COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus 1.

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Course Title: Performance and Career Management (MGT555)

Fall 2019 Semester 7

Topic: Critical Analysis of Performance Management Systems of US Denim

Mills

Submitted by:

Arwa Tayyab

FA16-BBA-186

Submitted to:

Sir Shakeel Aslam

 US DENIM MILLS

History of the organization

US Denim is owned by the US Groups which was established in 1990. The US group is a family-
owned denim manufacturer predominantly based in Lahore, Pakistan. The determination and
ingenuity to please their clients has powered their steady growth and their revenues climb to
$350 million a year. In their production facilities in Lahore and in their manufacturing and design
departments in world fashion centers, the U.S. Denim directly hires 20,000 people. Their fashion
business history and experience goes back to 1975. Two partners, Javed Bhatti and Mian
Ahsan, started to produce a range of lines as clothing merchants then launched a brand called
Leeds that is still used for shalwar suits and sweaters. After the establishment of their first
production facility in 1985, they soon became Pakistan's leading exporter of twill and bottom
wear. They made the strategic choice to concentrate on denim in 2005, and in 2006 we
established the most innovative possible denim manufacturing facility, branded as Denim in the
United States. They built their new plants in operations to give all they could demand in fashion
denim to the best brands and to consistently produce that benefit. Through investing in the best
tools and getting in industry experts to pass the new expertise, they have persisted with this
strategy through keeping their technologies and machinery up to date. This drive for continuous
improvement has resulted in continued growth. In New York, Paris, Istanbul, US Denim also has
regional offices.
The timeline below summarizes its history:
 INTRODUCTION TO THE ORGANIZATION

US Denim is a denim manufacturing company located in Lahore, Pakistan that supplies denim to
clothing industries worldwide. It was discovered in 2005. Us Denim strives to remain state-of -
the-art in all its processes and as a product innovator so that consumers or customers can trust
them. US Denim has created both a mill and a philosophy to serve the world's leading denim
designers.

VISION
To manufacture products comparable to international standards, to be customer-focused and
globally competitive through better quality, latest technology and continuous innovation.

MISSION
“We see ourselves as the foremost source of innovative textile goods for today’s apparel world
and we are committed to deliver value to our customers in terms of product development, on
time delivery and high quality. We are held ourselves responsible to our shareholders for a good
return on investment. As a corporate citizen, we work towards achieving the best environmental
and ethical practices.”

CORE VALUES

• Integrity
• Care
• Excellence
• Collaboration
• Innovation

CUSTOMERS
US Denim develops partnerships with leading brands, work with them to create new fabric
possibilities, to explore production alternatives and to constantly improve our quality. We
celebrate the clients who choose to continue inventing their new denim fashions with them. Their
customers are: Levis, H&M, TESCO, PRIMARK, ZARA, KIABI, J.crew, TARGET, JCpenny,
C&A, MUSTANG, Mark & Spencer, NEXT, Tom Tailor, Zamira, Beckum workwear, Pepe Jeans,
Jack & Jones, Celio, George, MANGO
 BUSINESS MODEL OF US DENIM MILLS

US Denim's business model illustrates how the firm makes income, what market group
s it serves, and how it deals with them, what the company's costs, its operations, invest
ors, and services are.
 Performance Management System
To start with, we would explain performance management first and then we will see its
implication at US denim mills. As we know that ‘Performance management (PM) is a system that
ensures that the collection of activities and outputs meets the goals of an organization in an
efficient and effective manner. Performance management may concentrate on the quality of an
agency, department, employee or processes in place to handle specific tasks’
The performance management process is a formal method by which all managers and
employees work together to plan, monitor and assess an individual's job goals and the overall
contribution to the company in order to balance their progress with the goals or objectives of the
organization
• Every year, performance appraisal forms are issued in June.
• The performance shall be measured by the employee’s concerned supervisor and
respective HOD, employee gives his own views, training needs, and overall system of
evaluation.
• U.S. Denim Human Resources reviews front-line management's evaluation.
• Using performance analysis, the HR department measures the quality and efficiency of
the employee in relation to certain pre-established requirements and organizational goals.

Upon discussing the performance system of US Denim is decorated considering most of the
factors that directly and indirectly effects the work or productivity of an employee. US denim
focuses on both; long term and short term incentives and their reward system majorly depends
upon performance and the results as well. They make sure their employees focus on their KPI’s
(key performance indicators). It has a very well established reward system yet there are some
loopholes that effects some of their employee’s job satisfaction and commitment to the
organization.
The Performance Management System of the organization links the performance of their
employees with its strategic plan which makes it more beneficial for the organization itself. As
the strategic plan defines the identity of the organization and prepares it for the future, enhances
the ability of adapting to environmental changes. The strategic plan of the organization allows
better allocation of the resources and creates a culture of the cooperation of organization. The
strategic plan provides the employees with all the information that directs daily activities so
alignment of performance management with strategic plan is necessary as just the existence of
Strategic plan does not make sure the effectiveness of the organization.
The vision and mission of the organization must be aligned with the activities of the employees
so as to achieve its goals and make the organization successful and most efficient in its
operations and business. In order to effectively align the performance management with
strategic plan of the organization, US Denim makes sure that the mission, vision, goals,
strategies of the organizations are effectively communicated throughout the organization and the
strategic plan of each unit is developed according to the organizational plan. After that, job
description of each employee contains the components upon which they are likely to be
evaluated which are according to the unit’s strategic plan and hence, linking the performance of
each employee with the strategic plan of the organization.

If we talk about the Performance Management Process of the organization US Denim does not
focus on the prerequisites but they develop the second stage keenly i.e. performance planning.
US denim believes that the employees should have complete knowledge of the performance
management system. At the beginning of the performance cycle, the supervisor and the
employee meet to discuss what needs to be done and by which means it will be done. For
example, the production manager and the worker of the mill discuss in the start of the
performance cycle that how many units the employee is supposed to produce and what qualities
should be included into that. Likewise, the HR manager conveys his employee what they need to
accomplish and how they will do that. For this purpose, they majorly focus on two things.
Behaviors of the employees and results. Results means what needs to be done exactly or what
are the outcomes needed which and employee is required to produce. It includes the key
accountabilities or in case of this particular organization KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) of
each employee. US denim obtains the information regarding the results from the job descriptions
of the employees so as to not move far from the core or the nature of the job. For example, key
accountability of the HR Assistant Manager is to supervise the overall performance of their
workforce and make annual and monthly HR related reports such turnover report and other
related stuff, so he is most likely to be evaluated on these basis. After measuring the results, US
denim outlines the required behaviors to meet the needs to produce those results. A mere
emphasis on the results without the clear description of the standards would not be beneficial for
the organization as well as it gives an unclear pictures of the performance of the employee
performance.
The supervisors discuss the competencies with the employees which makes it clear for them
that what behaviors they need to adapt.
After the proper planning of the performance, US denim has developed performance
assessment phase in which the employee and manager both, in collaboration, evaluate the
extent to which the desired behavior has been displayed and at what level the results have been
produced. But in US denim, the involvement of employee is though there, but not all of the
employee play their role in this phase such as unskilled workers. Self-appraisals are not
frequently used in the organization which would increase the defensiveness of the employee in
the performance evaluation process.
US denim keenly asses the determinants of the performance which highlights what factors
play role in the performance of an employee at a certain level. Why some individuals perform
better than the other and why some lacks. US denim considers the following determinants of the
performance and it also provides training and coaching according to the need. There are several
approaches to measure the performance, US denim uses Result approach as the organization
is change-oriented and is innovative in their operations to be sustainable and adapt to the
changes of the dynamic world of textiles so they are very concerned about their results rather
than the means and the behaviors. It emphasizes on the results that an employee produces. It
clearly does not consider the traits of the employee and how the employee does his job. US
denim neglects the traits of the employee and focuses on the outcomes he produced. For
example an employee working in the Accounts and finance department will be assessed on the
basis of how many balance sheets he has made if the job description includes it. It will not be
considered that what behaviors he used to show and how he did that job. The result approach is
most cost effective as well as it saves a lot of time because defining and measuring behavior is
time taking. As US denim provides training time to time, both on the job and off the job so they
lack the focus on behavior and traits of the employees.

At US denim, a meeting is held on the quarterly basis to discuss the performance of each
quarter called ‘Town Hall meeting’ Either CEO or Managing director of the organization hold
the meeting
CEO (Asif Malik) presenting the business results to the participants of the meeting.
The meeting aims to discuss the performance of last quarter as well as the will decide the
objectives of the coming quarter. Employee at the management cadre participate in the meeting
where they discuss the performance with the CEO or MD and they decide what needs to be
done in the next quarter to achieve their objectives and meet their needs for the expected
results. Town hall meeting does not engaged first line staff and workers but those at or above
the management cadre.

The Questions answer session: It is the most constructive part of the meeting as employees
ask whatever they want to ask in addition they get a change to have a say in the meeting. Their
queries are entertained as well as their remarks are considered by the CEO/MD.
APPRAISAL FORM:
The above cited appraisal form is used for the staff below the management cadre. In any
performance management program, feedback information is collected using a form that is filled
out physically or online inside or outside the organization by different people. One benefit of
collecting information online is that the information can be processed and easily shared among
the organization's citizens.
US denim uses oracle to rotate the performance appraisal forms of the employee at or above
the management cadre.

The forms for the performance evaluation of the management level employee are rotated within
the whole organization through oracle software which they use for most of their operations. The
online appraisal form needs to be filled by the concerned supervisor and save time as well as
makes it easy.
The appraisal form contains the things for which we need feedback or want to recognize the
employee's performance rating in the scale. HR department rotates the evaluation forms in the
divisions of the company, the department is responsible for sending it back to HR department
after it has been filled out by the employee's boss and the relevant HOD has been endorsed.
 CONCLUSION

Upon analyzing the performance management system we can say that the system is in proper
and regular manner. They have specific criteria for increments and rewards. US denim mills lack
focus on the individual rather they focus on the system, this may discourage or demotivate the
employee to perform well. In addition, the performance management system must be
transparent so as it make it more acceptable and motivate the employee to perform well. They
use Result approach that does not focus on the behavior or traits an employee may poses, it
only focuses on the results or outcomes an employee generates or is likely to be evaluated on
those basis. US denim uses online performance appraisal forms for the top level or middle level
employee and staff appraisal form is issued for the appraisal of the workers or low level
employees. Moreover, the involvement of the employee at each level is not obvious in the
performance appraisal meetings. There are some suggestions by which US denim can improve
their performance management system:
• They must make changes in their performance appraisal form, as it does not include all of
the components of ideal appraisal form, they must add the comments section so that the
supervisor may share his views about an employee. In addition, employee must have an
opportunity to share his own remarks on the appraisal form as well.
• They can make their online appraisal system as they have the technology, it may be cost
effective as well as less time taking.
• The results data must be taken from all directions. Before the evaluation conference, the
feedback on employee performance should be obtained from the workers themselves.
Workers should have a say in the performance management implementation.
• There is no flexible recommendation segment in this form. This offers a limited area for
decisions to be made. The performance appraisal form needs to provide an open ended
section in terms of workplace growth that can provide information on specific targets and
timetables.
• The feedback to the employee must be quick so that they can be aware of their
performance standards.
• Effective decisions on the basis of fair evaluation of the employee through transparent
appraisal system must be in place.
References:
https://usdenimmills.com/
http://usdenimmills.com/stories/media/
https://www.slideshare.net/ataulhassnain/recruitment-process-of-us-demin-employee-apraisal
Annual Report of US denim Mills.