About This Product
In the increasingly competitive and complex business
world, a company's profit margin is often determined by how
effectively it utilizes and evaluates its employees. It could
even be said that the very survival of these organizations depends
on management's ability to make optimal use of a fair, reasonably
accurate, and objective performance evaluation system. Manuals
and guides for performance evaluation abound, I believe most
lack an integrated system which encompasses not only performance
appraisals, but the daily performance management as well.
This book, Performance Management, goes
beyond a simple discussion of the performance evaluation and
instead lays out the guidelines for effective management and
how to encourage optimal performance on an ongoing basis.
Every manager knows that employee productivity
directly affects company productivity; and one of a manager's
primary responsibilities is to assure that each employee works
as effectively and efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, many
managers do not realize the pivotal role that a comprehensive
performance management system can play in improving employee
productivity. This enhanced productivity in turn leads to greater
company-wide productivity and profit.
What is performance management? An effective performance
management system helps both managers and employees to work
smarter instead of harder to achieve productivity and profitability.
This book describes performance management, shows how effective
performance management can lead to increased profits and outlines
the manager’s role in the process, including: employee
development, setting standards, on-going monitoring and aligning
performance management with company goals.
This book gives managers quick and easy access
to the information they need each step of the way along the
path to implementing and maintaining a successful performance
management system.
Once you’ve read this book, you’ll
understand the purpose and benefits of performance management
systems, the components of these systems and the roles of the
manager, employee and the company. You will also have concrete
evidence of the success of such systems in actual businesses.
Outline:
Chapter 1: Understanding Performance Management
Good people make businesses successful. If you know this, then
you are on your way to understanding performance management.
A properly implemented and maintained performance management
system does more than just retain employees—it keeps people
motivated and productive. The system works because it is a continuous
collaboration of employees, and managers observing, giving feedback,
setting and evaluating goals, planning and coaching.
Chapter 2: Understanding the Job and Setting Standards
Chapter 1 explained the basics about performance management:
what it is, whose using it, why they’re using it, and
what happens if such a system is implemented poorly or not at
all. Use this chapter to begin implementing a performance management
system. The first step in implementing performance management
is to fully understand the employee’s job, so that appropriate
standards can be set for the employee.
Chapter 3: Ongoing Monitoring and Feedback
Once a position’s goals and standards have been defined,
the next step is to determine how these objectives can be evaluated.
If you know that your library cataloguers need to average 20
full entries per day, then you have a quantifiable goal. A cataloguer
who falls short of this requirement needs assistance, and since
the position has a standard and defined goal, the cataloguer
is less likely to resist guidance and training. Incorporating
performance standards into job descriptions enables managers
to exercise greater authority in regulating employee output.
It also ensures that employees understand the expectations what
is expected of them, which may reduce resistance to supervision
and constructive criticism.
Chapter 4: The Performance Appraisal
The performance appraisal itself is the part of the performance
management system that parallels the old employee review. Even
here, though, you will find that certain changes that will boost
the positive impact and long-term value of the appraisal procedure
to the employee and the company.
Chapter 5: Development and Compensation Programs
At this point you understand the concept and benefit of performance
management, and you know more about the steps involved in performance
management, including feedback and the performance appraisal.
The final piece to the puzzle is the development of your employees
and selecting the right system to link compensation to performance.
This chapter is placed last so that issues of reward and compensation
don’t get confused with performance evaluation, and so
that you have all the preliminary terms, definitions and concepts
in place before tackling the idea of employee development. In
practice, development should happen throughout the performance
management process, and compensation should be linked to at
least some parts of the performance management system.
Conclusion
Simply put, Performance Management systems pay attention to
people. The company realizes and communicates the value of people
resources, and of working together. Managers and employees take
this message and work together toward company goals. Employees
communicate what they think they should be doing, where they
see problems with their own performance or the attention or
feedback they get from the manager, and where the employee wants
to go. The manager gives the employee feedback, accepts feedback,
and removes obstacles or works out employee problems to ensure
productivity.
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