TALENT

MANAGEMENT
Building a High-Performance Culture: A Fresh
Look at Performance Management
POSITIVES
 01. Informal PMS
● As given in the case, formal PMS wherein goals are
Example: 
established at the beginning of rating period only work
well for jobs with defined metrics like Sales jobs, and
not for knowledge and service-based jobs which are • Involuntary attrition increased by 2-3% which the company considered
a positive outcome
fluid and unpredictable. Also, R&D fields are without
goal setting mechanisms. Hence, goals in formal PMS • With 75% exit surveys recommending Adobe great place to work
are never able to be SMART.
● Therefore, effective performance management • Adobe “check-in” process 
behavior requires setting ongoing expectations and
near-term goals as situations change.
● Managers’ role in goal setting -help employees
translate higher-level objectives into more specific
plans, activities, milestones and interim deliverables 
● On the job feedback- If feedback is provided
immediately following good or poor performance, it
helps employees make real-time alterations in their
behavior and enables them to perform their work more
efficiently.
● Sitting down only once or twice a year for a
perfunctory feedback review is not enough, especially
 02. Managerial inefficiencies impact the PMS

● A 2008 Mercer survey of 350 major U.S. companies, in which almost 25 percent of respondents revealed that their
managers are only “marginally skilled” at doing performance evaluations
● Many managers are not skilled at providing feedback resulting in  avoid giving feedback because they do not know
how to deliver it productively and in ways that will minimize defensive reactions. 
● Many are promoted into managerial positions because of their technical competence, even though the job of a
manager is not to perform technical work
● These results further support what we already know—namely, that the essence of a manager’s job is to direct and
develop others successfully. 
● Managers need particular aptitudes, skills and dispositions to be able to learn their leadership roles and effectively
accomplish work through others
● Many managers report that they do not arrive at pay decisions by following the detailed rating processes their
performance management systems prescribe, but instead retrofit their ratings to fit the pay increases they want to
give.
 03. PMS has in practice become only an administrative tool

● When asked what purpose PMS should serve in organizations, all stakeholders cite important outcomes such as improving
performance effectiveness and results, developing employees, and facilitating communication and information exchange
between employees and managers. 
● However, when asked what purpose does performance management serve—the responses are quite different. Most people
say that in reality, performance management serves primarily administrative purposes like helping managers make pay
decisions, providing documentation for the organization to defend itself in court and enabling the organization to deal with
poor performers. 
● Most PMS focus on developing improved rating tools— including various rating formats, different rating criteria, more
elaborate process steps and using raters with disparate points of view assuming that specific tools and steps in a formal
system will lead to effective performance management. 
● In the end though, these attempts to improve performance management have ended up reducing it to an administrative drill
that lacks real value.
NEGATIVES
 01. Eliminate weighting of competency
● Assigning weights allows you to communicate the relative priority of particular goals or of competencies. It can be
especially useful when there is a need to place greater importance on a particular goal or competency, but easily loses
its value when all items are assigned the same or very similar weight.
● Weighting can be used to emphasize the performance elements an organization considers most important for each
position. 
● For example, Sales associates will have a higher weight applied to things such as customer service and sales while
less weight will be given to leadership and operations. Similarly, managers are evaluated with a higher weight on
leadership and teamwork. Executive performance evaluations will emphasize on problem solving.
● When assigning weights to competencies and goals, it’s important to ensure that these truly reflect the organizational
values and priorities. 
● Although, weighting should not replace human communication around priorities and the regular review of goals. It's
still critical to have discussions around organizational priorities and regularly review progress and the priority of
goals as part of performance management processes..
 02. Simplify rating scale
● 3-point rating scale may work for measuring certain
criteria, but it often lacks the nuance needed to make
appropriate assessments.
● Example: A three rating scale of ‘not meeting,’
‘meeting,’ and ‘exceeding.’ It’s hard to justify giving
bonuses to everyone who is in the ‘exceeding’
category. So a more fine-grained rating is preferred in
such a case. On the other hand, in case of
underperformance, multiple gradations is not the
preferred option.
● If Centrality Bias has been an issue for managers in
past performance reviews, eliminating any neutral
options on the scale can help.
● Customization to address a particular organization’s
goals and minimize the biases that were seen in
previous performance review cycles.
● A simple three-level rating scale may be enough to
capture a job's critical objectives while reducing the
burden of the performance review process.
● A five-level scale may provide an opportunity to better
differentiate between employees by offering two
superior performance levels, a satisfactory level and
two less-than-satisfactory levels. 
● Four- and six-level scales are also used and may
reduce the tendency to drift upward or focus on the
center.
● Regardless of the number of points on a rating scale,
each level must be clearly defined, used consistently
by managers and fit with the organization's culture
● organizational priorities and regularly review progress
and the priority of goals as part of performance
management processes.
EXAMPLE
● Harvard makes use of multiple rating scales within their organization, including overall performance ratings of employees,
goals, competencies, and direct report ratings. Overall performance ratings are given on a 5-point scale, observing employees
with performances that are leading
● (5), strong (4), solid (3), building (2), and not meeting expectations (1)
● . Goals are also tracked using a 3-point rating scale that measures whether a goal or project was on time, on budget, and
accomplished.
● A 3 ranking implies that a goal was met, a 2 ranking is given to partially met goals, and a 1 ranking is assigned to an
unfinished goal where most or all dimensions were not achieved.
● Competencies ratings are given to employees who demonstrate thorough to lacking knowledge of the organization’s core
competencies.
● This 4-point scale ranges from Advanced, to Proficient, to Developing, and lastly, Does Not Demonstrate. Direct report ratings
are reserved for managers only, and determine whether the ratee’s capabilities are Highly Effective (3), Effective (2), or Needs
Improvement (1).
 03. Completely eliminating formal PMS
● The case mentions that since informal PMS has effective ongoing expectation setting as per changing situations, the formal
PMS has no utility. But complete removal of formal PMS can be problematic as-
● Informal PMS effectiveness is dependent upon the manager-employee relationship.  In fact, the strength of the relationship
between managers and employees influences employee job satisfaction, organizational citizenship, engagement and
performance. 
● Trust between manager- employee is another important factor. 
● Managerial effectiveness to deliver everyday feedback can be difficult because many do not know how to deliver it
productively and in ways that will minimize defensive reactions.
THANK YOU
GROUP – 4
YASHKRITI SINGH -
2019121
AATISH AGRAWAL -
2019127
PRASHANT PARASHAR -