Performance Management

Introduction: for this blog, I have to describe an appraisal I have had at work and state if it was effective, and what were the outputs of the meeting. Then I will go onto reading an article from ‘The Times on mentoring and state what skills are required to be an effective mentor. Then I have to identify someone from my college/university, school, work, social life who has been a mentor to me, and how they affected my life.

Performance management: is a process of creating a work environment where people can work to their best ability. Performance management is about providing on-going training and development, conducting performance appraisals, providing career development opportunities, providing recognition to employees for their work. According to Mullins performance management is defined as a method of reviewing the performance and potential of employees that is usually undertaken formally and systematically at regular intervals, Mullins J. (2007).

Performance management cycle has an important role in motivated the workforce, it has five stages as explained below.

 

Source: http://www.love2reward.co.uk/rewards/info-centre/performance-management-cycle.jsp

• Stage 1-Planning; this is where the company evaluates employees’ role and performance providing them with an idea of what areas need improvement and setting realistic targets to achieve.
• Stage 2-Manage; implementing the plan , and managing the performance is stage two of the cycle providing sufficient support to employees and ensuring they have the right tools and resources to perform well in the job.
• Stage 3-Review; making sure that the performance structure is set in place, and speaking to employees about their performance throughout the process.
• Stage 4-Reward; if all objectives are achieves, than employee should be rewarded for the work.
• Stage 5- Renew; this is the final stage of the performance management cycle which involves analysing pervious objectives and looking at ways to improve them. 

Appraisal at work:

At my workplace in B&Q the company has appraisals every year with their employees this is a chance where both the manager and employee can sit down discuss how the employee is performing, if they have any issues that are affecting their workplace and stopping them from progressing. The appraisal form that I have to complete every year at work has a number of pages to answer which reviews my performance throughout the year. My appraisal consisted of questions relating to my performance as opposed to previous year to see if I had improved in the areas from last appraisal, each year of working my performance should have improved and be better as the company provides ongoing training and development. The appraisal consisted of questions related to my customer service, product knowledge, how well I work within a team etc. I believed that the appraisal was overall quite effective I could discuss my performance and any issues relating to my work with my manager, and if I had to improve my manager would discuss what steps need to be taken and how they are going to be measured. The output of the meeting was I could see how I was performing, what areas I could improve and develop, if I performed well I could progress to another level which meant I could get an increase in my salary.

I felt that the appraisal I had with my manager was effective, as my performance was measured through having monthly AORS annual ownership reviews each month to see if I was performing well in my job, I had also being observed on many occasion my managers to see if I am performing well and if they felt I was under performing I had to sit down with my manger as discuss why. The outputs from the appraisals was that I had the chance to sit down with my manager and discuss my performance, areas for improvement and if I could progress etc. I received recognition for my work, and by the company having performance appraisals it showed that the company was genuinely interested in my performance and development. 

 

Source: www. leaderphrase.com

Mentoring:

Having read the article from ‘The Times’ on mentoring I believe an effective mentor would require the following set of skills, they would  have good communication skills, as well as effective listening skills and being able to advice the individual. An effective mentor is a role model for the individual who they are mentoring. The individual will look up to the mentor for advice and support.  An effective mentor would be one who can encourage the individual to achieve the tasks. Effective mentor should be someone who is confident, friendly and outgoing so people would like to come to them and ask for help or advice.  In the article it states mentoring is “a relationship in which a person of greater experience teaches, guides or develops a person with less experience, helping him or her to perform more effectively”, I believe this statement is true as a mentor, is someone who is experienced who can assist  the less experienced individual perform better within the job. 

 

Source: Google 

My mentor:

A person that has been a mentor to me was my form tutor at school.  She was not only my form tutor she was my English teacher  someone who I could talk to, she helped me throughout my last two years of school, when I was taken my GCSE exams, she motivated and encouraged me to work harder to get the grade I was hoping for, to go to college to do my course she was my mentor she helped me gave me valuable advice and support I went to her when I needed her help, she was a confident, friendly and outgoing person, when I spoke she listened to what I had to say, she also had hope in me and put me through to the higher tier examinations as she had hope that I would pass them if I worked hard, I went to her after school and she checked my coursework ,helped me to prepare for exams, and also to improve my CV. Having left school and achieving my grade to go to college, I am still in contact with her as she asks me how I am finding my college studies, and if I have any issues or need someone to talk to I can always contact her, I felt as if she was someone I trusted and went to when I needed help.

It has affected my life, as I have achieved a lot, I have gained valuable skills, and feel that I can work hard and am more confident and having someone there who believed in me and helped me get where I wanted to if I put my mind to it. The encouragement and motivation from my mentor made me want to achieve more and now I feel as if I can achieve anything if I actually work hard and have a desire to achieve. 

Conclusion: Overall performance management is important for any organisation to measure success, this could be done through having performance appraisals, monitoring employees etc. Successful organisations tend to use the performance management cycle which includes effective planning, monitoring, developing, reviewing and rewarding employees. An effective mentor is someone who is experienced has good listening and communication skills and can emphasis with the individual and encourages them to succeed.

References:

[1] Mullins, L. (2007) Management & Organisational Behaviour:  8^th edition. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

[2] Simpson, M (2012) PowerPoint

[3] B&Q Learning and Development Programme [Online] Available From: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/careers/our_people/development.jsp [Accessed 10th April 2012]

[4] Kingfisher Report on Training and Development [Online] Available From: http://files.the-group.net/library/kgf/cr08/pdfs/cr08_employment.pdf [Accessed 10th April 2012]

 [5] Performance Management [Online] Available From: http://www.love2reward.co.uk/rewards/info-centre/performance-management-cycle.jsp [Accessed 12th April 2012]