BSBMGT502B Manage People Performance (Book)

BSBMGT502B – Manage People
Performance
Learner Book
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BSBMGT502B – Manage People
Performance
Learner Book
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 1
Introduction...............................................................................................1
Meaning of performance 2
High performance culture 2
Managing Organisational Performance 3
Key features of performance management 3
Dimensions of performance 4
Chapter 2 5
Planning performance Standards.............................................................5
Managers 5
Plan People Performance 6
Motivational Theories 8
Performance management system 10
Relevant workplace documents 11
Relevant awards and legislation 12
Work plan at different organisational levels 15
Core competency of good performance management system 19
Chapter 3 21
Managing performance...........................................................................21
Performance management model 25
Key results areas and KPIs 26
Communication 22
Review and Document objectives 26
Giving positive feedback 33
Chapter 4 36
Review performance appraisal...............................................................36
Type of performance appraisal 36
Prepare and conduct performance appraisal 37
Analyse performance 38
Prepare for appraisal 39
Risk Action plan 38
Coaching poor performer 41
Constructive feedback 42
Outcome of performance appraisal 45
Unsatisfactory performance 47
References 50
Chapter
1
Introduction
Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom (Euripides).
M
anaging performance involves taking systematic action to improve organisational,
individual performance. It enables performance expectations to be defined, and creates
the basis for developing organisational and individual capability. For individuals,
performance management processes are associated with financial and non – financial rewards.
Organisation exists to meet the needs of their stakeholders. They do this in five ways:
- By delivering high – quality goods and services
- Be acting ethically (exercising social responsibility) with regard to their employees and the public
at large;
- By rewarding their employees equitably according to their contribution;
- In the private sector, by rewarding shareholders by increasing the value of their holdings, so long
as this is consistent with the requirement to meet the needs of other stakeholders;
- By ensuring that the organisation has the capability required to guarantee continuing success.
On completion of this unit, you will able to:
Learning Outcome 1: Allocate Work
Learning Outcome 2: Assess Performance
Learning Outcome 3: Provide feedback
Learning Outcome 4: Manage follow up
Managing performance is about developing

organisational capability – the capacity of an organisation to perform effectively in order to achieve
desired results. This means achieving sustained competitive advantage and increased shareholder value
in the private sector, or high quality and cost effective services in the public and not – for profit sectors.
I C O N K E Y
Valuable information
 Workbook Activities
Meaning of Performance?
The oxford English Dictionary defines performance as “The accomplished, execution carrying out,
working out of anything ordered or undertaken”. This refers to output/outcomes, but also states that
performance is about doing the work as well as being about the results achieved.
Performance is indeed often regarded as simply the outcomes achieved: a record of a person’s
accomplished.
Performance could therefore be regarded as behaviour – the way in which organisations, teams and
individuals get work done. A more comprehensive view o performance is achieved if it is defined as
embracing both behaviour and outcomes. This was well put by Brumback (1998):
“Performance means both behaviours and results. Behaviours emanate from the performer and
transform performance from abstraction to action. Not just the instruments for results, behaviours are
also outcomes in their own right – the product of mental and physical effort applied to tasks – and can be
judged apart from results”.
Employees’ need both ability and motivation to perform well, and if either ability or motivation is zero,
there will be no effective performance
High performance cultures

A high performance culture is one in which people are aware of
the need to perform well, and behave accordingly in order to
meet or exceed expectations. Such a culture embraces a number
o interrelated processes which together make an impact on the
performance of the organisation through its people, in such areas
as productivity, quality, levels of customer service, growth,
profits, and ultimately, in profit – making firms, the delivery of
increased shareholder value. In our more heavily service – and
knowledge – based economy, employees have become the most important determinant of organisation
success.
Characteristics of a high – performance culture
The following characteristics of a high – performance culture were define by Lloyds TSB (Source: e-
reward, 203)
- People know what is expected of them – they are clear about their goals and accountabilities.
- They have the skills and competencies to achieve their goals
- High performance is recognised and reward accordingly
- People feel that their job is worth doing, and that there is a strong fit between the job and their
capabilities.
- Managers act as supportive leaders and coaches, providing regular feedback, performance
reviews and development.
- A pool o talent ensures a continuous supply of high performances in key roles
- There is a climate of trust and teamwork, aimed at delivery a distinctive service to the customer
Developing a high – performance culture

There are three approaches that can be adopted to developing a high – performance culture:
- The implementation of high - performance working through a high – performance work system;
- The use of rewards;
- The use of systematic methods of managing performance
Managing organisational performance

The management of organisational performance takes place in a number of dimensions. It is a strategic
approach which has to take account of the needs of multiple stakeholders. It is the prime responsibility
of top management who plan, organise, monitor and control activities and provide leadership to achieve
strategic objectives and satisfy the needs and requirements of stakeholders.
The aim of organisational performance is to increase organisational capability – the capacity of an
organisation to function effectively. It is about the ability of an organisation to guarantee high level of
performance, achieve its purpose, deliver results, and importantly meet the needs of its stakeholders. It
is concerned to increase organisational effectiveness by obtaining better performance from people,
getting them to work well together, improving organisational processes such as the formulation and
implementation of strategy and the achievement of high quality and levels of customer service, and
facilitating the management of change.
Key features of performance management
- At every stage the aim is to obtain agreement between managers and individuals on how well
the latter are doing and what can be jointly to develop strengths and deal with any weaknesses.
- Discussions between managers and individuals take the form of a dialogue. Managers should not
attempt to dominate the process and it should not be perceived as an alternative method of
control.
- Performance management is largely about managing expectations – both managers and
individuals understand and agree what they expect of one another, developing a more positive
psychological contract
- Positive feedback is used to motivate people by recognising their achievements and potential
- The process is forward looking – it does not dwell on the past, and the dialogue is about what can
be done in the future to develop performance and give individuals the opportunity to grow
- Performance management is a continuous
process, it is not an annual event; managers
and individual are there to manage
performance through the year.
What are the dimensions of performance?

Some aspects of performance are not easy to measure – they are called ‘performance
dimensions’. For this reason, managers and employees may also need to discuss these aspects of
performance. Some examples of common performance dimensions include:
 strong interpersonal and communication skills
 customer service orientation
 effective communication
 valuing diversity
 analysis and problem-solving
 decision-making and results orientation
 fostering a safe and secure environment
Activity
Chapter
2
Planning Performance Standards
The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a
thing makes it happen. (Frank Loyd Wright)
E
stablishing the context for any risk management assessment really important. It requires a
thorough understanding of the environment internal and external in which an organisation
exists and operates. Establishing the context provides the framework for managing the risk
management process.
I C O N K E Y
 Valuable information
 Workbook Activities
Manager
As managers are the focus of the skills in managing performance improvement, it will be useful to
define what a manager is. While the literature uses a
number of definitions, there is agreement on the
concept that managers achieve things through
others.
Managers manage others to achieve outcomes or
results through them. They use fewer technical
skills and more interpersonal and conceptual skills in
their job than when they were a team member.
Thus they become responsible for managing the performance of individuals to achieve
organisational goals.
The Manager of the 21st Century

The manager of the 21st century will be known more as a leader and a coach, and will be able to
operate in a flat organisational structure, reporting directly to senior management. They will value
performance management, participative leadership, empowerment, and an environment that
emphasises best practice, quality and customer service.
To get from where managers are now to where they need to be requires the development of “soft
skills”. Soft skills relate to communication, negotiation, listening, delegating and managing conflict.
Managing performance is a significant responsibility of a manager or supervisor. As Australians we

place great emphasis on performance in sport. While the same can’t be said for performance in the
workplace, the concepts are very similar.
Just like the coach of any sports team, as a manager you will need to find ways to coach, motivate
and guide your staff towards winning outcomes
Plan people performance

The Importance of Planning
Although planning cannot guarantee improved performance, it should improve the probability of
improved performance. Planning is an activity that looks at the future and how you will get there. It
requires time to think about the future and is an essential management function for the following
reasons:
 To coordinate individual efforts.
 To enable action planning.
 To enable management of change.
 To facilitate decision-making.
 To focus efforts on results/goals.
 To give clear directions to others.
 To identify resources required.
 To meet deadlines.
 To monitor and evaluate performance.
 To reduce delays and disruptions.
 To reduce duplication, waste and uncertainty.
 To set priorities.
 To set parameters for monitoring.
Organisational Planning
Planning for performance starts at the very highest level of an organisation, and a great deal of
work needs to go into planning the organisation’s performance. A vision must be decided on. A
vision is a statement about the things that the organisation considers to be important. A vision
statement sets direction and identifies the organisational values.
The mission statement involves a broad description of what the organisation is about. It defines the
overall purpose of the organisation, its reason for being. Table 4.1 overleaf shows an example of a
vision and mission statement. Please note that vision and mission statements also be combined
into one statement.
Which in turn leads to the operational planning process, which form the basis for the setting of
individual performance standards.
Vision
Strategic Plans:
Strategic Plan
Non-routine
Mission (What?) Organisation-wide
Significant change
Environment driven
Time frame: 3 - 5 years
Goals
Objectives
Standards Operational Plans:

Operational Plans
Routinised
(How?) Operationally specific
Small-change scale
Actions Resource driven
Time frame: < 1 year
Monitoring
Results
The Planning Process, Tovey and Uren (2006).
To ensure that goals are useful and effective they must meet the SMART principle:
 Specific - significant, stretching, simple.
 Measurable - meaningful, motivational, manageable.
 Achievable - agreed, actionable, appropriate.
 Realistic - relevant, results-oriented, rewarding.
 Timely - traceable.
Specific The action, behaviour or outcome must be linked to a rate, number, percentage
or frequency. ‘Answer the telephone quickly’ is not specific and allows for a
subjective judgement to be made about whether the outcome has been
achieved. In contrast, ‘answer the telephone within three rings’ is specific.
Measurabl You must be able to measure the extent to which an objective has been
e achieved. If you have successfully created a specific objective linked to a rate,
number, percentage or frequency, this will be easier.
Achievable A goal is achievable if, with a reasonable amount of effort and application, it can
be achieved. Deciding what constitutes a realistic amount of effort and
application calls for a subjective judgement to be made, which is one reason
why goals should be mutually agreed, and not ‘set’.
Realistic This means that the outcome sought must be something individuals can actually
impact upon. The key questions here are; Do the individuals have the necessary
knowledge, skill and authority to complete this goal?
Timely This means quite simply; Is there a time frame within which the goal should be
undertaken? If there is no time frame, the goal is not SMART.
SMART Goals.
What is motivation?
What moves you? Have you given much thought to what motivates people to do their jobs?
Without motivation, people wouldn’t perform at all. In order to manage people it helps to
understand what motivates them.
Unfortunately, the things that motivate people can be different, depending on a range of factors
including:
 our age
 our culture
 our personality
 our needs
Motivational Theories
What motivates you at work? Different people have different reasons for getting up and going to
work in the morning.
Performance management requires a continuous process of:
 planning for performance – setting performance goals, establishing performance standards
and setting performance expectations, identifying developmental goals in work (action)
plans
 performance appraisal – observing, documenting and assessing performance
 performance improvement – providing regular feedback, review performance
appraisal, rewarding excellent performance2
Managing performance employs a ‘plan – manage – review’ approach to improving performance
measures. As an ongoing process of review and correction, it is a manager’s role to work closely with
their employees to help them achieve the goals they have set.
Plan
- review job descriptions, previous performance reports, and any relevant awards or codes
of conduct
- create individual goals and objectives in consultation with the employee
- ensure a shared understanding exists of the level of performance expected, and
how this will be monitored and measured
- ensure goals are measurable and aligned to the organisation’s strategic and operational
plans
Manage
- continually monitoring performance and measuring results
- developing the employee’s performance through ongoing coaching & feedback
- providing regular appraisals to discuss progress towards achieving goals, and providing an
opportunity to modify or change goals
Review
- conduct final performance appraisal
- review performance results against set objectives
- acknowledge and reward excellent performance
- instigate measures to address poor performance
- identify areas of improvement and possibilities for further training Workplace
Change
When performance management is introduced to a workplace, people can find it very
confronting. If you are at a workplace that is introducing formal performance management
for the first time, you will probably encounter comments like:
- ‘Why do we need performance management? No one has said anything about my
performance before.’
- ‘You are just doing this because you want to get rid of staff.’
- ‘What qualifies you to manage my performance? I have 20 years experience.’
- ‘This is just another management fad.’
As a manager or supervisor in a workplace, you will need to be able to respond to these types of
comments
Performance Management Systems

Performance management strategy is based on the resource – based view that it is the strategic
development of the organisations rare, hard to imitate and hard to substitute human resources that
produces its unique character and creates competitive advantage. The strategic goal will be to
“create firms which are more intelligent and flexible than their competitor’s by developing more
talented staff and by extending their skills base and this is exactly what performance management
aims to do.
The Purpose of performance management
The purpose of performance management is to get better results from the organisation, teams and
individuals by understanding and managing performance within an agreed framework of planned
goals, standards and competency requirements. It is a process for establishing shared understanding
about what is to be achieved, and an approach to managing and developing people in a way which
increases the probability that it will be achieved in the short and longer term. Performance
management enhances the engagement of people by providing the foundation upon which many
non – financial motivation approaches can be built.
What is a Performance Management System?

Just like a sports team, if an organisation expects to perform well they must manage their
performance. The main goal of a Performance Management System is to help raise employee
performance and, in doing so, the productivity and growth of the organisation.
Most people tend to think of uncomfortable meetings with their boss when they think of how
performance is managed. But appraisal meetings are only just one part of such a system.
A complete Performance Management System needs managers to:
 Link people’s performance goals in line with the goals and strategies of the organisation.
 Set the standards and levels of performance that are expected to be met.
 Monitor people’s performance.
 Work with the employee to improve or build their performance.
 Identify any possible barriers that are limiting performance and remove them.
 Reward excellent performance and quickly address poor performance
A properly constructed Performance Management System includes documenting any
occurrences of performance problems, keeping notes on how the problems were
communicated to the employee, and then also making a record of what steps were taken to
remedy the situation.
Such evidence compiled through proper performance management can potentially prevent
costly legal battles that can occur if the process escalates into formal arbitration proceedings.
Who is involved in Performance Management?
Managers can be responsible for managing the performance of
individual or teams of employees. While the focus is on the
individual and how they can improve, a number of other people
can be involved in the formal process of monitoring and setting
the boundaries for how performance is being managed.
These may include:
 your team
 you, as a supervisor
 human resource professional
 union representatives
Relevant workplace documents

There are a number of documents that outline the tasks and responsibilities of the
employees’ jobs and the performance goals and measurements they are expected to reach.
Examples of these workplace documents are:
 code of conduct
 policies and procedures
 job descriptions
 industrial awards or workplace agreements
 workplace induction information
 performance management plan
Relevant awards and legislation

 workplace Relations Act (1996)
 workplace Health and Safety Act (1995)
 awards/Enterprise Bargaining Agreements/Union Collective Agreements
Human Resource Planning Model
Human resource (HR) planning is critical to achieve the organisation’s strategic vision. Figure 4.2
below shows the HR planning model that identifies “where we want to be” translated from
response to the strategic vision, “where we are now” and “what we need to do to make the
transition”, all operating within the organisation’s environment.
Environmental influences
Where are Translate

we now? vision –
where do we
want to be?
Strateg
ic
vision
Design and use work

plans to achieve
transition
Integrated Human Resource Planning Model, Torrington and Hall (1998).
Environmental Influences
Environmental influences are external factors over which organisations do not have any control.
These influences can either limit or support the organisation. Some examples:
 Political: the government increases the minimum wage rate, resulting in an increase of
labour costs.
 Economical: the global economy is weak, resulting in fewer sales, which means less casual
employees are needed.
 Social/Demographical: a growing ageing population, resulting in labour shortages.
 Technological: new developed technology, resulting in less need for human labour.
 Competition: competitors offer better pay rates, resulting in high employee turnover
rates.
Where Are We Now?
A SWOT analysis is a powerful technique to get a clear picture of the organisation’s current HR
strategy, and what can be done to improve. SWOT is an acronym for:
 Strengths Internal
 Weaknesses
External
 Opportunities
 Threats.
What makes the SWOT analysis particularly powerful is that, with a little thought, it can help to
uncover opportunities that the organisation can take advantage of. By understanding the
organisation’s weaknesses, threats can be managed and eliminated that would otherwise not be
revealed. More than this, by looking at the organisation and its competitors, a HR strategy can be
created that helps the organisation to distinguish itself from its competitors. Table 4.3 below
identifies some prompt questions to record ideas from the SWOT analysis.
Strengths Weaknesses
 What differentiates our employees from  What could we improve on in terms of our
those of our competitors? Can we build HR strategy?
on this?  What have been our failures?
 What unique or lowest-cost resources do  What should we avoid?
we have access to?
 What have been the successes? Why?
Opportunities Threats
 What are interesting trends?  What obstacles do we face?
 Where are the good opportunities facing  What is the competition doing that we
us? should be worried about?
 How reliant are we on key members of
staff?
 What area of the business carries the
greatest risk?
SWOT Analysis.
Done well, a SWOT analysis provides a balanced viewpoint of the organisation’s HR strategy. To
work well, it relies on honest appraisal to identify and challenge organisational “blind spots”.
It is important to not only look at competitors and comparing them to the organisation, employee
viewpoints should also be considered to identify any strengths and weaknesses.
Through the use of questionnaires to staff, interviews with staff and managerial judgement, the
following data needs to be collected:
 Motivation of employees.
 Job satisfaction.
 Organisational culture.
 The way that people are managed.
 Equal employment opportunities.
 Organisational commitment.
 Clarity of organisational goals.
 Goal-focused and other behaviour.
 Organisational issues and problems.
 Organisational strengths to build on.
A good way to collect this date is by performing focus group interviews, where senior management
meets with a small number of representative employees from each department to discuss their
views and ideas. Employee turnover figures, performance data, recruitment and promotion trends,
and characteristics of employees should also be analysed.
Where Do We Want To Be?

When translating the vision into where the organisation would like to be, some HR implications
include questions such as:
 Are there any new tasks to be performed? How should they be defined?
 What competencies are needed to perform these new tasks?
 What is the relative importance of team/individual behaviour in performing these new
tasks?
 Can any current tasks be deleted?
 How will managers need to manage these new tasks?
How Will We Get There?

Operational plans, also called work plans, need to be developed by management and employees to
ensure new tasks are implemented and monitored. Operational plans are distinguished from
strategic plans in that they focus on specific activities, which will be carried out over a much shorter
time period (anywhere from a week to a year).
Operational plans are developed at all organisational levels, and enable management and
employees to plan the specific tasks, to determine the resources that will be required to carry out
these tasks, and to prepare a budget for them.
Work Plans at Different Organisational Levels.
Work planning has the following benefits:

 Fostering an atmosphere of teamwork and cooperation.
 Communicating to employees the range of tasks to be carried out.
 Motivating employees to work towards challenging, but realistic goals.
 Providing employees with a sense of accomplishment upon achieving their targets.
 Creating a format that is flexible to incorporate and respond to unplanned changes.
 Monitoring and evaluating activities to check periodically on progress made and to
prevent the implementation of irrelevant activities.
The outcome of an effective work planning process is a plan of tasks and activities, and a time
schedule for their completion, which has been developed and agreed upon by those involved in
order to achieve the organisational goals and objectives.
The work planning process addresses the following elements:

 Define goals and objectives
Operational plans should be in line with the organisation’s vision, mission and strategic goals.
Management By Objectives (MBO) is a process by which management and employees mutually
establish work goals and objectives, and agree to time frames for their achievement. When both
parties agree that the process is executed reasonably, the goals and objectives become the
employees’ targets. Figure 4.4 below shows the MBO process.
Define organisational
goals
MBO for the next Define

operating period begins employee objectives
Reward Continuous monitoring

achievers of performance
Evaluate / review
performance
MBO Process.
Illustrates that MBO relies on the following principles:

 Cascading of organisational goals.
 Specific targets for each employee.
 Participative decision-making.
 Explicit time frames.
 Performance evaluation and feedback.
 Define tasks
Jobs consists of a number of specific tasks and when combined act as a recipe for achieving the
objectives. When critical tasks are not carried out, the organisational goals will either not be
achieved at all or will only be partly achieved.
The order in which tasks are completed is important, as certain tasks may need to be completed
first before other tasks can be conducted. The network shown in Figure 4.5 below relates to a
decorating job. No task may begin until all the tasks leading to it are completed. Starting to paper
the walls is dependant not only on the old paper having been removed, but also on the new paper
being available.
Paint the walls

1
Paper the walls
3 4
2
Obtain new paper
Task Inter-Dependency.
It will often be useful to represent complex tasks diagrammatically against a time-scale. The use of
Gantt Charts to represent tasks, their start dates etc. will be appropriate to develop work schedules
which must then be communicated to others and/or displayed for easy reference. Gantt Charts are
easily read and can be used to show the work progress on tasks. Figure 4.6 below shows an
example of a Gantt Chart.
How does this affect performance?

Risk management can help to make sure that any potential barriers to accomplishing
performance goals are fully accounted for. This focus will help to highlight any performance
shortcomings so that individuals, or work units, remain on track to achieving their goals
By closely monitoring performance, managers should have a number of contingency plans help
bring things back on track if any barriers to performance emerge or performance is not
progressing as planned
 Allocate resources
The resources required for implementation need to be available. Resources should be allocated to
those critical tasks that are seen as priorities to achieve important organisational goals.
Appropriate sharing of resources between people should be encouraged, as tasks should be
complementary and supportive. When allocating resources, management must take task inter-
dependencies into consideration to search for greater efficiency and effectiveness. If the way
resources are allocated proves to be unrealistic or organisational demands change, resources needs
to be reallocated whilst minimising any detrimental impact on time or cost.
 Allocate responsibilities
People who will be doing the work need to be involved in the development of operational plans, as
it allows them to understand why the tasks are necessary and to determine the best way to carry
them out.
When allocating responsibility, it is important to consider the following:
 Each task needs to be carried out by people who have the knowledge, skills and time to
implement them effectively.
 Each individual needs to understand their own responsibilities and limits of authority, and
those with whom they work closely, in order to avoid possible conflict, duplication or
omission of important responsibilities.
 Inexperienced or less confident people may need a more detailed briefing on their
responsibilities and work than their more experienced and self-assured colleagues.
Employees may need access to colleagues, managers, HR specialists and external advisers to help
them meet their work and developmental goals and objectives
Performance Management in the past

Old style managers used to think performance management was simply giving their employees a
yearly review. If they were doing a good job they might get their annual bonus, if they weren’t,
they were told to improve or start looking for a new job.
Quite often managers often found themselves promoted due to their technical expertise or
knowledge of their industry. More often than not they had no formal management training, poor
communication skills, and a total lack of understanding about how to manage and motivate
people to do their jobs. Thrust into the position, they thought managing performance meant
forcing people to work better or harder.
Performance Management now
When put into practice, performance management today
relies on managers having well developed interpersonal
and counselling skills so that they can engage with their
staff in meaningful discussions about performance issues.
Performance management now is about a two-way and
ongoing conversation between managers and their
employees. The communication process includes clarifying
expectations, setting goals, providing feedback, and evaluating results.
Through regular coaching and feedback, managers and employees work together to discuss what
is going well and acknowledge where additional efforts are needed. Most importantly, a focus on
performance should be more than just an ‘annual event’ and become an on-going process.
Core competencies of a good performance manager

Unlike the past, managers at all levels are now expected to plan their work. When this involves
managing the performance of other people, they are faced with some basic questions:
- What is the employee expected to achieve?
- Are these goals practical and achievable?
- How are results measured?
- Does the employee’s work support the goals of the organisation? To effectively
manage these questions a good performance manager:
- coaches
- communicates
- documents
- clarifi es
The position, or job, description should clearly describe the employee’s job function, required
skills and performance expectations
Pitfalls
What happens when you don’t do it?
When performance isn’t being managed a number of things can tend to happen:
Employees feel a lack of recognition and acknowledgement for their work.
- A lack of understanding can exist about how people’s job contributes to the goals of the
organisation.
- There is confusion about people’s roles and responsibilities.
- Employees either don’t know, or don’t understand, the performance expectations
and required standards of behaviour.
- Managers feel they have to micro-manage their employees to get things done.
- Employees often keep repeating the same mistakes.
- Poor performance is inconsistently acknowledged and addressed across the
organisation.
- Individual or team targets are not met.
- Small problems aren’t addressed early enough before becoming bigger problems.
- A culture of ‘scape-goating’ or blaming exists when things go wrong, rather
than a culture of addressing the causes and looking for ways to improve.
- There is a general lack of communication and disagreements are common.
- The risk of possible damages and legal costs for both managers and the organisation
exists for not adequately managing their duty of care for their employees
Activity
Chapter
Managing Performance
3
“There is only one success --- to be able to spend your life in your own
way.” (Christopher Morley)
P
lanning is a critical aspect of any successful team activity, whether it is in a sporting context or
in the workplace. However, it is one thing to create the plan and set the goals, but quite
another thing to implement the plan to achieve success. Implementation of the plan involves
people management.
Different people will respond to management approaches in different ways. However, there
are some general approaches that need to be applied in any circumstance and require you, as
the manager, to apply effective communication skills and to respond the personal
characteristics of individual team members
Team meetings
It is the people within organisations who drive performance, and team meetings are the ideal
opportunity to get everyone on board. Team meetings help to create strong working
relationships in the team and people naturally feel more motivated when their ideas and
opinions are heard
While managers should be coaching and motivating their teams towards making their own
decisions, it’s equally as important that they establish their
leadership role. Effective team leaders base their
relationships with the team on trust and loyalty.
Team building is an ongoing process that managers can
support in a number of ways:
 ensure everyone is clear about roles and responsibilities
 promote personal accountability
 consider each person’s ideas as valuable
 celebrate the team’s early successes
 encourage a level of mutual trust and cooperation amongst the team
 delegate problem-solving tasks to the team
 identify techniques for resolving conflict
 promote consensus and set ground rules for the team
 create strong communication mechanisms
 building a strong sense of accountability
 create reward structures that recognise both team and individual accomplishments
Graphs/charts
When managing people’s performance, managers face the double challenge of guiding the
employees towards taking a greater responsibility while still ensuring that business objectives are
being achieved.
Using a variety of visual aids to identify the team’s results and demonstrate the progress that has
been made is a useful tool for managers. Graphs and charts can be a simple, yet powerful way to
display the tangible results and improvements being made.
Coaching
Coaching is a partnership between a manager and an employee. Regular coaching sessions are
a powerful way to strengthen and expand the employee's job performance.
When used effectively, coaching can help to increase the employee’s levels of motivation and
commitment, and so shape performance and increase the likelihood that the employee's
results will meet expectations.
Disciplining
If an employee is working at an unacceptable level, managers often have little option but to
discipline the employee.
In these situations it’s important to be specific and focus attention on the cause of problem and
not on personalities. Remember that the aim is to guide the employee to improve their
performance, or correct any inappropriate behaviour, and not simply to punish them
Nonetheless, employees need to know that their current performance is not meeting
expectations and you are giving them a chance to improve. Reinforce your performance
expectations and get confirmation that the employee understands those expectations
You may need to take more serious actions if the employee doesn’t improve. The disciplinary
options range in terms of their severity:
 oral warning
 writt en warning
 suspension without pay
 reducti on of pay
 demotion to lesser duties
 dismissal
Work coaching
Workplace coaching is a collection of methods and techniques used by managers and supervisors
to help them to maintain or improve their employees’ work performance.
What do we coach?
When we are talking about coaching people’s work performance, we are usually talking about:
 task goals – include bottom line targets that are measured by KPIs production goals,
deadlines, quality standards
 non -task goals – include targets such as housekeeping, attendance at
important meetings, and participation in continuous improvement
 behaviours – include things like attitude towards workmates, personal attire
Who do we coach?
Traditionally, managing has involved controlling and directing the work of other people. As a coach,
however, the manager works with the employees to guide them towards solving problems for
themselves, rather than directing them to the solution.
Generally, most performance problems can be resolved through effective communication between
managers and employees. Most employees can benefit from coaching in some way. Coaching
applies to any skill at any time. It is a simple way to set, discuss, and monitor goals in a collaborative
way.
How do we coach?
Good coaches challenge employees and ask questions that help the employee to discover how to
improve.
 Coach when you wish to focus attention on any specific aspect of the employee's
performance.
 A coaching meeting should focus on just one or two aspects of performance. Any
more than that and employees won’t remember the main impact of your meeting.
 Keep coaching conversations brief and between 5 to 10 minutes long.
 Being an effective coach requires understanding what motivates the members of your
team. Remember that people are motivated in different ways. Be sensitive to the things
that drive your people to perform.
 When things are performing well, take the time to understand what is working and
why.
 Good coaching is guiding, not telling or doing.
 Allow the employee to own the problem and its solutions. Ask them: ‘How do you think
we should handle this?’
When do we coach?
Coaching is different to formal training. But how do you know when you should step in, or let
employees work through the problems for themselves?
 Observe the employee's work and be alert for certain triggers or signs. For example, you
may notice an attitude or behaviour creeping in, or you discover a slump in the weekly
KPIs.
 Coach when you want to focus attention on any specific aspect of the employee's
performance.
 Don’t hesitate – do it now. Coaching is a process that is most effective when it happens
daily.
 Be sure you document any key elements that come out of your coaching sessions and
store them in the employee’s file
Characteristics of good coaches Good coaches:

 understand employees’ jobs
 are visible
 lead by example
 practice what they preach
 are sincere and honest
 make decisions on facts not feelings
 don’t procrasti nate
 listen more than talk
 seek assistance when necessary
A Performance Management System Model

Performance management systems are increasingly seen as they way to manage employee
performance rather than relying on appraisals alone. When performance management systems are
linked to the organisation’s goals and objectives, the resulting performance is more likely to meet
organisational needs. The figure below shows a typical performance management system, including
both development and reward aspects.
Definition of business role
code of conduct
job descriptions
departmental goals
Assessment of goals: Individual goals linked to Key

annual Result Areas (KRA’s) and
ongoing Key Performance Indicators
link to payment (KPI’s)
Individual performance
improvement plans to
support target achievement
Four-Stage Model of a Performance Management System, Torrington and Hall (1998).
 Definition of business role

As mentioned previously, it is important that there is a shared view of expected performance
between management and employees, which is in line with the organisation’s goals and objectives.
This shared view is typically expressed through a Code of Conduct and job descriptions.
A Code of Conduct clarifies the standards of behaviour that are expected of employees in the
performance of their duties. It gives guidance in areas where employees need to make personal and
ethical decisions.
Job descriptions specify the duties and tasks to be performed, often including a performance
standard to which they should be done. It should also list the
employee’s responsibilities and accountabilities and any other
relevant information such as the requirement to work overtime or
to travel away from home.
 Key Result Areas and Key Performance Indicators
Individual goals and objectives need to be linked to specific targets, which are results- rather than
task-oriented and should be clearly defined, including measures to be assessed. Setting individual
targets is done to not only stretch the individual’s performance, but also to identify any potential
development needs. Targets assist employees to better understand how their personal goals and
objectives contribute to the overall departmental/organisational goals and objectives. To achieve
their objectives, it is critical for employees to have access to training and development tools, and
the correct resources.
Key Result Areas (KRA’s) describe the main areas of responsibility and accountability of a job,
agreed to beforehand. To achieve results in each KRA, certain duties need to be performed. The
KRA’s for a Retail Store Supervisor may include:
 Leadership.
 Stock.
 Customer service.
 Continuous improvement.
 Sales budgets.
 Housekeeping.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) are quantifiable measurements that reflect the critical success
factors of an organisation, agreed to beforehand. Critical success factors:
 Identify those aspects of the organisation that are critical for its success.
 Are few in number.
 Assist the organisation in achieving its plans.
KPI’s flow from operational plans, which in turn flow from the strategic plan. KPI’s are made up of
two components:
 A specific performance.
 An indicator for the performance.
KPI’s provide the focus for measurement in the organisation across all levels. To be useful, KPI’s
must clearly relate to ends rather than means. In other words, KPI’s must relate to results rather
than the action of achieving the results.
Means Ends
How you get to the end result The end result
Developing new marketing materials for Percentage of increase of public awareness of the
distribution organisation
Means and Ends.
KPI’s should be publicised everywhere in the organisation, from the staff canteen to the walls of
every office and the organisation’s intranet. As KPI’s include a target, it is important to show
employee the progress made against each target, as this will motivate them better to reach these
KPI targets.
Good KPI’s have a title, are well defined, and include a measurement and a target. Table 5.1 below
shows a bad example of a KPI versus a good example.
Bad KPI  Good KPI 
Title of KPI Decrease employee National employee turnover.
turnover.
Defined Change in employee head The total number of employees who resign for
count from month to whatever reason, plus the number of employees
month. terminated for performance reasons, and that
total
divided by the number of employees at the
beginning of the year.
Measured Total employee turnover The human resource system contains records of
by region for all regions. each employee. The separation section lists
reason and date of separation for each
employee per region. Monthly, the Human
Resource department will provide regional
managers with their region’s employee turnover
reports.
Target Decrease each month. Reduce national employee turnover by 7% per
year.
A Bad Versus A Good KPI.
Below shows some examples of performance indicators to demonstrate their nature.
Performance Indicators
 Employee turnover  Advertising return on investment
 Number of accidents  Employee satisfaction level
 Employee costs per staff member  System failure rate
 Customer complaints  Savings from new technology
 Number of new policies introduced  Vacancy fill rate
 Sales growth  Education levels of new hires
 Profit margin  Error rates
Sample Performance Indicators.
 Individual performance improvement plans

The manager and employee together should design an individual performance improvement plan,
which acts like a road map to achieve the set goals and objectives. The emphasis of a performance
improvement plan is on managerial support and performance coaching, and exists alongside
performance goals and objectives. Refer to Chapter 9 for more information on individual
performance improvement plans.
 Assessment of objectives
Ongoing reviews enable both employees and management to share performance information.
Reviews assist employees to plan their work priorities and inform the manager in advance if the
agreed performance will not be delivered by the agreed dates.
The purpose of reviewing performance is to facilitate future employee performance by
recognising their achievements, which in turn can enhance their motivation to perform well. It
also provides an opportunity for management to confirm that employees are doing well and to
redirect them if necessary. In addition, annual performance appraisals in achievement of
objectives should be performed
“Mentor” was the name of a character form Greek mythology who was a wise and trusted adviser
or counsellor. Until recently, the work kept that meaning; it is a word that is regularly used by
politicians, sports people, actors and other performers to describe the person whom they chose as
a role model or someone who had a significant early influence on their professional careers (Eric
and Melville 2009).
“Coaching” on the other hand, only became widely used over the last two to three hundred years.
It was initially used to describe the activity of helping transport a person’s knowledge and skills
towards a higher level, mainly by a form of teaching or tutoring. In the 20 th century, however, it
became most widely applied in the context of sport and performance.
This has led to considerable confusion over the appropriate modern definitions. In our opinion this
is mainly because of the confusion between (Eric and Melville 2009):
- What it is an does;
- Why it is used;
- Where it has come from;
- How it done.
What it is and does:
Both coaching and mentoring are conversations that generically follow a simple, although slightly
different, four stage process to help and support people to take responsibility for managing their
own learning and change.
Why it is used:
The main purpose of both these conversations is either to improve skills or performance, or to
realize individual potential and personal ambitions for the future – or any combination of these.
Where it has come from
Modern coaching and mentoring have been shaped by a range of influences and schools of thought
as well as Western and Eastern cultures. As such, these conversations take from these rich tradition
ideas of what it is to be human and how to help people realize their innate potential.
How it is done:
These conversations take place in so many varied contexts and for so many purposes that there is
no one correct way of “how to do it”. However, successful conversations imply the building of a
relationship that includes a degree of mutual trust and commitment (Eric and Melville 2009).
There is a considerable overlap in the knowledge, competences, skills and techniques that can be
used by the individual coach – mentor. However, there is also considerable flexibility to choose an
appropriate style of intervention to suit the context in which the conversations take place, varying
from a highly non – directive style to a highly directive style, and from theoretical or philosophic
standpoints to pragmatism and common sense. Opinions vary strongly on these issues between the
purists and the pragmatists who believe interventions can often be a combination of styles, even
during a single conversation.
Organisations have been moving at different speeds towards more sophisticated and effective
implementation of coaching and mentoring. The most important point, however, is not that
everyone has to agree on a single definition, but that everyone in a specific organisation should
know the definition, but that everyone in a specific organisation should know the definition that
applies to their particular situation. In many cases organisations are using the words
interchangeably. We believe that it is much more important that the purpose and the output of the
relationship are clear and agreed, rather than focusing on an exact and academic definition of the
terms.
To comprehend the modern definitions, we suggest it is helpful to discuss the idea “ideal mode” of
the activities for both individual professionals and managers acting as coach – mentors. However,
we recognize that all coach – mentor are likely to behave in the way that seems appropriate to
them in their particular situation. Describing an ideal model, therefore, is not to suggest that it is
the only way to do it, but rather that it is a benchmark to compare to your real – life practice and
from which you can create your own model. Our purpose is to find some sort of common language,
but any model or framework that suggests a pattern of behaviours needs to be applied with
pragmatism and common sense, being driven by the needs of the learner and by his or her unique
context (Eric and Melville 2009).
Mentoring/coaching as it has been argued is the most effective way to transfer skills and knowledge
quickly and inspire loyalty in new employees to co-operate in an organisation. Generally, it is a
popular approach in education and business. A mentor is identified as someone who guide and
inspire the mentee in a personal and close long – term relationship that allows critical
concentration on the task performance (Kirkham 1930).
Coaching and mentoring are similar activities and, in the working context, a mentor can be called
upon to fulfil both roles. The term coaching is often used interchangeably with counselling and
mentoring, but many scholars differentiate these activities (Burdett 1998; Minter and Thomas
2000). Counselling generally addresses the employee’s emotional state and the causes of personal
crises and problems, and it involves short – term interventions designed to remedy problems that
interfere with the employee’s job performance (King and Eaton 1999), while mentoring typically
describes a long term process that is developmental and career focused and covers all life
structures (Burdett 1998; Hansman 2002). For Pearson (2001), the clear differentiation between the
two is that, typically, mentoring is a long term arrangement and has a wide perspective. A coach
may or may not be a member of the organisation as the coachee, so the coaching arrangements
may be short – term for the immediate improvement of performance and its focus may be narrow.
They require different methods, in that coaches “instruct” and mentor “counsel”.
As documented by Parsloc (1999), coaching is derived from university slang for a private tutor or
instructor in sport. Therefore, much of the literature about coaching in the context of management
has been drawn from sports coaching (Kilburg 1996); McLean and Kuo 2000). Coaching is, in
essence, about human relationships, between the coach and coachee, and the coach and the
organisation (Pearson 2001). The coach must be very persistent, even regarding the most minute
details, so that a piece is completely read for performance.
Coaching is a partnership between a manager and an individual who reports directly to him or her
in which the coach focuses on helping the coachee to optimize his or her potential. Coaching can
help an organisation create an environment of meaningful jobs and a positive atmosphere by
eliminating barriers that prevent employees from reaching their full potential. It can empower
employees to be more productive and improve moral (Franklin 2000; Selman and Fullerton 2004).
There are three primary strategies for coaching: (1) creation of a relationship between the coach
and each individual as a part of the team (2) Observation to uncover technical and skill deficiencies
that need coaching; and (3) demonstration of alternative ways to increase an individual’s
effectiveness (Ridlehuber 2001)
Coaching and mentoring has been accepted that for an effective practices in employee – manager
relationship the approaches in coaching and mentoring could be best combined. Mentoring, which
is very synonym to the relationship with an employee and manager at organisational level is very
useful to be adopted in work place environment. This is due to the approach used was more to
personal related help as well as professional ones. At this level, the manager’s shoulder would be
the place for employee to cry on. They can seek information or revealing their personal problems
without having too officially related with the workplace which can be seen as the best chance for
the manager/supervisor and employee to develop their relationship. On the other hand, coaching
has been popularly used for many years in the sport and business context. Coach sometimes has to
be strict during performing their duty in order to discipline the athlete for them to success in their
missions or games. Coach also at times, has to react as a consultant and motivator in order to instil
morale of athletes. This situation could also be applied in developing high performance employee,
in which the coachee must have a very determined objective throughout the training period. In
business coaching it focuses on building the trainee’s skills to improve the trainee’s performance in
organisation. In other word, being a trainee, he/she has to accept various approaches given by
his/her manager whether it is bitter such as manager wanted a prompt and urgent progress.
Mentoring is a long term relationship as compared to coaching. Therefore, it is very interesting that
the mentee or coachee could be placed in the middle between those two approaches. It was due to
the fact that the focus of the workplace environment is varying depending on level of work and
performance evaluation process of the mentee/coachee.
Communication skills
If not handled well, employees can feel that any discussion about their performance constitutes a
personal attack on their abilities. Managers should be able to support their employees’ learning
and growth through an ongoing process of mentoring, coaching and training.
Verbal or spoken communication tends to be the most preferred form of communication for
managers, as they can gauge the immediate feedback from employees to see if their message has
been understood. It is estimated that the average manager or supervisor spends about 80 per cent
of their time communicating with other people.
Learning to listen
Many people might not realize but listening is a skill. Often we don’t hear clearly because we filter
other people's messages and already have preconceived expectations of what they are going to
say.
By repeating your understanding of what someone is saying back to the person, you create the
opportunity to confirm your understanding of what has been said. This can be done in a number
of ways:
 Paraphrasing means restating the main points of what the speaker has said back in
your own words.
 Reflecting someone’s feelings helps to acknowledge how the speaker is feeling. ‘You seem
to be quite annoyed.’ This can often help to diffuse a heated situation.
Reflecting meanings can determine the link between how someone is feeling and what is causing
them to feel that way. A common formula for reflecting meaning is "You feel [emotion] because
[event or content associated with feeling”]. “You seem to feel pressured by the number of
people making demands on you.”
Providing a summary of the main themes and feelings the person has expressed helps make them
feel that their thoughts and feelings are being acknowledged. It can be a useful technique to close
the conversation once the speaker has finished everything they have to say
Giving positive feedback

Giving effective feedback requires giving your perceptions and feelings in a nonjudgmental
manner to someone else so they can use the information to examine their own behaviour.
Remember that setting performance goals is a collaborative process between the employee and
manager. When a specific problem occurs, or to you want to reinforce desired behaviour, it is
best to give the feedback as soon as possible after the behaviour is demonstrated.
Remember that all employees need regular positive and constructive feedback to adjust and
improve their performance. Positive feedback is best used when an employee is doing well, and
you are trying to reinforce and encourage a particular behaviour or result from your employee.
The process for giving positive feedback is:
 identify the specific behaviour
 describe the behaviour’s positive impact
 look for ways to build on the behaviour
 encourage the employee to share his or her views
Giving constructive feedback

Performance issues should be identified and acted upon early. People often need to constructive
criticism to know where they need to improve. While discussing performance issues can at first
feel challenging, if employees are used to receiving regular feedback it makes it easier to deal
with any problems as they arise.
Practices giving constructive feedback to an employee whose results or behaviours are
not meeting performance expectations.
The process for delivering constructive feedback is:
 identify the specific result or behaviour that needs to change.
 describe the negative impact it is having.
 focus on the issue, not on the person
 ask the employee what they think might be causing the problem, and what might work to
improve the situation
 discuss the available solutions and agree on the best approach
 agree upon next steps, including a timeline for action and follow up
Follow procedures for recording

One of the most important things to remember is to document all the discussions you have
relating to issues about people’s performance. Be sure your notes include:
 the date and ti me
 the people involved
 a brief summary of the situation
 what was said during the discussion (in dot points)
 the outcomes that were agreed to during the
discussion
 the follow-up
Make a note of how you expressed your performance expectations and how the employee
responded to the counselling. Keep a record of specific examples of poor performance on work
assignments. Having specific examples will make it easier for you to explain what’s wrong with
the employee’s performance.
Identifying performance issues
To identify problems issues try asking: ‘Why is performance at the level it is?’ 3
This simple question is often the easiest technique to unearth the possible causes behind
performance issues. The work of the manager becomes one of an investigator, working to uncover
performance problems and finding solutions to rectify and improve the situation
You can identify performance issues by determining the likely cause of the problem and
implementing a change to remedy the situation.
 A performance problem is any gap between the Desired Results and the Actual Results.
 Performance improvement is any effort targeted at closing the gap between Actual Results
and Desired Results.
For employees who are continuing to exhibit poor performance, as their manager you need to
decide if the solution comes in the shape of further training or mentoring.
Make sure you outline your expectations for how long you will give the employee to show signs of
improvement, and what steps will be taken if their performance doesn’t improve
Activity
Chapter
Review Performance appraisal

4
“The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do, well”
(Henry W. Longfellow).
M anagement time and effort to increase performance not only meets this goal; it also decrease
turnover rates.
Performance management Versus Performance Appraisal
Performance management is the process of identifying, measuring, managing, and developing the
performance of the human resources in an organisation. Performance management is a systematic
analysis and measurement of worker performance that we use to improve performance over time.
Performance appraisal, on the other hand, is the ongoing process of evaluating employee
performance. Performance appraisals are reviews of employee performance over time, so appraisal
is just one piece of performance management.
Appraisals need to be conducted in accordance with organisational policies and time lines.
Organisations with an annual appraisal policy must also include informal appraisals at regular (e.g.
monthly) intervals to ensure corrective action can be taken, and employee motivation and morale
are built.
Both appraisers and appraisees (the person being appraised) need training in appraising
performance. The appraiser needs to know how to appraise and how to perform the appraisal
interviews. If the scheme requires this, the appraisee is asked to complete a self-appraisal in
advance, and would therefore also need some training.
Types of Performance Appraisals

There are a number of performance appraisal methods, including:
 The job description appraisal: Managers use an employee’s job description with measurable
performance standards. They tick those tasks and duties that are being performed
adequately and put a cross against those requiring improvement.
 The critical incident appraisal: To ensure fair appraisals, managers maintain a record of
important incidents; both positive and negative, which have occurred during the appraisal
period. These records form the basis of the performance
appraisal.
 The 360-degree appraisal: Opinions of an individual’s

performance are taken from a multitude of sources, including
immediate managers, colleagues, subordinates, and even
customers and suppliers.
 The ranking appraisal: Managers are required to rank their

subordinates. This method compares each employee with all the others in a section against
set criteria.
 The bottom-up appraisal: In this rare method, employees conduct their own research,
identify their own training needs, conduct their own round of performance interviews with
whomever they consider appropriate, and present their report to the boss.
Prepare and conduct performance appraisals

Collect Evidence
Evidence provides the basis on which managers will later make a judgement about how the
individual or team is performing. To be valid for performance management purposes, evidence
needs to be collected over the whole period of the performance review cycle, and should relate
specifically to the agreed performance standards or objectives.
Collectable evidence may include:
 Work samples that demonstrate progress towards performance standards.
 Information on how specific situations were handled.
 New skills and knowledge obtained and applied to the job.
 Verifiable comments from peers.
 KPI’s.
 Quality of outputs.
 Quantitative measures (e.g. productivity, meeting deadlines).
 Feedback from internal and external customers.
Analyse Performance
Analysis is the process of comparing actual performance with agreed performance standards, and
looking at the possible reasons why the actual performance might be different from the agreed
performance. If the evidence shows a gap between agreed performance and actual performance, it
is important to determine exactly what the performance problem is. Unless managers are very
precise about what the problem is, they will arrive at solutions that will not work, because they
have not identified the real problem.
The 85/15 rule suggests that there are many causes of poor performance, including:
 Poor or insufficient training or experience.
 Faulty tools, equipment or materials
 Cumbersome procedures or systems.
 Unclear or unspecified performance standards.
 Performance standards not understood or seen as unimportant.
85% of the time
 Poor performance is as rewarding as good performance.
 Lack of information.
 Lack of time.
 Poor job placement.
 Poor teamwork or disharmony in the team.
 Personal problems.
15% of the time
 Poor motivation or morale.
Set-Up Performance Appraisals
Adequate preparation by both appraiser and appraisees is needed for the performance discussion
to be beneficial.
The appraiser responsibilities include:
 Deciding on the venue:
 Privacy / freedom from interruptions
 Ease of accessibility to appraisee
 Furniture arrangements
 Writing materials / refreshments available
 Scheduling appointments
 Giving information to the appraisee:
 Process
 Housekeeping
 Instructions
The appraisee responsibilities include:

 Take steps to ensure they will be able to attend.
 Ensure that others know of the appointment.
 Make arrangements for work to be covered during the appointment time.
 Follow any instructions provided by the appraiser.
 Schedule personal preparation.
Preparing for the appraisal

The final appraisal is the formal assessment where employees and managers meet to assess,
review and discuss an employee’s performance. The broad aim of the conversation is to pool the
information that has been collected about performance and discuss the ways it can be improved.
Set a time for the appraisal and confirm this in a letter to the employee. It is usual to give them at
least a week’s notice, and to tell them to come to the meeting prepared to discuss their
accomplishments.
The appraisal is an opportunity for managers to communicate with the employee about:
 past performances
 their current level of job satisfaction
 plans for future performance
Schedule the meeting to be held in a private meeting space that will be free from interruptions.
Gather together all the information relevant to the appraisal:
 performance management plan
 coaching notes
 KPIs
 involve HR if necessary
 set a time
It is good practice to document the arrangement. The level of formalisation will be dependent upon
the organisation’s culture, but an email confirmation, memo or letter should be prepared so that
everyone involved is aware that an appraisal is about to take place.
Solid preparation and firm evidence will result in greater cooperation from the appraisee, more
open and honest communication, fewer defensive strategies being used and greater willingness to
problem-solve.
The appraiser preparation process includes answering the following questions:
 What is the job?
 What evidence demonstrates performance?
 What does the analysis show?
 Why was performance satisfactory / unsatisfactory?
 What performance is required in the future?
 What change / development needs to be planned?
The appraisee needs to prepare the following for their performance appraisal:
 Review:
 Job description
 Performance standards
 Received feedback on performance
 Actual performance
 Collect evidence of their performance for the appraisal period.
 Document:
 Reasons for performance
 Suggestions for improvement
 Training and development
 Reasons for renegotiation
 Identify any problems encountered during the performance appraisal period.
 Develop suggestions for new performance objectives.
 Appraise the performance of the appraiser over the appraisal period.
Facilitate Performance Appraisal Discussions

To facilitate a purposeful performance appraisal discussion, the appraiser must be able to guide and
manage the discussion so that it is productive for both parties. This means being able to manage
success, conflict, lack of cooperation, over-enthusiasm, over-confidence and underperformance.
The aim of the appraisal discussion is to gather information, as well as sharing thoughts (supported
by evidence). Open questions are the most useful questions for gathering information. They
encourage the respondent to provide a lot of information. Open questions begin with:
Closed questions are questions that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”. They are
generally less effective than open questions, as it can make the individual feel they are being led
down a blind alley, particularly if other elements of the discussion are wrong, resulting in them
feeling trapped and uncomfortable, and responding with shorter and shorter answers. Closed
questions can be useful however to bring the performance appraisal discussion to a close and
clarify next steps/gain agreement.
Acknowledging good performers

Recognise the efforts of the star performer by acknowledging their achievements in detail. Make
sure to tie their contribution to the overall goals of the organisational. Let the employee know
they have your gratitude and full support.
Think about how you can provide the employee with new challenges. It’s important that
they not only feel appreciated, but also feel that they are progressing in their careers.
For average performers, if you feel the employee could be doing better, let them know how you
think they can improve. If, however, you believe the employee is doing the best that they can and
their performance is adequate, the best course maybe to review them kindly by reinforcing what
they are doing well.
Coaching poor performers

This can by far be the most difficult appraisal for any manager to conduct. If the employee’s
performance has been bad, let them know right from the start. While you can indicate that there
is potential for improvement, there is nothing to be gained by glossing over the fact that
employee’s performance is below your expectations.
Be as specific as possible in your assessment of the problems and the areas where you have
identified you can see room for improvement.
Don’t forget to ask the employee for their opinion. Remember, it’s a two-way conversation, so
encourage the employee to share their views. Ask how they feel they are performing, and where
they see areas for improvement.
If an employee becomes angry

 stay calm and professional
 listen to what the employee has to say and
paraphrase back
 let the employee keep talking until they appear to be
calming down
 describe, don't accuse
 avoid arguments
 bring the focus of the discussion back onto
performance standards
Constructive Feedback
Constructive feedback reinforces the employee’s development and builds their confidence. It can
create a continuous cycle of improvement in confidence and ability. Constructive feedback can be
positive or negative and relating to a task well done or one that needs improvement.
Positive constructive feedback is one of the most cost-effective ways of recognising good
performance, as it reinforces the standards that are expected, and shows that performance and
behaviour are cared about and noticed. Negative constructive feedback not only helps the
employee who is a bit “off track” to refocus, it also helps them to build commitment.
To be constructive, feedback needs to be:
 Focused on performance and behaviour, never personality.
 Specific in contact (e.g. using an example of a recent piece of work).
 Aimed at improving performance and maintaining the relationship.
 Designed to encourage discussion and future development/improvement.
Please note that constructive feedback is not the same as praise/criticism. Praise/criticism is a
personal judgement about performance and can lead to a battle between whose opinion is “right”
or “wrong.”
The most powerful feedback is self-directed, where employees give it to themselves. The appraiser
can enable this to happen by asking questions such as:
 “What did you notice about what you did/your behaviour?”
 “If you could do it again, what would you do differently?”
 “Can I make a suggestion?”
 “What will you do about it in the future?”
Provide Constructive Feedback

There are four elements to providing constructive feedback, including:
 Content – What you say
 Identify the issue involved.
 Provide the specifics of what occurred (examples of what you observed/verifiable facts).
Try to avoid relying on what others have told you.
 Do not make assumptions or judgements, but concentrate on the facts.
 Ask a lot of open questions to encourage the employee to review their own performance.
 Manner – How you say it

 Own your feedback - use the word “I.”
 Be direct and to-the-point.
 Avoid “need to” phrases, which imply something did not go well. They also suggest a
directive mode, where you are telling the employee what they should or should not do. It
is much more effective if you can help the employee work this out for themselves, by
asking effective questions.
 Be sincere and avoid giving mixed messages. Mixed messages are often called “yes…but”
messages. What follows is something the employee is not doing well and that is the real
point of constructive feedback. The attempt to be nice first (sugar coating) is negated and
the sincerity of the message is diluted. The word “but” (and “however” and “although”)
creates contradictions in messages. It can also imply weakness on the part of the
appraiser.
 When giving positive constructive feedback, express your appreciation together with the
specifics. It gives more value to your feedback than appreciation alone (praise).
 In a negative constructive feedback situation, do express your concern. Tones such as
anger, disappointment and sarcasm colour the message and it tends to get lost.
 Give constructive feedback face-to-face or over the phone only. Letters, email and voice
mail do not work because they do not allow for a “live” discussion or dialogue. Nor does
the sincerity of the message come across.
 State observations, not interpretations. Observations are what you see happening;
interpretations are your analysis or opinions about what you see occur.
 Use appropriate questions (open, reflective, probing, hypothetical) to engage the
employee and make constructive feedback a two-way process. This is especially important
when giving negative constructive feedback.
 Timing – When you say it
 Provide constructive feedback as soon as possible, when the performance incident is still
fresh in everyone’s mind.
 When providing negative constructive feedback you may want to wait a little time.
Perhaps you need to cool off and get your thoughts in order, or allow the employee to
cool off/think about their actions.
 Frequency – How often you provide constructive feedback

Provide constructive feedback on an on-going basis. This is what makes it valuable. It should be a
regular habit to provide positive and negative constructive feedback. Try to catch employees doing
things right just as much as you see them doing things that are not quite right
360 Degree feedback

The 360 degree feedback is a self-development technique for managers, to give a clear view of
their own performance at work. Managers learn what other people think about their performance
through feedback from peers, direct reports, other managers and customers.
This approach places the manager at the centre of a feedback circle with a number of different
views. Generally people complete a questionnaire where opinions are expressed that cover
different aspects of the manager’s performance. This is often a useful technique as the person
receiving the feedback can be surer of the accuracy than if the feedback just comes from only
one person.
Outcomes of performance appraisals

An employee should be able to walk away from a performance appraisal knowing that their work
is appreciated and understanding where they can focus on making improvements.
Be cautious not to set unrealistic expectations that could leave the employee disappointed.
Sometimes it’s easy to attempt to motivate the employee with the promise of future reward in
the way of an increase salary or promotion. This can backfire if they start to harbour unrealistic
expectations about how well they’re doing and if these rewards are not met.
When employees perform well they should be rewarded. Rewards keep morale high and
foster additional improvement. However, not everyone agrees on the merits of giving pay rises
and promotions to performance appraisals. Some HR professionals suggest that linking
performance evaluation and rewards can be unfair to the average employees who don't over-
achieve.
Find out from your human resources team staff what the organisational policy is for giving
performance rewards to employees
Performance Coaching
Coaching is an age-old job-training technique used for the development of performance. Coaching
is a guiding process, during which the coach may provide hints, clues, constructive feedback,
reminders, practice, problem-solving, exposure to models and demonstrations while the employee
is developing the skills and knowledge required.
Kinlaw (1999) suggests that coaching interactions have two common attributes:
 There are discussions of personal discovery.
 They focus on performance or performance-related topics.
Coach Employee
Skills: - Improved
- Communication Coaching performance
- Interpersonal - A process - More developed
- Training and - Aims to improve performance skills and
development - Focus on long-term improvement knowledge
- Technical - Builds positive relationships - Greater job
- Subject expertise satisfaction
The Coaching Process, Tovey and Uren (2006).
Performance Mentoring
Mentoring is the process of guiding and supporting an individual through a period of growth or
change. Mentorship is a developmental relationship between an experienced person guiding a less
experienced person. Mentors may empower and motivate employees, but it is not primarily their
role to do so.
Like coaches, mentors provide support, but it is through imparting their own experience,
knowledge and case histories to employees. Table 10.1 below illustrates the main differences
between the roles of mentor and coach.
Mentor Coach
A mentor is an experienced person who A coach creates a future from the
models successful behaviour. employee’s own possibilities.
A mentor provides advice and direction. A coach provides direction.
The person being mentored models the The person being coached develops their
actions of an admired person. own style and behaviour.
TheRolesofMentorandCoach.
Identify Learning Styles

People have preferences about how they like to learn which is called their learning style. These
preferences sometimes account for their problems in learning using a particular approach such as in
a classroom or on-the-job learning. This may not be entirely due to their learning style, but also due
to their previous experience. A well-known view of learning styles is provided by Honey and
Mumford (1986). They identified the following four learning styles:
 Activist
Activists like to be involved in new experiences and are enthusiastic about new ideas. They enjoy
doing things and tend to act first and consider the implications afterwards. They are unlikely to
prepare for the learning experience or review their learning afterwards.
 Reflector
Reflectors like to view the situation from different perspectives. They like to collect data, review
and think carefully before coming to any conclusions. They enjoy observing others and will listen to
their views before offering their own.
 Theorist
Theorists like to adapt and integrate observations into complex and logically sound theories. They
think problems through step-by-step. They tend to be perfectionists who like to fit things into a
rational scheme.
 Pragmatist
Pragmatists are eager to try things out. They like concepts that can be applied to their job. They
tend to be impatient with lengthy discussions and are practical and down to earth.
Unsatisfactory Performance
Managing unsatisfactory performance, which can lead to termination in some cases, is influenced
by awards and regulations, and legislation such as industrial relations, equal employment
opportunity, anti-discrimination, workplace health and safety, and workers’ compensation.
The process of managing unsatisfactory performance is based on the principles of fairness and
equity. The four main parts of managing unsatisfactory performance include:
1. Collect evidence.
2. Analyse the evidence.
3. Appraise the evidence.
4. Plan improvement.
Most incidents of unsatisfactory performance can be managed with appropriate feedback near the
time of the specific incident. Repeated unsatisfactory performance may require performance
counselling (verbal warning) to reinforce the seriousness of the situation and to draw up a plan for
performance improvement. If the individual continues to fail reaching agreed improvement
requirements, there is the possible consequence of termination (this is the last option and should
only be used when all other efforts to assist the employee in improving their performance have
failed).
Performance counselling discussions are usually about one incident or a number of incidents
involving the same performance problem.
Evidence may take the form of:
 An account of the unsatisfactory performance.
 Observers’ accounts.
 Results of the unsatisfactory performance on others / organisation.
 Samples of unsatisfactory reports.
As performance counselling discussions may lead to dismissal, they must offer employee
opportunities:
 To improve.
 Be given specific warnings.
 Facilitate a right of reply.
 Ensure they are treated no differently from any other employee during the process as a
result of any action taken to improve performance.
Proper documentation is an essential part of performance counselling. In the employee’s personal
file, authentic and factual written performance counselling records must be kept, including the
following data:
 Date, time and place of the performance counselling discussions.
 Outcome of the performance counselling discussions.
 Any other persons present (e.g. HR Manager, union representative) during the
performance counselling discussions.
 Factual, measurable and specific description of the work-related performance gap.
 How long the performance gap has existed.
 Where and how often the performance gap occurs.
 Specific evidence of the performance gap, including material, records, witnesses.
 Signatures from both parties.
When employees are dismissed for poor performance, it is essential that performance counselling
has been conducted correctly, the sessions have been fully documented and the organisational
dismissal policy and procedures are followed. In addition, the advice of the HR department, and the
content of the workplace agreement and award need to be taken into consideration before taking
any action.
Where performance continues to be unsatisfactory after an individual performance improvement
plan has been agreed on an implemented, the non-performance needs to be managed in a formal
way. This involves another performance counselling discussion and the first of three formal
warnings in writing. The issuing of written warnings does not automatically mean that an employee
will be dismissed; it is hoped that no further action will be required.
Written warnings must include:
 Formal, either letter or memo format.
 Address the employee by name, position and employee number if possible.
 Date the correspondence as the same day as the discussion.
 Include a subject line: Unsatisfactory performance: first / second / third warning.
 State the performance required.
 State the previously agreed individual performance improvement plan.
 Describe the problem.
 State that performance is unsatisfactory.
 State what was agreed at the last performance counselling discussion.
 Direct attention to the new individual performance improvement plan.
 State what will happen if performance does not improve.
 Sign the correspondence.
 Have the employee sign a copy certifying that they have the original correspondence.
Reference:
1. Armstrong M, 2010, Essesntial Human Resource Management Practice, Kogan Page, Chapter 14.
2. Mind tools
http://www.mindtools.com.au/
Viewed on 2/3/2013
3. Brumbach, G B (1998) some ideas, issues and predications about performance management,
Public personnel management, Winter PP 387 – 402
4. e-reward (2009) Contingent Pay Survey, e-reward, Stockport

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BSBMGT502B – Manage People

Trainee Name: .................................... Sign

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Learning Outcome 2: Assess Performance

Learning Outcome 3: Provide feedback

Learning Outcome 4: Manage follow up

Managing performance is about developing

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High performance cultures

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Developing a high – performance culture

Managing organisational performance

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What are the dimensions of performance?

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The Manager of the 21st Century

Managing performance is a significant responsibility of a manager or supervisor. As Australians we

Plan people performance

Standards Operational Plans:

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Performance Management Systems

The Purpose of performance management

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What is a Performance Management System?

Who is involved in Performance Management?

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Relevant workplace documents

Relevant awards and legislation

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Where are Translate

Design and use work

Integrated Human Resource Planning Model, Torrington and Hall (1998).

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Where Do We Want To Be?

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How Will We Get There?

Work Plans at Different Organisational Levels.

Work planning has the following benefits:

The work planning process addresses the following elements:

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MBO for the next Define

Reward Continuous monitoring

Illustrates that MBO relies on the following principles:

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Paint the walls

How does this affect performance?

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Performance Management in the past

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Core competencies of a good performance manager

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Characteristics of good coaches Good coaches: