Performance management is the continuous process through which an organization determines if its objectives and goals are being met. Based on goals and objectives, companies have a very specialized definition of success which the activities within the organization ought to be focused upon. The organization hence has to come up the strategic plan made up of ways and means of achieving these goals and objectives while still adhering to organizational culture. Human resource is among the key resources that an organization needs to achieve its goals and objectives (Glaister et al, 2018). Employee performance ought to be constantly evaluated singularly from the perspective of each employee and severally by looking at the employees as a singular unit or sets of units.
Performance management from an HRM perspective is meant to ensure that every employee makes a worthy contribution to the organization based on quality, quantity, and relevance. Quality in this perspective means that the employee is making the best possible contribution to a balance of probabilities on a continuous basis (Glaister et al., 2018). Quantity in this regard refer to the number of hours worked and where suitable, the volume of work accomplished. Finally, relevance means that the contribution made by the worker is in line with the overall objectives of the organization. The strategic plan of the organization ensures that the organization is doing the right things and in the right way based on the vision and mission of the organization. HRM performance management ensures that the employees are playing the right roles to suit the organizational plan (Glaister et al., 2018).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Trait, behavioral, and performance-based performance appraisal systems differ primarily on what they seek to assess within the employee or what the employee has been doing for the organization. Trait-based assessment seeks to evaluate who the employee is (Shields et al., 2015). For example, charisma is a personal trait that is necessary for good leadership thus an assessment of charisma in a leader is a trait-based assessment system. Behavioral-based assessments evaluate how employees behave in their place of work mainly in relation to other employees and where applicable, to the customers. For example, an assessment of how a hotel receptionist deals with clients is a behavioral assessment, so is an assessment of how a surgeon relates to other professionals in an operation room. Finally, performance-based assessment is all about the outcomes of the input that the employee makes in the organization as it assesses the results and not the processes (Shields et al., 2015). For example, an evaluation of the number of cars sold by a car dealer representative or the number of repeat customers that salesperson gets falls under the performance-based assessment criterion.
Whereas Maersk as a transport company mainly benefits more from high volumes of work, care business partnerships are more about relationships thus, behavioral-based assessment would be most applicable. Maersk is a global organization involved in shipping and logistics across almost every navigable waterway on earth. However, maritime transport is a very specialized trade with a limited number of main players thus repeat business as opposed to gaining new customers is the primary mode of expansion for Maersk (Yuen & Thai, 2015). Care business partners are critical in the way Maersk relates to its customers based on how they develop relationships with these customers leading to repeat business. Personal and interpersonal behavior is integral to business relationships thus Maersk should be keen on how their care business partners behave towards their customers (Yuen & Thai, 2015). Further, it is almost impossible to accurately numerically quantify the results of the efforts of care business partners which rules out the results-based assessment. The trait-based assessment would also be important but how care business partners behave is more important in the context that who they are.
A variety of performance rating scales are available for HRM performance assessment including the graphical, letter, and numerical rates. The graphical performance rating scale is among the most specialized and effective assessment methods (Shields et al., 2015). The graphic method divides the expected performance of an employee into several categories such as punctuality, politeness, and efficacy. Each of the categories is then rated on a scale of one to five with five representing excellence while 1 represents the poorest performance. In most cases, graphical scales are used to measure employee behavior. The letter-based assessment scale is comparative in nature and compares the behavior or results of employees against one another (Shields et al., 2015). The assessor has to arrive at a baseline then assess each employee in a manner that that can create a direct comparison with other employees . For example, an A not only reflects excellence but also being better than a B. Finally, the numerical rating scales are all inclusive as they combine testing traits, behavior and/or results into a lump sum reflected by a number. The outcome will put a numerical figure to the overall rating of an employee such as 10, 5 or even a 50 depending on the nature of assessment and the size of the organization . The assigned number can be deducted as the value of the employee, a fact that in some cases create ethical issues (Shields et al., 2015).
The totality of the above not only reflects the importance of HRM performance evaluation but also provides an overview of how it is carried out. Every company seeks to achieve its mission and vision through a series of objectives and goals. The strategic plan provides the avenue to achieve the same through all available resources of the company, key among them being the human resource. HRM performance appraisal is specifically designed to ensure that the employees are making a fair, worthy and relevant contribution to the organization. Under the appraisal, the company checks if the employees have the right traits, are doing the right things in the right way, and to the right extent based on the parameters set by the organization.
References
Glaister, A. J., Karacay, G., Demirbag, M., & Tatoglu, E. (2018). HRM and performance—The role of talent management as a transmission mechanism in an emerging market context. Human Resource Management Journal , 28 (1), 148-166. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1748-8583.12170
Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... & Plimmer, G. (2015). Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies . Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.
Yuen, K. F., & Thai, V. V. (2015). Service quality and customer satisfaction in liner shipping. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences , 7 (2/3), 170-183.
