Performance management is a necessary tool in an organization because of various reasons. The process positively contributes to the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. The process provides a working environment that enables people to perform to their best level and ability by clarifying expectations and giving feedback. Performance management allows managers to monitor and examine the work of employees. Equally, it enables managers and supervisors to recognize top-performing employees and appreciate their excellent performance. Subsequently, the following paper will evaluate Performance Management System Rollout at BT Global Services. The areas discussed include but not limited to the primary goal of BT Global Services by introducing a new performance system, the essential elements of the performance management process, and disadvantages of allowing the employee to apprise them and rate their performance. Other areas of focus are intentional and unintentional rating distortion factors that led to the biased ratings and how to improve the performance system.
Keywords: Bias, Performance Management, system, organization, employees
Performance Management
- The primary objective of performance management is to ensure that the organization as a system and its subsystems work together in an integrated manner towards accomplishing optimum results. Consequently, BT global services introduced a new performance management system called “Maximizing Performance” to bring new uniformity and consistency in managing and developing employees. The reason behind the action was to create a high-performance culture that will enable them to contribute to the success of the company. The wrong thing in defying such kind of goal was that it was not clearly defined. They only stated that they need to maximize performance, but they did not have a timeline. For example, they could have said that they need to increase sales by 10% by the end of the next fiscal year. However, this was not the case. Thus, the goal was not easy to measure.
- The primary purpose behind the decision to implement a performance management system by BT Global services was to achieve the capacity of the employees to the full potential in favor of the employees and the organization. Thus, performance management intended to boost employee performance and to help them identify the knowledge and skills required to work effectively. It also aimed at identifying the barriers to effective performance and promoting personal growth and advancement in the career of the employees.
I agree with the strategic purpose because performance management aims at building a high-performance culture for both individuals within an organization. Equally, a performance management framework is designed to improve performance by identifying the requirements and providing feedback and helping the employees to develop. It also aims at developing individuals with the required competence and commitment. Thus, it is only through the employees that the organization will maximize its performance. By clearly defining the roles and duties of employees, performance will be boosted. When performance is increased, the employes will work towards achieving the goal of the organization.
- Gathering information about performance overview is all about appraisal forms. Conversely, a successful performance appraisal must be carefully planned and prepared. Performance appraisal is much more than filling out an employee evaluation form managers, and leaders need to gather information effectively and provide employees with enough feedback. However, this was not the case at BT Global Services. The method used to gather information about the performance was not reliable, valid, thorough, or contextually congruent. In regards to reliability, the method used to collect data was not credible. The supervisors did not follow the agreed implementation procedures consistency of measure because time was not sufficient to conduct an individual meeting with employees. Thus, the data cannot be reliable. Consequently, the method was not valid as there was no accuracy of measure. Equally, neither was the method thorough or congruent because the supervisors did not follow the stipulated procedure. The performance appraisal was ineffective because it was not successful.
- There are five crucial elements of the performance management process. The first is the planning and expectation setting. With this process, the management and supervisors meet with the employees to discuss, identify, or set the performance plans. An effective planning process must spell out what employees are supposed to do and the standards they are to attain. The second element is monitoring, in which the supervisor monitors the employee’s progress. The third step is the development and improvement. Within this phase, the supervisor evaluates if the employees need an additional development framework to help them achieve their duties and responsibilities. The fourth element is the rating, where the supervisor uses the gained knowledge from monitoring to compare the performance of the employees (Lalwani, 2019). The last component is rewards and compensation. With this phase, the leaders give the employees awards to motivate them.
In analyzing the performance management of BT Global Services, the organization failed at the planning phase. The company created a performance plan but was unable to involve the employees in the planning process. Equally, the management failed to establish measurable goals. It only stated that they need to maximize performance, but they fail to identify how and by when.
- The goal of the performance management system is to develop employees with the competencies, knowledge, and skills needed to achieve the common goal of an organization. Thus, the performance appraisal must be designed to identify employees that meet the required performance, such as having providing regular feedback and working with other employees. Accordingly, the statements used in the appraisal form measure the critical outcomes, as stated by the goal of the performance system. The statement used can provide adequate feedback that can be used to change or modify employee behavior towards achieving the purpose of the performance system. The reports used also provide sufficient data that the supervisors can use to assign future job assignments and compensation.
- Proponents of self-evaluation argue that having an employee to complete a self-assessment gives the supervisors a better insight on how employee rates their performance. The argument is valid, but one main disadvantage of the employee engaging in self-assessment is that the process is not practical. It makes people feel insecure about their performances. When answering the questions, people will be inclined to put the value that is appropriate to what the company expects. Although a person is a low performer in a specific area, the person might answer it as satisfactory. Equally, those with satisfactory performance might doubt their ability and put a lower value. Thus, making self-evaluation not useful in measuring performance.
- Talented employees can give more than 110 percent outputs, but during a performance evaluation, their hard work is not reflected. The reason behind this is that during a performance appraisal, managers can commit both intentional and unintentional mistakes that can interfere with the process. The leading cause of errors includes the bias that results from an inaccurate distortion of measurements. Some of the accidental rating distortion factors include recency and spillover bias. For all areas that dealt with the achieved improvement, the employees answered that they “Significantly exceeded expectations(Anon., 2013)”. Conversely, the intentional rating distortion is based on the ability to recall our performances. With most employees being unable to recall their performances, they ended up rating themselves based on their most recent performance, thus forgetting about the entire picture. On the contrary, an intentional rating distortion factor includes personal bias. The employees answered the questions from a personal perspective. For example, thinking that the organization might fire them when they do not meet the satisfactory level, the employees had to rate in favor of themselves intentionally.
- The proposed performance system failed because the organization did not adhere to the first essential element of the performance management process. The first is the planning and expectation setting. With this process, the management and supervisors meet with the employees to discuss, identify, or set the performance plans. An effective planning process must spell out what employees are supposed to do and the standards they are to attain. However, the organization failed to engage its employees in the process. Thus, to improve on this, I would engage the employees and spell out what is expected of them. I will also clearly set out goals that are easy to measure.Performance management is necessary because the process is the critical driver for organizations to maximize their strategic paths. Conversely, for performance management to be effective, the process must align with the organization’s goals.
References
Anon., 2013. Herman Aguinis. Third ed. s.l: Pearson Education International.
Lalwani, P., 2019. What Is Performance Management? Definition, Process, Cycle, and Best Practices for Planning. Available at: https://www.hrtechnologist.com/articles/performance-management-hcm/what-is-performance-management/