Performance Management

Performance Management

In the modern economy, global expansion has become a common topic of interest and concern.
Although there are many benefits to reaching a new base of customers, there are also significant
challenges, even in regard to performance management.

In this essay, you will explore the challenges of implementing performance management in the
context of an organisation expanding into a new country or region.

To complete this essay:

1) �In approximately 830 words, analyse two issues that could arise related to performance
management if your organisation (or one with which you are familiar) began operating in a new
country or region of the world.

2) �What aspects of performance management are most likely to be impacted by cultural, political or
national differences?

3)�What can HR leaders do to predict and/or anticipate these types of issues?

4)How might working with line managers and other staff on performance management issues differ in
the new country or region?

Performance Management 2

Performance Management during global expansion

The idea of performance management was initiallyexperimented by Beer and Ruh
(Bassey 2009). Australian Commission (2014) defines performance management as a tactical
and cohesivemethod to providingcontinuedachievement to organisations by enhancing the
capacity of employees who work for an organisation and by enhancing the competency and
functionality of teams and individual employees. Blackman et al. (2013) explains it as a
logical and all-inclusive (complete) manner of work designing, evaluating and assessment
aimed at endlesslyincreasingthe involvement of each employee and team’s influence on the
accomplishment of organization’s goal. Watkins (2007) explained the management of
performance as a course of action for realizing higher achievements for the organization from
teams and workers by perceiving and governingoperationsin the context of
anapprovedstructure of designed objectives, standard and goals.

The three definitions highlight the following features of performance management
that will definitely be affected by an organisation’s decision to expand to new regions and
countries. First, the definition highlights that performance management has a strategic

Performance Management 2
function which is concerned with wider mattersconfronting the organisation. The second
aspect describes performance management as being systematic and holistic. It has four
integrated aspects: perpendicularlyallying teams and employees in an organisation with its
goals; purpose or functional integration; integration of the human resource department and
assimilation of individual desires (Pullen 2007). The strategic and systematic performance
management processes of an organisation will have to change in case it expands to new
regions. This is because the number of employees and managers to be evaluated will increase.
Therefore, a more strategic and systematic approach will have to be put in place in order to
cater for the increase in number of employees. The three main aspects of performance
management that may be affected by an organisation’s decision to expand include: the
performance management policy framework, planning, evaluation and the reward system.

First, the company needs to assess the policy frameworks regulating the new
country’s labour market after which the organisation must ensure that its policy, rules and
regulation in performance management are in line with the standards in the new country. The
new country obviously has policies and rules regulating the labour market. Therefore, the
organisation must plan its performance management processes in order to comply with the
standards required by the country in which it intends to operate in. Expanding into new
regions means that the company will have to plan its process in order to cater for the change.
Geographical dispersion affects and impacts organisation processes, especially related to
performance management. The planning processes of the organisation will therefore
change.To ensure that a performance management system flourishes, a rigorous and efficient
monitoring process needs to be in place. Carefullyassessing the organisation, individuals and
departments is essential part of performance management.

Performance Management 2
Secondly, monitoring and evaluationin performance management processesentails not
just evaluating the growth of everydivision and employee but also offering them with
continuous feedback. For an organisation to succeed in its performance management efforts,
it must monitor each process and ensure that it is aligned with the goals of the organisation.
In circumstances where the performance management system is not working then
improvements must be made to cater for the situation. Therefore, the monitoring processes is
quite important to an organisation that is expanding to new regions. Assessment of the
performance management system must be done until it works.When a company decides to
expand in to new regions, the monitoring processes must be reinvented to ensure that
employees from all regions receive timely feedback.
Thirdly, the reward processes and system may change because of the different
cultures and background. Even though some experts suggest that rewards are not important in
the performance management system, the reality is that almost all employees desire to be
appreciated through rewards and other motivation strategies. Rewarding employees will not
only influence the success of the performance management system but also success of the
entire company. A complete performance management process must have rewards as a way
of motivating employees. Rewardsenhanceemployee satisfaction. It also boost productivity
and ensure organisation’s objectives are achieved.
As argued above it therefore can be concluded that the performance management
policy of organisation will be influenced by the national and geographical differences or even
the political system of the country. This because organisation must comply with the country’s
regulations in order to survive. The monitoring and reward processes and aspect of
performance management will be influenced by the cultural aspects of the country in which
the organisation intends to expand in.

Performance Management 2
In order to predict and anticipate these aspects of performance management, the
human resource department needs to undertake a thorough research of the country’s policies,
culture and political systems that may affect performance management decisions.
Working with the new managers and staff in the new region on performance
management issues will differ in aspects such as planning, monitoring and reward. The
human resource department will also spend a lot of time orienting the new line managers and
staff on the organisation’s performance management system. Additionally, the HR will also
need to ensure that the line managers and staff understand the objectives and goals of the
organisation for an efficient system.

References

Australian Public Service Commission (APSC), 2014a,State of the Service Report 2013–14.

Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia.

Bassey, B (2009), A case for performance management in the Public Sector in Nigeria.
International journal of business and management, vol. 4, no. 4, pp.20-45.

Blackman, D. A., & Buick, F,.& M. Flynn, O & D. West, 2013. Strengtheningthe
Performance Framework: Towards a HighPerforming Australian Public Service,
Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia.

Pullen, W, 2007, A public sector HPT maturity model. Performance Improvement, 46 (4): 9-
15.
Watkins, R, 2007a, Designing for performance: Aligning your HPT decisions from top to
bottom (part 1 of a 3-part series),Performance Improvement, Vol. 46 no.1, 7-13.

Performance Management