MARILYN MATHEW

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CHAPTER 2: Performance Management Process

CASE STUDY 2: Disrupted Links in the Performance Management
Process at “Omega, Inc.”

1a. Prerequisites Performance Planning

There is not much of a stronger connection between the prerequisites and the
performance planning process. From the case, it can be seen that the prerequisites
namely;

(a) Knowledge of the organization’s mission and strategic goals

(b) Knowledge of the job in question

were already taken into consideration. But these were not used in the performance
planning process. The managers and the employees had agreed on a set of goals.
But these goals could not relate to meet the organization’s main goal i.e. of providing
high-quality customer service, as the link between the two was broken. Even though
the job description was laid down, it did not describe the knowledge, skill and
abilities that were required to accomplish the job.

1b. Performance Planning Performance Execution

There is the link between performance planning and execution in the organization. It
is mentioned that the managers set performance goals for each employee.
Furthermore, after the training, the employees were given feedback regarding their
performance and during the job they were given feedback regarding their stand in
relation to their sales quotas. Hence, it can be said that both the managers and
employees had understanding of their goals and timely feedback was given so as to
achieve these goals.

1c. Performance Execution Performance Assessment

As mentioned in the case, it can be seen that the main issue the company’s
employees are facing is regarding the performance assessment as they have no way
of monitoring their own progress towards their quotas. Hence, it can be said that
there is no strong link between the performance execution to performance
assessment. Also, as the key accountabilities and skills were not identified; the
manger just documented the sales results.

1d. Performance Assessment Performance Review

There is no formal assessment procedure in the organisation which has broken the
link to performance review process. Even though the manager and the employee met
and discussed the progress, they did not have a specific form to follow and hence all
the discussions were not documented.

1e. Performance Review Performance renewal and recontracting

As the performance review process is not specified or mentioned clearly, it is difficult

to identify the parameters wherein the performance is going down and where it is
going good. Hence, there cannot be any process for renewal or recontracting.
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1f. Performance renewal and recontracting Prerequisites

As there is no renewal or recontracting process in place, it cannot be linked to the

prerequisites that are required.

2. To fix the disrupted links, the following steps can be followed:

2a. Performance Planning Performance Execution

To strengthen the link between prerequisites and performance planning process the
franchise can develop job descriptions and an appraisal form which lists all the
accountabilities of the employees. It should also explain on what parameters their
performance will be judged. Also, the organization’s mission of providing high-quality
customer service needs to be communicated through the goals which are set and the
performance should be evaluated on the basis of the same.

2b. Performance Planning Performance Execution

This link already exists in the organization and it will improve when the employees
start having a better understanding as to what their performance level should be in
order to receive high performance ratings during the assessment.

2c. Performance Execution Performance Assessment

The employees have to be given regular updates on the comparison of the number of
sales they have achieved and how many they should be achieving. Also, any details
regarding the customer feedback which has been received along with the feedback
from their respective managers on their performance in different tasks should be
informed to the employee.

2d. Performance Assessment Performance Review

A standardized appraisal form will result in the improvement of the review phase and
it will strengthen the link with the performance assessment process.

2e. Performance Review Performance renewal and recontracting

There has to be a formal meeting set between the manager and employee for the
performance review wherein there should be written goals and a standardized
appraisal form. This meeting should be used to reassess the goals which had been
set, to ensure that the organization’s needs are being met, to come up with ideas for
areas of improvement, and redo the process again.

2f. Performance renewal and recontracting Prerequisites

If the organization’s needs are being met then the organizational goals remain
unchanged and the prerequisites are in alignment to begin the process again. If the
organization’s needs are not being met, then the organizational goals and individual
job descriptions have to be changed accordingly so as to meet the desired needs of
the organization.
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CASE STUDY 3: Performance Management at the University of Ghana

1. The Balme Library as mentioned is the main library in the University of Ghana
library system. As mentioned in the case, the library was facing resource challenges
as it needed to serve an increasingly diverse customer base. Hence, it had
implemented numerous initiatives, one of which was a performance management
system.

There are six elements that are needed for an effective functioning of a performance
management system. These elements include prerequisites, performance planning,
performance execution, performance assessment, performance review, and
performance renewal and reconstructing.

But the performance management system implemented by them lacked on several.

For the analysis’ purpose the first component i.e. the prerequisites will be taken into
consideration. There two main components to be included in prerequisites are:

a) knowledge of the organization’s mission and strategic goals

b) knowledge of the job in question.

The setting of the organization’s mission and strategic goals allows to the clear
definition of the purpose of the organization. By this it can establish similar goals by
following the top-down approach until each of the employee has formulated their
own individual goals which are in alignment to the goals of the organization. Now, a
job analysis defines the job duties so that the criteria for success at the job level can
be defined. The job analysis also helps in aligning the individual’s goals to
organizational goals.

It has been mentioned in the case that no systematic job analysis was conducted for
any of the jobs in the library.

2. Job analysis: the process which is used to break a job into its components and is
used to identify tasks associated with the particular job. A validated task list of a
particular job is the key deliverable of the job analysis. The tasks’ list is of great
importance as it is used as a foundation for the job description, organizational
assessment tools and self-assessment tools.

As Balme Library did not have a comprehensive job analysis for all the positions in
the organization, they were could not develop precise criteria to evaluate the
effectiveness of these positions. Not having a good job description made the
alignment of the job functions to the organizational goals and objectives a difficult
task.

A good job analysis and job description guarantees that the employees are able to
see the direct relationship between the job competencies, the job descriptions, and
the organization’s and individual’s goals and objectives. If the link is ambiguous, then
managers and employee might not understand what are the duties and tasks that
need to be accomplished to meet the organizations goal and objectives.
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A bad job analysis and description leads to an improper performance planning which
eventually leads to inadequate performance execution, performance assessment and
review criteria as mentioned above. This ends up hampering the renewal and
recontracting process. Thus, this is how poor implementation of job analysis impacts
the flow of performance management process as a whole.

3. To improve the implementation of the job analysis in the prerequisites criteria; the
first step would involve conduction of a job analysis for all jobs within the Balme
Library system. This could be done by conducting interviews with employees who
perform the job. Questionnaires can be floated and observations can be made during
the performance of a job to understand the fundamentals for the accomplishment of
the job. The most effective way to conduct a job analysis is to combine the tools that
are already available.

The job analysis can be used to develop a list of required tasks. It can also be used to
list out the knowledge, skill, and abilities that are required to perform the tasks.

The tasks need to be evaluated on the basis of their degree of importance; which can
be done by listing down all the tasks and then rating them based on their criticality.
This would allow the tasks to be ranked depending on how frequently it has to be
performed and how critical it is to the job.

After all the jobs and tasks have all been analysed, the job descriptions pertaining to
the same can be developed. As mentioned in the chapter, Occupational Informational
Network (O*NET) is a tool that can be used to write job descriptions. This job
description will provide the criteria which later on will be used for performance
measurement. Hence, without a good job description it is difficult to determine
whether the employees are meeting the goals and objectives of the organization.