PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Performance Management

Performance Management

Introduction

In today's world, a lot of organization has put much effort and focus on how to make their workforce be as much as efficient and effective as they can be. Organizations across the globe have developed structures and programs that help them get the best from their employees and in return they align such structures with their objectives and goals. Thus came the introduction of Performance Management. Organizations as a whole initiated this system of appraising and evaluating employees' performance to gauge and measure productivity in work- related situations and operation. A vast methodology of research has been done to find a correlation between theories and practices including examples. Literature reviews have been made in order to arrive at a definitive conclusion about the mentioned topic.

Discussion

Performance Management

Organizations began using Performance Management around 60 years ago with the main intention of determining employee's wage based on individual work performance. It was also used to justify individual's salary and wage. Specific outcomes from individual's behavior became the target of organizations in the practice of Performance Management. Different definitions of Performance Management have been made at recent times. Confusions arise on what the term really meant but nonetheless, all of them have the underlying commonality that is to manage an individual's performance at work.

Performance management can be defined as the process by which the organizations can make sure and keep a check at their employees if they and the organization is progressing towards the set goals or not. In the coming of modern organizational structures, the process of people management has become specialized and formalized. Many of the old Performance Appraisal methodology have been incorporated and absorbed into the new school of thought, that is the Performance Management. This system aims to be a more in-depth and extensive process of management. Some of the occurrences that have given birth to Performance Management in recent times involve Management by Objectives (MBO), differentiation of employees or talent management and constant review and monitoring. The following factors are seen to have a direct effect on accelerating its development:

• The establishment of human resource management as a tool for evaluating performance and systematic approach to the management and employee development and;

• The thought that Performance Management process is a continuous process, something that line managers complete all throughout the year and not as a once off annual happening oordinated and done by the personnel department.  

Nowadays, it is commonly agreed that performance management, as a natural process of management, paves way for an organization to achieve high level of organizational performance s a result of an effective management of individuals. (Armstrong, M. and Baron, A., 2005)

“Old school vs. New School”

Vast number of organization in the modern time has shifted their structure from the traditional to the modern approach of appraising individual's performance. They have incorporated elements of the traditional method to create a new way of understanding how performance can contribute to the success of the organization as a ...