Example: bankruptcy

M08 MOND2998 12 PIE C08.QXD 1/19/11 11:37 PM …

HRM in Action:Employee Engagement as a StrategicHR ToolEmployee engagementrefers to the level of commitment workersmake to their employer, seen in their willingness to stay at the firm andto go beyond the call of want employees that are highlymotivated and feel they have a real stake in the company s success. Such employees arewilling to finish tasks in their own time and see a strong link between the firm s successand their own career prospects. In short, motivated, empowered employees work handin hand with employers in an atmosphere of mutual trust. Companies with engagedworkforces have also reported less absenteeism, more engagement with customers,greater employee satisfaction, less mistakes, fewer employees leaving, and naturallyhigher profits. Such is the power of this concept that former Secretary of State forBusiness, Peter Mandelson, commissioned David McLeod and Nita Clarke to investigatehow much UK competitiveness could be enhanced by wider use of employee engage-ment.

CHAPTER 8 • PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND APPRAISAL 237 the organization’s strategic plan. Although evaluation of team performance is critical when

Tags:

  Performance, Management, Chapter, Performance management

Information

Domain:

Source:

Link to this page:

Please notify us if you found a problem with this document:

Other abuse

Transcription of M08 MOND2998 12 PIE C08.QXD 1/19/11 11:37 PM …

1 HRM in Action:Employee Engagement as a StrategicHR ToolEmployee engagementrefers to the level of commitment workersmake to their employer, seen in their willingness to stay at the firm andto go beyond the call of want employees that are highlymotivated and feel they have a real stake in the company s success. Such employees arewilling to finish tasks in their own time and see a strong link between the firm s successand their own career prospects. In short, motivated, empowered employees work handin hand with employers in an atmosphere of mutual trust. Companies with engagedworkforces have also reported less absenteeism, more engagement with customers,greater employee satisfaction, less mistakes, fewer employees leaving, and naturallyhigher profits. Such is the power of this concept that former Secretary of State forBusiness, Peter Mandelson, commissioned David McLeod and Nita Clarke to investigatehow much UK competitiveness could be enhanced by wider use of employee engage-ment.

2 David and Nita concluded that in a world where work tasks have becomeincreasingly similar, engaged employees could give some companies the edge over also identified significant barriers to engagement such as a lack of appreciationfor the concept of employee engagement by some companies and managers. Fullparticipation by line managers is particularly crucial. From the employee point of view, it is easy to view engagement as a managementfad, particularly if the company fails to demonstrate the necessary commitment. Somealso feel that in a recession, employee engagement becomes less of a priority when inPerformance Managementand 1/19/11 11:37 PM Page 234235fact it could be the factor that enables a business in trouble to stay afloat. Others feelthat in an environment where recruitment is easier due to increasing unemployment,firms tend to slacken their commitment to engagement.

3 A company that has demonstrated the value of employee engagement is John Lewis,who sell a range of household goods, clothes, and electronics. The John Lewis businessmodel has been hailed as a good way to run public services and 70,000 store employeesrecently received a slice of a million engagement strategy of John Lewis is facilitated by its unusual employee-ownedstructure. Employees are known as partners and the company is run by a PartnershipCouncil, a Partnership Board, and a Chairman. At least 80 percent of the Partnership Councilis elected and this is one of the ways employees feel that they can influence the working ofthe company. At the core of the John Lewis philosophy is a belief that employees are criticalto success. Employees benefit from an environment that positively encourages a healthywork life balance and engagement in community projects and charity work.

4 Tangiblebenefits include a noncontributory final salary pension scheme, store discounts, subsidizedholidays, and even a contribution towards concert is another retailing company that has embraced employee engagement. ChiefExecutive, Terry Leahy, remarked recently that he knew more about Tesco customers thanhis employees and set out to improve that situation. One of the most significant factors inthis process has been an improved understanding with USDAW, the shop workers also launched two notable engagement projects in 2008, one of which encouragedemployees to take part in a talent contest. Vouchers for in-store shopping were also distrib-uted to employees at completing this chapter , students should be able performancemanagementand describe theimportance of performance appraisaland identify the uses ofperformance the performanceappraisal environmental the performanceappraisal the various performancecriteria (standards) that can who may be responsiblefor performance appraisal andthe performance the various performanceappraisal the problems that havebeen associated withperformance the characteristics of aneffective appraisal the legal implicationsof performance how the appraisalinterview should be 1/19/11 11:37 PM Page 235 Tesco is already receiving encouraging results for its investment in employee engage-ment.

5 Stores with the most committed employees are the most successful in terms ofturnover. However, suprisingly, many companies still conclude that employee engagementis not for chapter beginsby discussing employee engagement. Thenperformance management is defined and the importance of integrating learningand performance management discussed. The relationship of performancemanagement to performance appraisal is then studied. Next, we look at the usesmade of appraisal data and the environmental factors affecting the perform-ance appraisal process. The performance appraisal process is then described andthe possible criteria used in evaluating performance are discussed. Then theperson(s) responsible for appraisal and the appraisal period are described, andthe various performance appraisal methods are explained.

6 Problems associatedwith performance appraisal and characteristics of an effective appraisal systemare described next, followed by a discussion of the legal aspects of performanceappraisal and the appraisal interview. This chapter concludes with a globalperspective entitled Two Cultures Views of performance Appraisal. 236 OBJECTIVE performancemanagementanddescribe the importanceof of commitmentworkers make to theiremployer, seen in theirwillingness to stay at thefirm and to go beyond thecall of ManagementPerformance management (PM)is a goal-oriented process directed toward ensuring thatorganizational processes are in place to maximize the productivity of employees, teams, andultimately, the organization. It is a major player in accomplishing organizational strategy in thatit involves measuring and improving the value of the workforce.

7 PM includes incentive goalsand the corresponding incentive values so that the relationship can be clearly understood andcommunicated. There is a close relationship between incentives and management systems are one of the major focuses in business today. Althoughevery HR function contributes to performance management , training and performance appraisalplay a more significant role. Whereas performance appraisal occurs at a specific time, perform-ance management is a dynamic, ongoing, continuous process. Every person in the organizationis a part of the PM system. Each part of the system, such as training, appraisal, and rewards, isintegrated and linked for the purpose of continuous organizational effectiveness. With PM, theeffort of each and every worker should be directed toward achieving strategic goals.

8 If aworker s skills need to be improved, training is needed. With PM systems, training has a directtie-in to achieving organizational effectiveness. In addition, pay and performance are directlyrelated to achieving organizational J. Greene, CEO of Reward Systems Inc., said, performance management is thesingle largest contributor to organizational effectiveness. If you ignore performance management ,you fail. 4 Organizations must take a more strategic approach to performance appraisal. Instead ofusing the familiar check the box, write a comment ritual, organizations need to integrate thecompany s mission, vision, and values into their performance management AppraisalPerformance appraisal (PA)is a formal system of review and evaluation of individual or teamtask performance . A critical point in the definition is the word formal,because in actuality, man-agers should be reviewing an individual s performance on a continuing is especially critical to the success of performance management .

9 Although performanceappraisal is but one component of performance management , it is vital, in that it directly reflectsOBJECTIVE performanceappraisaland identify theuses of (PM)Goal-oriented processdirected toward ensuringthat organizationalprocesses are in place tomaximize the productivityof employees, teams, andultimately, the appraisal(PA)Formal system of reviewand evaluation of individualor team task 1/19/11 11:37 PM Page 236 chapter 8 performance management AND APPRAISAL237the organization s strategic plan. Although evaluation of team performance is critical whenteams exist in an organization, the focus of PA in most firms remains on the individualemployee. Regardless of the emphasis, an effective appraisal system evaluates accomplishmentsand initiates plans for development, goals, and appraisal is often a negative, disliked activity and one that seems to do not like giving them and employees do not like receiving , in one survey, almost 80 percent of workers stated dissatisfaction with their PA is so, why not just eliminate it?

10 Actually, some managers might do just that ifthey did notneed to provide feedback, encourage performance improvement, make valid decisions, justifyterminations, identify training and development needs, and defend personnel appraisal serves many purposes, and improved results and efficiency are increas-ingly critical in today s globally competitive marketplace. Therefore, abandoning the onlyprogram with performancein its name and employeesas its focus would seem to be an ill-advised overreaction. On top of these considerations, managers must be concerned about legalramifications. Developing an effective performance appraisal system has been and will continueto be a high priority for of performance AppraisalFor many organizations, the primary goal of an appraisal system is to improve individual andorganizational performance .


Related search queries