Optimizing Performance Management process

In today's workplace, performance improvement through integration of effective Performance Management Systems is very much in demand. Pressure on business is increasing rapidly and organizations are now forced to become more effective and efficient by executing better business strategies to remain competitive. However for bringing out such changes a right Performance Management Solution is essential.

Generally when performance management is mentioned, people think of the employee employee appraisal or a review. However, this involves much more than just that. Indeed, it is the process by which organizations align their resources, systems and employees to strategic objectives and priorities from the start to end. However, implementing an appropriate Performance Management Systems to make sure that all the processes in your organization are functioning properly you must optimize the entire process.

Here are a few ways which can help in optimizing the process that can result in a sure success for your organization:

·          Setting the goals effectively is the basis of an effective process. Firstly, the goals must be written clearly and objectively. Secondly, they must directly contribute to the achievement of business strategies in an organization. Apparently, when setting goals job expectations and responsibilities should act as the main criterion and the goals must not just address what is expected instead they must show measures of how it will be achieved.

·          Performance planning is a crucial component of this process. This planning is collaboratively carried out at the beginning of a process. In this, the employees decide upon the targets and the key achievement areas which can be worked upon over a year period within the organizational set budget. However, the plan is finalized after a mutual agreement between the manager and the employee.

·          Ensuring an Ongoing Process in the Performance Management Systems by linking the strategic business objectives with day to day activities is also very important. By doing so, all the processes will be aligned properly and will contribute to the company's success.

·          Gathering information from a variety of sources can help increase objectivity and ensures that all the factors affecting the employee's conduct are considered properly. This information should include objective data like sales reports, call records or deadline reports.

·          Documenting the entire process is also essential. The activity log is a record that the manager keeps for each employee with respect to their conduct. This documentation can be used to support achievements or ratings at future requirements.

·          Training the managers with effective Performance Management Solutions acts as a backbone to this process. Training is required to ensure that the managers understand that individuals at different levels of ability and experience need different levels of input, support and supervision. This is especially needed in case of newly promoted supervisors or managers. A manager who feels adequately prepared to provide and receive feedback, deliver a performance evaluation and conduct an employee evaluation meeting will be a major contributor to a successful functioning of the entire process.

·          Appraisals or Reviewing must be carried out twice in a year at an organization. The entire process of review requires an active participation of both the employee and the manager for analyzing the causes of loopholes in the workings and how it can be overcome.

However, more and more organizations today are relying on innovative technology solutions to implement the best practices and automate the lengthy and stressful old manual processes. A move to web based technology is making the Performance Management Systems more affordable, regardless of the size of an organization, with quick implementation schedules, no IT support requirements and automatic upgrades. Certainly, this innovation can be considered as the best Performance Management Solution ever! For further details visit http://www.bullseyeevaluation.com/performance-appraisal-services.aspx

Pro’s and con’s of Employee Self Evaluation process

Employee Self Evaluation is a process in which the individual employees are allowed to rate themselves for their work performance. This type of Performance Appraisal System usually deals with the self confidence in an employee and his perception towards the work he is contributing towards the company. Rating the work we ourselves do has its own value and importance though it is often underestimated. By rating one develops a quality of introspection, self realization and self confidence. However, this must not be limited to the fellow employees alone as the supervisors and the managers also must go through such Performance Appraisal System of self evaluation.

The Employee Self Evaluation process has six features on which it relies. They are:

·          Vision

·          External environment 

·          Artistic aims and programs 

·          Participation and engagement 

·          Organizational capacity and capability 

·          Business models

By focusing on these key points this process yields a positive impact on the entire organization’s operations and its success.

Certainly, Employee Self Evaluation is an important skill to develop for lifelong learning either in a corporate or educational organization. It is vital that every working employee must be able to critically evaluate their own performance and rate them in accordance with the entire workforce. In order to impart such capability in the employees that they must first have the skills to identify and understand the professional or industry standards expected out of them. They then will be able to critically reflect on their own performance to determine if they are meeting the required criteria or not.

Many organizations implement this type of Performance Appraisal System in their strategies and get benefited with the kind of appraisal. An evaluation which is owned, controlled, and often carried out by the internal participants, primarily for their own use, is an integral part of the organizational performance improvement.

Some of the pros of this Employee Self Evaluation process are as follows:

·          It is the foremost and a crucial step in any evaluation process.

·          It helps the employees to consider their past performance and set future targets and consider career development and training needs of themselves.

·          By evaluating themselves each employee will be clear about where he is lagging with respect to the entire crew.

·          It helps employees to write descriptive notes, evaluating various aspects of the performance indicating their strength and weakness.

·          It helps the employees to get an opportunity to think, reflect and write down the problems and constraints.

·          Employees will be able to focus on their inconsistencies and will try to bring appropriate solutions for it.

·          Employees will get a chance to predict their main targets for the coming year and think about their career advancement.

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Nevertheless, some view this process as just another boring step that adds more work and burden to an already long performance appraisal process.

Some of the cons of employee Self evaluation process are as follows:

·          Most employees overstate the quality of their own performance relative to others.

·          Confident employees do not wish to appear over confident and boastful.

·          They get a negative feeling about their evaluations as they feel they are less capable to carry out the following evaluation.

On the contrary, Employee Self Evaluation is a vital activity that can help make your performance appraisal process more effective. Done properly, employee self-evaluations can provide several key benefits to the organization. It provides the understanding and evidence needed to make the best possible plans for the future. The process can be enjoyable, demanding and revealing however. Whatever the experience turns out to be for you, it should help you to be beneficial for an organization, with greater clarity about what you are aiming to achieve. For further details visit http://www.bullseyeevaluation.com/web-based-employee-evaluation.aspx

Improving communication in the Higher Education sector

In higher educational institutions, communication plays a major role in Performance Management. Institutions are complex communities comprised of multiple layers of players like administration, the faculty and students each with a distinct set of mindset and backgrounds. In order to draw a healthy balance between all these entities, communication between them is very essential. A clear and straightforward communication between the faculty, staff, and students will maintain a healthy cord and thus reinforce the workflow in an institution. Thus, communication is regarded as the key element in the Higher Education Performance Management scenario.

The need for communication in Higher Education Performance Management is not a current need as it played a significant role for past many years. Though for a long time, schools and universities prevailed in their own world, completely disconnected from the concerns and constraints of the entire society. But recent innovations in Performance Management strategies have enforced the Higher Education Performance Management to evolve by making the administrations to focus on the communication within their body. By improving the addressing mode among all the entities all the areas of concerns and issues can be effectively altered and solved regularly. With the instinct of verbal communication all the players were aligned appropriately with their concerned duties and responsibilities in institutions.

There was yet another change of course with the rise of internet which gave rise to significant interactivity among the institutional bodies. Internal websites flourished with students heavily engaging in communication on chat Rooms, forums, and blogs and through video. Then came the era of social networking that completely changed the perception of communication in the educational bodies. Communication has now emerged as a primary ingredient of every organizational activity. Today communication in higher education encompasses of many modes to address the entities like publishing, direct marketing, events, internal communication, press monitoring, participative workshops, interactive classrooms, multi channel, integrated technology, infinite other mediums and many more innovative ways. Communication no longer relied on just verbal stints in any business sector.

The need to improve interaction among various entities in the educational bodies became clear to universities in the United States as soon as institutions began to compete with each other. Now with the advent of business schools and universities play an essential role in our society. They are no longer remaining as centers of knowledge production as they emerged as keys to innovation, economic development, transmission of ideas, and even territorial planning. In order to attract students and professors and also to raise funds, there was a need to refine and promote an image of excellence through interaction. For this concern many higher educational bodies came forward by establishing a separate department to manage such criteria.

However, in many countries there is still a lack of understanding when it comes to need of communications in higher education sector. Many of those involved in Higher Education Performance Management foresee communication as superfluous and a pointless expense. They experienced a transformation as rapid and radical change affected higher education and that needed urgent rescue. In just a few years, the stakes have changed there are new players and new issues to deal with. So the entire management criteria need to be redefined and restructured in order to meet the requirement. The pressure to maintain and improve the quality of the educational institution driven by an institution’s high standards and mission, as well as by these agencies, certainly puts pressure on everyone working in or attending any school. Although communication can be utilized as a good tool to align all the operations with the educational body goals. For further details visit http://www.bullseyeevaluation.com/bullseye-iq.aspx