Week 2 Project

South University

file:///C|/Users/CWATKIM/Desktop/The%20Importance%20of%20Measuring%20Employee%20Results%20and%20Behaviors.html[7/22/2020 11:14:03 AM]

The Importance of Measuring Employee Results and Behaviors In this week, you will gain a better understanding of the various approaches to measure performance and gain a deeper knowledge of how to measure employees’ behaviors. Before we embark on this lesson, think of a time in your life when you set and achieved a goal. How did this make you feel? When was the last time you set a personal or work-related goal? Did you achieve the goal? If you achieved the goal, did you create a new one? If you did not achieve the goal, what or who got in your way? As an HR professional, it is your responsibility to assist employees in setting and achieving goals, assessing the employees’ behavioral pattern, and creating ways to measure the results in order to offer employees’ continuous coaching. Before an employee performance assessment can be executed, you must have a clear idea of the employees’ job responsibilities. Once this is accomplished, you can measure the employees’ performance from a results approach by following the steps below:

1. Identify all accountability areas.

2. Assess multiple levels of objectives.

3. Determine the performance standard for the evaluation.

To measure the employees’ performance from a behavior approach, an HR professional will use the following criteria:

Identify competencies based on the knowledge, skill, and attitudes (KSAs).

Identify indicators for competencies.

Select a measurement system (comparative or absolute).

As you read through the textbook for this week, review some of the case studies to ascertain how organizations in the United States and in other countries are measuring the results and behaviors of employees. What is one key point that you have learned in this week, and how will it impact your role as an HR professional?

Three Approaches to Measure Performance Before we discuss how to measure performance, we must remember that employees do not perform in a vacuum. Employees work in an organizational context, engaging in certain behaviors that produce certain results. The same employee may behave differently (and produce different results) if placed in a different situation (e.g., working with a different supervisor or using better or worse equipment). There are three approaches that can be used to measure performance: behavior, results, and traits.

(Aguinis, 2013, p. 95)

ApproachesDescription Examples The behaviors approach emphasizes what employees do on the job and does not consider employees’ traits or the outcomes resulting from their

This is basically a process-oriented approach that emphasizes how an

South University

file:///C|/Users/CWATKIM/Desktop/The%20Importance%20of%20Measuring%20Employee%20Results%20and%20Behaviors.html[7/22/2020 11:14:03 AM]

Behaviors behaviors.

(Aguinis, 2014, p. 95) employee does the job.

Results

The results approach emphasizes the outcomes and results produced by the employees. It does not consider the traits that employees may possess or the way employees do the job. This is basically a bottom-line approach that is not concerned about employee behaviors and processes but, instead, focuses on what is produced (e.g., sales, number of accounts acquired, time spent with clients on the telephone, number of errors).

(Aguinis, 2013, p. 96)

The employer is concerned only with the results from the employee. Think of it this way, the employer is concerned with the numerical outcome (number of sales per month, number of accounts acquired in six months, number of calls made to clients annually, etc.).

Traits

The traits approach emphasizes the individual performer and ignores the specific situation, behaviors, and results. If one adopts the traits approach, raters evaluate relatively stable traits.

(Aguinis, 2013, p. 99)

The traits approach can include abilities, such as cognitive abilities (which are not easily trainable) or personality (which is not likely to change over time). For example, performance measurement may assess an employee’s intelligence and conscientiousness at the end of each review period.

Additional Materials

From your course textbook, Performance Management, read the following chapter:

Measuring Results and Behaviors

From the South University Online Library, read the following article:

Measuring Employee Perception of Performance Management System Effectiveness 

South University

file:///C|/Users/CWATKIM/Desktop/The%20Importance%20of%20Measuring%20Employee%20Results%20and%20Behaviors.html[7/22/2020 11:14:03 AM]