Managing People Performance: Key Concepts And Strategies

Importance of Consultation in Allocating Work

Assessment task 1

Formative assessment

1. (a) Why is it necessary to consult relevant group and individual on work to be allocated the resources they will need?

(b) Give a list of at least 10 resources that might be required in a business organisation

Ans.  An employee’s consultation can assist manager to identify the requirement as most of the staff performing the job and they know needs and better able to define the job than anyone else. They use resources on the daily basis to complete the task and able to identify the problems that might be arises during the project and they able to suggest improvement that will increase resources efficiency and effectiveness. The jobs quality is completely depending on the resources they require to competence of the task. They now the job and the resource required to produce a quality output. Consultation making them feels as a part of the job and as well as making aware that, they contribute towards the big picture goal achievement of the organisation.

(b)  The list of ten resources that might be required in a business organisation is as per following

• Human resource
• Labour
• Time
• Intellectual property
• Client costumer
• Technology
• Raw material
• Recruitment, selection and induction procedures
• Data and information from internal and external sources
• Stakeholder and shareholders input

Reference: BSBMGT502 Manage people performance (participant guide) page 11/12

1. Why are work plan necessary? How do work plan support operational plan to achieve its objectives? Give two benefits for each. Discuss in 150-200 words.

Ans.     To make the organisation’s process work properly, management must have a plan that drive work operations. Planning is the process to identify the work, goal and targets and then determine what/when/by whom and how it will be done.

Work plan are operational plan and the purpose of these plans is to give the organisation a clear view of their task and responsibilities. The work plans are line with goals and the objectives contained with the strategic plans. All the organisation weather it big or small have number of planning functions, these processes are intending to achieve specific outcomes. Its provide for the relationship of a boarder longer-term strategic ‘road map’ translate into achievable annual actions.  

1. What procedure might be followed to allocate work? Explain the criteria that should be considered when allocating work individual employees?

Ans.  The most important thing is to identify the priorities or critical activities, resources so the best use is made of what is available.  While work allocation everything must be on a fair basis on taking amount of employee experience, knowledge and workload as well. This process might involve verbal instructions and agreements, or Witten instructions, which outline the task and the responsibilities of the employees towards the allocated work.

The few points that need to be addressed while allocation of the work as per following

• The allocation should be based on the employee’s skill and the available resources
• The responsibilities and the limits of authority must be clearly defined to the team/group and individual.
• Monitor cost
• Monitor work
• Provide learning opportunities
• Consult with staff while allocating the work and so on

1. Explain what a code of conduct is and how it might affect work output

Ans.  The code conduct is a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual or an organisation. It contains description of the principle, values, standards and rules.

A code of conduct on its own will not necessarily affect work practices. It is established the standards by which staff and management conduct themselves towards other staff, colleagues, government authority and the general community and perform their duties and obligations. If the code is not applied in the business, employee might not even aware of the company’s code of conduct and they not able to understand the organisations ethical issues and the frame work of the organisation.

1. In what ways might it be possible to confirm work outputs with relevant teams and individual and what things might be considered in terms of work outputs?

Ans.

The better a job that you can do to convey your expectations and the company’s expectations to your work force, the greater a chance you have of avoiding problems. All too often, assumptions are made as to the quantity and quality of work that is expected from team and individual workers. The manager assumes that the worker knows what is expected of them, and the worker assumes that the manager is satisfied with their level of work. Due to a simple lack of communication, the work is not done in a satisfactory manner, tempers flare, and workplace problems arise.

List of Resources Required in a Business Organization

Any job has performance standards, whether they are written or not. Even if there are written performance standards, it is possible that the “normal expected level of performance” is different from what is written in the standard; possibly, because the needs have changed, but the standard was never rewritten.

As a manager, it is your responsibility to ensure that your workers understand the performance standard to which you are holding them. This performance standard must clearly state the level of performance you expect from them, both a qualitatively and quantitatively. Without stating both, one employee might seek to do “perfect” quality work, thinking that is what you want, but not getting enough of it done. Another might try to be as much done as possible, but at an unacceptable quality level.

1. Assuming a new marketing manager is joining your organisation. A. creates and provides his job description B. provides five key performance indicators related her/his job description C. also describe two methods of consultation to agreeing on performance indicators with relevant staff prior to commencement of work.

Answer

Job Description

Marketing managers are responsible for the development, implementation and execution of strategic directions concerned with the particular product. The main purpose of his task is to make sure that potential customers are attracted and the old ones are retained within the brand offerings (Marler and Fisher 2013).

KPIs

• Return on Marketing Investment
• Incremental Sales
• Cost per Lead
• List Performance
• Social Traffic and Conversion

Two methods of consultation are:

• Meetings-Consulting with the managers during meetings so as to agree on the given KPIs
• Notices- one-way communication methods in which the employers list out the details of KPIs and ask for feedback in mails and conversations.

1. Choose an organisation and conduct a risk analysis related to its people performance at the work place. Answer the following and fill the following templates,
2. Provides your organisations description. Write about ¼ of a page.
3. Identify four issues and the risk associated with those performance management issues and fills the template A.
4. Identify the control measures for those issues, how management should overcome the issues?
5. For two of the risk, create a contingency plan for each risk; considering legal requirements. Template C.

Answer all parts

Answers

The chosen organization is HSBC Bank.

HSBC Bank is a British banking and financial services activity whose traces go back to Hong Kong. The bank is the world`s 7th largest bank by holding and the largest in Europe. The name HSBC has been derived from the initials of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Hence, the company continues to see both Britain and Hong Kong as its origin nations. The Bank has adapted to the current technology and has branches all over the globe. The bank employs over thousands of employees globally

Issues	Risk	Consequences	Likelihood	priority	Monitoring time	Accountability
Poor performance	Reflects on performance evaluation	The employee may get dismissed	High	Important	4 weeks	During performance appraisal
Unable to meet targets	Reflects on companies productivity	The revenue of the firm may reduce	Medium	Very important	4 weeks	Monthly reports
Increased errors	Reflects on company`s output	Lower`s company goodwill	High	Very Important	Monthly	Monthly reports
Dissatisfied customers	Reflects on long term of the business	Lowers company goodwill	High	Very important	Weekly	During feedback

Template 2

Risk	Control measure
Poor performance	Undertaking evaluation and training to improve the skills at regular intervals
Increased errors	To evaluate the output and reduce errors
Dissatisfied customers	Providing training to employees and undertaking feedback and making the customers happy
Unable to meet targets	Setting reasonable targets, ,motivating the employees

Template C

Contingency plans

The office assistant contingency plan
Contingency plan: Company name: Name of the person developing plan: Who was consulted as part of this plan? Name: Position: Name: Position:
Risk no. 1 identified: Increased errors
Strategies/activities to minimise risk	By when	By whom
Providing training	Every two months	Supervisor
Setting up measures to analyse performance	Every week	Manager

Risk no.2 identified:  Dissatisfied customers
Strategies/activities to minimise risk	By when	By whom
Train the employees in problem solving skills	In 2 weeks	Trainer
Senior management dealing with extremely dissatisfied customers	relative	Manager

1. Design a performance management and review processes consistent with organisational objectives and policies? Also, write a paragraph explaining why you think performance evaluations are necessary and the method that you consider might best be used. Explain and justify your answer.

Answer

The designed performance management process is given below:

• Plan- Planning is the most essential part of the process.
• Coach- The employees need to be provided with proper coaching so that they understand the procedure of work and are comfortable with following the processes.
• Review- The last step is to review the process.

1. Why should both manager and employees receive suitable training? In how to handle performance review/ appraisal interviews? How and how often do you think performance appraisal should be held and why should be held and why do you think this?

Answer 

Managers and employees should be receiving training to handle review performance because performance review forms an essential part of managing human resource in an organization and it helps to keep the employee motivated. Managers should be provided with training so that they can conduct the appraisal in a proper mannerism (Jiang et al. 2012). They should not be biased while conducting the training as the promotion of the employee depends on it.

1. Why is it necessary that performance monitoring and evaluation be a continuous process?

Answer

The performance monitoring and evaluation should be a continuous process because human nature is not static. The behaviour and performance of the employees change with time. It is often influenced by the external as well as the internal factors affecting the business environment (Hendry 2012).

1. What is feedback and why is it important to staff on regular basis? Give an example and an explanation of what you consider to be formal and informal feedback.

Answer

         Feedback forms an essential part of any communication especially communication in a business. Feedback can be referred to as the reply given by the receiver of the message to the sender. This feedback acts as a confirmation from the receiver to the supplier reflecting that he has understood the communication and states his view or agreement/disagreement with it. Formal feedback can be given when the feedback is given in the mail or during a meeting whereas informal feedback can be given when the person is engaged in an informal conversation and gives his view.

1. Sue works for you in a busy, customer focused technology support centre. Her position requires her to answer the telephone, handle face-to-face enquire technical difficulties, use her knowledge and experience to solve problem and finally to communicate solutions to customers. Until recently, you considered sue to be very capable. You received good feedback from other staff and customer about her technical abilities and customers service generally. Recently, however, you have received number of complaints about her from one of your colleagues and from several customers. The complaints relate to her terse and harsh interpersonal skills and her lack of responsiveness when dealing with problems.

Importance of Work Plan in Supporting Operational Plan

In a short paragraph for each, answer the question. You need to address these complaints. What performance areas will you investigate?

1. How would you approach Sue regarding these complaints?

Sue would be approached in a one to one manner. She will be called by the manager and approached with the problem in hand. She will be given a chance to justify her actions.

1. If you needed to gather information from other sources, how would you address the issues confidentiality?

I would take confidential feedback from the co-workers and try to accumulate information from the customers Sue has dealt with. This has to take place confidentially because; the reputation of Sue has to be protected.

1. How do you think these issues can be resolved?

This issue can be resolved by counselling Sue. There has been a change in her behaviour due to certain reason and therefore the management has to conduct counselling to help her.

1. Explain what is coaching and mentoring and how coaching and mentoring is done on the job, making certain that the difference between the two processes is clearly explained?

Answer

Mentoring takes place when a person in an organization guides and helps the other person in order to help him to understand the system of the organization. On the other hand, a Coach is a guide with a teacher like position who guides an employee and provides him with necessary skills in an organization.

A mentoring relationship can last for a longer period of time and takes place in an informal environment (Daley 2012). 

1. Why is it necessary to document and record performance?

Answer

The documentation and recording of performance is considered to be extremely important because it is important to keep a track of the performance of the employees.

The documentation is important because:

• To compare the performance of the present employees with that of the others of the similar capability and similar group.
• To compare the performance of the employee with his past performance and predict the future performance.

1. Under what circumstances and for what reasons might HR expertise be of benefit to manage and employees who are negotiating performance improvement?

Answer 

The HR expertise may be beneficial to manage employees who are negotiating for performance improvement because in Human Resource the understanding of the employee context is considered important for this purpose, when negotiating with the employees for their performance improvement, the HR expertise will help to understand the reasoning behind the negotiation of the employee and the factors behind the understanding (Bratton and Gold 2012). 

1. What procedure might be followed to draw up implement a performance improvement plan?

Answer

The procedure that needs to be followed in order to implement a performance improvement plan is as follows:

1. Documenting Performance Issues
2. Develop an action plan
3. Review the Performance Plan
4. Meet with the employee
5. Follow up
6. End of process

1. In what ways do you think excellent performance should be recognised and rewarded? Explain the procedure that should be followed and explain why you think these ideas will motivate employees?

Answer

When an employee does not perform well, his efforts are usually criticized and he has to often undergo a training procedure to gain those skills back. However, when the employee performs well he or she needs to be motivated and they need to be appreciated for the effort they have put in. Some of the ways to recognize excellent performance are:

• Showcasing- His achievements should be showcased in front of the entire organization
• Gift cards – He should be given gift cards as a token of appreciation

The procedure followed should be that their performance needs to be evaluated and then measured with others and also measured with the set standard. If the set standard has been surpassed then the employee must be rewarded.

Explain what you consider the benefits of mentoring and coaching to be and explain how it can be used to support performance improvement.

Answer

Mentoring and coaching should be used as they are effective method in order to teach the employees and accustom him to the various rules and regulations in the particular organization. Mentoring is beneficial because:

• The employees learn faster due to the informal nature of the mentor (Sparrow, Brewster and Chung 2016).
• Helps to foster creativity in the organization.

1. Why should counselling be initiated in the case where performance does not improve?

Answer

Counselling is an important part of human resource management as well as managing people at work. Counselling refers to stabilizing the mindset of the employee.  The need for counselling arises when the performance of the employee has degraded suddenly or the performance of the employee has not been improving. In counselling, the person is often consulted with a professional psychologist who helps him and eases the pain, which the employee is going through (Beardwell and Thompson 2014).

1. Explain the disciplinary actions that might be taken by an organisation if an employee’s performance does not improve.

Criteria for Allocating Work to Individual Employees

Answer

This policy establishes four types of formal disciplinary action:

• Written warning
• Suspension without pay for one or two work weeks
• Demotion to a lower position and/or lower pay (Aswathappa 2013).
• Dismissal

1. What are some of the option that might aid an employee in resolving performance issues? Give at least five examples.

Answer

Many times in an organization, when an employee suddenly starts to perform poorly then he is often assisted in order to improve the performance. This assistance is a short-term help, which is provided to the employees to bounce back. The examples are provided below:

• Mentoring
• Coaching
• Training
• Decreased work hours
• Lowering target

1. Answer these scenario

What should you do in the following situations? Answer all three scenarios 

Scenario 1.

An employee is going through a nasty divorce. Because of the divorce, the employee can no longer afford a pay for childcare for their four and half year-old child. The child will be starting school in a four-month and school offer free after school care for working parents. The employee has been distracting on work, making more error than usual. They had a lot of time off and often must leave work early to care for the child. Pervious to this the employee’s performance was excellent.

Answer

This employee needs to take a counselling and the issue at hand needs to be resolved. In case the employee is a performer, the company can offer to pay for the child`s fees so that the burden is let off the employees mind (Truss, Mankin and Kelliher 2012).

Scenario 2.

An employee’s performance has been unsatisfied for a long time the employee and their manager create an employee development plan, which has been carried out. The employee has been given ample training and coaching. Verbal and written warnings have been given but there has been no improvement in the employee’s performance.

Answer

The employee needs to be confronted and the reason behind the poor performance in spite of the training given needs to be analysed. If the employee reflects no improvement and continues to perform poorly then a suspension actions needs to be taken against him.

Scenario 3.

An employee’s performance is identified as being unsatisfactory. The reasons for the employee’s poor performance are unclear.

Answer

A committee needs to be set up which will analyse and undertake the responsibility of finding out the reason for the given poor performance (Wood and Kispál-Vitai 2014). Necessary actions will be taken against the employee once the due reasons for the poor performance need to be discovered. 

Project

What things need to be taken into considerations when allocating work and drawing up work plans?

The following things need to be considered when allocating work and drawing up work plans:

• Goals and objectives- An organization is an objective oriented entity. It has certain goals to achieve and it has to reach certain heights. These goals may be as simple as achieving high sales or attaining higher revenue. Hence, when the work is being allocated among the staff then it is important to consider the goals and objectives so that work can be distributed in a manner in which the desired objective can be achieved. When drawing up work plans, considering objectives is one of the most important aspects to consider.
• Competence – The competence refers to the capability of the organization. It may also be referred to as the competency of the employees. A work plan divides the work, which will take place within an organization, into the different members. Therefore, it is extremely important that the competency of the employees is considered before giving out work to them so that they are able to complete the work in time.
• Operational need – The operational need refers to the mission of the organization. Many times in lieu of a strategy, the organization tends to have certain needs and requirements based on the targets. The operations that need to be conducted have certain set targets, which need to be, fulfilled (Kramar 2014). Therefore, the operational need is an important aspect, which needs to be considered before setting up work plans.
• Efficiency- Efficiency refers to the mannerism in which a work is performed such that the set goal is achieved with minimum deviation. Employee efficiency varies from person to person. That is why it is extremely necessary to take into consideration the efficiency of the individual employees. The more efficient employees may be allocated with more work as they are able to yield better outputs. On the other hand, the less efficient employees may be given less work as they are not able to yield better outputs.
• Cost-effectiveness- The cost effectiveness is extremely important when considering allocating work among the employees or allocating and dividing the work among different machines. Economies of scale help to yield higher work efficiency with lowered costs. If the company wants to engage in objectives that are cost effective then, it needs to allocate the plans accordingly. It needs to produce in bulk and this will require a change in the work allocation to each individual and also a change in the work plans that will be required. For cost effectiveness, the company will try to fit in better work force for better efficiency in order to reduce the costs.
• Consultation- The companies many times do not operate on their own. They hire various consultancy agencies, which provide strategic management and management advices to the various the business owners. Their suggestions are extremely important as it helps to develop the specific plans for the organisation. Therefore, it is suggested that when allocating work and developing work plans, it is extremely important to consider consultation.

1. Explain why it is necessary to:

Develop KRAs and KPIs that meet the organisations needs

KRIs are present in order to advice the management and the shareholders of the organization when the organization is performing well or not. There are various areas where the organization lags behind and it is the work of the Key Result Indicators to measure where the organization is going wrong (Purce 2014). The KPIs help to determine the actions that will help to lead to the required results. The Key performance Indicators set down certain performance standards, which help to determine where the organization is going wrong and how this can be improved in order to achieve the goals successfully.

Role of Code of Conduct in Affecting Work Output

Develop and implement effective performance management systems

Effective performance management systems play an important role in determining the benchmark performances that the company needs to adhere to (Berman et al. 2012). It also determines the deviation of the performance of the enterprise from the set standards. Effective performance management systems help the organization to stay in track. Is why it is extremely necessary to have an effective performance management system as it helps to manage the performance of the firm?

Have a code of conduct (or a code of ethics or behaviour) for the organisation –

Ethical behaviour is of upmost importance in an organization. The ethical behaviour of an organization helps to carry forward the organization and it also helps to manage the organization during the tough times. Therefore, a code of conduct is extremely beneficial as it helps to understand the mannerism an organization functions. Ethics goes a long way in maintaining the sustainability of the organization therefore code of conducts describes the rules that need to be followed by all the employees in a firm in order to achieve success.

Regular monitor and evaluate the wok of the employee

It is extremely important to monitor and evaluate the work of the organization so that it is observed that they have abided by all the performance measures and are producing error free products. The employees have certain targets to complete and hence, it is extremely important that these targets are met by and for this purpose the performance of the employees need to be measured.

Give effective feedback and reinforcement to employee and acknowledge good work –     

  Encouraging the employees is considered to be an important part of the organization. If the employee is able to perform well then it is the duty of the managers to encourage him.

Have system in place to manage poor performance

As mentioned previously, it is extremely important to manage the performance of the employees in work place, when the employees perform poorly then it is extremely important to manage their poor performance and understand the reason behind their poor performance.

Understand the organisation’s termination policy and the legislations to which it relates

Sometimes due to the misconduct of the employees they make be asked to leave the organization. Sometimes there arises certain misunderstanding and argument between the boss and the organization and due to this, it may be that the employee is asked to leave the organization. That is the reason it is extremely important to make sure that the employees understand the termination policies so that they do to create any legal action against the employer later.

References

Aswathappa, K., 2013. Human resource management: Text and cases. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Beardwell, J. and Thompson, A., 2014. Human resource management: a contemporary approach. Pearson Education.

Berman, E.M., Bowman, J.S., West, J.P. and Van Wart, M.R., 2012. Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. Sage.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.

Daley, D.M., 2012. Strategic human resources management. Public Personnel Management, pp.120-125.

Hendry, C., 2012. Human resource management. Routledge.

Jiang, K., Lepak, D.P., Hu, J. and Baer, J.C., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of management Journal, 55(6), pp.1264-1294.

Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(8), pp.1069-1089.

Marler, J.H. and Fisher, S.L., 2013. An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 23(1), pp.18-36.

Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.

Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.

Truss, C., Mankin, D. and Kelliher, C., 2012. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.

Wood, G. and Kispál-Vitai, Z., 2014. Strategic Human Resource Management. Strategic Human Resource Management: An International Perspective, p.72.