The Meaning and Importance of Performance Management. Essay Example

Performance management entails the process of ongoing communication between an employee and a supervisor that happens all year long to ensure that the organization meets its strategic objectives. In the communication process, reviewing results, providing feedback, identifying goals, setting objectives, and clarifying objectives are included. Some of the benefits and importance of performance management include:

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Performance management assists in the creation of employee development strategies. The employees always have to cover their developmental needs.

It allows for feedback exchange. Feedbacks are essential in business settings as they allow the business to know if it is progressing or not (Taylor, 2014).

It helps in clarifying about the goals and objectives of the company. One reason most organizations luck behind is the lack of clear goals and confusion regarding various operations.

It ensures that the organization, the processes, teams, and employees are functioning to optimize the multiple goals and objectives all across the year.

Performance management is a way if identifying bad and good performers and assist in personnel planning (Young, 2016).

Is Jennifer right about the need to evaluate the workers and the managers? Justify your opinion for each. (5 marks)

Evaluating the workers and managers is the right thing to do as Jennifer did. The evaluation is of significant help to the business. It allows the management to align the people and the goals of the business. The employer can get the required feedback to enhance further the business, set expectations for future performances, and assist in recognizing quality performance.

Examine five ways that could be used by the on-site managers to monitor individual employee performance. (5x2 =10 marks)

Watching the employees' work: this is the surest way of monitoring the performance of workers. By being physically present and watching them.

Asking for accounts is another way of monitoring individual performance. It can be done by having conversations with the employees where they are also asked about their progress since the last discussion was held.

Assisting the employees to use tools for self-monitoring. The employees can also monitor themselves through activities such as activity logs, checklists, and project plans (Ryan, 2009). They monitor whether they are meeting deadlines and goals then make appropriate notifications in the checklist.

Reviewing the tasks in progress regularly. It is vital to check how the employees are doing in their processes (Blindenbach-Driessen & Van Den Ende, 2010).

The last step in monitoring individual performance is by asking around a little. The manager gathers essential information by asking departmental managers, workers, coworkers, vendors, and customers about the performance and their interactions with specific employees.

Recommend five strategies to enhance employee performance by using the keys of Maori management. Refer to KOKIRI WHAKAMUA: Fast Tracking Maori Management. (slides and reading material on Moodle) (5x2 =10 marks)

• Making the rewards achievable.
• Believing in the employees
• Praising publicly and correcting privately
• Providing continuous feedback
• Making expectations clear
• Appraisal Form
• Core Competences

Initiative and creativity: entails doing work and making constructive suggestions as the objectives and needs of the organization.

1. Reliability: the employees within the organization need to be people who can be dependent on them. It is determined by their reliability, trustworthiness, and persistence degree.
2. Quantity of work: The productivity of employees is what determines this.
3. Quality of work: Overall, work quality is assessed by which is free of errors and has the least mistakes.
4. Job knowledge: some skills expected among the employees include having the required expertise, skills, and knowledge to do their tasks. Also, they should be aware of products, policies, and techniques adopted by the business.

Rating Scale

• 1 = poor (outright not meeting the required standards)
• 2 = Needs improvement (not meeting standards often)
• 3 = Good (meets standards)
• 4 = Outstanding (exceeds the standards)
• 5 = Excellent (exceptionally exceed the standards)

These ratings are consistently applied to every relevant question on the appraisal

• Appraisal Goals
• The goals of the appraisal form include:
• Determine the progress of the employees
• Display the worker's discipline regarding attendance, adhering to policies, etcetera
• Determine the quality and quality of works done over the given period
• Help the employee know the goals and objectives of the company once more
• Define future goals and help in adding suggestions on what needs to be done
• Action Plan
• Provide resources
• Encourage employees
• Follow through the objectives and aim of the business
• Doing the right thing at work
• Employing the lessons learned through previous mistakes

Part B

Identify five possible hazardous conditions in the laundry and dry cleaning business. (1x5 = 5)

Extensive use of chemicals remains to be the highest source of hazards in a laundry (Gerarde,1972). Laundry workers are always at the risk of exposure to them hence posing a threat to their health. It is thus imperative to carefully store the chemicals and provide protective gear to the workers when they are handling the chemicals.

Proper installation of the machinery according to the manufactures' guidelines should always be followed (Penny & Gordon,1982). They should also be serviced regularly, and during maintenance and cleaning services, careful disengagement of the machines is required to protect the workers.

The giant machines in the laundry are a constant source of the noise. The identification of the exact causes of sound should be prioritized for possible elimination.

Regular inspection of the electrical equipment by electricians is required to keep them in their right working conditions (Tai, 1999). Faulty electrical equipment poses a danger to the workers.

Heat stress is a hazardous condition in a laundry. The heat stress is due to the large machines that are continuously operational. It is thus essential to provide optimal working conditions for the workers by the installation of air conditioning in the laundry.

Discuss three actions Jack and Jennifer should take to ensure they meet their responsibilities under the HSAW Act 2015. (3x3 = 9)

The primary purpose of the HSWA Act is the provision of a safe working environment to the workers and everyone associated with the workplace, such as the people visiting (Zealand,2020). Therefore, Jack and Jennifer should ensure the laundry is a safe workplace void of any risks to their employees and customers. In the absence of means of eradicating the risks, they should put in place measures to control the rising threats.

The Act also states that the workers have an active role in enforcing the need for a safe working environment. A safe environment can be actively achieved through their worker's unions always championing their safety and healthier working condition. The workers are also required to take charge of their security by still using the protective gear.

The provision of protective gear is the duty of Jack and Jennifer. They are liable for any worker whose health is affected by a lack of protective equipment while on duty (Anderson, 2003). They should develop policies that will enforce strict use of the protective gear within the laundry.

Discuss any three strategies to be used by the managers at Carter Cleaning to get all employees to behave more safely at work. (3x2 = 6)

The management of the company may decide to monitor and evaluate the behavior of the employees. The employees should be made aware that there is a severe evaluation at any part of the day. According to Bender, the strategy shall make the employees employ good practices because human nature is that it performs well when there is motivation or pressure (Bender and Moir, 2006). The evaluation reports should be published for the employees every week.

Another option for the management is to encourage the right and healthy behavior by providing inspiration sources. There are many forms through which the management can inspire the employees. The introduction of inspiring stories and motivational quotes from different scholars are essential.

Finally, being the best example is the best way of modeling the behavior of employees. The expectation is that a management that does not employee good and healthy behavior cannot force the employees to employ them. Therefore, anytime that the managers get to work, they should always practice the right practices for the employees to follow. It is the role of the leadership to instill the wanted behavior to the employees.

Identify five statutory requirements relevant for employment relationships and recommend appropriate practices for applying those to Carter Cleaning Company. (5x4 = 20)

Various provisions in the constitution of the United States tend to protect the employees from exploitation. The first act under focus is the National Labour Relations act as it focuses on the exploitation levels that workers face (Subramanien and Joseph, 2019). There is a need for the management of the company to review the amount of time that the employees work. The time should not be too much to cause exhaustion. If need be, the employees can be working for three to four days weekly.

Another statutory requirement is the Civil Rights Act that calls for equal treatment of all employees without emphasizing other issues like gender and race (Brief, 2018). The requirement makes the managers of the company treat all the employees equally in all aspects. The salaries for a given job group should be equal across all races and genders.

The Americans with Disabilities Act also calls for consideration when treating employees with disabilities (Davis, 2016). The management of the company can schedule the duties such that that the disabled people get the suitable responsibilities that they can handle efficiently and effectively. The energy involving duties can be allocated to the well-abled people.

A right working environment is a requirement under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (Connolly and Crowell, 2017). The company should ensure that the environment is healthy for every individual, such that the possibility of contracting diseases is low. The accident possibility should also be minimized.

The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act is also a proper provision that directs the employers to bargain well in cases where the employees have unions (Julliard, 2018). The company management should develop a virtue of good faith bargaining when dealing with such employees. The use of dictatorship may land the company to the wrong side of the law.

References

Anderson, R. (2003). Stress at work: the current perspective. The journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, 123(2), 81-87.

Bender, R., & Moir, L. (2006). Does 'best practice' in setting executive pay in the UK encourage 'good'behaviour?. Journal of Business Ethics, 67(1), 75-91.

Blindenbach-Driessen, F., & Van Den Ende, J. (2010). Innovation Management Practices Compared: The Example of Project-Based Firms*. Journal Of Product Innovation Management, 27(5), 705-724. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2010.00746.x

Brief, A. P. (2018). How much has America changed in 50 years? An organizational psychologist's take on social justice progress since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Connolly Jr, W. B., & Crowell, D. R. (2017). A Practical Guide to the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Law Journal Press.