Organization

Overview Performance management (PM) refers to a set of processes and managerial behaviors that involve defining, monitoring, measuring, evaluating, and providing consequences for performance expectations. PM processes can be used to make and justify employee-related decisions, to guide employee development, and to send signals to employees. Despite the potential advantages of effective PM, the majority of managers and organizations do a poor job of managing employee performance. Effective PM sets clear expectations, helps employees accomplish work, provides regular feedback, and finds new opportunities for employees to succeed and develop. Organizational culture is the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its various environments. There are three layers of organizational culture: observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions. Artifacts are the physical manifestations of an organization’s culture. Espoused values represent the explicitly stated values and norms preferred by the organization, whereas enacted values represent the values and norms actually exhibited by employees. Basic underlying assumptions constitute organizational values that have become so taken for granted over time that they become assumptions that guide organizational behavior. Organizational cultures give members an organizational identity, they facilitate collective commitment, they promote social system stability and they shape behavior by helping members make sense of their surroundings. According to the competing values framework, there are four types of cultures defined by their preference for flexibility and their orientation toward their internal or external environments. Clan cultures value flexibility and have an internal focus. Adhocracy cultures value flexibility and have an external focus. Hierarchy cultures value stability and have an internal focus. Finally, market cultures value stability and have an external focus. Research findings indicate that organizational culture is clearly related to measures of organizational effectiveness, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment and innovation. Organizational culture is not determined by fate, but rather leaders are the architects and developers of organizational culture. Changing culture starts with targeting one of the three levels of organizational culture—observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions. It is essential that an organization’s culture is consistent with its vision and strategic goals. A vision is a long-term goal that describes “what” an organization wants to become. A strategic plan outlines an organization’s long-term goals and the actions necessary to achieve those goals. It is important to use a structured approach when implementing culture change. The chapter profiles 12 mechanisms for changing organizational culture. Organizational socialization is the process by which employees learn an organization’s values, norms, and required behaviors. The socialization process is characterized by three phases. The anticipatory phase occurs before the individual joins the organization. Since unrealistic expectations are often formulated in this stage, organizations may want to use realistic job previews which present both positive and negative aspects of the job. The encounter phase is a time for reconciling unmet expectations and making sense of a new work environment. Organizations may use onboarding to help employees during this stage. The third phase, change and acquisition, requires employees to master important tasks and roles and to adjust to their work group’s values and norms. Managers should avoid a haphazard, sink-or-swim approach to organizational socialization because formalized socialization tactics are more effective. Mentoring is the process of forming and maintaining intensive and lasting developmental relationships between a variety of developers and a junior person. Mentoring serves five career functions (sponsorship, exposure and visibility, coaching, protection, and challenging assignments) and four psychosocial functions (role modeling, acceptance and confirmation, counseling, and friendship). In today’s dynamic workplace, people should seek career information and support from numerous sources, called developers. A developmental network can be assessed based on the diversity of the developmental relationships and developmental relationship strength. The diversity of developmental relationships reflects the variety of people within the network. Developmental relationship strength reflects the quality of relationships among those involved in the developmental network. Individuals should foster a broad developmental network because the number and quality of their contacts will influence their career success. Objectives: Identify issues with performance management Manage goal-setting processes Measure goals accurately Analyze how to turn feedback into change Explore the impact of organizational culture Embed organizational culture through socialization and mentoring processes