Performance reviews and employee evaluation are factors to consider running the business smoothly. This paper focuses on the core competencies and strategies that managers must uphold to conduct performance appraisal. The paper critically examines the plans or strategies, employed by the managers to work together with the employees, monitor, and assess employee’s working aims and the general contribution to the firm. The purpose of this research is to lay a strong foundation and fundamental reasoning on the effects of performance management assessment. Modernization has changed human resource management in many companies, and therefore, there is the need to conduct a serious employee’s performance review to help create an organization with creative abilities and experience. The study will use secondary data to provide precise information on the effectiveness of performance appraisal. The study was conducted through interviews and questionnaires with employees, leaders and HR experts. Based on the theoretical approach there is a positive impact on performance management review. According to leading companies such as Google and Amazon, employees are very receptive to the performance review methods employed and it is a boost to their performance. The study will be of significance to various organizations, managers, consultants, investors, policymakers, entrepreneurs and employees.
Key words: performance management, competencies, fundamental reasoning, performance appraisal
Acknowledgements
I thank Almighty God for bringing me this far. During difficult moments of writing and compiling this research proposal, some several key people and institutions need to be acknowledged for their professional generosity and input, considering the time this research proposal has taken to come to fruition. I thank my mentor whose incisive leading and constructive critique of research proposal progress has been invaluable. My tutor has been remarkably patient, providing consistent guidance, comments, suggestions as well as helpful advice throughout this research proposal. My gratitude also goes to the employees and the management team of Google, Microsoft and Amazon companies Europe chapter for their constructive responses to interviews. My heartfelt appreciation goes to my family and colleagues for their continued support and teamwork in undertaking this research.
Table of Contents
Introduction. 5
Background Information. 5
Objective of Research. 5
The Scope of Research. 6
The Hypothesis of the Study. 6
Limitation of Study. 6
Outline of the Research Methodology. 7
What is Performance Management?. 8
How Do Organizations Work with Performance Management?. 8
Literature Review.. 10
Elements of Performance Appraisal 10
Methodology. 14
The Selection of Questionnaire Questions. 15
Table 2: Questionnaire questions. 16
Selecting Interview Questions. 16
Table 3: Interview research questions that were used. 17
Results, Analysis and Results. 18
Table 3: Questionnaire answers on how positive and receptive are the employees and leaders on the performance review processes. 19
Table 5: Interview results. 20
Conclusions and Recommendations. 22
Reference List 24
Figures/Diagrams. 26
Table 1: Structure of proposed chapters in the research. 26
Key Targets / Deadlines. 26
Reference Details. 26
Codes of Ethics. 27
Introduction
Background Information
Performance management is the focus to create a working environment or firm where people are allowed to contribute to an organization to achieve its goals based on their abilities. The introduction gives a brief explanation of the topic of research. It emphasizes on the sub-sections which provide vital information on the research topic. Performance reviews date back during the industrial revolution. It was a way of measuring company's efficiency and employees’ abilities. During the era, performance review was used to look for employees who were suffering the harm of not performing. It anticipated the negative perception of the report both to the employer and the employee (Certo 2015, p.130). They regarded as the yearly rite of passage that employers use to sieve the hardworking from the lazy ones. Since then, the world diversified to a better method or ways to conduct performance appraisal. Inappropriate application of performance management reviews can lead to resentment on the employees.
Objective of Research
The aim of the study is, therefore,
i. To determine whether there is a definite change in enterprise performance as well as the employees due to performance management review.
ii. To the methods used in conducting the performance review and how the impacts the general organizations’ outcome.
iii. To identify the challenges employees experience that otherwise challenges their commitment to the firm
iv. To determine the cost and any risks associated with the elimination review.
The Scope of Research
The scope of this study is to gather information from the secondary sources such as journals and the primary sources by conducting interviews with three leading companies. The paper extendedly focuses on the application of appraisal globally and in different sizes of organizations or different types of institutions. The rest of the article will purposefully provide the information gathered in the literature review, the methodology, results, analysis, discussions, conclusions and recommendations.
The Hypothesis of the Study
i. Conducting performance management will improve organizations’ capability of achieving its goals.
ii. Managers or stakeholders who work with passion and determination to achieve the firms' objectives always hold performance review to know their areas of the profession.
iii. People performance management enables transparent cascading of organizations goals to individual expectations.
Limitation of Study
i. Conducting people performance management is time-consuming and costly.
ii. Carrying out interviews to different corporations on performance evaluation can aid conflict of interests, and this interrupts the process.
iii. Religion and cultural dimensions can challenge the process.
iv. Most managers lack essential leadership skills and knowledge to conduct the function, and this can severely affect the business progress.
Outline of the Research Methodology
I will use both primary and secondary sources in this research paper. I will also employ the power of theoretical research to further the objective of this study. Interviews will be conducted with leading companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. Also according to research, administering questionnaires and observation, a statistical method will be considered. I will consult human resource experts and managers for additional insights on the topic.
Arrangement of Chapters
1
What is the meaning of performance appraisal management
This will expound on the meaning of the performance management in various perspectives and the balanced understanding of it on a global understanding.
2
How do organizations apply performance management in dealing with their employee's performance
By assessing how various performance factors have been put into play in many organizations such as Google and Amazon, what can be drawn about their differences and the feedback of the impact on employee performance?
3
What are the advantages of performance management as well as its cons?
Looking at the organizations stated above and from the theoretical research, what can we say about the advantages of performance reviews and what are otherwise negative sides of it.
4
What aspects of employee management can contribute to improved performance of employees?
From the research and feedback from employees, what are the aspects that they feel are motivating and de-motivating?
5
Conclusion
In conclusion, does Performance Management motivates employees to work hard? What are the highlighted factors in management that motivate the employees?
What is Performance Management?
Performance management is the process through which an enterprise creates a working environment or setting conducive to employees to perform their duties based on their abilities. It goes beyond mere worker’s evaluation at the end of the year. Gruman and Saks in their performance management review stated that it is one of the best tools any firm can use in determining employees' upward mobility in a company (Gruman and Saks 2013, p. 78). Though performance management has been adopted in many groups, it has raised different questions on its effectiveness to teamwork, promotions, training, remunerations, talent identification roles and responsibilities in an organization. It is about building a strong culture that drives the team into achieving their goals through proper management of employees. The common purpose of performance management review is to provide the know-how on how employees are performing, their level of skills and behaviors. Besides that, it is fundamental evaluating and organizing employees for better roles. It is also meant to design a system of promotions, demotions remunerations, and terminations.
How Do Organizations Work with Performance Management?
During the interviews of employees, one of them responded that he has been able to work well with performance appraisal since Amazon introduced it. He said throughout the implementation of the performance appraisal; they have been allowed to assess themselves by defining goals and scoring for themselves according to the level of achievement. Another one indicated that the employees who have taken the appraisals positively have found themselves moving up through promotions and remunerations (Aguinis and Glavas 2013, pp. 932-934). A human resource expert at Royal Human Resource consultancy firm indicated that there had been numerous discussions on the performance reviews. They said that on the hottest discussions are its values, developments, and adjustments of the organization need to accommodate it and the external market.
Literature Review
The literature review chapter of this research is aimed to provide theoretical and substantive findings on performance appraisal of employees in their enterprises. It is essential in the study since it forms its base. Theoretical frameworks and research evidence from scholarly articles provide critical information on people performance management. After contemporary research and analysis of the great works on workplace performance by HR managers and business experts, I found performance management review has various factors that need attention for the success of the company. Contemporary research, analysis and evaluation are found in many literary works across multiple disciplines of business management.
Elements of Performance Appraisal
The usefulness, positive experience and effectiveness of performance appraisal rest on various elements such as transparent evaluation process, evaluation review, and action plans and employee’s feedback (Skinner and Green 2010, p. 56). Performance assessment precipitates a substantial deal of suspicion and anxiety. The Amazon Company explained that the shift from leadership centered review to open appraisal solved the problem experienced with employees' performance. In their annual business journal, they reported that several factors need proper examination before deciding on its implementation. Based on this research, findings that are result oriented will foresee possible outcome of the assessment process.
Performance review was a diversification process demanded by management to change the employees for the betterment of its objectives (Bouskila-Yam and Kluger 2011, pp. 137-139). During this process, nothing that is debated in the evaluation should sound new to the employee. They indicated that the shortcomings experienced were due to holding problems and crucial issues until the end of the year. No employee could understand what was going on except some few management members. The findings propagated the leadership of the Amazon into redefining their objectives of the appraisal system. The old system had no proper feedback mechanisms. Employees could not understand anything to do with their management and review. It was a reserve for control, and this leads to premature attitude to the employees and hence creating room for negative performance.
The new system was open and flexible to provide accurate and definite results (Drucker 2017, n.p.). It consisted of space for employees’ feedback and their feeling on the working environment. This type of performance appraisal ensured the process was all-inclusive. The driving force of the research was to ignite a dominant force within the organization to increase their productivity. Although the study done by this agency offers the excellent indication of how bad elements can derail performance, it did not provide the exact time the research took as well as the resources used to carry out the research. Francon-Santos, Lucianett and Borne underpinned that measuring the employees' effectiveness in corporations is vital, and thus, there is the need to adopt performance appraisal system (2013, pp. 79-119).
According to Sarah Reed, who is the head of the Human Resource Consultancy firm in HRCI argued that time and resources determine the success or the failure of performance appraisal system. She defines performance appraisal as, ‘the process of measuring progress, goals, and rewarding performance of employees'. She further stated that performance management should be viewed as a multi-layered approach which factors in not only the labor strategy, but also the overall firm strategy. The urge to get the systems that give up to date feedback has pushed management into adopting real-time management systems for appraisals.
Drucker also addresses the negative side of reviews such as leniency, central tendency, and level rating. The manager should avoid employees’ classification in the traditional three levels. Moreover, statistical analysis and findings from other sources give the literature about the failures in reviews, rating employees according to their recent performance and not their overall performance in the workplace. The performance of an employee is time-oriented and a serious process that requires dedication and hard work. Thus, accurate measurement and evaluation must be done to obtain a real trend. The error experienced during this moment is called ‘recency error'. Drucker finally states that both leaders and employees may not necessarily be satisfied with the performance appraisal, but through consistent application and training, it will be considered as a useful and valuable tool for team performance.
Daley stated that in organizational behavior, performance management measures the expression and characteristics of employees (2012, pp. 120-125). It is, therefore, critical to ensure that employees know their performance challenges. He highlights how research has found the tendency of ‘form is filling' rendering the all exercise a waste of time.
Research by Harvard Business Review has shown that many companies have dropped performance evaluations. It does not mean that they will not evaluate employees, but the risk is which process are they going to implement? Will it be transparent? Will it be formal or informal?
It posted numerous questions and possibilities of raising a risk to employees and the performance of the firm. Promotions and remuneration increment must be there in companies, and therefore, it means that there must be a way of rating performance of an individual for upward mobility. Facebook, for instance, has a system where employees go through sessions of authors. They provide their feedback in real time and evaluations done in a considerable time frame. They argue that a real-time process is a feasible option for realizing success in the enterprise as opposed to the yearly manual review.
Google Inc. has followed the same direction to meet the company’s demands. Their employees can do self-appraisal depending on their individual goals. They evaluate themselves according to their expectations, thus making everyone focus on personal improvement. The collective result is the entire organization’s performance while feeling upward trend in their performance is due to the active and motivated workforce.
Performance evaluations in these companies are meant for fairness, transparency, and development. Google also has the same argument as Amazon that constant feedback is essential in making informed decisions affecting their companies. While experts have used experience, research, and culture to determine the directions of performance appraisal, some are specific to their context and do not apply to other organizations (Mullins 2017, n.p.). It is not objective in research to implement the entire research results.
Methodology
The research paper is a product of secondary and primary sources. Secondary sources such as books, journals, and business reviews provided important information on the effectiveness of the performance review process to any company (Osland and Turner 2013, p. 23). All secondary sources are scholarly articles and other published sources. They also include materials from groups such as Corporate Executive Board (CEB), Human Resource Societies and Harvard Business Review. There are other publications’ resources such as Management of Human Resources written by Derek, Laura, Hal, and Torrington published by Pearson.
The secondary research focused on the publications from other scholars or writers who had earlier researched in this field. They sufficiently gave detailed information on management review and how substantive was the employee’s assessment of the development of a business. However, some critical sources could not be accessed due to security options availed by the publisher or writer. The articles used were from Harvard Business Review, Forbes magazine, Corporate Executive Board, Amazon Reviews, Business Journal and Google Corporate news. It was wise to combine the two categories of sources to apply the theoretical concepts in a practical situation (Certo 2015, pp. 134-138).
The performance review is challenged on many findings in these resources. The high profile corporations getting rid of the performance reviews have faced interrogations based on its rationale to ensure adequate performance. It is a challenge that needs attention and strategized procedures to emancipate workers review. How they reward, remunerate and promote their employees cannot be understood for lack of a transparent system. The application of the findings of these sources may not, however, be made directly since different enterprises have deferent cultures. For instance, Google through their annual reviews in the business journal (Drucker 2017, n.p.) highlighted the use of self-assessment as a method for appraising employees. They stated that employees should have the priority gauge themselves to firms’ progress.
Most of the employees can decide to indicate information that favors them in the forms, especially when the result of appraisal is a good reward. No one can choose to put negative remarks on his or her appraisal form. However, some companies have culture and traditions for conducting self-evaluation. Lichtenthaler argued that the self-appraisal mechanism is excellent and sufficient only if it works by submission rules (2013, p. 82). Therefore, for some content picked in secondary resources, it is good to study the nature of your organization before implementing them.
There are other shortcomings of secondary resources as shown below:
i. Biased managers
ii. Improper timing and application of the contents
iii. Inappropriate implementation of the performance review due to lack of experience personnel in some organizations
Cultural impediments stood out to be the most challenging part of research. According to Landy, Zedeck and Cleveland (2017, p. 89), interviewing one organization gave a perception of cultural ‘group think'. In most of the documented journals and reviews, the HR managers gave subjective answers as opposed to objective ones who were supposed to guide research. However, in our secondary resources, most of the answers that they gave in peer review journals are accurate and informative enough.
The Selection of Questionnaire Questions
According to Mullins (2017), the choice of subjects for questionnaires is pegged on the need to find out how ready the employees and leaders are to embrace performance review. Most questions have been raised to know employee’s attitudes and thoughts about the future of the review process.
The following questionnaire questions were defined to provide data for analysis:
1
What do you think about performance review in your organization?
2
Are you satisfied with how it has been implemented?
3
What are the views of your colleagues on the same?
4
What do you think about the future of the performance reviews?
5
Do you feel the changes and constraints in the process can be eliminated soon?
6
What is the attitude of the leaders in performance review?
Table 2: Questionnaire questions
One of the shortcomings of this method was that many respondents could be biased on how they fill the questionnaires. Some just do it for convenience while others do it because colleagues are doing it. The other possible disadvantage was the lack of personal appeal. You cannot read the moods and feeling of the respondents through the answers in the spaces left. The process of administering the questionnaires was however successful and the respondents were positive about the process.
Selecting Interview Questions
Harvard Business Review (HBR) perceived Interviews as the set of structured questions administered to respondents called interviewees in face-to-face meeting with the interviewer. Through this process, they assess behavioral appraisal, traits evaluations and outcomes appraisal to avail sufficient information of the review process (DeNisi and Smith 2014, pp.127-179). The activity starts by determining what issues can give the right indication of the trend of research variable. For instance, the attitude of employees is one of the variables that I was looking for. The questions which center on this were favored. The subjects also allow for the consideration of various opinions were also chosen. The following issues appeared in the interview as a set of questions.
1
Do you feel the organization is doing enough to ensure full implementation of review process?
2
Are there feasible ways of improving employees and management attitude towards the process?
3
What do you think is the way forward in improving management performance review in your organization?
4
What do you think about the introduction of trainings for performance reviews?
5
How do you feel about common performance reviews done in one meeting?
Table 3: Interview research questions that were used.
The last method that I employed is the power of observation. As I went throughout the company branches of Google, Amazon and Microsoft, I found out that the supervision of employees is something of the past. Employees fill their performance appraisal forms on their own. They always stay positive and determined to deliver to their organizations, despite the long working hours per day. Employing observation skills could also help management to understand their employees and respond to their needs on regular basis. Osabiya in his ideology (2015, p. 70) stated that, carrying out an effective performance appraisal, one must incorporate simple, viable and the right observation skills. Generally, the research methodology employed is in tandem with current research procedures and methodologies to find answers to research question.1.
Results, Analysis and Results
The process of interviewing employees and overall research study was the aggregate consideration of the types of materials and the personalities we had to meet. Various responses were appealing and gave a perspective on performance review. The leaders who dedicated their time also ensured that the results to be collected were not biased, but the accurate ones to provide a relevant conclusion (Drucker 2017, n.p.). The structure of the research contained all the stakeholders and employees present to give a report review and evaluation respectively. The leaders' understanding of factors such as mobility, initiatives, strategic thinking, business results as well as living values through leadership is through a grid box.
From the respondents to the questionnaires the results were as follows:
Questionnaire Question
Number of respondents
Those who have positive views for the Performance Review Process (PRP)
What do you think about performance review in your organization?
50
45
Are you satisfied with how it has been implemented?
50
30
What are the views of your colleagues on the same?
50
40
What do you think about the future of the performance reviews?
50
40
Do you feel the changes and constraints in the process can be eliminated soon?
50
30
What is the attitude of the leaders towards the performance review?
50
25
Table 3: Questionnaire answers on how positive and receptive are the employees and leaders on the performance review processes
From the questionnaire, positivity result, leaders and employees’ attitude, it is that most employees are receptive to the idea. Three-quarters of the population constituting 80% agree that constant performance review can elevate their performance. However, 40% of them do not agree with overcoming review challenges any sooner. To mean they are pessimistic about it. The respondents through their intuition said that many managers have the negative attitude and never trust the process. About 50% percent of them do performance review as a formality and not in the will to improve firms’ viability.
The firm’s ability to rate potential workers was challenging and managers could not make critical decisions due to lack of confidence. There was a definite missing link in research primarily in giving feedbacks for management reviews. There was evidence that providing a critical thought to the worker's feedback was a problem on the employees’ side. Thus, it needs proper training for them to understand and apply the same.
Question
Respondents with positive remarks about the process (%)
Do you think the organization has strategized options to ensure full implementation of review process?
60
Are there viable options of improving employees and management attitude towards the process?
50
What is your ideology on how to improve people’s management performance review in your organization?
80
What do you think about the introduction of trainings for performance reviews?
95
How do you feel about common performance reviews done in one meeting?
90
Table 5: Interview results
After conducting a successful interview on the people’s management performance on various ends, most of the respondents were subjective to help get the statistics on multiple organizations’ performance evaluation. The interviews revealed a direct relationship between the documented facts in publications such as Harvard Business Reviews and the events from primary sources (Caplli and Tevis 2016, n.p.). The results shown in the table above shows that respondents are positive about the introduction of training and general meetings with 95% and 90% positivity respectively.
The general research revealed backwards-looking management reviews across many organizations with the same recommendations on training. The results also showed that the aspect of feedback still lacks with many interviewed employees confessing that, this is a major throwback to the enterprise. Communication is significant for the betterment of the business, and if feedback is lacking, there is a gap in communication (Grote 2013, p. 34). Many reviews will not be done with the same system. They are improved in various companies to accommodate feedback. The overall failures in performance reviews reduce the positive impact on employees' performance in an organization.
Leaders and peers hold meetings to do calibration questions. The results across queries were valued adding which also bore quality discussions. Follow up done to find out whether the HR was applying the outcomes to organizational actions lacked much effort by the team to do the same. The few who have translated issues to real operations in their organizations have realized the positive outcome. These could be in areas such as talent identification, feedback accommodation, and awareness programs. The new actions are sometimes hard to implement primarily in organizations which had different cultures and traditions.
Mobilizing that action is taunting on the HR teams. Since time is a factor, the debate majors on the effectiveness of performance appraisal. There is lack of projecting to the future with the same enthusiasm as the one of looking back. Feedback to the employees is also encouraged. Many leaders during interviews argued that there is more to be gained in PRP. They also believe that the resources deployed for the process are of high value than the benefit of the process. The system also relied on numerous factors leaving a small room for top performers. High performers always would like to be recognized an aspect that the current system will not allow because of the broad scope of factors to be evaluated. At Amazon, for instance, the PRP was introduced. The positive adoption of this led to improved performance. They increased the campaign of awareness and fair process. It also showed the biases that human beings could have. Relatively, employees are encouraged to resume their professional roles by applying for jobs based on their experience and understanding.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Appraisals of employees can be of great value in the consortium. It is one way of telling them how appreciated they are in their work. The appreciation of an employee will make him put more efforts to yield more results next time. The evaluation also helps to pinpoint areas where employees are lacking. The assessment will provide an avenue on the best ways ideal for improving on organizations’ performance. The appraisal can be a crucial factor in the achievement of both the worker and the workplace. If only biases in reviews can be overlooked, the performance reviews will drive the team to the fantastic performance. Appraisals can provide that enterprises can meet their strategies in a very competitive world.
The time factor in research proofed to be challenging. Conducting all interviews was procedural and thus time-consuming. The subjective feedbacks were also an impediment to sound research. The HR managers gave feedbacks in line with their thoughts. This was challenging because it needs an extra processing mechanism to infer some of their assertions. The number of companies conducted was leading lack of confidence with the data collected to give satisfactory conclusions on the process. Insights from other businesses proposed for data comparison with other multinational enterprises. There was also a need to performance review process across some groups with different sizes’ location and culture to experience the difference in the PRP implementation. Some of the performance factors from some companies were also confidential. They are known as marketing secrets, and hence they could not be revealed. Other aspects of confidentiality involved elements which can expose an organization in bad faith.
However, the research process yielded some outstanding results which can help us to plan well for the review process. Personally, I believe that all companies will be able to implement PRP for the benefit of their progress.
The key word in implemen
