Lecture 7

Lecture 7

1. Performance management

   • Performance cannot be left to chance! Need to manage it to ensure that business targets are being met especially through the individual
     • needs to be viewed as a chance to mutually commit and understand,can't just be about measurement otherwise employees will view it as the chance to fire someone and raise false expectations about pay. needs to be line manager driven and need to reward those who have done well
       • EG Atwater et al (2007) on multi-source feedback: the positive relationship between attitudes toward using the feedback and reactions emphasises that human resource professionals should understand the importance of paying attention to how they introduce and implement the MSF process in an organisation.
     • EG Adobe have cut voluntary employee redundancies by 30% since introducing a frequent check-in program (www.fastcompany.com)
   • A continuous process of identifying, measuring, developing performance of individuals and teams while aligning performance with strategic objectives
     • The systems didnt work when they first came out but now they have good feedback. Cyclic concept of Plan, Manage, Review, Reward,Renew.

2. Performance appraisal

   • designed by HR departments, have existed since 1950s, involve doing an annual overview of what the individual has achieved that year BUT seen as an admin exercise and can be archived
     • for a good one you need to put employee at ease, go through ratings, discuss if goals were achieved and clearly define next step

3. Theoretical bases

   • Goal-setting theory (Locke et al 1968) set goals to motivate employees and to define what is expected for them, feedback is essential
   • Expectancy theory: Vroom (1964) found that behaviour is linked to maximising pleasure and minimising pain. 1)Expectancy (eg if I put time in I will do good work) 2)Instrumentality (eg if I put hard work in I will get something out of this) and 3) Valence (person must prefer acheiving goal over not acheiving it)
   • Organisational justice: the perception of fairness in the organisation can be linked to Procedural (all practices are fair) Distributive (distribution of outcomes) and Interactional (eg quality of feedback recieved)