Importance Of Organizational Behavior And Performance Management Process

Performance Management

Describe how will you use the knowledge you have gained in this course to change the way you interact and do business in the future?

Organizational behavior is a methodical study that scrutinizes the influence that individuals, groups, structure have on behavior within an organization. It is the application of knowledge which reveals how an individual behaves in an organization in certain condition. It can be broadly classified in three levels, namely, micro level (individual behavior), meso level  (Workgroup behavior) and macro level (how an organization behaves). An organization is defined as a group of people interconnected together to achieve a common goal i.e. growth of an organization. It has been observed by various researchers that individuals behave differently in an organization as compared to their daily lives. The importance of studying organizational behavior is to maximize productivity, minimize absenteeism and enhance employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. (Bernstein, 2016)

It is defined as a process through which the leaders and supervisors monitor the performance of their employee or subordinates to increase the growth of an organization. It typically includes performance appraisal and employee development which boost up their confidence and motivates them to work much better. The underlying principle for performance management is as follows:

• Effective performance management is a tool for success as it helps organizations and institutions to progress better.
• It is a shared commitment to a high level of performance.
• It balances accountability at organizational and individual levels as well.
• The focus is given to continuous learning and effective performance.
• It is based on clearly defined core competencies for supervisors, managers and supporting staff. (Carley & Dean Behrens, 1999)

A step by step procedure through which we monitor the performance of an employee at the organizational level is termed as a Performance Management process. (Adkin & Jeff Alexander, 2013) There are four basic steps (shown in Fig 1) involved in this process which are as follows:

1. Performance planning
2. Feedback
3. Employee Input
4. erformance review

 

Figure 1 – Process of Performance Management

Before starting the process of performance management it is important to gather all necessary information and data required in the process, e.g. strategic plan of an organization, job description of an employee, operational plan of organization and last year appraisal data. Also it is required to prepare the staff for the process for which they should be explained the purpose and importance of performance appraisal.

The first step of performance management is to plan the process that how the performance will be monitored. (Management, 2016) A pre-planned questionnaire is set up which contains the following queries whenever the performance appraisal is being done which are discussed below:

1. What are the main responsibilities of the employee?
2. What are important and least important job responsibilities that an employee has?
3. How to track whether the employee is progressing?
4. How employees work together in a team and with the manager?
5. Contribution of employee to achieve goals in an organization.
6. Does an employee need to acquire new skills or technology?
7. What is the level of authority he holds?

The outcomes of these queries will help in the enhancement of the employee’s performance and thus will increase the growth of an organization. Also with these a poor performer and manager can be tracked. (HR Washington State team, 2012)

• The barriers that employee is facing can be discussed with the manager and together they can work upon that to overcome it.
• Job task and responsibilities are assigned to the employee who has potential to solve it.
• The employee will be able to understand how his potential can be used to achieve the goals of the organization.

Performance Management Process

Performance planning can be explained with a real life example of a customer service. Customer service is a very critical factor considered in the growth of any organization, because whatever profit we get into a business is due to that customer only and we need to satisfy their requirements. So in this case it is very important to plan performance strategies which can be implemented to improve the customer services.

Feedback is the process of sharing personal reviews on any given situation, thing or queries. The most important task that is followed in any organization to see where they stand, what the performance ratings are, and what can be done to improve the services. It is two way communication process in which manager and employee have joint responsibility which requires training in their roles and responsibilities. The manager is responsible for providing feedback in a productive, upfront and suitable manner. The employee is responsible includes looking feedback to make sure they understand how their performance is and reaction to the feedback they receive. Having effectual performance conversations between employees and manager is the most important determinant of whether or not a performance management system will achieve the benefits from a development point of view. (ASHRAF, 2002)

As per research it has been observed that the organization where feedback process is conducted on a daily basis, the performance level is higher as compared to others. The following strategy should be kept in mind to achieve successful feedback:

1. One should keep a check on the behavior effectiveness.
2. Plan steps collaboratively to address development needs.
3. The employee’s view should be taken into consideration as it happens sometimes that different people have their own perspective and good ideas to solve a problem. Also taking view from an employee will make them feel valuable.
4. Stress should be given on what a person can do and what he cannot do.
5. They should be provided resources and help whenever it is required.

Employee input is vital in the performance management process and is used effectively. For these employees are given performance appraisal form in which they have to write about their projects which they have done, their achievements and their participation in extracurricular activities (it shows their activeness). (Robin, 1967). So, it is required that performance appraisal form should be designed as such that covers all the points.

1. Performance of employee in some uncertain situation.
2. Actions taken by him to tackle the situation (will show his attitude either positive or negative).
3. How his actions in completion of work affected the organization.

1. It will increase the understanding and communication between employee and manager.
2. The Manager will recognize what and how their employee is doing to achieve organizational goals.
3. Employee generated input will make the manager work easy to maintain information that which employee worked better.
4. Most importantly promotion and salary hikes are based on the achievement of employee.
5. Involving employees in such process will make them feel valuable and will get recognition.

The final task in the performance management process is performance review in which performance of employees will be rated. After the discussion between the manager and employee regarding all the achievements at the individual level and organizational level as well, it is checked, how an employee worked to achieve the target, what was expected and how he performed. The performance review is successful, if the following conditions are met:

1. Manager and employee should work collaboratively.
2. The employee should write about all his projects and achievements in detail.
3. The manager should use his interpersonal skills to properly conduct the review process and gives it equal importance.
4. Most importantly the objective of the process of performance should be clearly understood, i.e. to improve and monitor the performance of employee to enhance the growth of an organization.

In any educational institution, the main objective is imparting quality education to the students to prepare them for industrial work. So to achieve this target it becomes important to check that faculty is doing their task properly or not for which performance management plays a vital role. In every session a performance management process is conducted in which employee gives details about their academic achievement, their participation in institutional activities, faculty development programs, conferences and workshop they attended to enhance their skills. Also a feedback form is given to students where they have to write about their expectation from faculty (they get it or not). After the performance management process is done, a review process is conducted in which employee performance is rated and those who lagging behind are suggested to improve. Thus, the performance management process becomes successful. (Rathi, 2012)

As stated above the process of performance management is beneficial in enhancing the growth of an organization, it should be implemented in all the organizations. With this process, employee and manager relationship will get strengthened up and will boost the morale of employees to work much better. When an employee gets the recognition in his organization for their achievement boosts their confidence and gives a motivation to give his best to the organization to achieve the performance goals. (Successfactors Team, 2016)

This paper is about organizational behavior and its importance which influences the working environment of an organization. One of the most important aspects, i.e. Performance Management Process is discussed in detail. It is a four step process, mainly Planning, feedback, employee Input and Review.  It is well explained by an example of an educational Institution. To end up, Performance Management Process is critical, but plays a vital role in the growth of an organization.

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Carley, K. M., & Dean Behrens. (1999). Organizational and Individual Decision Making. Carnegie Mellon University, Dept. of Social and Decision Sciences. Retrieved from https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.299.7619&rep=rep1&type=pdf

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Management, U. O. (2016). Performance Management . Retrieved from https://www.opm.gov/: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/performance-management/performance-management-cycle/#url=Rewarding

Rathi, N. (2012, August 23). What is organization behaviour . (slideshare) Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net: https://www.slideshare.net/rahul9288/what-is-organization-behaviour

Robin, D. P. (1967). An Input–Output Model of Employee Behavior. The Academy of Management Journal , 10(3), 257-268 . Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/255284

Successfactors Team. (2016). Importance of Performance Management Process & Best Practices To Optimize Monitoring Performance Work Reviews/Feedback and Goal Management. Retrieved from https://www.successfactors.com/: https://www.successfactors.com/en_us/lp/articles/optimize-performance-management.html