systems especially in companies that are engaged in production of various products. They fear that results may be interpreted in a negative way leading to loss of job by some of them. Lack of clearness on how the system being implemented will impact the departments or workers contributes to the reluctant of the employees to support implementation of performance management systems (Furnham,2004).
• Fears from elected fears- this kind of problem is usually experienced in companies that are publicly owned. Those who held elective posts in the company such as board of directors may be oppose the implementation of performance management models as the fear that the results may be interpreted in a negative way by the shareholders of the company and this may act as a weapon against their re-election.
• Performance management in many companies is not any easy task- companies which are government owned especially in less developed countries tend to face this problem in the implementation of performance management systems. It is a complex as well time consuming endeavor to many companies in the public sector. Organizational cultures as well as resource constraints prove to be a source of problem during the drive to seek support from the organization stakeholders (Buchner, 2007).
• Strategic forecast Process burden – Experiences in premeditated forecast have been diverse and encompass on occasion focused on development, scheduling and not on performance as well results in companies that are owned by the government. Making a number of public managers and officials to consider the development is not ample and doesn’t considerably affect organizational performance. An early implementation stage in favor of performance supervision, a purported, “honeymoon phase” can at times be unnecessary extended and not produce results for appointed or elected officials.
• Regular appraisal as well as Use – If information collected is not applied in decision-making process, it tend to be of no value in the organization and may lead to ultimate questions being raised on why the data was collected as well as reported (Fletcher,2001). This kind of questioning delays the process of implementing performance management systems in many companies. Agencies should be involved in development process of those policies and be informed on how various performance outcomes will be applied in both fiscal and operational decision-making processes within the company.
• The problem of Software being viewed as the form of a Solution – Too frequently organizations relies on software because it is viewed as the prerequisite for performance management models/systems implementation devoid of recognizing that software cannot in any be used to revolutionize behavior within an organization. This type of problem is experienced in information technology companies. Managers argue that by means of using software to resolve different works associated problems can aid in conduct changes in the business. This makes it a challenge to implement performance management models in companies that uses software as techniques of behavior modification.
• Performance management position is not accurate- in most cases the various positions arrived during performance evaluation processes are inaccurate. They may tend to focus narrowly on a certain aspect of the employees work failing to take into consideration other parameters of the work which are crucial in determining the performance of the employees in question (Corporate, 2008). The performance management positions usually tend to focus on staff classification, bonuses received by various stakeholders within an organization rather that taking into consideration all other performance measurement variables within an organization. For example, a production company performance management position may focus on the units produce by the whole department rather than focusing on output from each employee. This makes the conclusion drawn on the performance of the department inaccurate because some employees may be making less contribution compared to other employees within the department.
• Participation of the employees is not active enough-the participation of employees in development and design of the various performance management models in not active enough. In other companies employees are not engaged in the development process at all. This means that their views and needs in most cases are not fully taken into considerations. This results into them opposing the implementation of performance management within the organization (Bourguignon,2004). For example, employees in a manufacturing company may oppose the model of measuring ones performance in terms of the number of units that one produces on a daily basis if there are not fully involved in the formulation of the model of evaluating their performance.
• Performance evaluation parameters/standards in most companies are not standard- the performance standard that are in place in many companies are vague and do not provide room for detailed analysis of the performance of the employees (Corporate,2002). This makes most of the employees uncomfortable with these standards thereby resisting or being uncooperative in the implementation of performance management system as they are viewed as being vague. For example, in manufacturing companies the performance evaluation standards/parameters may focus on the qualitative index rather than focusing on the quantities index.

Skills Needed to Overcome Challenges during Implementation of Performance Management Systems

In order for managers and human resource specialists to overcome the challenges that arise during the implementation of performance management systems there are specific skills that they need to develop. These skills include:

• Ability to formulate objective assessment parameters/standards- it is up to the human resource specialists in the company concern to ensure that they formulate performance measure standards that are related to the needs of the organization as well as to the needs of the employees being touched with the issues. For example, the management can use individual monthly input/ out ratio to measures standards for employees working in the production department.
• Establishment of effective performance of circulation- the managers and human resource specialists should have the ability to come up with effective performance evaluation system that is able to meet the needs of the organization, that is establishing complete performance of the model that is in question. For example, the manager should develop performance evaluation model that is related to the needs of the department under which it will be applied.
• Ability to coordinate the planning of the project centrally-it is up to the managers to ensure that the designing and implementation of performance management systems are monitored directly from the head office to avoid financial and other technical delays from affecting their implementation. For example, the CEO of the company can ensure that he is being given weekly report on the progress of the implementation of performance management system appraisal systems.

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• Honesty as well as transparency- the process of designing and implementing performance management systems should be a process that involves all the concerned stakeholders to avoid unnecessary delays from affecting the implementation process (Acelero ,2009). For example, the manager should honestly communicate the aim of implementing performance management system in organization without hiding any information.
• Dedicating staff and resources-managers should ensure that they allocate enough financial and human resource to the process of designing and implementing performance management models within an organization (Baker, 1999).For example, the manager can delegate authority to ten employees who are to be responsible for the implementation of the performance evaluation system and he should ensure that the team f the ten employees has the skill and experience mix that is required to perform the task effectively.
• Clearly defining the direction that the organization is taking it is the role of the manager to ensure that the organization stakeholders are informed on the goals that the organization want to achieve through implementation of performance management systems. For example, it is up to the manager to communicate the objective that the organization intends to achieve through implementation of performance systems such as increased efficiency of utilization of the organization’s resources.

Conclusion

It is very clear that the issue of introducing performance management models in any given organization faces a lot of opposition as well as other technical related challenges. The paper has clearly discussed the various challenges that arise during the implementation of performance management systems in various companies.

The challenges have been identified as resulting mainly from failure to involve the various stakeholders in the process of designing the performance management models in the organization under question. Therefore, the whole process needs involvement of all the stakeholders especially when it comes to designing the system to avoid resistance-related problems during the implementation phase.

The paper has also reviewed the skills that managers as well as the human resource specialist in any given should posses in order to overcome the issues and problems that arise during implementation of performance management systems. It is very clear that the managers need to have the skills of developing a system that incorporate all the needs of the organization.