Assignment (A): Performance Management Systems and Motivation

Part -1:

Throughout this unit, you may be discovering new ways that organizations manage performance. How would you do it? Some may respond with a performance management system, and others may say a performance appraisal. While many may think they are the same, they are indeed different. Performance management systems are the processes that organizations use to analyze and develop the employees' skills and capabilities. Organizations implement these systems to improve employees' performance on a long-term basis. On the other hand, performance appraisals, also referred to as performance evaluations, evaluate the performance or the skills of employees. They are just one component of the performance management process. (Lussier and Hendon, 2013)

Many organizations align rewards within their performance management systems to motivate their employees. Rewards can be provided to employees that reach organizational goals, objectives and/or continually contribute to the organizational vision as demonstrated in their performance appraisals. The use of rewards focuses on both the extrinsic motivation (financial reward and benefits) and intrinsic motivation (employee recognition) of employees (Wilton, 2011). Yet, the use of rewards can have a negative impact by creating perceptions of bias and lack of fairness. Consider the impact that a rewards system may have on employees within your scenario organization. In this Individual Assignment, you will analyze the relationship between motivation and performance management systems. You will also evaluate a performance management system in the context of your scenario organization.

- Write a 2- to 3- page critical analysis on the effects of performance management systems on employee motivation. Your analysis should include:

o A description of your selected performance appraisal system and its components (e.g., evaluation, reflection, rewards).

o A critical evaluation of the system within the context of your scenario organization. Include the potential strengths and limitations of using the system for your assigned organization.

o An analysis of how the performance management system may impact motivation in your scenario organization in the following areas:

o The performance appraisal process (goal setting, evaluating performance and conducting reviews)

o Different categories and levels of employees

o Manager bias

Part -2:

Performance management systems, which typically include performance appraisal and employee development, are the ‘Achilles' heel' of human resources management. They suffer flaws in many organizations, with employees and managers regularly bemoaning their ineffectiveness. (Pulakos, 2004).'

You may have encountered a performance management process within your own organization and had the same thoughts. You may have experienced the process as an annual occurrence. Rather, it should be a year-round process monitoring your progress and performance. Cultural norms will influence how the monitoring and the formal review take place, but generally, performance management processes contain three main stages - creating goals, pursuing your goals and reviewing the performance of your goals through a performance appraisal (Atkinson and Shaw, 2007). When performance management processes are instituted properly, managers and employees should be continuously interacting with all aspects of the system. Consider what might be effective and ineffective in a performance management system in which you participated and the effect that this could have had on employee motivation. Your Individual Assignment in this unit focuses on these issues. In this Shared Activity, you will have the opportunity to share an outline of your Individual Assignment with your colleagues and receive feedback prior to submitting it. You will also help your colleagues by giving them feedback on their outlines.

For feedback to be most effective, it must be specific and rationalized. In other words, to provide quality feedback, you must clearly state what your feedback is and why it is important. The rationale is particularly important because it will help the person receiving the feedback understand how to apply the feedback to other work in the future. As you do this, consider how you can provide quality feedback to colleagues in this module as well as to co-workers in your profession.

Assignment B:

- Construct an 1 to 2 page outline of Assignment (A). Your outline should show how you plan to organize and support your arguments, incorporating a critical perspective on the resources. Keep in mind some specific areas of performance management and how they may influence motivation, as well as how they might play out in your scenario organization:

o The performance appraisal process (goal setting, evaluating performance and conducting reviews)
o Different categories and levels of employees
o Manager bias