Managing Performance in Organisations
— Lecture 2: Planning for performance
Managing Performance in Organisations
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1
Recap – Lecture 1
The course structure & assessment
Why am I doing this course?
Managing performance: What’s the deal and why should I be aware of it?
What is performance management and how is it different to a performance appraisal?
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Assessment overview
Group Presentation (20 mins) 15%
Due date: In the tutorials from Weeks 4-11
Individual Essay (2000 words) 45%
Due Date: Sunday, Week 7 at 11:59pm
Exam (2 hours) 40%
During the exam period
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3
Group Presentation (20 mins, during weeks 4-11)
In the tutorials, you’ll get to pick a week to present (ideally one group per week)
20 minutes for the presentation, plus 5 minutes of Q&A
Each group consists of 3-4 students
Do not summarise the lecture slides, but use them as a foundation from which to build your presentation
Be creative and interactive!
Each group will be evaluated by the tutor and their peers/classmates
This provides a little taste of evaluating performance
Please give the tutor a hardcopy version of your presentation
Use a real life case study or practical examples to reflect and apply the knowledge you get from the course
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4
Individual Essay (2000 words – 45%)
TOPIC:
As evident in the literature and discussed throughout the course, there are many challenges faced by organisations to achieve effective human performance management.
Choose two or three challenges that you feel are the most important today, and discuss what HR managers need to do in order to deal with them. Be sure to include relevant theories to help support your arguments.
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5
Research essay (2000 words – 45%)
Minimum of 10 academic references – if you don’t have 10, you can’t pass the assignment
Do NOT use Wikipedia, blogs, or university websites for your references
High quality academic journals to be used
Textbooks are okay
Due Date is Sunday, Week 7, 11:59pm
Submission only through Canvas
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Assessment criteria
Key issues relating to the question have been developed
Original and clear argument
Logical and convincing discussion
Ideas and assertions substantiated through use of high quality reference material and key academic perspectives/views used to develop arguments
Appropriate Harvard style referencing (in text and list of references)
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Final Exam (2 hours)
The final exam will require you to put yourself in a HR Manager’s shoes and reflect on and discuss how you deal with performance management issues
Questions will be drawn from selected topics and lectures in the course
Sample Questions will be provided in Weeks 11 and 12
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What is diversity in the workplace and why is it important? What can organisations do to cultivate diversity to improve employee performance? (10 marks)
Example Exam Question
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Why am I doing this course?
You had an elective, and thought why not give this course a crack?
You heard about the awesome teaching team from someone who did the course last semester/year
You want to pick up some theoretical knowledge, frameworks for performance, and processes from the lectures, but are far more interested in its real world applications and the horror stories/success stories from the teaching team’s corporate experience in the tutorials
You are hiding from someone, and thought this lecture theatre would be vacant at 10:30am on Tuesdays
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Managing Performance: What’s the deal, and why should I be aware of it?
Everyone is judged on their performance, whether it’s in a formal or informal process
You need to be acutely aware of performance management processes if you’re going to succeed in the corporate world
Once you’re out there in the corporate world, you’ll find two distinct kinds of managers: good ones and bad ones
The good ones know what they’re doing, so we won’t worry about them. It’s the bad ones we worry about
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Managing Performance: What’s the deal, and why should I be aware of it?
Bad managers who manage performance tend to fail horribly (or hilariously, depending on your point of view) because they do not have the right skills to manage the performance of people
They also don’t understand what performance management is, or how it helps employees and organisations achieve goals
As students and future practitioners, you need to develop both the technical skills and the soft skills in order to manage human performance
This course covers both, technical and soft skills so you’ll be better placed to succeed
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What is performance management and how is it different to an appraisal?
PM is the process of setting and monitoring measures and objectives for employees, managers, and executives
It is a closed loop process meaning that objectives are constantly reviewed and performance diaries are maintained by the employee and their manager, which details ongoing successes and challenges
PM is slightly different to appraisals, which is the process that identifies, evaluates and develops employee performance to meet employee and organisational goals
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Learning overview
Explain the KPI framework and outline how they are used
Understand how KPIs are used to monitor performance
Describe an operational plan, and the steps involved in writing one
Explain the relationship between operational plans and performance management
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KPI Framework
Organisations are judged by the results they achieve.
This is true for public and private organisations.
Critical success factors (CSFs), performance indicators (PI) and key performance indicators (KPIs) are essential roles for organisational success and to assist failing organisations achieve a turnaround.
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KPI Framework (2)
Critical Success Factors (CSFs) identify those aspects of the organisation that are critical for its success.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are those indicators of performance that are seen as being of great importance to the success of the business of the organisation.
Performance Indicators (PIs) are measures of different parts of the organisation’s performance and relate to results the organisation wants to achieve.
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KPI Framework (3)
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Critical Success Factors (CSF)
Critical success factors (CSFs):
identify aspects of organisation that are critical for success.
are few in number.
assist the organisation to achieve its plan for the cycle.
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Critical Success Factors (2)
Senior management develop CSFs in consultation with customers, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders.
KPIs assist in addressing the CSFs by identifying clear measures of operational performance.
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Composition of KPIs
KPIs:
relate to ends rather than means
are related to results, outputs, consequences, payoffs and performance
drive values and behaviours through an organisation
Actions are found in operational plans, not KPIs
Example: A company might want to increase market share, so the KPIs are likely to measure sales growth
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Why bother with KPIs?
Process improvement
Benchmarking
Strategic and business planning
Enterprise bargaining
All new systems and technology advances require KPIs to be (re)negotiated
Increase productivity
Support the introduction and implementation of self-managed teams
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Key Takeaways: KPIs
Fundamental to performance management systems
Provide focus for measurement
Form the basis of individual performance objectives
Underpin the efficient operation of the organisation
Used in conjunction with critical success factors
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Operational Plans: What are they?
Operational plans achieve strategies.
More than one operational plan can run concurrently.
Operational/business plan are interchangeable terms.
Operational planning is routinised, operationally specific, small-scale change and is resource driven.
Operational plans are drawn up by middle and supervisory management.
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Operational Plans: Are they useful?
Yes, yes they are.
Show how the organisation will achieve its goals
Are action plans
Detail how a strategic plan will be achieved
Written at different levels
Convert strategy into specific, detailed plans for implementation
Inform management of progress towards strategic objectives
Provide monitoring benchmarks.
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Operational Plans: What are they made of?
Not made of stainless steel, but do include:
marketing
communication (internal and external)
human resources
purchasing
finance
sales
how services will be delivered
how policy will be implemented
production
potential problems
technology upgrades
systems
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Operational Plans: Why you should take note
Forces specific thinking on issues, opportunities, challenges and operational matters.
Increases flexibility and preparation for change.
Enables efficient use of resources.
Increases quality.
Speeds up decision making.
Identifies cost savings.
Provides specific direction for staff.
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Operational Plans: How to write one
Executive summary.
Key assumptions.
Recommendations or strategies.
Strategic objectives relating to the work group.
Overview of what to be achieved in next planning cycle.
Operational objectives with performance standards.
Review of current operations
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Operational Plans: Private Sector
| Private Sector | Public Sector |
| Marketing and sales | Communication strategies |
| Purchasing | Human resources |
| Production | Organisational structure |
| Human resources | Financial information |
| Organisational structure | Purchasing |
| Systems | How services will be delivered |
| Technology upgrades | How policy will be implemented |
| Financial information | Technology upgrades |
| Reporting structures | Systems |
| Reporting structures |
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Operational Plans: How do I contribute?
For staff to contribute to an operational plan, they must be set performance objectives.
Strategic plans implemented through operational plans.
Operational plans implemented through individual performance objectives or standards.
Integral in managing performance.
Managers must monitor progress towards goals.
Individual standards ensure employees working towards the operational and strategic goals.
Managing individual performance of staff influences achievement of operational objectives.
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Review Questions
What are CSFs and KPIs?
Describe the KPI framework
How does an operational plan aid performance management?
What does it really sound like when doves cry?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
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