Performance Management Systems at the University of Ghana Library - Case Study Example

Title page Running header: Performance management systems Student’s name: Instructor’s name: Subject code: Date of submission: Executive summary This paper looks at the performance management system implemented by the university of Ghana library in a bid to improve performance in view of the limited resources. The paper evaluates the main weaknesses found in the system established at the library. Some of the weaknesses noted include lack of a proper performance rating system at the library. It is noted that this could be a source of conflict between the employees and their managers. This could lead to the collapse of the entire system and hence the objectives of having established the system will not be realized. Although the system was established with an aim of improving overall organizational performance, a lot needs to be done in order to strengthen it and make it acceptable to all. This paper suggests that a new system that will also involve employees in its implementation be established it the library is to achieve improved performance. Table of Contents Title page 1 Executive summary 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction. 3 2. 0 weaknesses of the system 4 2.1 Job analysis 5 2.2 Performance rating 5 2.3 Performance planning 6 2.4 Feedback on the performance followed by personal counseling and performance facilitation. 7 3.0 Negative impacts 8 4.0 Steps to be taken 11 5.0 Conclusion 13 References: 13 1.0 Introduction. This paper analyses the performance management system implemented at the University of Ghana library. The performance management system had the aim of improving employee performance at the library despite the limited resources. However, the system implementation is noted to have had a lot of weaknesses and is therefore considered not to have been successful. The paper describes the main weaknesses in the performance management system at the university. The negative effects that such weaknesses can have on the entire system and the organisation are also evaluated. Finally the paper gives suggestion on how the system ca be improved to ensure successful implementation and hence ensure overall organizational success. 2. 0 weaknesses of the system A system is only as good as its implementation; even though the performance management system is a people system and not a paper system, resistance to change must still be managed… roles of everyone in the organisation have to be spelt out, so that each group or individual will implement the action plan as a team. Pulling in the same direction. In order for an organization’s performance management system to achieve its purpose, it must have components such as performance planning which is the basis of performance appraisal and reviewing, feedback on the performance followed by personal counseling and performance facilitation, rewarding of good performance, performance improvement plans as well as potential appraisals (Keith, 2009). However, although the University of Ghana has made efforts in implementing a performance management system, it has been poorly implemented and lacks many of the above components. Consequently, the system may not achieve its purpose and may lead to negative outcomes such as wastage of resources. Some of the components that the university‘s performance management system lacks include the following. 2.1 Job analysis In implementing the performance management system, a proper job analysis for all the jobs in the organisation must be conducted. However, in the case of University library, no systematic job analysis was conducted for any of the jobs in the library (Bernard, 1999). The purpose of conducting the job analysis is to enable all the employees in the organization know what they are expected to do as well as the existing working conditions under which they do their work on daily basis including the behavior expected of them. This means that in implementing the system, the university library did not have good understanding of all the jobs in the organisation, how the jobs are organized and the environment under which they are performed. This means that the system would not be successful as no proper performance appraisal can be carried out without understanding the jobs being appraised. 2.2 Performance rating For a performance management system to be successful, a proper performance appraisal has to be carried out. Performance rating is an important component of performance appraisal and hence must be conducted in a professional manner. However, performance rating at the university library is not properly conducted and has a lot of weaknesses. The forms that the employees are rated on contain vague items such as ‘general behavior’ and do not have specific definition of what general behavior means or examples explaining to the managers and the employees the factors that would lead to high or low rating in this category. Moreover, all the employees are rated on the same form regardless of their responsibilities. This could be unfair as all the jobs are not similar and hence have differing levels of challenges. The weakness in the forms can create room for unfair rating and hence give rise to complaints from the employees who may feel dissatisfied with their level of rating. This may in turn render the whole system unacceptable and hence lead to its collapse and wastage of resources. Furthermore, although it is important that employees are rated by their respective line managers, this is not the case with the university library. The employees are normally rated by different people. For instance at times the head of the library rates an employee although he may not have direct contact with the employee. This may not help either the employee or the library in its bid to have improved performance and hence better services to its customers. Furthermore, if the person rating the employee does not have direct contact with the employee being rated, he or she may not have adequate knowledge regarding the employee’s performance and hence may give the wrong rating (Jackline 2006). In this case, the aims of the rating may not be achieved while those rated unfairly may complain due to dissatisfaction. 2.3 Performance planning Performance planning is a crucial component of any given performance management system as it forms the basis of employee performance appraisal. For performance management system to be successful and hence achieve its target, performance planning should be joint effort by both employees as well as the reviewer at the beginning of a performance period. It is during this session that employees are given the chance to decide upon their targets as well as key performance areas to be performed during the period within the performance budget that is finalized after a mutual agreement between the reporting officer and the employee. This ensures that the employees are aware of their targets and work hard towards the achievement of their targets. However, this is not the case with the university library. This is because there is no evidence that managers have worked together with employees in setting mutually agreed upon goals. This can create room for complaints from employees as some may feel that the goals set for them are higher than they can achieve (Pawan, B2008). 2.4 Feedback on the performance followed by personal counseling and performance facilitation. This is a very important component of a performance management system. This enables the employees acquire knowledge from the appraiser on the areas that require improvement and information on whether they are contributing the expected level of performance or not. This enables the employee to receive an open and transparent feedback and the training and development needs of the employee are also identified. However, this is not the case with the Ghana University library. The university’s performance management system has no room for formal or informal discussion of results as well as needed follow up steps after the subordinates and managers complete their rating forms. These discussions should help the appraiser adopt steps aimed at ensuring that the employees meet the expected outcomes for the organisation through effective personal counseling and guidance, mentoring as well as representing the employees in training programmes that develop competencies and improve the employees overall productivity. Therefore, failing to discuss the performance with the employees means that employees at the library may not have their performance improve as they are not informed of the areas that need to be improved or the necessary resources required to facilitate improvement. This water down the whole purpose of having put in place a performance management system at the library. In fact, a survey carried out among the employees at the library revealed that over sixty percent of the employees to have discussed their performance with their respective managers (James, 2007). 3.0 Negative impacts As has been seen, several aspects of performance management system at the university library have been poorly implemented hence affecting the flow of the performance management process at the library as a whole. One such aspect is performance rating. Performance rating is the most important component of performance management system in an organization. Through performance rating, the management as well as the employees are able to know how well their performance is and hence work hard towards achieving their performance goals. It is also through performance rating that the management can be made aware of the resources that employees may require in order to improve their performance (Ann, 2010). Performance rating should therefore be carefully done and should be done in a professional manner so as to ensure its success. This is because if performance rating fails, the whole purpose of implementing a performance management system will be defeat. However, despite this being the fact, performance rating at the university library is characterized by many weaknesses and hence may not be helpful in achieving the organizational goals. For example, the forms that the employees are rated with contain vague items such as general behavior without proper explanation of what the items mean. Furthermore, the forms do not explain the rating criteria used at the library which could give room for unfair rating. Finally, the employees are rated by different people regardless of whether they are aware of what the employees work involve. This further increases the risk of unfair rating. The poor implementation of performance rating at the university explained above can have many negative effects on the flow of the performance management process as a whole which could eventually lead to the collapse of the whole system (Blair, 2009). Some of the negative effects of poor implementation of performance rating at the library include the following; Performance rating at the university is done on forms that contain vague information. Furthermore, rating is done by different people regardless of whether they have direct contact with the employees. This in no doubt gives room for use of misleading information. This is due to the fact that no standardized performance rating system has been put in place. There is therefore a very great chance of fabricating information regarding employees performance and hence give an inaccurate rating. This can worsen if the person conducting the rating is not in good terms with the employee being rated. At the university library, the chances for use of misleading information is increased by thee fact that the system does not seem to have a room for involvement of employees in the process (Daniel, 2011). Due to the weaknesses in the performance rating process at the library, some employees are likely to be given the wrong rating. Those employees who feel that they have not been rated fairly are then likely to have their self esteem lowered. This will in turn give rise to employee resentment hence worsening performance even further. Due to the loopholes in the university library’s performance rating system, it is obvious that the whole process will be deemed as being unfair by most employees. As a result, the employees will view those in charge of performance rating as being out to ruin their job performance or their success in the organization. Therefore as a result of the defaults in the system, the relationship between the employees and their managers will most likely be permanently damaged. Consequently, personal values, biases as well as relationships will most likely replace the library’s standards. This will be translated to increased levels of dissatisfaction from customers as well as complaints. Furthermore, customers are likely to look for similar services elsewhere due to the increased levels of dissatisfaction. Where there is damaged relationship, the working environment will not be conducive for improved performance and hence performance is likely to worsen (Aggrey, 2011). At worst, those employees who will see the performance rating process at the organization as being unfair will be upset and eventually seek for employment elsewhere. Where employees do not leave the library physically, they will withdraw psychologically or give poor services to the clients which will decrease the service quality. This is because employees’ motivation to perform will be greatly lowered especially where an employee is given a lower level of rating despite his work being more challenging than those given a better rating. Such an employee may feel that despite his/her efforts and superior performance, this has not been fairly rated and hence awarded. As a result the employee will not be motivated to perform. Furthermore, due to the fact that the performance rating tool used at the library is deemed as not being valid and fair, the library workers will feel heightened levels of job dissatisfaction and burnouts and hence become increasingly irritated. Finally, the poorly implemented performance rating system at the university library can only lead to the collapse of the entire performance management system at the library (Bill,2011). As a result, a lot of time and money that went into the implementation of the system will have been wasted and the library’s objectives of having implemented such a system will not have been achieved. In fact, more harm than good will have been done. 4.0 Steps to be taken Performance rating is a crucial aspect of any given performance management system. Furthermore, it is very important to the career of any given employee since it is utilized in a number of critically important ways. For instance, performance rating plays a great role during promotion selections in determining which employee is to be promoted or receive a performance award. It also serves as a basis for taking adverse action owing to poor performance such as reduction in grade. As such performance rating for an employee can have a great impact on his career. Furthermore, employees have a right to be aware of how their performance is rated. It is due to this reason that performance rating should be taken seriously and a performance rating system at the library be properly implemented (Jane 2011). In a bid to improve the performance rating system at the university library, a proper job analysis needs to be conducted for each and every job at the library. This is because those performing the rating need to be aware of what is involved in each job including the level of challenges encountered in each job (Anne, 2004). This will be put into consideration during performance rating so as to allow for fairness during the rating. Better rating forms need to be designed so as to eliminate all the vague items. Both the employee and those performing the rating need to understand all the terms contained in the forms as well as the criteria used in awarding high or low rating so as to eliminate chances of misunderstanding between the employees and their managers resulting from the rating process (Paul, 2005). Different rating forms also need to be designed for different jobs so as to reflect the responsibilities of each job as well as the level of challenges involved in each job. As a result each job will be rated based on the responsibilities involved. This will make the system be acceptable by all the employees regardless of the level of challenges they face in their jobs. The system also need to be designed in such a way that all employees are rated by their line managers in order to avoid a situation whereby an employee is rated by a person who is not aware of what he or she does at the library. A system whereby an employee is rated by his/ her manager is more likely to achieve the desired results as the manager is aware of the challenges faced by the employee in his duties Barbra, 2010). Furthermore, the manager will be better placed to explain the criteria used in rating to the employee. It is also important for the library management to involve the employees in redesigning and implementing a new performance rating system (Simon,2009). This is because the employees will most likely support rating systems that they have helped create and implement as they clearly understand it. Involving the employees will help in discussing some arguments which may be used against such a system and hence dispel the fears that they may have towards it and hence increase the chance of its acceptance. Finally, the managers doing the rating should always work with the employees in setting mutually agreed upon goals that are realistic. This way, employees will work hard to achieve these goals so as to achieve a high rating and thereby improving the overall performance of the organization as a whole. In so doing, the Ghana university library will be assured of a performance management system that is acceptable to all. This will go along way into helping the library achieve its goals of improved performance despite the limited resources. 5.0 Conclusion As has been established, a performance management system is crucial to the success of any organisation. However, the success of such a system will greatly depend on whether those involved in its implementation readily accept it. This will in turn depend on whether they deem it to be fair or unfair especially as far as performance rating is concerned. Owing to the fact that performance rating plays a very important role in an employee’s career progress, it is of paramount importance that the employees be involved in its design as well as implementation. This has however not been the case with the Ghana university library. As a result the system may meet a lot of resistance form employees leading to the collapse of the entire system it is for this reason that the library needs to establish a new system that will involve all stakeholders in its implementation to ensure its acceptance. References: Keith, B, Performance management research, international journal of productivity and performance, 3.3(2009):1553-59. Bernard, N, Performance management: Effective performance appraisal, Macmillan Journal of team performance management, 2.1(1999):12-16. Jackline, M, Ensuring successful strategy execution, International management journal, 3.2(2006):24-29. James, K, Performance appraisal systems, International journal of performance management, 2.5(2007):15-22. Ann, N, Performance management systems in the present world, International journal of performance management, 5.9(2010):13-16. 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