Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
in l*proviurg
3{
E*ployee
Performance
Managing employee performance has always been a
critical component of a manager's responsibility and in
re:)r,
demands and requirements
different subordinates.
difficult times it becomes even more critical. The problem
with managing employee performance is that there are Mentoring, coaching ar. j
too many external variables that affect an individual's counseling as managerial activirie,
performance. Also, employees vary in their capability and has the potential to make managei:
attltude to work making no two situations and no two better manage the performance ,,-:
employees the same. ln such a situation, it becomes their subordinares as it would hei:
rhem cater ro the deuelopment".
difficult to have a standard approach towards resolving
performance-related problems. Since no two people or requirements of different
In an article entitle;
subordinates.
situations are the same, it would be advisabie tor "'S7hat Great Managers Dol'
managers to treat each of their employees differenily. A
published in Ha ru ard Busines.s Req.,reu
manager can adopt diflerent strategies to deal with in the year 2005, Marcus Buckrnghanr
subordinates by appropriately playing the role of a wrote about how great managers
mentor, a coach and/or a counselor depending on the manage their subordinates. The
latters' pedormance levels. author compares a great manager tL.
a chess player and says that a grear
n today's overtly competitive continue to grow with respect to manager is able to discover, develop.
world, one of the greatest the ever-increasing demands of and celebrate what is different about
Iconcerns of managers is to get continuous performance each employee who works for him.
results and keep the achievers from improvement in the workplace. The
leaving their organization. This problem of dealing with The Changing Rote ol Managers
might sound clich6d but it is an performance.related issues is that taditionally, managers were hireJ
organizational reality that managers no two people or two situations are to manage, that is, to take care of
are learning to cope with. From the exactly the same and therefore the business on a day-to-day basis.
manager's perspective, this performance rmprovement Later, they were required to don rhe
imperative of getting results not solutions cannot be the same. In role of a leader, that is, to provide
only emphasizes the importance of such a situation, it would make sense vision to the organization and leaJ
continuous growth of oneself but it to focus on mentoring, coaching, the organization on the path cf
is also to see that the achievers and counseling to deal with the economic success. But no\\'
O ZO1O IUP A11 Rights Reserved.
I
f
I
I
nanagers must not only do the people, not more than 15olo are the
above two, but are also expected to
ViuekAnnnd top performers. Besides these two,
Faculty,
recruit, rrain, inspire. motivate, IBS, Bangalore. scholars have also classified
correct and empower their The author can be reached at employees into the top performers
vivek2712@enuil.om
subordinates for extraordinary or stars as they are referred to, the
T
t performance. This requires different Abhishek Sinshffilin solid citizens, and the low
t strategies for dealing with different MBAStudent, performers. The actual percentages
IBS, Bangalore.
kinds of employees. As Beth, Helen, The author can be reached at
for these groups may vary from
and Ed Michaels in their article 'A abhishek.Singhmia06@gmail.com organization to organization or
New Game Plan for C Players" from group to group, but then it
published rn Harc)ard Buslness satisfying to the extent that largely tends to fit into the normal
Reuiew in the year 2002 recommend, empioyees would want to work and distribution curve, where majority
managers need to invest in A grow in it. What is needed of of them would fail in the middle,
performers and raise the game of B managers today is to first create that that is the solid citizens group.
performers. But according to them, enabling environment and then Given this variation in
the mosr difficult of all is to deal enable their subordinates to performance because of varying
with C performers. The authors perform better by playing different external factors and competence
clearly identified the need for roles as and when required. It is in levels, it would not be appropriate
adopting a differential strategy for
subordinates based on their
performance levels. But doing this
is not easy. According to the authors The greatest challenge for the manager lies in creating an
of the above-mentioned article, it environment that is supportive, instructive, and satisfying to the
requires carrying out the task of extent that employees would want to work and grow in it
assessing the relative performance
of employees and then more
importantly, taking appropriate
actions based on such assessments. this regard that a three-pronged to have a single strategy for dealing
This means that the manager has strategy is suggested. with the performance issues of the
to do much more than just manage subordinates. It is therefore,
The Three-pronged Strategy
his or her subordinates. The expected that managers should
In the social science discipline and adopt different management
lnanagers of today are constantly
especially in the behavioral sciences strategies for dealing with the
challenged and are required to play
one rarely comes across absolutes, performance problems of different
multiple roles, which could be
but this one almost sounds like a categories of employees. If we adopt
directed towards making optimum
universal truth that people vary in the classification of employees into
use of their most critical resource,
their performance and it is almost top performers or stars, solid
i.e., their people.
impossible to find a team or a group citizens, and low performers, one of
The answer to the changing and of people with equally competent the ways in which the performance
multiple roles of a manager lies in members. There are various studies problems of these three categories
becoming a mentor, a coach, and a thar tend to support this argument. of employees could be handled is by
counselor to their subordinates. For example, the B0:20 principle, playing the role of a mentor for top
The objective is to do whatever it states that B0o/o of the output of a performers, the role of a coach for
may take to create an environment particular organization or a
solid citizens, and the role of a
where individuals are enabled and department or a team comes from counselor for low performers.
empowered to produce results. The 70o/o of its employees or team
sreatest challenge for the manager members, as the case may be. For Managers as Mentors
lies in creating an environment that some, it is the 15% rule, which Mentors are those who have added
ts supportive, instructive, and means that in any given group of number of years to their experience