career management:
career management means seeking opportunities, making discoveries, taking accountability for personal and professional growth, and being pro-active. It means working today with an eye on tomorrow.
PERFORMANCE PLANNING:
Performance planning means setting goals and determining what needs to be done to reach those goals. Performance Planning means setting standards in advance. The starting point for. performance management is the job description.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL:
performance appraisal means comparing the productivity of employeesagainst the pre-established and pre-agreed activities and standards. Performance appraisal then necessitates, beforehand, a precise determination of activities or work to be accomplished by theemployee. These activities must be targeted towards the accomplishment of the objectives of theorganization. Performancemeasures are meant to align organizational behaviour with the organization’s set of formal goals”. The main purpose of performance evaluation is therefore to measure, evaluate or toappraise the work accomplished in relation to the goals and objectives of the organization. This means that, when making appraisal, the concern must be on whether activities accomplished have contributed to the progress or total performance of the organization. iii.What has to be appraised ?
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT:
What is Performance Management?
The word "Performance Management" means different things to different people. For IT managers, it usually means software to improve the performance of their applications or networks. To executives, it often means managing the business "by the numbers" so that operational units can focus on meeting their commitments to the business and executives can be evaluated.
But to an HR or Training professional, the words "Performance Management" usually mean the processes and systems which are used to evaluate, coach, rate, and rank employees to increase their job performance. Training is always a critical piece of a Performance Management initiative.
SOME MISCONCEPTIONS OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT:
Misconception 1
Performance management equals performance appraisal.
This can be counted as the gravest misunderstanding about performance management. They are very different definitions in that performance management means to control, check and feed back the process of performance realisation ? it is an ongoing process. Performance evaluation, however, is an assessment of the performance outcome ? it is done at a specific point of the time. Therefore, if the management believes that the measurement criteria can automatically put pressure on the employees to bring out the best performance, the real performance is very likely to be less satisfying than expected. There are two main reasons: First, it is far from enough for the employees to be in fear of the appraisal; they also need guidance and help in the working process to achieve the best performance. Second, the evaluation is done after the performance is realised and it is too late to transform the outcome. Hence, effective performance management must focus on the overall process of realising the best performance instead of mere evaluations.
Misconception 2
Performance management is the job of the HR department.
This is a somewhat intriguing phenomenon. The management of many companies tends to assume that the HR department should take full responsibility for performance management. The HR department seems always busy with issuing all kinds of forms, making measurement criteria, calculating the rating scores and pushing progress, whereas other departments are content with doing jobs as required by HR department. Who in the last analysis should be responsible for performance management? The answer is that it is the most significant part of the daily job for every staff member of the management team. It is simply because their job is to produce the best performance. The outcome of any performance reflects the professional capability of the management, and the role of the HR department is more on the side of consulting: they provide a methodology for performance management, coordinate and organise the process of performance management within the organisation. They are not expected to be held accountable for the performance outcome, neither are they able to do it.
Misconception 3
Comprehensive and complicated measurement criteria ensure an effective evaluation.
The design of measurement criteria is the starting point of performance management, and also a potential trap. Generally speaking, there are a few typical mistakes likely to result in unsuccessful performance management: 1) There are too many measurement criteria. Some organisations set many evaluation indicators for every position, in the hope of getting a comprehensive view as much as possible. Though aiming at something positive, the approach is problematic in that the real focus will be easily lost in the overwhelming criteria. When the employees cannot concentrate on the most important aspects of the organisation, the actual performance will fail to be maximised. 2) The criteria are over-complicated. Some organisations design complex calculation formulas to ensure equality in evaluations, but end up spending a great deal of effort on collecting data and calculating ratings. Gradually, both the employees and the management lose enthusiasm and treat it merely as a ritual. Thus the previous efforts all become "sunk cost. As a matter of fact, one hundred percent equality does not exist. If simpler and more focused criteria can be found, the employees will be more ready to accept them and consequently the management will have an easier job. 3) Business performance is given too much attention while organisational skills too little. Although the former is indeed essential in performance management, the latter should be regarded as the same fundamental. Performance will not be improved if the employees' organisational skills remain the same despite the increase of their business abilities.Therefore, in designing reasonable measurement criteria, capacity building (including both personal and organisational skills) must be given the same emphasis as business performance. Only by this means, can a breakthrough be made in long-term performance.
Regards,
Dr.Prageetha