PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Performance Management

Performance Management

Introduction

In today's management, most of the organisation emphasise the importance of performance management (PM). Why is PM so important to them? Is PM an essential practice to these organisations? According to Curtis (1999), PM is an approach to management which individual managers and employees are unified to attain organisation's strategic goals. Strategic goals are defined, and outputs are then identified to attain the goals which were clearly defined. Commitments of managers and employees are gained, to achieve the identified outputs, and outcomes are monitored. In another words, PM is an on-going process that constantly measured, monitored and controlled the overall performance in an organisation (Barlow, 1989), and it is a forward looking and developmental strategic process (Armstrong, 2000).

Armstrong (2000) stressed that PM has become more and more important from the formally widely used performance appraisal scheme to today's an integrated and continues approach. PM in today's human resources (HR) practice is no longer depends on the merit rating form as the only measurement. However, PM defines strategic goals, and identified outputs to achieve strategic goals. Managers and employees are committed to achieve the identified outputs, and monitor outcomes. Furthermore, (Armstrong and Baron,1998; Schiemann and Lingle,1999) prove that, firms that adopted PM fares better in terms of financial, and non-financial factors than those firms that do not practice PM. Hence, the understanding of PM and its processes for today's firms is essential in determining and assuring its competitive advantage in the ever changing business environment.

Purpose of the Research

In this paper, we address these questions by developing and testing a path model that relates superior's use of the performance management system. In order for organizations to raise the performance levels within the organization, it is important for them to find strategies that will allow them to raise motivation among their employees. This is also a way to ensure that the goals and the objectives of the organization are being met.

According to McNamara, PHD, (1999) "performance management can focus on performance of the organization, a department, processes to build a product or service, employees, etc." (p. 1). This paper will establish a performance management program and consider what matters most for measuring employee performance. Lastly, an explanation of the appraisal will be given to explain how it can be used in a variety of positions.

According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhert, and Wright, (2003) "performance management is the process through which managers ensure that employees' activities and outputs contribute to the organizations goals" (p. 239). Organizations and managers need to determine first what matters most for measuring performance of their employees.

The most important measurement for an Instructional Assistant with the Spokane Public Schools would be how well the employee can communicate with staff members, students, and parents. This is an important aspect of this position and requires the employee to be able to communicate effectively with a variety of individuals throughout the day.

HR Context

Organizational interest in performance management has increased as a result of competitive pressures, the influence ...