- What purposes does performance management serve?
a. The purpose of performance management is to ensure that workers’ activities and outputs contribute to an organization’s goals
b. It is useful to view modern performance management efforts as an extension of this dynamic. Employers seek to influence (or control) workers’ behaviour to maximize productivity, and workers may resist if they suspect the outcomes will be disagreeable. Pushing workers too hard can be counterproductive to organizations.
c. HR practitioners can often be in the difficult position of having to mediate the demands of workers and those of senior management.
- Is it fair to characterize performance management as a way employers control workers? Why or why not?
a. Workers may resist both the evaluation and the realignment of their activities and outputs because this represents an alteration of the wage-effort bargain that was struck. That workers can resist performance management reflects the unique nature of labour as a commodity.
- In what ways can an organization terminate an employment relationship? How can organizations avoid a wrongful dismissal lawsuit when they do so?
a. Given that any discipline or termination can open the door to a claim for wrongful dismissal, it is critical that HR staff document misbehaviour, interventions, and discipline/termination in great detail. The employer will rely upon this documentation to justify discipline and dismissal in court.
b. When an employer wants to terminate an employment relationship, it can only lawfully do so
i. (a) by mutual consent,
ii. (b) by the provision of adequate notice (or pay in lieu of notice), or
iii. (c) for just cause.
e. Adequate Notice and the Non-culpable Dismissal
i. There may be instances when an employer wishes to terminate an employment relationship for reasons other than just cause. For example:
1. The employer may wish to reduce its workforce because orders for its products have slowed
2. The employer may simply wish to terminate a specific employee because the employee has proven unsatisfactory, but not in a way that merits summary dismissal under the just-cause doctrine.
3. An employer may have just cause for dismissal, but wishes to end the relationship more amicably than by firing the worker for cause (perhaps to forestall a lawsuit).
f. Mutual Consent
i. An employee and an employer may mutually decide that they wish to end an employment relationship. They can do so and typically would exchange written confirmation of their joint intent.
g. Constructive Dismissal
i. An interesting wrinkle in termination is constructive dismissal. Constructive dismissal is a form of wrongful dismissal that occurs when an employer makes unilateral changes in the terms and conditions of the employment contract that are unacceptable to the employee so that the employee quits of his or own volition.
360-degree evaluation
- 360 Degree Feedback is a system or process in which employees receive confidential, anonymous feedback from the people who work around them. This typically includes the employee’s manager, peers, and direct reports
balanced scorecard
- A balanced scorecard is a strategic management performance metric used to identify and improve various internal business functions and their resulting external outcomes. Balanced scorecards are used to measure and provide feedback to organizations.
behaviourally anchored rating scale
- Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) are designed to bring the benefits of both qualitative and quantitative data to the employee appraisal process. BARS compare an individual’s performance against specific examples of behaviour that are anchored to numerical ratings.
Consideration
- the act of considering; careful thought; meditation; deliberation: I will give your project full consideration. something that is or is to be kept in mind in making a decision, evaluating facts, etc.: Age was an important consideration in the decision. … a thought or reflection; an opinion based upon reflection.
constructive dismissal
- If your employer has done something that seriously breaches your contract, you might be able to resign and make a claim to an employment tribunal. This is called constructive dismissal. To be successful you’ll need to prove your employer seriously breached your contract and that you resigned in response to it.
Discipline
- the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.
forced distribution method
- The forced distribution method of performance appraisal derives its name from the fact that those responsible for providing evaluations, the raters, are “forced” to distribute ratings for the individuals being evaluated into a “pre-specified” performance distribution.
Insubordination
- defiance of authority; refusal to obey orders.
just-cause dismissal
- Just cause refers to conduct that is of such a serious nature or extent that it essentially breaks the employment relationship.
management by objectives
- Management by objectives (MBO) is a strategic management model that aims to improve the performance of an organization by clearly defining objectives that are agreed to by both management and employees.
non-culpable dismissal
- Employers may dismiss employees for non-culpable or innocent absenteeism where the employee is incapable of regular attendance at work in the foreseeable future
performance appraisal (or evaluation)
- A performance appraisal is a regular review of an employee’s job performance and overall contribution to a company. Also known as an annual review, performance review or evaluation, or employee appraisal, a performance appraisal evaluates an employee’s skills, achievements, and growth–or lack thereof.
performance management
- Performance Management - Definition Performance management is an ongoing process of communication between a supervisor and an employee that occurs throughout the year, in support of accomplishing the strategic objectives of the organization.
performance measure
- “A performance measure is a quantification that provides objective evidence of the degree to which a performance result is occurring over time.” It doesn’t matter if you call them KPIs, metrics, performance indicators, performance measures, or whatever other term we might use.
progressive discipline
- Progressive discipline is a strategy for dealing with sub-standard job-related behavior that assists the employee in improving their performance.
reasonable notice
- To extend this concept into practical outcomes, reasonable notice allows the employee to claim payment in the notice period of virtually all aspects of the remuneration and benefits that were being received before the termination.
rating errors (or bias)
- Rater bias can be defined as an error in judgment that can occur when a person allows their preformed biases to affect the evaluation of another. Rater biases are a common issue when it comes to performance reviews.
simple ranking
- A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either “ranked higher than”, “ranked lower than” or “ranked equal to” the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of objects. … If two items are the same in rank it is considered a tie.
