The funny thing about most of the Human Resource terms is how ambiguous they sound to be but yet how clear the difference is between them .After writing about how training differs from development, here in I'll give an insight i learnt from my first two classes of fifth semester at FORE School of Management in Performance Management.Two words which are sometimes misunderstood as one, Performance Management System and Performance Appraisal.
Let's see a situation, a marketing manager has to appraise (for the annual appraisal ) his subordinates who work in the field and thus he has no supervision over the activities on day-to-day basis.He only knows that whether they have been able to meet the monthly target or not.So, he thinks that employee appraisal form is a pain in his neck and decides to give a good rating to all to make all his subordinates happy and keep them motivated.And, he also thinks whatever rating he gives they wont be rewarded.And, the appraisal form has variables that they cannot control.
So first i thought it was all about the performance appraisal form not properly made, the necessity and usefulness of the appraisal not conveyed to the managers adequately.And, ya the manager should keep a check on the employees day-to-day performance.But, after the first session i was actually able to look deeper into the systems problem in place.The system of performance management is not a one time (annual, quarter ) thing .The PMS system in the case was not on par of some of the two basic elements of a PMS , like it evaluated targets which were based on some uncontrollable factors (territory, product etc.) and it was done by the manager who had no insight of the employees day-to-day activity (SHOULD BE DONE BY ONE WHO OVERSEES THE WORK DAILY).And, ya no defined objectives (KRA's) for the employees to work upon apart from the sales target.
One easiest way to remember that PMS & PA are different is that PA is a part of the PMS process.Just like an employee has to go through various trainings for the development, similarly, PA is one of the step for maintaining current performance and improving on for future.
Through PMS we again try to build upon the competencies ( all the main activity of HR department revolves around competency building).PA identifies competence shown in the past on which you will get rewarded and PMS will further add one future orientation of building on where you lack or have potential.Though PMS is an HR process but the execution and control part is by the line supervisors ( HR only acts as a facilitator with periodic review "PRD's").The PA part of PMS though is the responsibility of HR department with the help of all employees. PA is that part of PMS which gives foundation for Training & Development and future KRA's.
PA is though a part of PMS but its like the backbone of PMS , PA can make or break a PMS.
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Can elaborate PMS components ... few examples will do :)
ReplyDeleteThe basic components of PMS are :
ReplyDelete• Performance Planning (includes employee goal setting / objective setting) - - For example, let’s say An organization X plans to recruit an employee for the position of R&D in IT manager ( a new post for the company ). The process starts from the first step that is the job analysis ( job description, job specification and job identification). Then selecting appropriate people with an appropriate selection process i.e. with right KSA’s. Further, negotiating requirements and accomplishments-based performance standards, outcomes and measure i.e. the KRA’s.
• Performance Monitoring –Monitoring the performance as per the KRA’s and the competence displayed on the job. Monitoring can be done daily .Assessment of performance is done as we know this is the Performance Evaluation .The Evaluation leads to Performance Appraisal i.e. Rewards and Recognition. Performance Appraisal also gives a detail of the competencies to work upon. In monitoring the employee can be given feedback on the spot for improvement.
• Performance Development –After the performance appraisal is done of the employee. As per the current competency level and the competency level required for the current or the future job ( the job which is to be performed in near future) a development plan of employees is made. Herein ,an employee’s areas of improvement are identified and a step by step plan is made to improve his performance. The development as we all know comprise of several trainings.
• Performance Summary -Summary is basically the feedback on the performance.
• And ,Performance Reward and recognition which is outcome to monitoring and summary directly
These were the basic components, but, different organizations have different names and different ways to subdivide the PMS cycle.