The University of Ghana in Legon, Ghana, was established in 1948 as an affiliate college of the University
of London called University College of the Gold Coast. In 1961, the university was reorganized by an act
of Parliament into what it is today: the independent, degree-granting University of Ghana
The Balme Library is the main library in the University of Ghana library system. Situated on the main
Legon campus, it coordinates a large number of libraries attached to the university�s various schools,
institutes, faculties, departments, and halls of residence, most of which are autonomous. The library was
started as the College Library in 1948 and was then situated in Achimota College, which was about 8
kilometers from the present Legon campus. In 1959, the College Library moved into its brand-new
buildings at the Legon campus and was named after the University College of the Gold Coast�s first
principal, David Mowbrary Balme.
As in the case of many other modern university libraries worldwide that face resources challenges and
the need to serve an increasingly diverse customer base, the Balme Library has implemented numerous
initiatives. One such initiative is a performance management system. However, several of the
5657components of the performance management process at the Balme Library are in need of
improvement. First, there is no evidence that a systematic job analysis was conducted for any of the jobs
at the library. Second, the forms that the employees are rated on contain vague items such as �general
behavior.� The forms include no specific definition of what �general behavior� is or examples
explaining to employees (or managers) what would lead to a high or a low rating in this category. In
addition, all library employees are rated on the same form, regardless of their job responsibilities. Third,
there is no evidence that managers have worked with employees in setting mutually agreed-upon goals.
Fourth, there is no formal or informal discussion of results and needed follow-up steps after the
subordinates and managers complete their form. Not surprisingly, an employee survey revealed that
more than 60% of the employees have never discussed their performance with their managers. Finally,
employees are often rated by different people. For example, sometimes the head of the library rates an
employee, even though he may not be in direct contact with that employee.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS 2
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Performance management is the act of assessing and measuring the output of individual
employees, departments, faculties or the organization as a whole. This management aspect
entails significant activities that aim at providing a way to examine the production levels of a
given organization (Gruman et al., 2011). Therefore, when these performances are measured,
the organization can be able to follow the trend of production levels in its activities. This will
tell whether the production levels are meeting their targets or they are way below the set
targets. The significant of this management aspect is the emphasis it puts on the main
performance areas that can help the organization achieve steady growth in providing products
or services to their customers.
The performance management process comprises a performance management plan. A
performance management plan states the critical performance areas and provides an estimated
budget for the organization to use towards achieving their performance targets.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS 3
In the Balme Library, the main library of the University of Ghana library system, lacks
a comprehensive performance management plan. This means that there is no interaction
between the management and the employees of the Balme Library. This shows that the main
problem is that there is no helpful work relationship between the managers and the employees.
According to the evidence inferred from an employee survey that was conducted, there is no
hint of a performance management plan managerial system of the library.
The problem with not having a performance management plan is that there is no basis at
all set for a sound foundation on which the entire process of performance management can be
built on (Ashdown, 2014). The employee survey revealed that over 60% of the employees in
the Balme Library have not had any confrontation with the management of the library
concerning the productivity level of the library. The main problem hindering the improvement
of the adopted performance management system is the lack of a performance management plan.
The consequences of the problem stated above are very drastic pointing in the negative
direction. Balme Library can only meet the need of serving a diverse customer base when they
successfully implement the performance management plan. As the situation is right now, there
are no targets set for the library. The employees output is not geared towards certain goals.
Thus, there is no sure way of telling whether the service level of the library is below or above
the measure of standards.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS 4
In the current situation, Balme Library will continue to offer services to its customer
base. The level of improvement of these services cannot change or will experience little change
over an extended period of time. This trend is due to the lack of a set standard of services
offered by the employees. Each employee works at an individual level and the services
provided by each employee will vary considerably. This in turn leads to a performance conflict
whereby a high-performance level of one employee may be brought down by a low-
performance level from another employee. Therefore the performance level for the whole
library will turn out to be a general depression.
The desired level of performance for any modern university library is very clear. It
entails working with the limited available resources to provide efficient services to a diverse
customer base. From a manager’s point of view, there are some issues that need to be solved
for Balme Library to achieve this conventional level of performance.
To effectively implement the performance management system, the management of the
Balme Library needs to determine the key management issues that are not carried out well in
the library.
First, the management is not concerned with the grading of employees in the library.
This creates a problem of allocating tasks to the qualified employee. Thus, many employees
have not been able to carry out their responsibilities in a sufficient manner.
Second, there is no significant supervision of workers. This means that employee work
in not overseen by anybody. The lack of an overseeing body or a supervising body leads to low
standards of performance.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS 5
Lastly, the rating of employees is not done in a proper manner. This their issues goes
hand in hand with the second issue. Therefore, the lack of a supervisor leads to the absence of
an appropriate to review the employee’s rating. Thus, the task of rating an employee’s
performance is left to a person who may not be in direct contact with the employee.
In contrast with the manager’s point of view. There is the employee’s point of view.
The main issue regarding the employee’s perspective is the lack of an efficient management
system. This leads to laxity among employees and encourages low service standards in the
library. The management system does not interact with the employees. No interaction means
that employees are not kept in check, have no clearly cut roles and responsibilities. Therefore,
the output of the employees is below average.
In conclusion, the improvement of the implementation of the performance management
system is due to lack of one of its components, which is the absence of a comprehensive
performance management plan. The lack of this component is due to a problem that exists in
the Balme Library. This problem is the lack of good work relationship and interaction between
the management and the employees. Successful implementation of the performance
management system can only be achieved when the problem above is solved.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS 6
References
Ashdown, L. (2014). Performance management.
BPP Learning Media (Firm), & Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. (2013).
Performance management.
Griffin, R., & Moorhead, G. (2011). Organizational behavior. Cengage Learning.
Gruman, J. A., & Saks, A. M. (2011). Performance management and employee engagement.
Human Resource Management Review, 21(2), 123-136.
