Week 22 - performance management

“Performance management is a process which 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 approach to leading and developing people, which will ensure that it is achieved,” Armstrong and Baron (2004).  By managing performance of staff, managers can easily see who is working well and who is not, therefore will be able to fix the problem. Performance needs to be measured in order to improve the organisation; “Involvement and motivation is likely to increase how productive employees are,” Locke (1968).

An appraisal refers to the classification of someone or something with respect to its worth; or an expert estimation of the quality, quantity, and other characteristics of someone or something (Anon, 2009).

Describe an appraisal you have had at work.  Was it effective?  What were the outputs of the meeting?

When I worked for Waitrose they carried out an appraisal every 6 months. This appraisal consisted of one of our line managers watching how we worked and tracking our progress. They would then complete a score card which scored us out of 5 for various factors relating to our jobs. When this was completed the line manager would organise a one-to-one meeting in which they would explain our progress, what we were doing well, and what we could improve on. This process was very effective as it allowed employees to have an understanding of how well they were working. The outputs of the meeting were that employees felt valued for what they had achieved and what they were doing well; but also felt motivated to improve on factors that they were deficient in.

Read the article on the next page from The Times on mentoring.  What skills do you think are required to be an effective mentor?

I believe that an effective mentor needs to be able to communicate well. They need to be able to give clear and concise advice to the people who they are mentoring, and be positive. They also need to be patient and be able to explain things until the person understands well. A mentor needs to have a lot of skill and knowledge in the subject that they are teaching, and they need to be confident; a person will only seek advice from someone who has credibility and knows what they are doing. Finally, I think that a good mentor needs to be able to give good feedback and constructive criticism; they need to be able to tell the person how they can improve and what they are doing wrong, but also what they are doing well to boost their confidence.

Identify someone from your college/uni, school, work, social life who has been a mentor to you.  How have they affected your life?

One person who has been a mentor to me in my life was my form tutor in secondary school. Each student had scheduled one-to-one meetings with our tutor so this regularity helped them gain trust, which is a step towards being a good mentor. My tutor helped me by asking me questions about various things, from my school work to how things were getting on at home; this made her a successful mentor as I felt I could open up and ask her advice on anything, even if it was not related to school. She also told me anecdotes about when she was at school, making it a less- formal chat. She has affected my life by giving me advice on a range of skills; she helped me become more confident by mentoring me on speaking aloud in front of many people.

Overall, I think appraisals and mentoring can be very effective. It gives employees a chance to ask questions and find out how well they are doing. Some people may argue that they are bad as faults are pointed out; however, I think this is a good thing because it can motivate people to improve themselves. I think if an appraisal is done correctly, and combined with reward; it can increase productivity and encourage employees to work harder.

References

Anon (2009) Word definitions. [Online] Available from: http://www.wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn [Accessed on 06/05/12]

Lock (1968) Goal setting theory. [online] Available from: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/256137?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=47698975244287

Chacko, T, 1983. Locke's theory of goal setting. Academy of management journal, vol. 26.