Performance Management
Dr. Caren Rodrigues
The Performance Management Process
Performance management is an ongoing process including the interrelated components of
1. Prerequisites
2. Performance Planning
3. Performance Execution
4. Performance Assessment
5. Performance Review
6. Performance Renewal and Re-contracting
Points to remember about the Performance Management Process
It is an ongoing process.
Each component is important (if one is implemented poorly, the whole system suffers).
Links between components must be clear.
1.Prerequisites
The prerequisites to a PM system are two kinds of knowledge:
1) Knowledge of the organization’s mission and strategic goals
Strategic planning allows for the organization to clearly define its purpose or reason for the
organization’s existence, where the organization wants to be in future, the goals it wants to
achieve and the strategies for attaining goals.
2) Knowledge of the job in question (i.e. job analysis and job description)
Job analysis is a process of determining the key components of a job, including activities,
tasks, products, services, and processes.
Conducting a job analysis
a. The job analysis can be conducted using a variety of tools such as interviews,
observations or questionnaires.
b. All incumbents should review information and provide feedback regarding the frequency
of tasks and the criticality of tasks.
Job description
The information used from a job analysis can be used to write a job description. A job
description chiefly consists of the KSAs (knowledge, skills and abilities) required to do the job.
It also includes job duties and working conditions.
Biases that affect KSA-related information provided by individuals include:
(i) Self-serving bias which leads people to report that their own behaviors or traits are more
needed for successful job performance compared to others.
(ii) Social projection which leads people to think about themselves when reporting KSAs for
their job instead of people in general.
Performance Management
Dr. Caren Rodrigues
2. Performance Planning
At the beginning of each performance management cycle, the supervisor and the employee meet
to discuss and agree upon results and behaviors, and to formulate a development plan.
Results
Results refer to what needs to be done or the outcomes an employee must produce.
Results consist of the following three elements:
i. Key Accountabilities (Broad areas of a job for which the employee is responsible for
producing results)
ii. Specific Objectives (which consists of statements of outcomes. The outcomes should be
Important and Measurable)
iii. Performance Standards (which are the “Yardstick” to evaluate how well employees have
achieved each objective and are specified in terms of quality of performance, quantity of
performance, and the cost and time involved).
Behaviors
Behaviors determine how the results must be achieved.
Behaviors are specified in terms of competencies (which are measurable clusters of KSAs that
would be critical in determining how results will be achieved).
Development Plan
A development plan consists of areas that need improvement and the goals to be achieved in
each area of improvement.
3. Performance Execution
During the performance execution stage, the employee’s responsibilities include commitment to
goal achievement, ongoing requests for feedback and coaching, communication with supervisor,
collecting and sharing performance data and preparing for performance reviews.
During the performance execution stage, the manager’s responsibilities include observation and
documentation, updates, feedback, resources and reinforcement.
4. Performance Assessment
Performance assessment involves the evaluation of the extent to which the desired behaviors
have been displayed, and the desired results have been achieved.
Who does the assessment?
Manager assessment
Self-assessment
Other sources (e.g., peers and customers)
Performance Management
Dr. Caren Rodrigues
Multiple sources of Assessments Are Necessary for the following reasons:
i. Increases employee ownership of and commitment to the process
ii. Provides information that can be discussed at the review
iii. Ensures mutual understanding of expectations.
5. Performance Review
This involves the meeting between the employee and manager to review their assessments.
The appraisal meeting discusses the following:
i. Past (Behaviors and results)
ii. Present (Compensation to be received as a result)
iii. Future (New goals and development plans)
Six Steps for Conducting Productive Performance Reviews:
i. Identify what the employee has done well and has done poorly.
ii. Solicit feedback.
iii. Discuss the implications of changing behaviors.
iv. Explain how skills used in past achievements can help overcome any performance
problems.
v. Agree on an action plan.
vi. Set a follow-up meeting and agree on behaviors, actions, and attitudes to be evaluated.
