THE CONCEPTUAL

FRAMEWORK OF
PERFORMANCE
MANAGEMENT

UNDERPINNING THEORIES
Goal theory
Control theory
Social Cognitive theory

GOAL THEORY

In the late 1960s, Locke's pioneering research into goal setting and
motivation gave us our modern understanding of goal setting.

He showed in his work that clear goals and appropriate feedback

motivate employees.

He went on to highlight that working toward a goal is also a major source

of motivation which, in turn, improves performance.

Locke's research showed that the more difficult and specific a goal is, the
harder people tend to work to achieve it.

In onestudy, Locke reviewed a decade's worth of laboratory and field

studies on the effects of goal setting and performance. He found that, for
90 percent of the time, specific and challenging (but not too challenging)
goals led to higher performance than easy, or "do your best," goals.

GOAL THEORY

For example, telling someone to "try hard" or

"do your best" is less effective than saying
"try to get more than 80 percent correct," or
"concentrate on beating your best time."
Likewise, having a goal that's too easy is not
motivating. Hard goals are more motivating
than easy ones, because it feels more of an
accomplishment to achieve something
you've worked hard for.

CONTROL THEORY
Control theory causes attention on feedback
as a means of shaping behavior.
As people receive feedback on their behavior
they appreciate the discrepancy between
what they are doing and what they are
expected to do and take corrective action to
overcome it.
Feedback is recognized as a crucial part Of
performance management processes.

SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY

It was developed by Bandura (1986)

Underline concept is of self efficacy.

The Social Cognitive Theory is composed of four processes of goal

realization:

1.

self-observation

2.

self-evaluation

3.

self-reaction and

4.
.

self-efficacy.
These components are interrelated, each having an effect on
motivation and goal attainment.

Self-observation Observing oneself can inform and motivate. It

can be used to assess ones progress toward goal attainment as
well as motivate behavioral changes. There are two important
factors with regards to self-observation : regularity and
proximity.
.

Regularity means the behavior should be continually observed,

whereas proximity means the behavior should be observed while

SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY

Self-evaluationSelf-evaluation compares an
individual's current performance with a desired
performance or goal.
It is affected by the standards set and the importance
of the goals. Goals must be specific and important;
therefore, goals such as, "do your best" are vague and
will not motivate.
specific goals specify the amount of effort required for
success and boost self-efficacy because progress is
easy to gauge.
People gain satisfaction when they achieve goals that
they value. When individuals achieve these valued
goals, they are more likely to continue to exert a high
level of effort, since sub-standard performance will no
longer provide satisfaction (Bandura, 1989).

SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY

Self-reactionReactions to ones performancecan be

motivating. If the progress made is deemed acceptable,

then one will have a feeling of self-efficacy with regard to
continuing, and will be motivated towards the achievement
of their goal.
A negative self-evaluation might also be motivating in that
one may desire to work harder provided that they consider
the goal to be valuable. Self-reaction also allows a person to
re-evaluate their goals in conjunction with their attainments
(Bandura, 1989).
If a person has achieved a goal, they are likely to reevaluate and raise the standard (goal); whereas, if a person
has not achieved the goal, they are likely to re-evaluate and
lower the standard (goal) to an achievable goal.

SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY

Self-efficacy : Bandura (1995) explains that it "refers to beliefs in one's
capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to
manage prospective situations.
More simply, self-efficacy is what an individual believes he or she can
accomplish using his or her skills under certain circumstances (Snyder &
Lopez, 2007).
The basic principle behind Self-Efficacy Theory is that individuals are more
likely to engage in activities for which they have high self-efficacy and less
likely to engage in those they do not
For example, Employee A has high ability and a great deal of experience in
creating graphs, but does not have confidence that he can create a high
quality graph for an important conference. Employee B has only average
ability and only a small amount of experience in creating graphs, yet has
great confidence that she can work hard to create a high quality graph for
the same conference. Because of Employee A's low self-efficacy for graph
creation, he lacks the motivation to create one for the conference and tells
his supervisor he cannot complete the task. Employee B, due to her high
self-efficacy, is highly motivated, works overtime to learn how to create a
high quality graph, presents it during the conference, and earns a
promotion.

Self-efficacy has influence over people's

motivation and their performance, as people
will often attempt to learn and perform only
those task for which they believe they will be
successful .

The meaning of
performance??

THE MEANING OF PERFORMANCE

If you can't define performance you can't

measure or manage it.
It has been pointed out by Bates and Holton
(1995) that:
'Performance is a multi-dimensional
construct, the measurement of which varies
depending on a variety of factors.
They also state that it is important to
determine whether the measurement
objective is to assess performance
outcomes or behavior.

THE MEANING OF PERFORMANCE

There are different views on what performance is.
It can be regarded as simply the record of
outcomes achieved. On the individual basis it can
be record of persons accomplishments.
The oxford dictionary defines performance as:
The accomplishments ,execution, carrying out
,working out of anything ordered or undertaken
This refers to outputs/outcomes .But also state
that performance is about doing the work as well
as being about the results achieved.

THE MEANING OF PERFORMANCE

Campbell believes that performance is a

behavior and should be distinguished from the
outcomes because they can be contaminated by
the system factors.

Brumbach says that a more comprehensive view

of performance is achieved if it is defined as
embracing both behavior and outcomes.

The definition of performance leads to the

conclusion that when managing the performance
of teams and individuals both inputs(behviors)
and outputs(result) need to be considered.

INFLUENCES ON PERFORMANCE
. Four major influences on performance were identified by Harrison
(1997):
the learner, who needs the right level of competence,
motivation, support and incentives in order to perform effectively.
the learner's work group, whose members Will exercise a
strong positive or negative influence on the attitudes, behavior
and performance Of the learner
the learner's manager, Who needs to provide continuing
support and act as a role model, coach and stimulator related to
performance.
the organization, which may produce barriers to effective
performance if there is no powerful, cohering vision; ineffective
structure, culture or work systems; unsupportive employee
relations policy and systems, or inappropriate leadership and
management style

FACTORS AFFECTING PERFORMANCE

Vroom suggested that performance is a function
of ability and motivation
performance = f (ability motivation)
They have multiplicative effect
If one of them is zero there will be no effective
motivation
Another formula originated by Blumberg and
Pringle was:

Performance = individual attributes

work effort organizational support
So organizational context was included as a factor
of affecting performance

FACTORS AFFECTING
PERFORMANCE
Another factor the opportunity to
participate-was identified effecting.
Opportunity to participate was defined as
organizing the work process so that nonmanagerial employees have the opportunity
to contribute discretionary effort.
The AMO formula put forward by Boxall and
Purcell is a combination of previous two
ideas:

Ability + motivation + opportunity

to participate

FACTORS AFFECTING
PERFORMANCE

All these formulae focus on individual

performance but they neglected the effect of
system .

SYSTEM FACTORS

Organization should be treated as open systems that

transforms inputs in to outputs within the
environments (external and internal) upon which they
are dependent
This method of managing performance is important
because all the factors that influence performance,
including the system and the context, can be taken in
to account when assessing it.
Individual performance is influenced by systems
factors as well as person factors.(candy and
dobbins,1994)
Jones proposes that the aim should be to manage
context not performance

SYSTEM FACTORS(IMPACT)

Impact of systems:
Following comments were given by Coens and
Jenkins regarding impact of system.
An organizational system is composed of the
people who do the work but far more than that.
It also includes the organizations methods,
structure, support, materials, equipment,
customers, work culture, internal and external
environments, and the interaction of these
components.
Each part of the system has its own purpose but at
the same time is dependent on the other parts

SYSTEM FACTORS(IMPACT)

Because of the interdependency of the parts,

improvement strategies aimed at just the parts,
such as appraisal, do little to nothing to improve
the system.

Individual performance is mostly determined by

the system in which the work is done rather than
by individuals initiative , abilities and efforts.

Further According to Coens and Jenkins:

We do not advocate abandoning all strategies
aimed at individual improvement, personal
development
and
goal
attainment.
When
combined with serious efforts toward improving
the system and work environment, such initiatives
can
significantly
boost
organizational
transformation.

CONTEXTUAL FACTORS
Organizational culture
Employee relations climate
People
Structure
Size
Technology and working practices
The external environment

Organizational Culture:
.It is a pattern of shared belief, norms and values in an organization
that shape way people act and interact and strongly influence the
ways in which things get done
.It is vital to take account of cultural considerations when developing
and implementing performance management
.From the performance management viewpoint one of the most
important manifestations of organizational culture is management
style. This refers to the ways in which managers behave in managing
people and how they exercise authority and use their power.
.If the prevailing management style in a command-and-control type
structure is autocratic, directive, task orientated, distant and tough,
then a caring and sharing philosophy of performance management
is not likely to work, even if it was felt to be desirable, which is
unlikely.
A.

.So

management style is an important manifestation of performance

management

.The

aim must be to achieve a high degree of fit between the

performance management processes and the corporate culture

B. Employee Relations Climate:

It represents the perceptions of employees about the
ways in which relationships between management
and employees are maintained
The climate can be good, bad or indifferent according
to perceptions about the extent to which:
The parties trust one another.
Management treats employees fairly and with
consideration.
Management is open and honest about its actions and
intentions.
Harmonious relationships exist; management treats
employees as stakeholders.
Employees are committed to the interests of the
organization.
What management does is consistent with what it
says it will do.

Clearly a good climate will be conducive to

the design and operation of effective
performance management process.

C. Structure:

hierarchical or functional structure with welldefined layers of authority is more likely to

support a directive, top-down approach to setting
objectives and reviewing performance.

A flatter, process-based structure will encourage

more flexible participative approaches with an
emphasis on teamwork and the management of
performance by self-directed teams.

D: Technology and Working practices

No conclusive evidence shows that advance
technology and working practices are correlated
with sophisticated approaches to performance
management, but high technology firms are more
likely to innovate in this field
Bureaucratic methods of working are more likely
to have a formalized performance management
system with strict rules, and an annual appraisal
and may also affect the design and operation of
PM
Organizations that work flexibly are more likely to
have less formal PM, allowing managers and
teams to manage their own processes according
to the principles

E: The External Environment

If the external competitive, business, economic and

political environment is turbulent, organizations
have to learn to respond and adapt rapidly

Performance management has to operate flexibly in

tune with the constant changes in demands and
expectations to which the organization is subject.

A business that operates in a fairly steady state as

far as its external environment is concerned (rare,
but
they do exist) can adopt more structured and orderly
performance management systems