LEARNING GUIDE #03

Supporting Performance Management Process

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
LO1: Review performance management infrastructure
LO2: Promote performance management system
LO3: Collate performance management data

LO1: REVIEW PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT INFRASTRUCTURE

1.1. Ensure that all positions have current position descriptions specifying key
requirements of the role
Position descriptions
It may also be termed, or include:
• Duty statements
• Role
 Duty
1) A moral or legal obligation.
2) A task required as part of one's job.
• Job specifications
• Role statements
 Role
1) An actor's part in a play, film, etc.
2) A person's or thing's function in a particular situation.
Praising the office worker’s performance
The word performance refers to the degree of accomplishment of the tasks forming the worker’s
job. It indicates how well a worker is fulfilling the job demands. Performance is often measured
in terms of results. For instance, a student may use plenty of efforts while preparing for the
examination but may get a poor grade. In such cases, the effort spent is high but performance is
low. Performance appraisal is the ongoing process of evaluating employee performance. It is
also known as performance evaluation.
You should not be confused performance evaluation with job evaluation. Performance
evaluation (appraisal) is an overall study and analysis of how well someone is doing a job that is
assigned to her/him, not the job the employee is holding. Job evaluation, on the other hand,
refers to the determination of how much a job is worth to the organization and, therefore, what
range of pay should be assigned to the job. Therefore, performance appraisal is not the same as
job evaluation.
The information obtained from performance appraisal may be used for various purposes. Some
of these purposes are the following.
1. To make such decisions as salary increment, promotion, transfer, or demotion.
2. To increase the worker’s morale and self-improvement.
3. To discover workers’ needs for retraining programs.
4. To provide tangible basis for terminating unqualified office employees.
5. To facilitate assignment of work according to the ability of the worker.
Methods of Appraising Employee Performance
There are many performance appraisal methods. Some of the commonly used methods are
presented below.
1. Rating Scale Method: Under this method, factors dealing with quantity and quality of work
are listed and rated
2. Narrative or Essay Method: In this method the rater provides a written paragraph
regarding employee’s strengths, weaknesses, and potential.
3. Management by Objectives method: Management by objectives, also known as goal
setting, method is one in which a number of short-range objectives that are within the
capabilities of the worker are established.
4. Ranking (Grading) Method: Under this method, all employees are classified by rank as
best, second best, third best and so on throughout the entire group. Employees are ranked
(evaluated) on their over all usefulness and value to the organization, not on their
performances, traits, qualifications, or characteristics.
5. Forced Distribution Method: Under this method, employees are rated on two qualities—
job performance and promo ability. A five-point job performance scale (such as outstanding,
very good, good, fair, and poor) is also used.
Poor
1.2.1. Frequency of Performance Appraisal
Performance may be appraised in two ways: formally or informally. Informal appraisals are
conducted whenever the supervisor feels it necessary. However, formal appraisals are conducted
on a regular basis, say for instance, every six months or annually. During the new office
worker’s probationary period, or during the first year of a new job, appraisals are often made
more frequently.
1.2.2. Who Should Appraise Employees?
The appraiser (rater) may be any person who has complete knowledge about the job content,
contents to be appraised, standards of contents, and who observes the employee while
performing a job. The typical appraisers (raters) are supervisors, peers, subordinates, employees
themselves, and/ or users of the service.
Performance evaluation is a method of evaluating the behavior of employees in a work place,
normally including both the quantitative and qualitative aspect of job performance.
Characteristics of Performance Appraisal:
The following are the characteristics of Performance Appraisal
1. A Process: Performance appraisal is not a one-act play. It is rather a process that involves
several acts or steps.
2. Systematic Assessment: Performance appraisal is a systematic assessment of an employee‘s
strengths and weakness in the context of the given job.
3. Main Objective: The main objective of it is to know how well an employee is going for the
organization and what needs to be improved in him.
4. Scientific Evaluation: It is an objective, unbiased and scientific evaluation through similar
measure and procedures for all employees in a formal manner.
5. Periodic Evaluation : Although informal appraisals tend to take place in an unscheduled
6. manner (on continuous) basis with the enterprises a supervisors evaluate their subordinates
work
7. and as subordinates appraise each other rand supervisors on a daily basis, yet the systematic
(i.e., formal) appraisal of an individual employee is likely to occur at certain intervals
throughout that person‘s history of employment (say quarterly, six monthly, annually, etc.)
8. Continuous Process: In addition to being periodic performance usually is an ongoing
process. It means that appraisals are regularly scheduled and are not dumped on the
employee on whimsical dates without relevance. The process has not been broken in person‘s
history of employment however, the periodicity of appraisal may be changed as per needs of
the situation.

1.3. Promoting
Promotion refers to reassigning of higher-level job to an employee than what s/he is performing
at present, the delegation of greater authority and responsibility than what s/he has had before the
delegation, and a corresponding increase in salary for the higher level job and delegated
authority and responsibility. If promotion is without an increase in salary, such promotion is
called dry promotion. Promotion may also be temporary or permanent depending on the
organizational needs and/or employee performance.
1.4. Check that performance appraisal meetings are held in accordance with organizational
timeframes, that correct documentation has been completed and that all necessary
parties have recorded agreement
Performance Appraisal
• The identification, measurement, and management of human performance in
organizations.
Performance appraisal meetings
It may consider:
• Any qualitative or quantitative measurement of performance
• Data from tailored software
• Feedback from peers, reports, customers or clients
• Key performance indicators
• Perspectives of the manager and the person being review
1.5. Check that appropriate organizational procedures have been followed for rewarding
good performance
What is Rewards?
It may include:
• Bonuses
• Incentives
• Salary packaging opportunities
• Non-monetary rewards such as workshop, training, etc.
• Salary increment

LO2. PROMOTE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (14 Hrs)

2.1. Clarify goals and methods of the performance management system

Aims and objectives
The aim of this unit is basically to enable you identify office problems and how to solve them in
a more scientific way. It is also to make you aware of the major administrative office
management problems and office personnel problems related to physical and mental well-being
and job attendance and retention.
After studying this unit, you will be able to:
 Define problem.
 Explain the concept of productivity and its dependence on adequate problem solving in
the office.
 Identify steps in the problem solving process.
 Illustrate how the problem-solving process can be applied to various types of problems in
the office.
 Identify the major office personnel problems that affect workers’ physical and mental
well-being.
 Identify office personnel problems related to job attendance and retention.
  Calculate the rate of absenteeism and turnover for an organization.
2.2. Address any questions from employees about the performance management system
When a department or unit evidences a situation of poor performance, increase in conflict, failure
of management system, poor service, reduced output, increased absenteeism, high turnover, and
the likes, it is usually an indication of the existence of a problem. The process by which an
attempt is made to diagnose the systems and causes of the problem, to collect and analyze
relevant data, developing alternative solutions, choosing the best solution among the alternatives
developed, and finally applying the best solution to the problem is called problem solving.
Definition of Problem
For effective management, it is essential to first diagnose the nature of the problem before
finding and applying its solution. For example, provision of poor service or defective production
may be due to inadequate skill, faulty material, inefficient machine and the likes. Each of the
problems, therefore, requires a separate solution.
In order to understand the concept of problem easily, let us see some of the common ways the
problem may be defined.

A problem may be defined in two ways: (1) in specific way and (2) in general way. In specific
way the problem may be defined as a question to be answered. Examples of such a question are
indicated as follows.
 How can the speed and accuracy of the typist be improved?
 How well is the communication between management and employees?
 In what departments can office-operating costs be reduced?
In a general way the problem may be defined as the difference between the present and the
desired state. In a similar way, a problem may also be considered as the difference between the
known (present state or condition) and the unknown but desired. Figure 3-1 below shows a very
general form of this fact.
Problem solving and Productivity
As you may recall, problem solving is the process of identifying causes of the problem,
collecting and analyzing relevant data, developing alternative solutions, choosing the best
solution among the alternatives developed, and implementing the best solution to the problem.
Productivity refers to the difference between the value of inputs--resources used by a business
organization (such as labor, capital, machinery and equipment, and raw materials) and output
(what the same business organization obtains from using those resources).

Since some years ago, as many researches studies indicate, there has been a dramatic shift in the
activities of office workers from manual clerical work to data processing and related automation
services. Together with this shift, there comes also an increase in salaries, cost of space, and cost
of energy, which in turn raise the cost of office operations. This shows that unless there are more
than corresponding increases in the output, the organization will cease to operate.
The problem solving process
Our environment is full of problems and, therefore, problem solving is a universal action. In a
business organization, managers, supervisors, or subordinates usually face problems. These
problems may be small or large, personal or social, and may be cultural, economical, or political.
For example, problems related with achieving high levels of accuracy in office correspondence
may develop from lack of proper skill, interest, and attitude.

Usually, most problems do not come to the office manager with identification signs, in properly
arranged, and in a ready-to-be-solved form. Because of such conditions, office managers should
identify the problem and try to solve it following unbiased, systematic, and logical approaches.
Such an approach ensures the development and implementation of the most appropriate solution.

Though problems are varied in nature and type, the process of the scientific way of solving
problems remains the same. The nature of the problem must first be understood and that
understanding should be turned into action after complete and accurate information about the
problem has been gathered.

Basic Elements of the Problem

Before a problem can be defined in clear form, all the basic elements of the problem must be
identified. These elements are the factors required in stating what the problem (or the condition
requiring improvement) is.
The principal elements causing problems in the office are:
1. Personnel (including the decision of the problem solver),
2. Space in which the office work is done,
1. machines and equipment,
2. time provided for completing the office work,
3. systems and procedures needed to perform the work (including controls and standards),
and
4. Other resources, including capital, psychological environment, and the information
available for performing office work.

2.3. Arrange or deliver training or instruction in how to use the performance management
system
Training
Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skill of employees for performing a
particular job. Because training is a short-term educational process, it should be systematic and
enable trainees acquire the necessary knowledge and skills for a specific purpose.

Training has no value unless it helps in achieving organizational objectives by contributing to

better performance. Therefore, training should help an organization to attain its objectives
directly or indirectly: directly by increasing productivity, improving the quality of work, and
reducing cost; and indirectly by improving the skills, knowledge, experience and attitudes of
workers and by offering them better chances for promotion.
Goals of Office Training Program
Office training program refers to the kind of training to be offered to office employees in a given
organization. The broad goals of office training programs are:
1. Initial training: This is the provision of training to office employees in order to quality
them for entry-job assignments.
2. Upgrading training: Providing training to office employees who are already in an
occupation to improve their knowledge and skills in that occupation.
3. Retraining: This refers to the training of office workers who are assigned to a new job. For
example, training of one who is formerly a typist as a filing clerk.
4. Supervisory training: This is training given to qualify office employees for the added
responsibilities and challenges of higher positions.

The goals of office training programs are derived from what is actually required for job
performance. These goals must be clearly defined, understood, and clearly communicated to
trainees. Besides, each unit of instruction should be based on the knowledge and skills possessed
by the trainees before the training program is started. Trainings are given based on the office
training program. To make the training effective, it should be offered using a systematic way.
What steps should, therefore, be followed for training?

2.4. Encourage ongoing and regular feedback on performance as well as formal

performance appraisals
Effective and timely feedback is a critical component of a successful performance management
program and should be used in conjunction with setting performance goals. If effective feedback
is given to employees on their progress towards their goals, employee performance will improve.
People need to know in a timely manner how they're doing, what's working, and what's not.
Feedback can come from many different sources: managers and supervisors, measurement
systems, peers, and customers just to name a few. However feedback occurs, certain elements are
needed to ensure its effectiveness.
Specificity
Feedback works best when it relates to a specific goal. Establishing employee performance
expectations and goals before work begins is the key to providing tangible, objective, and
powerful feedback. Telling employees that they are doing well because they exceeded their goal
by 10% is more effective than simply saying "you're doing a good job."
Timeliness
Employees should receive information about how they're doing as timely as possible. If
improvement needs to be made in their performance, the sooner they find out about it the sooner
they can correct the problem. If employees have reached or exceeded a goal, the sooner they
receive positive feedback, the more rewarding it is to them.
Manner
Feedback should be given in a manner that will best help improve performance. Since people
respond better to information presented in a positive way, feedback should be expressed in a
positive manner. This is not to say that information should be sugar-coated. It must be accurate,
factual, and complete. When presented, however, feedback is more effective when it reinforces
what the employee did right and then identifies what needs to be done in the future. Constant
criticism eventually will fall upon deaf ears.
LO3. COLLATE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT DATA (15 Hrs)

3.1. Review performance management documentation to establish trends or problem areas

which require attention
Goals of Office Training Program
Office training program refers to the kind of training to be offered to office employees in a given
organization. The broad goals of office training programs are:
5. Initial training: This is the provision of training to office employees in order to quality
them for entry-job assignments.
6. Upgrading training: Providing training to office employees who are already in an
occupation to improve their knowledge and skills in that occupation.
7. Retraining: This refers to the training of office workers who are assigned to a new job. For
example, training of one who is formerly a typist as a filing clerk.
8. Supervisory training: This is training given to qualify office employees for the added
responsibilities and challenges of higher positions.

The goals of office training programs are derived from what is actually required for job
performance. These goals must be clearly defined, understood, and clearly communicated to
trainees. Besides, each unit of instruction should be based on the knowledge and skills possessed
by the trainees before the training program is started.

Trainings are given based on the office training program. To make the training effective, it
should be offered using a systematic way. What steps should, therefore, be followed for
training?
The Training Cycle
For training to be effective, it should be done in a systematic way. Following the steps presented
below will make the training fruitful.

Conducting a Needs Assessment: Before any training is conducted, it is important first to

determine the training needs of employees. That is, one should answer the question ‘is training
really necessary?’ To determine the training need, the common need assessment methods used
include observation, interviews, tests, questionnaires, and written reports from employees.

The training needs may be either for new employees (initial training) or for existing employees
(upgrading, retraining, and supervisory training). That is, training needs differ depending on the
goals of the training program.
To train new employees, the specific skills that employees need must be identified. To
determine the training needs of existing employees however, first determine the experiences,
abilities, attitudes, and knowledge needs for job performance to the standards level (DESIRED
STATE). Next, conduct an inventory of experiences, abilities, and knowledge of the employees
through any of the assessment method (observation, interviews, tests, questionnaires, and written
reports from employees)(PRESENT STATE). Then, compare the standards (DESIRED STATE)
with actual performance (PRESENT STATE). The difference between the two states usually
indicates the need for training. Once the need for training is determined, continue to the next
training step (step 2).

Setting training Objectives: Any training program must have well defined objectives in terms
of performance. Therefore, specific training objectives that help to eliminate the difference
between the present job performance (PRESENTSTATE) and expected job performance
(DESIRED STATE) must be identified. Some of the ways that specific training objectives may
be stated are:
 By the end of the training period, participants will type a minimum of 40 words per minute.
 By the end of the training period, technicians will be able to assemble 15 sets per hour.
 By the end of the training period, receptionists serve an average of 25 customers per hour.
Preparing for the Training: In order to conduct the training effectively and efficiently, it is
also necessary to consider such factors as subject content of the training material, training
session schedules and locations, instructors, trainees, and training methods.

Evaluate and Measure Training Results: By the end of the training program, it is important to
evaluate and measure the results of the training to determine whether or not training objectives
are achieved. In other words it is necessary to check whether the training eliminates the
difference between the DESIREDSTATE and the PRESENT STATE. If so, the training is over, if,
however, not, training should continue until the objectives are met or take the necessary
corrective action if workers cannot meet the standards set. Some of the mechanisms that may be
used to check the attainment of training objectives are:
 reaction from trainees and trainers.
 use of tests to measure facts or skills learned.
 observing changes in job behavior.
Communicating the Training Results: The results obtained from the training should be
communicated to such interested groups as developers of the courses and instructors, managers
or supervisors, trainees, and other interested parties.

Principles of Training
As you may recall, principles are general statements widely considered to be true. Like that of
principles of organization, there are also principles of training. Therefore, a number of training
principles have been developed over the years. These principles can be followed as guidelines in
training. Some of the training principles are explained as follows:
1. Motivation: As you may recall from your study of Administrative office management I,
when employees are motivated, they are eager and have the desire to work. Similarly,
trainees will be eager and have a desire to learn more when they are motivated. In other
words, trainees strive to acquire new skills and knowledge quickly when s/he is motivated.
Thus, training must be directed towards the desires of the trainee. Such elements as more
wage, better job, better status, etc may be sited as motivators among others.
2. Necessary Information: As various research studies indicate, trainees learn the right kind of
information more rapidly and effectively than they learn any other kind of detailed
information. Therefore, the trainer should not busy the trainee with excessive information.
In order to maintain the interests of trainees, it is necessary to provide trainees only with the
right kind of information.
3. Reinforcement: Trainees learn new skills and knowledge when they are reinforced. The
reinforcement could be either positive or negative. Examples of positive reinforcements are
promotion to higher levels, rise in pay, praise, and the likes. Examples of negative
reinforcements are punishments, demotion, threats of dismissal, decrease in salary, and
similar others.
4. Practice: Continuous practice is necessary for effective learning. Office trainees should be
given an opportunity to practice their job tasks with relevant learning materials. For
example, a typist who is being taught to operate the typewriter should be provided with the
necessary material and sufficient time to practice her /his learning.
5. Whole versus Part learning: To determine whether learning by parts or by whole is the
most efficient approach to learning a task, the nature of the task must be first studied.
Recognition of Individual Difference: In planning training programs, the office supervisor
should give special attention to the intelligence, aptitudes, and interests of trainees.
Differences in individual ability must be recognized in order to create a learning situation
that will allow each trainee to learn at her/his own speed. However, the cost of training must
be taken into account for individual training is costlier when compared with group training.
Trainees should, therefore, be grouped according to their common features of capacity to
learn.
Factors to consider in promotion decisions
Many organizations take seniority (length of service) in to account when making promotion
decisions concerning office jobs. However, seniority is not the only factor to be considered.
When making promotion decisions for office jobs, the following factors are usually given more
consideration than seniority.
1. Ability to perform the work.
2. Previous work record.
3. Previous experience or education.
4. Recommendation of supervisor or department head.
5. Successful promotion interview.
Management of office employees is a continuous process. First the candidate is recruited and
selected for the post. Next, s/he is placed, oriented, and trained based on the needs of the
organization. Then, as the employee becomes experienced, skillful, and knowledgeable, usually
s/he is promoted to better positions for the benefit of the organization and the employee. Finally,
if the services of the employee become unqualified or unsatisfactory to the organization, the
employee should be terminated.

Terminating the office worker’s service

In small and medium size organizations that have no human resource department, office
supervisors are responsible for terminating the services of unqualified or unsatisfactory office
workers. However, in large organizations, the responsibility for firing (dismissing) office
workers is usually handled by the human resources department in line with the standard
procedure.
3.2. Review patterns in skill or performance gaps and consider requirements and options
for performance development
Problems Related to Job Attendance and Retention
In this section, several problems that relate to job attendance and retention are investigated.
Since these problems are directly related to cost, effective solution to them require leadership by
administrative office managers and their first–line supervisors. The most common problems
related to job attendance include tardiness, absenteeism, and turnover. Each of these problems
will be discussed briefly as follows.
Tardiness
Frequent tardiness is serious and costly problem for the administrative office manager, especially
when many office jobs are available. Although most workers try to be punctual, their efforts are
offset (compensated) by the few who arrive late because of lack of interest. In some
organizations, workers do not even bother to notify the company when they are to be absent.
Such conditions seriously weaken the morale and productivity of the office. The problem of
tardiness (lateness) is usually handled by a written or an oral warning. The warning may be
followed by payroll deduction, temporary layoff, and termination if the worker is habitually late.
Absenteeism
Absenteeism refers to the failure of workers to report for work while they are scheduled to work.
It is when workers absent themselves from work unwillingly for a number of days. Absenteeism
can be viewed in two ways: voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary absenteeism refers to
unscheduled absences by the employee. Not reporting to work on Friday to lengthen one’s
weekend illustrates voluntary absenteeism. Involuntary absenteeism refers to the absence of
employees because of reasons beyond their control. Health related absence is an example of one.
Whether absenteeism is voluntary or involuntary, it seriously affects the work of others in most
offices unless there are temporary replacements.

Regardless of the size of the organization, absenteeism is a management problem and should be
studied carefully. The administrative office manager should analyze the problem by finding out
the:
1. Extent of absenteeism.
2. Causes of absenteeism.
3. Cost of absenteeism.
4. Action to be taken to reduce and to control absenteeism.

1. Extent of Absenteeism: To measure the extent or rate of absenteeism in an office or a

department, the following formula, which the U.S. Department of Labor has suggested, may be
used:

Rate of = Worker-days lost during period

X 100
Average number X Number of
Absenteeism (%)
of workers workdays in period

To illustrate, assume that in a computer center of an organization, there is an average of 25

workers employed during a month having 22 working days. Assume further that because of
absenteeism, 15 worker days (average number of workers times number of work days) have been
lost. The absenteeism rate for that month is 2.73 percent, which is calculated as indicated below:
15 15
X 100 = X 100 = 2.73 %
25 X 22
550

The absenteeism rate of 2.73 percent just calculated above means that for about every 37 workers
in the organization (1/ .0273), the organization is carrying one extra employee to take care of the
average absence. Assuming an hourly salary rate of Br. 5, the one extra worker may be costing
the organization at least Br. 10,400 each year (Br. 5 x 40 hours x 52 weeks).
2. Causes of Absenteeism: Illness, including alcoholism and drug abuse and work-related
accidents are the most common causes of absenteeism. Other causes of absenteeism include
family responsibilities, transportation problems, and bad weather conditions.
3. Cost of Absenteeism: The cost of absenteeism for office employees in an organization can
be calculated as shown in the example given below. In the example, a small size business
organization with 40 office employees each having Br. 35 daily pay and each employee with 6
days absent on average is assumed. The cost of absenteeism for a specific period of time is:
Number of office employees……………………….……….…….…. 40
Multiplied: Number of worke days absent on average……………… 6
Total number of sick days paid for the past 12 months……..….……240
Multiplied: Average daily pays……………….………………... Br. 35
Equals: Annual cost of absenteeism…………………………...Br. 8,400

This amount (Br. 8,400), in fact, does not include other costs associated with absenteeism (such
as employee benefits, overtime pay for substitute workers, cost associated with hiring temporary
replacements, and the likes). If these costs were included, they could double the annual cost of
absenteeism.
4. Actions to Reduce and Control Absenteeism: What actions should be taken to reduce and
control absenteeism? Should an employee that is absent be penalized, fined, or given bonus or
incentive? As many research works indicate, penalties and fines create bad feeling and job
dissatisfaction. In order to reduce and control chronic absenteeism, many organizations use a
three-step disciplinary technique—warning, layoff (sustaining employees from work for some
time), and finally termination. However, before taking disciplinary action on workers
excessively absent, supervisors should discuss job problems with their workers to discover why
the workers are making themselves absent.

Turnover
Turnover is the amount of movement of employees in and out of an organization. Turnover can
be divided into two: (1) voluntary (quits) and (2) involuntary (retirement, death, layoff, and the
likes). Voluntary turnover refers to terminations initiated by employees. Leaving one’s current
employer for a higher-paying job is one example.
Performance development
It may include:
• Action learning sets
• Job rotation
• Mentoring or coaching
• pairing with more experienced staff
• shadowing/Investigating
• Training

3.3. Revise policies or procedures if necessary

 Revise
1) Examine and improve or amend (written or printed matter).
› reconsider and alter in the light of further evidence
3.4. Suggest improvements to the performance management system
Contributions of Effective Office Training
Effective office training usually has the following outcomes to the organization, workers, and
managers or supervisors.
1. Improved competitive position to the organization: Office workers who have
participated in training and development programs help to maximize the profits of the
organization and to improve its competitive position .The training experience also helps the
workers satisfy their own needs to do a good job and reach a high level of productivity.
2. Better Preparation of Employees for Promotion: Supervisory training programs are used
to prepare office workers to take advantage of promotional opportunities in the organization
they work. Therefore, when there is a change in business conditions, such as expansion,
qualified workers are available to fill the newly created positions
3. Self-confidence of Office Employee: Training increases the self-confidence of workers.
Well-trained and confident office workers lessen the need for close supervision.
4. Effective Employee Appraisal: Training that is appropriate to the needs of office workers
enables supervisors to appraise employees’ ability more effectively. This in turn helps to