Professional Documents
Culture Documents
HPW IES Duncan Brown Performance Management
HPW IES Duncan Brown Performance Management
HPW IES Duncan Brown Performance Management
attemptingtolinkperformancemanagementtostrategic
Performance review interviews as a rule are seriously business goals, improving the ratings process and
deflating to employees sense of importance and self enhancing the link to pay. Yet the majority of them
remained dissatisfied and had further changes planned,
worth. Not only is the conventional review failing to
mostofteninvolvingencouragingmoreregularfeedback
contribute, in many executives opinion it can do
anddiscussionandstreamliningtheprocess.
irreparable harm.
IES, Sovereign House, Church Street, Brighton BN1 1UJ, UK www.ieshr.co.uk askies@employment-studies.co.uk
strandsofHRpractice:talentmanagement,development, centmorestaffandtrainsabout20percentmoreappraisersis
reward and diversity in harmony behind sustained likelytohave1,090fewerdeathsper100,000admissions.
organisationalperformance.
But whatever the amount of this research showing that
Competencyframeworks,assessmentsofpotential,career effective performance management is indeed associated
management, personal development plans, 360 degree with effective management and high performance, few
feedbackandthedirectlinkagetopayhaveallcommonly employersseemtobetrumpetingtheirsuccessesinthis
beenaddedontothetraditionalhumbleappraisalsystem. field.Manyarestilllookingforhelpandinspirationasthe
Alongside the hope that all this could be achieved, the biggapsremainbetweenaspirationalpolicyandprocess
longstandingpracticalproblemsfirstnotedbyLikertin ontheonehandandtherealityofpracticeontheother.
his famous Harvard Business Review article apparently
remain about the skills and attitudes of reviewing TheadvancesintechnologyandHRinformationsystems
managers,theconsistencyandqualityofapproachacross may have put many HR approaches on line, but the
large organisations, the complexity of the paperwork fundamentalchallengesseemtoremain.IESsworkover
and value of outputs. These were the areas the CIPD the past 12 months looking at appraisal and the
conferencedelegatesoverwhelminglywantedtodiscuss Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) in the NHS
and the case studies presenting there considered, rather found that only around twothirds of nonmedical staff
thanthedesignfripperyofpaperworkandratingscales had actually had an appraisal meeting in the prior 12
thatissooftenthefocusoftheHRliterature. months. Overly complex paperwork and competency
dimensions topped the list of management and staff
PerhapsnotsurprisingthenthatoneHRdirectortoldme complaintsinourreviewseeFigure1.
whileIwasscopingoutanewIESresearchprojectonthe
subjectthat:
2 Performance Management
Researched and evidence-based performance in the process through the use of its
Compass scorecard. This framework encompasses five
Sohowcanthepromiseofperformancemanagementbe sets of performance criteria (people, quality, customer,
realised in practice and can these processes be financeandvision)andtheyformapartofeverymanager
implemented and operated successfully? How and how and employees performance management goals and
successfully are organisations aligning collective and rewards, acting as a framework to discuss performance
business priorities with individual goals and andhowtoimproveitateverylevel,fromtheindividual
performance?Hastheperformancemanagementprocess appraisalofthemostjunioremployeeuptoboardlevel.
and quality of performance conversations improved at Therolloutoftheapproachwasbackedbyanimpressive
all underneath the surface of scheme redesigns? And in arrayoftoolsandguidanceformanagersandstaff.
the aftermath of recession and budget cutbacks, are we
IheardattheirrecentPersonnelconferenceinNovember
seeingamovebacktosimpler,lessambitiousandmore
howTescosownSteeringWheelofcommonperformance
linemanagerandemployeeorientedapproaches?
criteria and measures similarly underpins how their
As another HR director told us when scoping out our stores operate and has been at the foundation of their
newIESresearchstudy: manyyearsnowofgrowthandfinancialsuccess.
Wevegonebacktobasics,cutbackoneverythingelse Aswellasgivingemployeesclearprioritiesandgoal,my
andsaid,firstandforemostitsaboutcommunications recent work in the NHS brought home to me as well,
andhavinggoodoneononeconversations. how successfullyoperated performance management
can also bring home to people the practical impact and
Inourlastmajorreviewoftheareain2001,wesimilarly meaningoftheorganisationsvalues.
concluded that the increasing complexity of systems is
provingtobeabarrieruserfriendlinessiskey:tohaveany
prospectofsuccessitneedstobeownedandmanagedbyline Manage the managers
managers. Belatedly it seems, more and more
organisationsareatlastrecognisingthis. HRdepartmentsneedtofocusmuchmoreontheirfront
linemanagerswhoenacttheirpolicyintentions,andthis
IES will be addressing these questions through its new isespeciallytrueinthefieldofperformancemanagement.
research study involving case study work in a range of Theliteraturereviewforourresearchhighlightshow,as
leading employers, designed to produce practical tools physical HR support has often been removed from
andguidanceinthisvitalarea.Inadvanceofthedetailed locations,linemanagershaveoftenbeenleftwithneither
findingsthough,contemporaryexamplesprovideplenty the required skills nor the support to implement
of clues, ideas and illustrations as to how organisations performance management processes effectively. HR
are breaking out of this performance management functionshaverespondedwithcontrolorientedattempts
impasse and producing truly meaningful and highly atsolutions,imposingratingcurvenorms(basedonthe
valuedperformancemanagementprocessesinpractice. distributioncurseasonelinemanagerrecentlyreferredto
theGaussiantool)andrefusingtodelegatepaydecisions
Sowhatatthisearlystageappeartobesomeofthekeys totryandensureconsistency,yetofteninducinganot
tosuccess?Iwouldhighlightthreeareastoattendto. inventedhereandblameHRresponsefromtheline.
4 Performance Management
Beesely J (2004), Making knowledge and skills pay Ereward (2005), What is Happening in Performance
within perioperative care. British Journal of Management Today? Part 1, survey findings. Research
PerioperativeNursing,Vol.14(6) Report32.
BorrillC,WestM(2003),EffectiveHRMandLowerPatient Grattan L, Ghoshal S (2002), Improving the quality of
Mortality,AstonBusinessSchool conversations,OrganisationDynamics,Winter
Coens T, Jenkins M (2000), Abolishing Performance Grint K (1993), Whatss wrong with performance
AppraisalsandWhattoDoInstead,BerrettKoehler appraisals:acritiqueandasuggestion,HRMJournal
Combs J, Yongmei L, Hall A, Kecthan D (2006), How Likert R (1959), Motivational approach to management
muchdohighperformanceworkpracticesmatter?A developmentHarvardBusinessReview,July,Vol37.
metaanalysis of their effects on organisational
performance,PersonnelPsychology,Autumn
IES is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Charity no. 258390 Institute for Employment Studies