HR03 Performance Management

Assignment No.I
Assignment Code: 2011HR03B1 Last Date of Submission: 30th Sept 2011 Maximum Marks:100

Attempt all the questions. All the questions are compulsory and carry equal marks.

Section-A Ques.1 Ques.2 Ques.3 Ques.4 a). Explain the process of performance management? b). Good raters are born, not made. Do you agree or disagree? Discuss. Critically evaluate various methodologies for planning individual performance. Which of them, according to you is most effective and why? Elaborate on the various trends and practices of performance management systems in Indian organizations. KPAs and performance targets form the building blocks of any good performance planning system? Comment. Section-B Case Study Omega Inc., is a small manufacturing company whose sales success or failure rests in the hands of sales representatives employed by franchised dealers operating independently. Omega faces a challenging situation because it does not have control over the people working for the independent dealerships. It is the performance of these individuals that dictates Omegas sales success. To make things more complicated, until recently there was no clear understanding of the role of sales representatives and there was no formal sales processes in place. Sales representatives varied greatly in terms of their level of skill and knowledge, most put out little effort beyond taking orders, and they did not feel motivated to make additional sales. Finally, franchises varied greatly regarding their management strategies and follow up with Omega. Recently, understanding the need to improve the performance of sales representatives, Omega agreed to partially fund and support a training program for them. The network of franchise owners in turn agreed to work together to implement a performance management system. As a first step in creating the performance management system, the franchise owners conducted a job analysis of the role of the sales representatives, wrote a job description, and distributed it to all sales representatives. The franchise owners also adopted a franchise wide mission statement primarily based on the need to provide high quality customer service. This mission statement was posted in all franchise offices, and each franchise owner spoke with his employees about the contribution that individual sales had on achieving their mission. As a second step, the managers set performance

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goals (sales quota) for each employee. Then, all sales representatives attended extensive training sessions. The employees received feedback based on their performance in the training course and then were reminded once again of their sales quota. Back on the job, managers gave feedback to their employees regarding their standing in relation to their sales quota. However, the employees had no way of monitoring their own progress towards their quotas, and the performance feedback consisted of little more than reiterating monthly sales goals. There was no performance appraisal form and so discussions were not documented. This lack of feedback continued and, while sales quotas were being reached for the first few months, franchise owners received complains from customers about low quality of customer service they were receiving. Subsequently, sales began to decline. Furthermore, many orders were often incorrect, forcing customers to return items to Omega. Questions 1. Explain the logical flow of the Performance Management system discussed above. Do you find any gaps or loopholes in this system?

2. While the new performance management process was an improvement over no

performance management, the franchise owners were bound to have difficulties in a smooth transition between each of the components of the performance management process. Identify the reasons for this and suggest remedial measures.

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HR03 Performance Management

Assignment No.II
Assignment Code: 2011HR03B2 Last Date of Submission: 15th Nov 2011 Maximum Marks:100

Attempt all the questions. All the questions are compulsory and carry equal marks.

Section-A Ques.1 Ques.2 Ques.3 What is the role of communication in influencing the employees performance? What are the three phases involved in a counseling process? What consequences do you expect if the counseling process is not conducted sequentially? Write short notes on: a).Facilitators of a good performance management system b).Issues in managing team performance Why organizations need to evaluate the performance of their employees? Discuss the objectives of performance appraisal. Section-B Case Study ABC Company implemented 360 degree feedback two years ago, but was met with resistance and eventually discontinued. The initiation of the 360-degree feedback was at the behest of the President of the company, who had seen a demonstration by a 360- degree vendor at a trade conference and decided to use the system in his company. The vendor was appointed as a consultant to implement the system. The President sent out a specific company wide e-mail stating the reasons for changing to the new system, how the ratings collected using the new system would be liked to bonuses, and the importance of completing the online training course on the system. The consultant provided online rater training to those who were interested as well as links to documents on how to observe, assess and record performance behaviors. Once the surveys were made available, individuals were encouraged to contact HR if they had any problems. Questions 1. Based on the information provided here, do you think the approach taken by the President to implement 360-degree feedback was appropriate? Give reasons to support your answer. 2. What could or should have been done to make the implementation of the system successful?

Ques.4

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