Performance Management Plan for Lucy Group: Issues and Strategies

This report presents an analysis of performance management issues within the Lucy Group, highlighting challenges related to performance evaluation, employee relations, and organizational structure. The report identifies the lack of proper performance management tools, poor employee relationships, unclear role definitions, and inadequate supervisor-subordinate coordination as key areas of concern. It proposes a comprehensive performance management plan, including SMART goals, performance indicators, and training and development needs, to address these issues. The plan emphasizes regular performance assessments, feedback mechanisms, and clear communication to align employee activities with organizational goals and improve overall performance. The report concludes that effective performance management is crucial for fostering employee development, improving organizational cohesion, and achieving strategic objectives.

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Performance Management issues in Lucy Group
Student’s Name
University
Date
Instructor
Course

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Executive summary
Performance management entails strategies put in place to address employee related
issues and ensure that they are identified and addressed. The Lucy’s group is facing performance
issues which revolve around the challenges faced by Jake. Without a proper performance
management strategy, these issues may not be addressed thus left to escalate and affect the
performance of other employees. This report highlights the performance issues in the
organization and proposes a performance management plan that can be used to asses employees
like Jakes and address the issues faced in the organization.

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Table of Contents
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................................1
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
Performance management issues in Lucy group..........................................................................................4
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................7
Appendix one: Performance Management Plan for the Supervisor pricing unit........................................8

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Performance Management issues in Lucy Group
Introduction
Performance management entails activities that seek to ensure the goals of the
organization are achieved in an effective and efficient manner. This process focusses on different
levels of the organization like employees, department or even the organization itself. This is a
human resource management activity that seeks to align employees with the goals of the
organization (Swiercz 2009, p. 305). This system entails employees setting targets that they seek
to achieve within a certain period of time here the employee and the supervisor work together to
ensure that the employee’s goals are aligned to the organization. The case of Lucy organization
and the issue of Jakes highlights performance management challenges that the organization
faces. This report focusses on performance management issues faced in Lucy’s that could have
been addressed by proper performance management.
Performance management issues in Lucy group
One major challenge faced by the Lucy group is lack of proper performance management
tools in the organization. Performance assessment tools are supposed to reveal issues that the
employee faces with the organization and what the organization faces with the employee. Mettler
& Rohner (2009, P. 701) suggests that the tool is not just focused on performance but rather
revolves around the issues that the employee faces like how the targets are set, assessed and
measured, how the employee needs to be supported to achieve more and how management takes
action regarding the issues noted in the appraisal (Sillup & Klimberg 2010, p. 4). From a unitary
theory perspective, the performance management tool is used to create integration and harmony
between the employees and the organization. Roberts (2002, p. 4) suggests that in an effective
performance tool, the areas covered are prerequisites, performance planning, execution,

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assessment, reviews and even renewal or contracting. This is a holistic tool that thoroughly
appraises the employee’s performance. In the case of Lucy group, there was no standard
performance appraisal tool rather than a long self-assessment that John had gathered from a
conference (Colville & Millner 2011, p. 38). This tool was first used on Jakes but it was not
tailored to reflect Lucy group. This means that the sole purpose of performance management for
planning, monitoring and reviewing employees was not available in the organization.
Another performance issue that exists in the organization is poor employee relationships.
From the case, Peter was uneasy with Jakes, while Jakes was not doing or assigning his
subordinates the right work. Good employee relations establish an environment for identifying
and resolving workplace issues and at the same time providing support and input to the
performance management system of the organization. Legget (2016) argues from a Marxist
perspective, employees are always in conflict with the organization if they are not managed well.
In this case, the lower level employee will be in conflict with their supervisor and the supervisor
with management. This is seen in the case of Jakes and Peter where issues between them have
been escalating.
In addition to that, the challenge that exists in the Lucy group is the lack of a clear
definition of roles between different levels of management. The fact that most issues in the
organization revolve around Jakes means that the roles of employees have not been defined.
Jakes fails to allocate the required roles to his subordinates while at the same time giving his
personal work to other employees to work for him. In an organizational context, roles need to be
clearly defined between different employee roles to increase stability (Nielsen 2014, P. 439).
From a systems perspective, the organization exists as a system with different entities that that

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work together to achieve cohesion. When one part of the system is not working well, then there
is a challenge in meeting organizational needs.
Lastly, there is poor supervisor-subordinate coordination of activities in the organization.
From the case study, Jakes has not been working well with other employees but John has not
bothered to investigate the relationship. This is an indicator that there is poor management of
employee activities in the organization since management has not been able to address the
challenges that revolve around Jakes (Gerrish 2015, P. 50). Proper coordination of activities
leads to unity of action in accomplishing organizational goals. Lucy group thus lacks division of
labor, integration of individual roles to the organization.
Conclusion
From the Lucy group case, it is evident that the organization lacks proper coordination of
activities, supervisor-subordinate relationships and lacks proper performance management tools
to assess employees. The outcome is confusion in role taking and unclearly coordinated activities
that have increased friction between Jakes and other employees. Therefore, Aguinis, (2009, p.
23) suggests that management needs develop clear roles for each job in the organization which
leads to a clear sharing of activities in the organization. This makes it easy for the coordination
of activities in the organization and rating the performance of individual employees. The
outcome will be a proper performance appraisal process that addresses the targets of each
employee, how they have been met and the factors that lead to failure to meet the targets.
Performance management needs to be sued as a tool for identifying the challenges that
employees like Jakes face and propose employee development initiatives for addressing such
issues.

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References
Aguinis, H., 2009. Performance Management. Edinburg: Edinburg Business School.
Gerrish, E., 2015. The Impact of Performance Management on Performance in Public
Organizations: A Meta-Analysis. Public Administration Review, 76(1), pp. 48-66.
K, C. & Millner, D., 2011. Embedding performance management: understanding the enablers for
change. Strategic HR Review, 10(1), pp. 35-48.
Legget, C., 2016. The changing faces of employement relations: Global, Comparative and
theoritical perspectives. E-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies, 5(2).
Mettler, T. & Rohner, P., 2009. Performance management in health care: The past, the present,
and the future. Vienna, s.n., p. 699–708.
Nielsen, P., 2014. Performance Management, Managerial Authority, and Public Service
Performance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24(2), pp. 431-458.
Roberts, G., 2002. ‘Employee Performance Appraisal System Participation: A Technique that
Works. Public Personnel Management, Volume 3, p. 31.
Sillup, G. & Klimberg, R., 2010. Assessing the ethics of implementing performance appraisal
systems. Journal of Management Development, 2(1).
Swiercz, P., 2009. Do Perceptions of Performance Appraisal Fairness Predict Employee
Attitudes and Performance?. s.l., s.n., pp. 304-309.

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Appendix one: Performance Management Plan for the Supervisor pricing unit
Preamble
a) This performance management plan is developed to appraise the Supervisor of the
Pricing Unit of Lucy group.
b) The report needs to be completed by the Pricing supervisor with the assistance of
the supervisor where needed.
c) The supervisor and the employee will set SMART targets that are aligned to the
goals of Lucy’s group.
d) The supervisor needs to discuss the ratings given to the employee at the end of the
appraisal period before allowing the employee to sign.
e) The competed report needs to be submitted to the CEO of the organization by the
end of the appraisal period.
f) Rating scale: the employee will be rated using the following scale during
assessment
Achievement of targets Rating scale (%)
Targets achieved higher than the set ones excellent 101+
Achievement up to the agreed targets Very good 100
Achievement between 80% and 99% of the
agreed targets
good 80-99
Between 60% and 79% of targets fair 60-79
Achievement up to 59% of agreed targets poor 59 and below
g) The rating scores need to be based on the verified indicators of performance
h) The assessed employee is allowed to appeal the scores if they feel the rating are
not satisfactory.

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Performance Management Plan for the Supervisor pricing unit
Performance assessment Period: From.........................To................................
. Section 1: Employment Details
Employee’s Name…………………Jake Randle………………………………………………..
Employee number……………………………………………………………………………….
Supervisor’s
Name………………………………………………………………………………………………
Designation…………………………………………………………………………………………
Section 2(a) Individual Performance Targets derived from the department/ supervisor’s
work
(A)
Agreed performance targets
(B) Performance
indicators
(C)
Achieved
results in line
with the
performance
indicator
(D)
Performance
assessment Score
(See Rating
Scale)
This part is to be filled by the individual being
assessed in consultation with the supervisor
This part is to be completed by the
supervisor in consultation with the
employee under assessment
1 Conducting research on
market prices on a
monthly basis
Reports

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2 Recommend prices after
every monthly
assessment
Number of
recommendations
forwarded
3 Filling of received
orders based on the set
price
Number of
orders filled
4 Assigning junior
employees work on
regular basis
Number of work
reports from
junior employees
5 Assessing the
performance of junior
employees under the
pricing unit
Performance
management
reports signed
Total assessment score on performance target
Mean assessment score (%)
Section 2(b): Staff Training and Development Needs
The assessed employee’s needs to write the training and development needs in order of priority
as identified by the employee and the supervisor based on the performance gaps identified by the
two.
a) Delegation of duties and supervision of subordinates.
b) Leadership and communication skills.
c) Organizational coordination.

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d) Resource allocation
Section 2(c): Commitment to achieve the performance targets
The employee being assessed needs to sign this part as a commitment to achieving the targets at
the end of the agreed period of time.
Name of employee ........................... Jake Randle....................................................
Signature ................................................................................. Date ………………………............
Supervisor’s Name ............................................................................................................................
Signature ......…………………………………………………Date …..........................................
(Immediate Supervisor)
Section 3: Mid-year review
Agreed targets Performance
indicators
Targets
changed/added
Achievement
remarks
1 Conducting research on market
prices on a monthly basis
Reports 3
2 Recommend prices after every
monthly assessment
Number of
recommendations
forwarded
3
3 Filling of received orders based
on the set price
Number of orders
filled
5
4 Assigning junior employees
work on regular basis
Number of work
reports from
junior employees
2

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5 Assessing the performance of
junior employees under the
pricing unit
Performance
management
reports signed
1
6
Supervisor’s Name ............................................................................................................................
Signature ................................. ………………………………Date …..........................................
Section 4: Employee’s comments and any additional assignments that may have been given
a) Employee comments on his/her performance in the pricing unit based on the set
targets and any mitigating factors that may have affected performance.
a) There were no price changes in two moths thus no need for reporting on the same.
b) Lack of good leadership and delegation skills which may have affected overall
performance of the pricing unit.
c) The need to develop terms of reference for each employee to determine the role of each
employee for easy allocation of tasks
Section 5: Supervisor’s comments
The comments are to be based on the assessment of the employee’s performance at the end of the
year addressing any other factors that may have hindered performance (the supervisor needs to
indicate whether the employee needs to put on more performance management. If so, then this
needs to be captured when developing the appraisal for the next period at the beginning of the
year)

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a) The employee has inability to balance between personal issues and professional work
thus getting distracted most of the time. This calls for the need to train the employee on
work life balancing.
b) The need to train the employee on how to appraise other employees and the promotion
policy.
c) Leadership and communication skills development to improve role performance.
d) Integration of the employee to fit in the system and work well with others.
Supervisor’s Name ...........................................................................................................................
Signature ................................. ………………………………Date …..........................................
Section 6: Recommendations to be forwarded to senior management for rewards and
sanctions to the employee.
a) Reward type (bonus, salary increment, promotion, recommendation letter etc)
N/A
b) Any other relevant intervention for employee management (counselling, training
and development)
Training and induction of the employee on the position he holds and his role in the
organization.
c) Sanction (warning, demotion)
A warning letter on work performance and working with others. This includes on how appraisal
is done to other employees and the need to involve top management in promotions.
Comments on Approval for sanctions/rewards

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The warning letter will be drafted to warn the employees on the consequences of wrong
assessments to the organization and the effects it can have on employee performance. The letter
will also highlight the importance of individual performance thus sounding as a demotion
warning. Training and development will be used to address personal development needs of the
employee.
Authorizing officer.
Name…………………………………………………………………………………………
Designation……………………………………………………………………………....
Signature…………………………………………..date……………………………....