Performance Management in an organization

Managers in every firm are accountable for employee performance and frequently play an active role in managing it. Such managers can employ a variety of strategies, each of which is appropriate in different circumstances and for different purposes. Several of these actions are detailed below.

Coaching is meant to provide individuals with direction and instructions in order to assist them in meeting a specific goal. This performance management tool, which is used by managers to influence, encourage, or instigate change, can also be used to induct individuals into an organization. According to De Waal (2013), coaching can also be utilized to drive organizational change. Counselling refers to the provision of guidance to an individual, especially by a trained professional, geared towards the resolution of a given issue and achievement of a certain goals. De Waal (2013) notes that counselling is vital in business especially where a change process is being implemented and it helps one focus on the important aspects of such change.

Used mostly where an employee is proving to be errant, and methods such as coaching are proving unreliable, corrective action involves the communication of desirable ways of conduct and behavior in an organization, more so where the performance of such employee is concerned. This aspect of performance management seeks to manage quality in the organization (Shields et al., 2015) by preventing the recurrence of undesirable behavior. Progressive disciplinary plan on the other hand involves the imposition of increasingly stiffer penalties and punitive measures in order to manage employee compliance with organizational rules and regulations. This action follows sustained lapses in adherence to recommended desirable conduct.

A measure of the last resort in the management of performance, termination, asserts Goetsch & Davis (2014) refers to the discontinuation of an employee’s employment term or contract with an organization. This step is only taken after all the others have failed to bear the desired results and no improvement is seen in the conduct and/or performance of the employee in question.

References

De Waal, A. (2013). Strategic Performance Management: A Managerial and Behavioral Approach. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality Management for Organizational Excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., & Plimmer, G. (2015). Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, and Strategies. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.