Performance management is essential for organizations in helping them become more successful while staying ahead of the competition by changing the game when necessary. This takes into consideration evaluating, reporting as well as managing organizational progress so as to improve performance at individual and corporate levels. Different numerous performance management tools are available designed for the purpose of easing up the process as well as making it more effective. Some of the common tools just to mention a few include; Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and metrics, performance appraisals, Management by Objectives (MBO), 360-degree feedback, Reward and recognition frameworks, and Performance management programs among many others. One key thing to note is that; all these performance management tools must rely on a company’s strategic plan in order to be useful. This means that all behaviors, results and the developmental procedures of workers must be in line with the vision, mission and the objectives of the company. In this paper, I focus on the case of Walmart Inc. who is an international retailer with highly effective HR management. The paper will highlight the right performance management tool that Walmart Inc. can effectively use to communicate its results effectively to its workforce and further progress on the success of using this tool.
Walmart Inc. is a global retailer in terms of workforce and revenue. The company is an effective example of highly effective human resource management with millions of employees globally. The company has progressed right from its initial beginnings with very sound financial strategies and risen to its current position in the industry. The corporate vision and mission statements of Walmart Inc. define its guiding principles in the business. Thus, the success of Walmart is greatly linked to effectiveness in strategic planning through its vision and mission. The fulfillment involves the implementation of an appropriate generic competitive strategy according to Porter’s Model as well as related intensive strategies of growth in relation to Ansoff Matrix. The vision statement of Walmart is “to be the destination for customers to save money, no matter how they want to shop” . This vision statement of 2017 was a shift from the old vision statement “to be the best retailer in the hearts and minds of consumers and employees”. The change in the corporate vision was a reflection of great strategic moves that the organization implements in reaction to changes in the competitive landscape as well as the overall situation in the retail industry (Walmart's Mission & Vision Statement, 2019).
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On the other hand, the mission statement for Walmart is “to save people money so that they can live better”. This is in reflection of the strategic decisions in the company which are a straightforward manifestation of this statement and highly synonymous to Walmart’s slogan “ save money, live better”. Walmart business strategies thus must involve the use of a price as a selling point or as the bait to attract target customers. This has been well exhibited in the majority of the company’s strategies. For instance, the 4P or marketing mix for Walmart incorporates low prices as a plan for progress. In fulfilling its mission and vision, Walmart is working on its core objective which is saving peoples money (Latham, 2015). This is fulfilled excellently through low selling prices offered to consumers while heightening its competitive initiatives.
Having identified Walmart’s strategic plan, it's necessary to proceed to identify a most suited technological tool that Walmart can put in place in order to communicate the results of performance from its entire workforce. It is worth noting that, Walmart Inc. is making great strides in satisfying the “save people money” component of its mission statement through reasonably low prices compared to other high-end and midscale retail stores (Walmart's HRM, 2017). Nevertheless the other end of Walmart’s mission “live better” is not clear if the organization has concrete strategies of fulfilling it. This is because of the multiple numbers of criticisms in regard to low wages offered to the employees considering their better lives in addition to other HR management issues in Walmart. In regard to this observation, the best performance management tool that is identified to suit Walmart and can easily help restore its value is the tool of performance appraisals in addition to the KPIs which are already in place. Performance appraisals when properly put into use they are incredibly powerful tools which can help Walmart achieve its objectives entirely. This technological tool whenever embraced, it can align individual goals with the strategic aim of Walmart Inc. This entails human resource involvement in ensuring that the entire workforce feels that the appraisal programs are honest, regular, constructive and the same time executed with all fairness (Key Tools and Techniques, n.d).
Additionally, for the case of Walmart, this appraisal should be coupled with exceptional reward and recognition programs. This is in light that, already the employees in Walmart feel unrecognized and unrewarded for the great work they do to align the company to its objectivity. This is a risky situation because of plummeted motivation and employees are likely to disengage from the organizational overall mission. Apart from appraisals, reward and recognition are important in order to celebrate high performers through bonuses, fair remuneration, and simple praise to maintain the morale to escalate the performance.
Performance appraisal can make for an excellent tool for the successful management process not only in Walmart Inc. but also in any other organization that embraces it properly. The adoption of performance appraisal as a management tool can be highly successful through its four Measures of quality. First, it’s the measure of reliability. Performance appraisal gives a good extent through which certain measures are free from errors with internal consistency and temporal stability. The rating given at any point should be the same rating given later without being influenced by any events. Secondly, is the convergent validity measure in that there should be an agreement in the view of the rating personnel. Thirdly is biasness where rating should be done without leniency. Finally is the predictive validity in that past performance can be referenced to predict future performance. To further make performance appraisal an outstanding performance tool, it is necessary to couple it with a reward system. Studies show that it is always a win-win for the manager and his team. This results in more work from the staff as they get more rewards for working harder. Such incentives motivate the employee to align their individual goals to company objectives. A good system should set clear standards for winning and the bar should be set high enough in order to challenge the team but it should be reasonably attainable. Managers can rewards boosts on sale revenue, increment in productivity, perfect attendance, elimination of defects and quality work, cost-saving ideas (Performance Appraisals, 2017). Depending on the appraisal programs results, different employees can be rewarded differently through bonuses, profit sharing, stock options, etc. Recognition can also be necessary to affect the employee’s motivation in instances where remuneration or reward isn’t enough. Recognition could be symbolic, informal, empowerment or monetary.
In order to effectively use performance appraisal to communicate employees’ performance, organizations must ensure ongoing dialogues among the employee, manager, and supervisor. This dialogue must create an understanding of goals, expectations, and competencies which are critical for business success. Secondly, such communication should foster a good environment for a continuous flow of feedback. Thirdly it should also provide the employee with an opportunity to gauge their own performance. Performance appraisal if well-coordinated helps the employee to improve what they do and the manner in which they do it (Demartini, 2013) . Some of the effective techniques which can be applied for the success of performance appraisal tool include; ranking employees in the order of their levels of performance, forced distribution where employees are rated and placed in groups such as superior or average, weighted checklists with scores, etc.
In conclusion, Walmart Inc. is a potential competitor who can outcompete giants in future only if this organization can live to the fullness of its mission statement. The best way to do that as suggested in this paper is to adopt performance appraisal as a performance tool and blend it with a reward system or fair remuneration system for its employees. Performance appraisals are highly advantageous though most employees take it as a waste of time. This tool is key in escalating performance, correcting deficiencies, development of the employee, growth in the career, promotion of employees, as well as motivation for higher productivity. To this regard, therefore, performance appraisal is a big-time performance management tool for communicating employees’ performance effectively.
References
Advantages and Disadvantages of Performance Appraisals. (2017, October 5). Retrieved from https://connectusfund.org/12-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-performance-appraisals
311413Performance Management - A Strategic Tool.pdf
311414The Use of Performance Management Systems.pdf
Demartini, C. (2013). Implementation, Use and Diagnosis of the Performance Management System. Performance Management Systems , 197-215. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-36684-0_12
Key Tools and Techniques for Performance Management. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bernardmarr.com/default.asp?contentID=772
Latham, G. P. (2015). Performance Appraisal/Performance Management. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management , 1-2. doi:10.1002/9781118785317.weom110210
Walmart's HRM: Training, Performance Management. (2017, January 28). Retrieved from http://panmore.com/walmart-human-resource-management-training-performance-management
Walmart's Mission Statement & Vision Statement, Generic & Intensive Strategies. (2019, February 13). Retrieved from http://panmore.com/walmart-vision-mission-statement-intensive-generic-strategies
