Lecture 8 Performance Management

Question 1

What do Armstrong and Baron (2004) say in CIPD about performance management?

Answer 1

It is a process that contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved (CIPD adapted from Armstrong and Baron, 2004)

Question 2

What do Bratton and Gold say about performance management?

Answer 2

It provides a link between all levels of the organisation through goals, critical success factors and performance measures (Bratton and Gold, 2012:253)

Question 3

What do Bratton and gold say about the link between strategic HRM and organisational performance?

Answer 3

There is a strong link between strategic HRM and organisational performance (Bratton and Gold, 2012:70)

Question 4

What do Bratton and Gold say about the importance of HR?

Answer 4

‘The position of the HR practitioner within the organisation is enhanced at a time when the HR function itself is being threatened with marginalisation by outsourcing and delegation to line managers’ (Bratton and Gold, 2012: 70)

Question 5

What are two issues mentioned by academics about performance management?

Answer 5

• being convinced regarding the conceptual and methodological soundness of the research (Legge, 2001; Wright and Gordon, 2003)
  Uncertainty regarding the too narrowly focused research at the expense of employee wellbeing (Delaney and Godard, 2001)

Question 6

What does CIPD say about performance management (2015)?

Answer 6

‘at best performance management is a holistic process that ensures employee performance contributes to business objectives. It brings together many of the elements of good people management practice, including learning and development, measurement of performance and organisational development’
Should be strategic about long term goals
Should be integrated
Allow for improvement, development and managing behaviour
Should be both formal and informal
Ensure effective planning as well as a culture of continuous improvement for both organisation and individual(CIPD, 2015)

Question 7

When was the change from personnel to HRM made?

Answer 7

1990s

Question 8

What are issues with performance management in the work place?

Answer 8

High performance work systems
Employees ‘failing’ their job
Link performance with pay

Question 9

Why did personnel become HR?

Answer 9

The changing role of HR to a strategic business partner role

Question 10

What are 3 theories that underpin performance management?

Answer 10

Goal theory
Control theory
Social cognitive theory

Question 11

Who developed Goal theory?

Answer 11

Latham and Locke (1979)

Question 12

What is Goal theory?

Answer 12

4 mechanisms that connect goals to performance outcomes-attention to priorities/ stimulate effort/ challenge employees to bring their knowledge and skills to bear to increase their chances of success/ the more challenging the goal is the more people will draw upon their full repertoire of skills so very much about setting and agreeing objectives that will allow performance to be measured and managed

Question 13

What is control theory?

Answer 13

Attention on feedback as a means of shaping behaviour. About identifying discrepancy and taking corrective action

Question 14

What is social cognitive theory?

Answer 14

This is about self efficacy and relates to what people can or cannot do will impact upon their performance

Question 15

Who developed social cognitive theory?

Answer 15

Bandura (1986)

Question 16

What are Armstrong and Baron’s (1998,2004) 10 principles of performance management about?

Answer 16

About how we manage people (not a system)
Performance management is what people do (a natural system)
A management tool that helps managers manage
Driven by corporate purpose and values to obtain solutions that work
Only interested in things you can do something about and get a visible improvement
Focus on changing behaviour rather than paperwork
Based on accepted principle but operates flexibly
Focus on development, not pay
Success depends upon what the organisation is and needs to be in its performance culture

Question 17

What are the stages in the performance management cycle?

Answer 17

Performance planning
Managing performance throughout the year
Performance Review
Performance Assessment
Recording the Performance agreement and review

Question 18

What happens in the plan?

Answer 18

Set SMART objectives
Agree personal development plan
Update role profile

Question 19

What happens in the act part of the performance management cycle?

Answer 19

Achieve objectives
Carry out role
Implement personal development plan

Question 20

What happens in the track part of the performance management cycle?

Answer 20

Track progress
Regular feedback
Mitigate obstacles
Coaching

Question 21

What happens in the review part of the performance management cycle?

Answer 21

Review achievements
Identify learnings
Discuss career goals
Agree actions

Question 22

How can performance management be improved?

Answer 22

Give feedback regularly
Train your managers
Avoid tick box exercises
Be aware of hidden agendas
Remember that it can work if done well

Question 23

Give a critical perspective of performance management

Answer 23

But what is the performance achieved?
How can you judge if you are getting good performance from employees
What measures could you employ?

Question 24

What do Bratton and Gold say about performance measures?

Answer 24

Measures are a crucial determinant of culture and what managers consider in their thinking (Bratton and Gold, 2012: 250)

Question 25

What is Kaplan and Norton’s balanced scorecard (2000)?

Answer 25

Customer
Financial
Internal business
Innovation/ learning

Question 26

What did Silverman et al (2005) say about the problems of performance management?

Answer 26

Effort in keeping line managers up to date with all the elements, so that they are able to understand and use them
Time implications to implement and maintain
Ability of HR to support all of the elements sufficiently and responsively
Do the benefits justify the effort?

Question 27

What do Fisher and Sempik say in Leopold and Harris, 2009:190 about performance management?

Answer 27

Performance management is often the vehicle for quelling anxieties and demands

Question 28

What is an issue with performance management according to Fisher and Sempik in Leopold and Harris, 2009:219)?

Answer 28

Not internally consistent

Question 29

What is an issue with having too many stakeholders in performance management schemes?

Answer 29

They want contradictory things

Question 30

What do Fisher and Sempik say in Leopold and Harris, 2009:184 in terms of the intention of performance management?

Answer 30

The role of performance management is to clarify managers’ roles but organisations are messy

Question 31

What does Buglear (1986) say about performance management?

Answer 31

Does performance management blind employees to the fact that they are being manipulated and exploited