S/N

1
Certificate in Personnel Practice

NAME

COHORT NUMBER

ASSIGNMENT
NUMBER CPP Assignment 4
ASSIGNMENT TITLE
Performance Management and Employee
Relations

“The benefits of understanding and

implementing a Performance Management
Process”.
FINAL WORD COUNT
(exc. Appendices) 2000 excluding appendices and cover page.

DATE COMPLETED
2 Performance management process
1. what is involved :

Performance management (PM) is a process or approach that helps to achieves

company ultimate objectives. According to Armstrong and Baron (1998),
performance management is a strategic and integrated approach to delivering
sustained success to organizations by improving the performance of the people
who work in them and by developing the capabilities of terms nd individual
contributors.

Currently my company performance management involves the following

elements;
• Management.
• Motivation.
• Procedures and policies.
• Contribution of employee.

Whereas both Strategy and Development plans are somehow absent. Therefore,
agreement among employees and superior is also absent.

Financial rewards, evaluation, and Key Result Area are also involved in
Performance management in my company.

2. How it is run:
First thing to be done in the formal process is to; agree on strategy and objectives
as best practice. This approach is known as Goal –setting theory, “what a person
is trying to accomplish or intend to do” Locke and Ltham (1984). In this process,
the manager is to discuss the intended objectives to be accomplished with his/her
employees. However, the majority of department heads do not do this at the
moment.

3. How it adds value to the aims of my organization:

Many department heads follows the SMART objective concept in which the
objective must be simple, measurable, achievable, and realistic and time scaled. “
The process, as a management too, is established on the basis that organizational
objectives can be broken down and translated into individual goals, the attainment
of which can then be effectively measured” (Beardwell, Holden, and Clayldon,
2004).
However, they forget to communicate their plans to their subordinates which lead
to control rather than cooperation.

□ The objectives sets is that the whole process run by setting proper inputs
and outputs ( see my recommendation).
□ The company handbook refers to evaluation process and reward system. In
addition, there is a complete evaluation policy and grievance procedures
(HR Policy & Procedure Manual) on how we set it up.
□ Appraisals are done once a year instead of three times. We do not monitor
these reviews on quarterly bases. This results in loss of control and
tracking. Moreover, the superior may tend to blame the subordinate of not
achieving certain goal during a year with zero follow up. In my view, high
communication between management and employee is the key element of
success.

1. what goes well :

My manager and I do set together and review some targets (not objectives).
We look at the environment of work and make flexible planning. My
manager tends to review the targets with almost every half month.

The key work area is the main subject of evaluation. It tends to reduce the
bias and subjectivity to some extent.

Projects are measured separately and as a standalone subject. The reward

system in projects is very good. Probably, because of feasible results.

There are two types of appraisals that involve self assessment which are
360 degree and open window. They allow transparency and they are “the
only way to give a complete picture of the performance of the employee
and to avoid a criticize-defend scenario”. (Margerison, 1976)

2. What does not go so well:

The existing performance management program is half complete process;

in which most of line managers do not follow the exact procedures and
process. In short, we do not have proper and consistent process at this point
in time.

The managers do not set down with me on quarterly bases and there is no
way of having clear objectives for assessment. Thus, we lake planning
objectives for the year and review on quarterly basis to stretch and aline.
 The training needs are not linked with training and development process
and not aligned with business needs.

Most of the head of departments are not professionally trained on giving

feedback which may result on demoralize or misunderstanding.

The appraiser may not realize all aspects of job abilities, attitude,
originality of thoughts, and perception in one session.

Most of head of departments use their own offices and surprise staff on the
appraisal time.

Though, some do the performance against targets; they may fail to measure
the extent to which previously set targets have been achieved. (Source:
IDS, 1992)

The idea behind the 360 degree appraisal is to get the maximum feedback
from others to improve performance. In many incidents, this process has
scratched the dignity of the senior staff rather than opening their minds.
This type appraisal is now closed!

The existing appraisal form doesn’t include personality trait to position. It

is very general and lack “job related factors”. ( Roberts, 2001:542)

3 The way in which objectives are set and assessed:

The objectives are set “top-down” basis in which employees are not involved in
setting and refining the objectives including me. Only top management sets the
objectives and the middle management to execute them. In fact, the employees are
not involved in such influential process.

Mainly the objectives are;

□ Not prioritized.
□ Not timely based.

How appraisals are delivered:

The Appraisals are delivered and some times are not delivered at all in my
company. They are produced by HR department and delivered to line mangers to
do assessment to staff using three techniques: single window, open window and ,
360 degree. In which, all are delivered in bosses rooms (internally)

The appraisal form dictates the way and the marks. There is a scale of 1-4 in
which 1 is poor and 4 is excellent. There is no ranking system such as 10:80:10. To
overall staff in a department. The final appraisal does not command promotion or
increment. Instead, it keeps track records of staff!
 What recommendations would you suggest to make this process more
effective?

see item 5 for recommendation

4 Disciplinary and grievance:

The company established terms and conditions of employment that grants many
rights to staff such as:

• Collective bargaining and agreement.

• Labor Union for the company.
• Establishing grievance policy and procedure as well as strike policy.
• The right to appeal to CEO in case of final grievance channel.
• Review of company policy incase of valid grievance related to policies.

On the other hand, the company reserves the right to regulate and discipline staff
in case of breaching the terms and conditions. Some codes of practice and
procedures are related to ;

• Punctuality and time attendance management.

• Absenteeism and Sick leave management.
• Alcohol, drugs, and psychoactive substances.
• Misconducts.
• Disciplinary hearings, cautions, warnings, and final warnings.
• And many others

The company follows plenty of procedures from the guidelines can be find on The
advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), the code of practice
entitled Disciplinary and grievance procedures 2000.

Absence management:

We collect lots of data by Oracle on traditional leave, public holidays, maternity

leave, sick leave, pregnancy leave, natural climate, and others. However, we do
not necessarily use all of the data, we produce reports on unauthorized absence and
compare them with the Omani Labor Law (Article 40) that states any unauthorized
leave of 7 consecutive days require termination. The company also monitors the
sick leaves which are limited to 14 days per year.

We do not measure the impact of temporary replacement or rescheduling work,

actual cost of temporary employee, and cost of contracts being completed on time
 as suggested by Torrington and Hall (1998). Instead, most of the attention has been
paid on the punishment rather than having alternative options or solutions.

Return to work interview, as been introduced on 13th September, 2009. In its initial
stage. The proposal is to try it first in head quarter and to start with HR
Department.

There are many reasons of absences in which the annual leave comes in the top
followed by sick leave, and then unauthorized absence. It is to metion that the
company is facing difficulties in managing all types of absences even annual leave
which has to be planned on yearly basis but no one follows. It all depends on the
circumstances.

Reward management:

Staff tend to relate and appreciate the financial reward system especially the
junior staff. Whereas, senior staff appreciate the non-financial rewards much more.
Examples of non-financial rewards in the company are;
• Access to medical care (Muscat Private Hospital).
• Schooling and communication facility.
• Car park access.
• Recognition.

Financial rewards are becoming less as the company is gowing through financial
losses. Sometimes, the company adopt both financial and non-finanical reward at
the same time ex; employee of the month (recognition in the board and pay of
OMR 50).

The reward system is defined in the company policy but not practiced properly.
Many Head of Departments forget to use the reward system on monthly basis.
Other departments have over 800 employees and 12 rewards per year are not
enough to them.

Pay per performance system is not implemented in the company and the merit is
ceased until further notice.

Consider what, if any, improvements could be made to these:

See my recommendation on section 5 (Appendix A).

5 See Appendix A (last page) and chart

I do not necessary have the power to make changes; however, I may influence
small steps to move few changes on the way.
6 What has been the benefit to you and to your organization of completing this
module and this assignment?

• I have learned the development module and the four stages of Directing,
Coaching, Supporting, and delegating. It was very interesting to go through
each one and most importantly when to delegate some one. Sometimes
people who are delegated do some mistakes we need then to go one step
back and support instead of directing. Situational management; si all about
how to manage people in relations to development.

• How trust is important in feedback and receiving performance appraisal

according to JOEHARY WINDOW. This will give us a chance to learn
about ourselves and get an open mind.

• We supposed to encourage building on people strength rather than

weaknesses. So the weakness will become irrelevant.

• Good objectives need to be both quantity and quality (input and output).
And most importantly, agreed among the team instead of individual.

• Whole job accountability is to be understood rather than Job description.

The JD does not characterize the job nature it only show you the door and
you have to walk through the door.

• If I am not apprising my people 10 times a day I am criticize them.

• Some barriers might be their in reality when implementing the best

practices of the above.

Do you encounter any barriers or difficulties and how did you overcome
them?

Performance management topic involves legality and financial aspects. I was very
careful in making my recommendations. It is always difficult to impose suggestion
to Top Management.

2 days sick leave policy took me weeks to come up with. This is a real scenario
that is faced by the company in which I have come up with this suggestion in the
hope it will be accepted.

Have you addressed the key issues identified in points 2 and 5 above?

The key issues have been identified in my assignment which is strategic

objectives, reward system, absence management, and consistency of the
 performance management process.

Summaries here all that you have learnt wiliest completing this Module and
this Assignment

Practical ideas are always the way for improvement. The current performance
management in my organization requires lots of improvement. We shall start with
objectives then everything else will be fine.

In the module, I have discovered that at my workplace we have done good job in
performance management but still not enough. There is always room for
improvement. The assignment enforced me to start the quarterly based review in
HR and my section with immediate effect.

However, if we do not set together and form our objectives all other steps of the
process will collapse.

Further reading is the key to the right mindset and broadens the concept of
performance management. I have read many books and articles regarding
performance management and the much I read the more ignorance I discover.

How will this change the way that you work? What would you do differently
in the future in your role?

I have already suggested the 2 days sickness first draft policy to control the
unauthorized sick leaves. I have also worked on new sick leave system that
involves decimal points such as 1.5 day sick leave. This is applicable for cabin
crew who works on hourly basis (11 pm to 6 am flight) rather than full days. I
found support from the management to check if it is technically and legally
possible.

I may not have power to change the performance appraisal, but I can start making
quarterly review to my staff.

7
References
1. Armstrong, M. and Baron,D. (1998) Performance management: the new realities.
London: Institute of Personal Development (IPD) (now CIPD).
2. Locke, E. and Ltham , G. (1984). Goal Setting. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
3. Beardwell, I. Holden, L. , and Clayldon, T. (2004). Human Resource Management: A
contemporary approach, 4th (edn), Harlow:FT/Prentice Hall.
4. Company- HR Policy & Procedure Manual and Performance Appraisal Form.
5. IDS (1992) “PRP grows as tax relief doubles”, IDS Study 520, December.
6. Margerison, C. (1976), “A constructive approach to appraisal”, Personnel Management,
July pp. 30-33.
7. Roberts, I. ( 2001) “Reward and performance management”, in Beardwell I, and Holden,
L. (eds) Human Resource Management, 3ed (edn), Harlow: FT/Prentice Hall.
8. The advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), the code of practice entitled
 Disciplinary and grievance procedures 2000.
9. Omani Labor Law (2003) Sultanate of Oman- Ministry of Manpower.
10. Torrington, D. and Hall, L. (1998) Human Resource Management. 4th ed. Hemel
Hempstead: Prentice Hall Europe.
 Appendix A: Recommendation
Function to be
Improved Weaknesses Recommendation
1 Strategic/Top Down Problem: Currently Solution: This is top down process and it has to be
Hierarchy the objectives are set communicated correctly in 4 simple steps as follows:
individually and not
shared with 1. CEO to encourage this step and meet with GMs
employees. in workshop to review past year performance and
set the forthcoming objectives.

2. The GMs to share with the Senior Managers and

Managers the strategic plan and ask them to
submit their own objectives to be reviewed by the
GM.

3. The Senior Managers and Managers shall not

submit the objectives before reviewing them with
their own staff. To do so, they have to set a
meeting preferably outside the company
environment with all concerned staff and
brainstorm the proposed objectives and come up
with agreed objectives and assigned goals for
each section.

4. Then the Senor manager or manager will provide

the set of objectives to the GM after agreeing
with his/her staff.
2 Performance Problem: The Solution: a workshop to be conducted to all HODs to
Management managers do not set communicate the message of quarterly bases review and
down with employees appraisal as follows:
on quarterly bases to
review the 1. Review the cost of training to all HODs. Internal
performance and training can be done.
improvements. We
only do performance 2. Introducing the idea of 3Q based reviews and
appraisal once a year, benefits to all HODs.

3. Involve them on practical session and emphasis

on setting objectives at the beginning of the year.
(this process dictates that HOD has to share the
objectives with staff)

4. Jan (is sharing objectives), March is Q1 review,

July is Q2 review, and October is Q3 review and
December is the final Assessment.

5. HODs to keep records every quarter for final

assessment. The quarter assessment is to be
attached with the final evaluation sheet.

6. After all, the HR management to amend the

current performance appraisal policy to be
quarterly based not yearly based.
3 Employee Problem: the Solution: To apply 2 day sickness policy. See attached
Relations absentees rate is very chart 1.
high and the
company need to Circular to be issued to all staff and disciplinary action to
control the sickness be taken with immediate effect.
and unauthorized
absence The root problem is that, there is no dedicated staff to
monitor the system when a staff is recorded absent for
more than 1 day. Thus, result on mass absenteeism and
being unable to terminate staff because of not notifying
him/her at early stage. (Labor Law)

4 Remuneration Problem: Reward Solution: To activate the system of pay per performance
& Benefits system is currently by following the below:
absent and there is no
pay per performance 1. HR Remuneration and Benefit section to make a
system. circular informing all departments that new
system of PPP is effective and they need to do
assessment forms and evaluation to all staff.

2. All department heads will make sure that they

have covered all staff. All staff will keep asking
managers for appraisal (self motivated).

3. All staff will keep the hard work as they now

there is a reward at the end of the year per
performance.

4. Remuneration and Benefit Section to gather all

performance appraisals. ( if not possible at this
time , they can hire data entry staff on temporary
bases or outsource the process).

5. The pay is to be per performance and staff need to

be discriminated according to their performance.

6. Such record will help HR department to

recognize the talented and highly performing
staff. This will also help them make decision to
keep staff in the company or let go easily.
Chart 1: Absenteesm management drafted chart (for sick leave and to
avoid unauthorized leaves within 2 days)
 START: STAFF
FALL SICK

NO P1: YES
P10: ADMIN.C TO INFORM P2: ADMIN.C
CALL STAFF SUPERIO GIVES 2 DAYS TO
(DAY1) R STAFF TO GET P5

NO YES
P3: GO
TO P4: STAFF
CLINIC OBTAIN LEAVE
YES
P9: HR PROCEEDS CERTIFICATE
DISCIPLINARY
P11: STAFF
ACTION -
RESPONDE
UNAUTHORIZED
D (DAY 1)
ABSENCE.

P14: IF NO P5: STAFF TO

RESPONSE HR TO SUBMIT
ISSUE WARNING CERTFICATE TO
P12: ADMIN.C (DAY 4) ADMIN.C
TO CALL
NEXT OF KIN
NO P6: YES
COMPANY
DOCTOR
AUTHORIZ P7: ADMIN.C
E UPDATES THE
NO YES SYSTEM
P13: NEXT NO
YES
OF KIN
RESPONSE YES P8: HR
(DAY 1) APPROVAL
P15:
END: STAFF
TERMINATE RESPONDE
D BEFORE
NO (DAY8)

P14: IF NO
RESPONSE HR TO
ISSUE WARNING
(DAY 4)