Developing and Managing Performance in an Organization - Term Paper Example

College: Developing and Managing Performance in an Organization Executive Summary This report contains a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the different challenges faced when implementing and developing performance management and reward strategy. It puts forward the Bath model elaborating on how it can be used for performance management; moreover, a reward strategy is also put in place indicating also its significance. Significantly, the report has also evaluated the different challenges that are known to initiate from implementation and proposed a number of ways that they can be countered so as to ensure that the strategic plan goes through to the end without any difficulties altogether. Introduction Over the years, there has been a lot of attention given on performance management and development with the demand for thorough information being actually intensified with the economic downfall. Human resources specialists have toiled to make sure that they keenly evaluate performance between relevant and fair measures putting most of their focus and efforts on essential aspects of any business. Essentially, the different efforts have circled around making sure that the processes are similar in temperament with the requirements of a changing breed of line manager, stream line the systems that are paper based and facilitate admittance through media. Nonetheless, most of the human resource strategies that have more experience are also focused in ensuring that managing the performance conveys in an environment where the evolution of numbers and effect on organizational brand and innovation is based on the ways of the business success. Concurrently, the report focuses on evaluating the challenges an organization may incur in putting it into place a performance and reward strategy using knowledge of the results past case studies and theories from different specialists on the field but mostly on human resources. Currently, the nature of work is altering with diverse organizations and corporations operating in more of a specialized network that is also flexible and natural; basically, the frequency of strategic partnering arrangements between organizations increasing the need for management relationships to be managed beyond the organization and hence further work is required. On the other hand, reward systems are also a critical part of any organizations design and how well they are compatible with the rest of the systems has an equal effect on to what extent they will be effectual and also on the quality of life that people will experience in the organization. There have been new reward systems practices becoming popular over the years in order to side with reward systems with significant changes occurring in the ways that organizations are designed and managed. Considerably, management begins by understanding the role of reward systems in organizations in correspondence to how its systems are designed after which significant focus is put into fitting reward systems and the high involvement of approaches to how the organization is designed and finally, consider the significance of pay system in large scale organization change efforts. Main Report A Case Study of Pentangelli’s (P’s) The management system in Pentangelli’s is surprisingly hectic with the tedious work being divided only among four people; for instance, Luca is expected to run six restaurants alone. Moreover, there are indifferences between the overall management with Jean and Tina disagreeing with Luca who is supposed to be the overall manager and director. Moreover, it is evident that there a lot of problems in the company especially when it comes to management especially after Sean was promoted and had ample difficulties in organizing his time as a manager and of those that he personally appointed. The current situation of the restaurant is worrying with the recent downfalls the company requires a management system that is a little bit more focused on ensuring that those branches that are already there are stabilized and made strong before thinking of creating others altogether; however, the most essential aspect that the collective company is in dare need of is implementing a performance reward strategy where the management team will have to work on translating the goals of the different employees into results. Moreover, through performance management they will be able to put attention not only on the employees individually but also through groups, programs, processes and the general organization. Pentangelli’s requires a well developed program that looks at personal and organizational matters that lie on performance so as to sustain a healthy and effective results oriented culture; basically, if the performance is effective it will assist the comprehensive company to raise individual performance, foster ongoing employee and supervisor development as well as increase overall organization effectiveness (Honey, 2006, 6). Concurrently, strategic planning is also a key requirement and it will be a critical step for the organizational. This is encouraged today due to the altering and significantly increasing demands for programs, products and services and it is also known to be essential for good governance: moreover, it is a disciplined effort of producing fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does and why it is done (Collville&Milner, 2011, 37). Upon formally forming the strategic plan, the management will have that task of making it effectual and to create results from it, this will require creating a link between the strategic plan and annual performance goals to the performance management program which will also facilitate the outcomes being tied to individual accountability. How Organizational Performance Management will Help The performance management will assist Pentangelli’s in; the assessment of the company’s current performance appraisal programs and practices, development of performance plans aligned with organizational goals, writing elements and standards that include credible measures of performance and design of performance rating metrics that effectively differentiate levels of performance, as the core aspects of the program. Additionally, in length the program will also facilitate the identification of critical job performance elements that define results to be achieved, design of reward systems linked to the company’s performance appraisal program, assistance implementing pay-for-performance systems, technology solutions to streamline the performance management processes, integration of performance management with the organization’s agency’s strategic planning, rewards, succession planning, and career development programs, workshops to train supervisors on performance management competencies such as setting goals, reviewing performance, and delivering feedback, facilitate strategic planning off-sites/retreats, assistance identifying organizational mission, vision, values, and/or strategic goals, and finally, development of an organizational performance program or strategic human capital plan to implement strategic mission and goals. Strategies to Implement A good example of a model that Luca could apply as part of the strategy is: The Bath Model In the implementation of this model the ‘key-players’ will be the line managers (Luca, Sean, Jean and Tina) and then there will be the employees and also the human resource department who will also be essential; however, it also advisable that a few stakeholders be included in the management performance and reward in Pentangelli. Appreciably, the employees are expected to adhere and work up to the objectives, raise significant issues especially those that they feel affects their welfare, ask for appropriate development and evolution on certain aspects that affect the organization, engage in self-development participation, and also enquire and keep the management updated in all the relative areas (Hutchison &Purcell, 2003, 12). On the other hand, the human resources department will be required to come up with strategies to facilitate good performance and reward policies and provide mechanisms that will keep record of the organization’s activities regarding the matter. Moreover, the human resources department is expected to illustrate best practice, train and develop managers, benchmark mostly using some the employees and support the overall process (Milsome, 2006, 12). In this situation, the front-line line manager, Luca, with the rest of the line managers Sean, Jean and Tina will have the responsibilities of setting the organizations objectives, regularly check up on all the activities, support and direct the employees and fellow colleagues, frequently review its objectives, evaluate the program, relate well with everyone, give feedback and seek for it when need be and most importantly act as role model through portraying good behaviour (Dalziel&Strange, 2007, 57). Reward System After everything is in place then they will have to include a reward system in their strategy. This system will include process design features that will include things such as communication policies and decision making practices that are critical since they reflect not only on the overall management style of the organization but influence how well reward system practices will accepted, understood, and how much commitment there will be to them. Significantly, the reward system will also include the reward system policies and structures (features that get most attention); they include pay delivery systems such as gain sharing plans, profit-sharing plans as well as administrative polices and a host of other specific organizational programs (Kochanski, 2008, 36). The reward systems are known to be effective to the degree that the core principles, processes and practices are in line and fit each other which will help Pentangelli’s to be more consistent as an organization, in everything that they fight for and do. Through this, how the reward system works will not be misunderstood, hence eliminating the failure to motivate the proper or required behavior. Challenges and How to Overcome them Basically, implementation is the core challenge of the strategic planning process since it involves attaining the objectives set out in the strategic plan while stayingwatchful and supple to new prospects as they open up (Suff, 2011, 7). In order for the implementation to be successful Pantengelli’s management should at first make sure that the strategic plan is robust; in the sense that it is realistic and solid in reference to the underlying economics of the organization’s market. Another step of countering the different challenges is avoiding common strategic plan implementation mistakes; considerably, the process of strategic planning may expose underlying conflicts within the organization and disrupt the flow of information and the ways they are made (Hassan, 2011, 108). The best way to eliminate this is overlooking the current operating problems or those that were encountered there or disallow them from affecting the long-range strategic planning. Some of the common mistakes that germinate from this include: management discarding the strategic plan, the strategic plan not being communicated to the front-line employees, managers being tied up in the day-to-day operating problems that they lose sight of the long-term strategic goals, the strategic plan is treated as a separate thing, and the management recoils from making tough choices that the strategic plan may call for. The best next step that could be taken to possibly eliminate some of these challenges is reaching out to the stakeholders; additionally, above everything management must communicate strategy clearly and regularly with the employees demonstrating a link between the business strategy and the business decisions as the front-line staff contributes to the whole idea. Appreciably, communication on the strategic plans acts as a bridge for the employee to ‘buy in’ and also creates a better comprehension of the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. Most people focus on the content of the strategic change whereas the key aspects are always about how the strategic change will be managed; definitely, if people don’t buy the underlying process of change management, it will fail. Moreover, one can measure how well the strategic plan is progressing through the key indicators such as revenues, gross sales and the number of new customers and then the strategic team makes the decision on what measurements can be the best if applied for the long term objectives and goals. Basically, the few aspects that can be measured are number of new customers, total new product sales, percentage margin, return on assets, return on equity, return on investment, market share, employee morale and customer satisfaction (Robson, 2009, 35). Relatively, another significant step would be monitoring the strategic plan; this step includes; making regular updates, challenge the underlying assumptions, create a champion (possibly employee) for every strategy and action, staying committed to the strategic plan, conducting short term strategy reviews and expand the skills of employees through training, recruitment or acquisition to include new competencies required by the strategic plan. Additionally, one may also decided to form the link between business strategy and sales strategy or even set strategic plan milestones that must be achieved within a specific time. Conclusion and Recommendations Generally, strategic planning is crucial to profitable business growth, but most companies and organizations typically become conscious only a little bit above half of their business strategy’s value in form of potential because of the challenges and downfalls in strategic planning and implementation; in other words, the opportunity value of getting your strategic plan execution right is huge. All the same, the best possible way that an organization, like Pentagallie’s can be able to overcome these challenges is by understanding them and making sure they follow the long-term strategic plan all the way, Bibliography Hutchison, S. and Purcell, J. 2003 Bringing policies to life: the vital role of front line managers in people management. Executive Briefing, London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.  Dalziel, S&Strange, J. 2007. How to Engage Line Managers in People Management: People Management.13 (19), p.56-57 Hassan, F. 2011.The frontline advantage: Harvard Business Review. 89 (5), p.106-114   Honey, P, 2006, Line Managers Need All the Help They Can Get, Especially When They Don’t Realize It. Organizationsamp; People. 13 (4), p.2-8 Milsome, S. 2006. Devolving HR responsibilities: are managers ready and able:IRS Employment Review. 842, p.9-16 Suff, R. (2011) Managing underperformance 2011 survey: line managers role.IRS Employment Review. Vol.1 (1), p.1-7  Colville, K. &Milner, D. 2011 Embedding performance management: understanding the enablers for change: Strategic HR Review.10 (1), p.35-40 Haines, V.Y. &St-Onge, S. 2012 Performance management effectiveness; practices or context: International Journal of Human Resource Management. 23 (6), p.1158-1175 Segal, J.A. 2010.Performance management blunders:HR Magazine. Vol.55 (11), p.75-78 Wolff, C. 2012.Aligning employee performance with organizational goals: 2012 XpertHR survey.IRS Employment Review. Vol.1 (1), p.1-7  Wollf, C. 2012 Training managers to combat underperformance: 2012 eXpertHR survey. IRS Employment Review. Vol.1 (2), p.1-13 Chartered Institute ofPersonnel and Development (CIPD),2012. Where has all the trust gone: London: CIPD Kochanski, J. 2008. Four key steps to performance management: Workspan. Vol. 51 (2), p.32–36 ROBSON, F. (2009) Evidence-based learning needs analysis: Employee Engagement Today. Vol.3 (1), p.45-46 Read More