The concept of performance management (PM) holds special significance in the parlance of corporate world. Performance management comes under the domain of Human Resource department. This concept always had a presence in the management world but has definitely gained much more significance over the past few years. In earlier days, it was also known as performance appraisal but now the concept has grown bigger and encompasses many more steps and processes within itself. In simple terms, performance management is all about managing performance but it’s much bigger than this simplistic definition. Performance management is a broader system context.
Performance management definition talks about set of processes that aim at creating a work environment in which people are encouraged and enabled to perform to the best of their capabilities. One definition of it says, “Performance management is an assessment of an employee, process, equipment or other factor to gauge progress toward predetermined goals”. This term was coined by Dr. Aubery C. Daniels in late 1970s. The scope of performance management is much wider. It is not just a concept but a goal, technology, process, objective and vision as well.
The dual focus of performance management is on managing behaviour as well as results. Performance is a sum total derived from these two factors. The primary aim of PM is to ensure constant achievement of goals in an effective manner. Performance management solutions are used at workplace essentially. However, there is no stopping the widespread usage of this concept at places where people interact. To produce the desired results, people need to follow principles of performance management. The performance of employees, departments, organizations etc is central focal points of PM.
There is so much emphasis on the most important resources any organization has got, i.e., people, that it would not be wrong to term PM as people performance management. It ensures all the subsystems of organization like employees, teams, processes etc are working in a coherent fashion to achieve the results targeted by the organization. The functions of performance management include, managing the condition of the workplace, establishing a system to monitor performance of the employees and creating right working environment so that workforce performs to its optimum abilities. To achieve the goals and objectives set by the organization, it is essential to set in motion right system, structures and processes.
One of the central focuses of PM is employee performance management. It is absolutely essential to understand what motivates the employees and accordingly create a structure that felicitates development of skills and provide adequate training and coaching to the staff force. IT performance management comes very handy during tracking and measuring progress towards results and exchanging feedback among the participants. Some of the other integral elements of performance management are, reviewing progress, evaluating process and progress, managing activities that achieve goals and to step in wherever things are loosening. Performance management is definitely a core process of any organizational set up and is a shining indicator of performance.