Performance Management

“A process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance.  As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved, and approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved”  Armstrong and Baron, 2004

It is important that managers make sure that staff maintain a high level of performance and that the skills and behavior of them is continuously monitored. The staff have to know exactly what is required of them. Performance management brings together all the aspects of people management and is improvement on an individual, team, department and organisational level. One of the main ways performance is managed is through appraisals. This is a formal regular review of an employee's performance measured against a set out criteria and how they compare to the expectations and objectives of the company which should be reflected in the business plan. It should be a two-way conversation about performances in the last year as opposed to the manager just telling the employee what they've done wrong. This makes the employee feel that they have a say. Feedback is given to them on how they can improve for the coming year and they discuss how they can go about making these improvements. 

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
Peter F. Drucker, American Management Guru


How does the university measure performance?

Bucks New University measures performance mainly by giving assignments and tests throughout the year. When set an assignment there are usually draft presentations to show to the lecturers beforehand so make sure that the work is good. The performance is measured in a quantitative format as there is a mark given for different aspects of the work, such as Content, Presentation, etc. This kind of feedback would include a grading system of Excellent, Very Good, Good, Average, Poor, Fail. There is also qualitative feedback received to give a more narrative review on specific aspects of work that need improving on. These assignments are fairly frequent across the  modules. There are also tests completed in certain modules, which are then gone through in class to show which mistakes were made and how to not make the same mistakes again in order to improve on the work. The lecturers have a key role to give good feedback to put students on the right path to success.

Being an effective mentor

A mentor is an expert in an area or leader in an organisation who offers advice, guidance and support. Mentoring differs from coaching is more of a supportive relationship to help someone along. Although a mentor may use coaching techniques within the relationship. Clutterbuck and Wynne state the four roles of mentoring to be counsellor, networker, facilitator and coach.

"The mentor is there to help the learn" Clutterbuck and Wynne.

Benefits of a mentor include communication improvements, self-learning, more equal opportunities and managerial effectiveness. It is good for a mentor to be different to the mentee in terms on personality and characteristics so that they can learn off them. The skills required to be an effective mentor are obviously experience, as they need to have expertise in the subject to be able to pass on knowledge. Then need to help them to solve problems so would need to have good patience, whilst also being a good listener so they can take on board the mentee's opinion. They would also need to be encouraging, positive, reliable, honest, trustworthy and being empathetic by being able to understand the problems of someone by putting themselves in their shoes.

Someone in my life who has been a good mentor was my form tutor in Year 11. He always stood out as a teacher who you could approach with a problem and he would help you out. Pointed me in the right path and encouraged me to work hard to achieve good GCSE's after doing poorly at school the year before. Made me see what would happen if I didn't work to the best of my ability. This genuine support and encouragement was important and it meant I wanted to work hard and I managed to achieve the grades that I wanted.

In conclusion, managers need to make sure that their staff maintain a consistantly high performance so that their company is a success and also to keep morale up within the workforce. They do this by giving feedback during annual appraisals. They may also employ mentors to guide workers along by giving expert advice and helping them solve problems and become a better person at what they do.

Bibliography

• Mullins, L.J. (2010), Management & Organisational Behaviour, 9th edition, Essex, FT 
• http://alignment.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/performance-management-quotes/
• The Benefits of Coaching and Mentoring. Available: http://www.exemplas.com/Skills-and-Training/Mentoring--Coaching/The-benefits/. Last accessed 2011. 
• Performance Management: An introductory guide. Available: http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/performancemanagement.html. Last accessed 2011.