Benchmark - Performance Management

Introduction 

Human talent is arguably the most important asset for any company in the modern entrepreneurial dispensation. However, for human talent to function as an asset, employees must work hard, work smart, and work right. Working hard relates to employees committing to doing what they are supposed to do as and when they are supposed to do it. Working smart relates to employees using their mental capacity to innovate better, easier, and more effective ways of carrying out their duties (Neo et al., 2015). Finally, working right means that every inference made by an employee must be geared towards meeting the overall strategic plan of the company. Inferences from employees that do not adhere to the overall strategic plan are either wasted or counterproductive (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). The company on focus in the instant research paper is Apple Inc. specifically its iPhone division and its Human Resource Department. Effective human resource management entails motivating employees to want to work hard, smart, and right as opposed to compelling them to do the same, as this research paper canvasses. 

Step 1: Performance Outcomes for the Company Division and Department 

A company or corporate entity is usually a large organization unified by a singular mission, vision, and set of objectives all reduced into a strategic plan. Human talent is integral to the fulfillment of the strategic plan. In most companies, the strategic plan is compound in nature as it has several different components (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014) . It is for this reason that the company will be divided into several divisions and departments. For example, Apple Company has a wide portfolio of products such as computers, iPhones, and TVs all of which have their respective divisions (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015) . Further, Apple has a human resource department which operates at the epitome of the company and also traverses all its divisions and any respective segments that they may have. The division on focus seeks to make the most advanced and innovative iPhones in the world. The department seeks to hire and coordinate the best human talent for the achievement of the divisional goals. 

Step 2: Employee Goals, Behavior, and Actions to Achieve Outcomes 

Employee goals, behavior, and actions on the one hand and expected outcomes on the other relate based on the tripartite approach of what employees do, how it affects other employees, and finally how it affects the strategic plan of the company (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014) . At Apple, it is incumbent upon every employee to do the right thing and in the right manner. Secondly, it is incumbent of the same employee to avoid hampering or hindering the productivity of other employees. For example, a competent employee who works efficiently but is rude to clients cannot be said to meet the outcomes relating to the strategic plan of the company. Finally, the employees’ action on average meet the overall strategic plan of the company (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015) . 

Step 3: Support and Ongoing Performance Discussions 

For the success of any company, it is critical for the contributions made by the employees within the respective divisions and departments to merge harmoniously and Apple is no exception. Coordination and communication are , therefore, integral to the success of the organization (Neo et al., 2015) . A singular employee or team of employees will normally operate under the authority of a division but still be the subject of different departments. For example, every employee is under the human resource department hence instructions from this department will affect the entire company. Apple has excelled in employee and divisional coordination as evidenced by its continued success (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). Without communication or coordination, the instructions will be on a collision course with those issued by divisional heads or heads of other departments hence compromising overall outcomes. 

Step 4: Performance Evaluation of Employees 

Apple recently became the first publicly traded company in history to have a trillion dollar market capitalization, making it one of the most successful companies in the world. According to industry commentators, the monumental success of Apple within the last few months can be directly credited to the iPhone division, which has been developing and launching several new versions of smartphones every year (Mickle & Ramkumar, 2018) . Whereas several factors including brand power have played a role in the success of the company, the monumental success is evidence of the high-performance outcomes of the iPhone division. The HRM department can also be credited with having brought together, retained, and superintended over the high-performing team that has achieved the aforesaid major feat. This can be defined as using HRM to create a value-based competitive advantage (Neo et al., 2015) . 

Step 5: Identify Improvements Needed 

The Apple team within the division and department of focus herein is great but there is always room for improvement. The team has proven itself when it comes to its contribution to the strategic plan of the company by ensuring that innovation and human talent is employed towards the creation of the ideal product (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014) . The area that would need improvement relates to how the company treats the employees. The area of improvement within the iPhone division’s HR department would be to adopt the stakeholder approach to human resource management. Under the approach, the employees’ interests are treated as integral interests of the company so that the employees can be able to focus on working for the company (Neo et al., 2015) . Areas such as work-family balance alongside employee training and development fall within this category. 

Step 6: Consequences for Performance Results 

The performance of the division and department on focus herein has had the impact of augmenting the value of the overall Apple brand, raking in high profits for the company and providing vast rewards for all the stakeholders of the company. As indicated above, Apple recently attained the historic status of being the first company to attain a trillion dollar market capitalization (Mickle & Ramkumar, 2018) . The success was buoyed by high sales specifically within the iPhone division. At one point, Apple focused primarily on the production of computer software and hardware. The fact that its current success is being attributed to phones, not computers is a testament to the positive consequences of the results of the performance of the division and department on focus herein. 

Part II: Employee Training and Development 

Overview 

Under a stakeholder’s approach to human resource management, employee training and development are intertwined with the former favoring the employer while the later favoring the employee. Training relates to the process of improving the competence and capacity of an employee to work within an organization (Neo et al., 2015; Bell et al., 2017) . Within the division of focus, for example, training enables every employee of the iPhone division to be most effective in fulfilling the objectives of that division. Training is thus aligned with the duties of employees and also how those duties serve the larger company. Conversely, employee development is the part of an employee training program that improves the value of an employee as an individual within and without the employer company (Bell et al., 2017) . Employee training is fundamental for the attainment of the overall goals of the iPhone division and its HR department. First, formal education creates a general form of competence that needs to be refined so that it can be applied to the specialized nature of an organization. Internal training applies skills gained through formal education to enable an employee to perform duties in a manner that aligns with the values of a company and its strategic plan (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014) . 

The Apple Training Program 

According to Chen (2014), the training programs at Apple Inc. are generally a closely guarded secret, with employees being cautioned not to talk about it outside Apple. Based on the available information relating to the Apple training program, it can be closely associated with the Apple vision of innovation as it entails thinking outside the box. Apple employees are trained in the previous decisions that have made Apple the greatest company on earth and taught how to think similarly. Philosophical teachings inter alia based on arts such as painting are also integrated into the training program (Chen, 2014). The training can thus be said to be tailor-made to be used only for as long as an employee remains with Apple. 

Strengths of the Training Program 

Among the strengths of the Apple, training program are suitability and relevance. For a start, the program is suitable and relevant because it is limited to the necessary levels of Apple employees. The HRM department of Apple seeks for the best human talent and also highly skilled members of staff. This means that Apple uses the hiring process as a source of competitive advantage (Neo et al., 2015). These employees may not need basic training in skills and competence but rather training on refining their intuition and ability to be innovative. Suitability also relates to the fact that the training program enables the employees to be aligned specifically with the Apple vision and mission so that their work inferences can be allied to the overall strategic plan of the company. Apple does not just seek to make the best iPhones in the world but to venture into innovative levels that have not been tried before. The training at the company thus enables that level of advancement. 

Weaknesses 

The primary weakness of the Apple training program is that it is all Apple and focuses above all on the company with little if any individual benefits for the employees. An attitude that focuses on the employer alone is detrimental to the motivation and engagement of the employee (Neo et al., 2015) . It is important for the employee to feel that the employer cares about the interests and aspirations of the individual employees, as engendered by the stakeholder's approach to human resource management. For example, an employee may not always work for Apple hence there is a need for training programs that would be beneficial after leaving the company. Conversely, there is more to life than just work hence the need for employee development-based training (Bell et al., 2017) . Issues such as work-family balance are important for employee motivation and should be incorporated in the training program. 

Impact of the Revised Performance Management and Employee Training on Employee Retention 

Personal Development 

Among the primary drivers of employee retention in the current HRM dispensation is personal development. The current generation of employees has a heightened focus on their future status and remain apprehensive about it. A company that invests in employee development including programs such as sponsored higher education will alleviate this apprehension, leading to a higher propensity for employee retention (Bell et al., 2017) . 

Work-Life and Work-Family Balance 

The modern workplace is gradually being dominated by millennials who would not want their entire lives to be dominated by their professional affiliation (Tews et al., 2015) . It is, however, not possible to be successful in the modern world without hard work. A training program that enables employees to be more organized and to balance work, family, and life will lead to a higher level of contentment in life, thus exponentially increasing employee retention (Bell et al., 2017) . 

Motivation 

The new training program will enable the employees to feel that the employer cares about them, a fact that will enhance motivation. Motivation can be defined as making an employee want to work as opposed to compelling them to work. Motivated employees are highly engaged and effective, a fact that extenuates office conflict, more so between employees and their superiors thus increasing retention (Bell et al., 2017) . Further, a motivated employee has a lower propensity for feeling disenchanted with work leading to a lower employee turnover. 

Reduced Work Pressure 

When performance evaluation is based on a team and not the individual employee, the burden of both success and failure is shared among the team members. Sharing the burden reduces the pressure upon individual employees. The pressure to excel at the workplace coupled with the fear of failure is among the leading cause of stress in the workplace and a contributor to high employee turnovers (Neo et al., 2015) . Eliminating the stress will thus increase employee retention. 

The Enhancement of the Employer-Employee Relationship 

The stakeholder approach to HRM increases the bond between the employer and the employee by creating a stronger relationship than the one based on the employment contract. Due to the strong relationship between the two parties, when an adverse event takes place that elicits differences between the employer and the employee, the bond between the two will enable the employee to hold off the decision to quit work thus creating an opportunity for an amicable resolution of the issue (Tews et al., 2015) . The combination of a team-based performance evaluation system and a stakeholder approach to HRM will thus exponentially improve the employee retention rates of the iPhone division of Apple. 

Conclusion 

The human resource department within the iPhone division of Apple Inc. has excelled to the extent of catapulting Apple Inc. into a trillion dollar company. The department hires the very best available human talent, trains them to operate under the Apple values and strategic plan, and also evaluates individual performance to ensure that their inferences are both high and relevant. However, the department has room for improvement more so when it comes to the relationship between the company and its employees. The changes will be mutually beneficial to both the company and the employer as they will enhance motivation and engagement for employees thus improving the quality of service. Contemporaneously, the changes will also improve employee retention thus extenuating on the costs of replacing employees and training freshly hired members of staff. A combination of team-based performance evaluation system and a stakeholder approach to HRM will result in the necessary improvements that will perfect the already excelling division and department. 

References 

Bell, B. S., Tannenbaum, S. I., Ford, J. K., Noe, R. A., & Kraiger, K. (2017). 100 years of training and development research: What we know and where we should go.  Journal of Applied Psychology ,  102 (3), 305-323 

Chen, B. X. (2014, August 11). Simplifying the bull: How Picasso helps to teach Apple's style. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/technology/-inside-apples-internal-training-program-.html (Chen, 2014) 

Fiegerman, S. (2012, June 14). Actually, sometimes it sucks to work at Apple – here's why. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/the-biggest-complaints-employees-have-about-working-at-apple-2012-6?IR=T#promotions-are-really-hard-to-come-by-at-apple-and-raises-are-small-or-non-existent-6 

Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014).  Strategic management theory: An integrated approach . Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning 

Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A critical analysis of internal and external environment of Apple Inc.  International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management ,  3 (6), 955-961 

Mickle, T., & Ramkumar, A. (2018, August 02). Apple's market cap hits $1 trillion. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/apples-market-cap-hits-1-trillion-1533225150 

Neo, E. Hollenbeck, J., Gerhart B., & Wright, P. (2015). Human Resource Management: Gaining Competitive Advantage . Boston Massachusetts: McGraw-Hill. 

Tews, M. J., Michel, J., Xu, S., & Drost, A. J. (2015). Workplace fun matters… but what else?.  Employee Relations ,  37 (2), 248-267