Performance Management Revolution: HR Policies and Firm Performance

This paper reviews four articles discussing HR policies, focusing on performance reviews and their role in improving firm performance. It highlights the shift from traditional annual appraisals to more frequent, development-focused employee connections. The review covers the importance of motivating employees, understanding their strengths, and fostering positive communication. It examines how companies like Delloite are reinventing performance management by providing individualized and nimbler facilities to support employee growth. Furthermore, the paper discusses the strength-based approach to performance feedback, emphasizing positive skills and constructive encouragement. The review concludes that a hybrid approach, combining traditional methods with newer employee-centric strategies, is most effective for reducing employee turnover and driving organizational development. Desklib provides a platform for students to access similar solved assignments and study resources.

Running head: PERFORMANCE REVIEW
PERFORMANCE REVIEW
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Introduction:
This paper aims to discuss the HR policies discussed in four very important articles
which focus on the performance review of the firms and their importance in improving the
performance of the whole firm. Performance management is one of the most important issues in
the human resource department of any type of business. For the managers it is important that
they can effectively motivate the employees, gain great understanding of the strength of their
subordinates, increase competency of the workforce gain benefit of ensuring positive
communication to the employees about the performance of their employees. The authors of this
particular articles have analyzed the usefulness of adopting a broader view of the performance
management.
Cappelli, P. and Tavis, A., 2016. The performance management revolution. Harvard
Business Review, 94(10), pp.58-67.
To this study, the current business leaders are not taking interest in this traditional
performance appraisals. This process has been abandoned by the US companies operating in any
sector. The annual review of the organizations is the main limitation as this emphasizes on the
holding the workers responsible for their actions of the previous year at the expenses for
improving their performance in the present and future (Cappelli and Tavis 2016). This method is
quite unscientific to the authors of this article who have identified that many of the international
organizations are changing their method of managing the employees. They are becoming more
frequent and development focused connection with the employees. This is the reason why the
recent organizations are becoming more hybrid and following the third way of amalgamating
useful sides of the performance management emphasizing on the development feedback. The
appraisals of the employees have been changing its focus as the accountability of the workers is

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losing its relevance and development of the skills is gaining importance. In this study, the
authors have pointed out different examples of the important international brands and discussed
their own method of employee appraisals. This third way is useful in the talent research and
retention of skilled labor in the company.
Findings- the authors of this particular article have explained how the performance
management has changed over time and affected the current thinking process of the business
leaders. The tight labor market in this recent era has led to feel a tremendous pressure on the HR
department as the competition level high quite high in this business context. The demands of
skilled and already experienced labors are increasing but the supply is much less (Cappelli and
Tavis 2016). The HR managers are compelled to keep their employees happy and satisfied. They
are grooming their employees so that they can work for their own advancement and do not leave
the organization. In addition to this, the rapidly changing business environment of this current
setting needs nimbleness and agility which supports that the management needs to take care of
the regular check ins of the employees in the organization. The changing nature of the business is
needing team work and collaboration therefore, by prioritizing the improvement over the
accountability the companies are promoting teamwork. This changing method of performance
management, have not however solved the issues like aligning the employees with the
organiostioanl goals, identify the poor performers, solve the issues associated with
discrimination and awarding the meritorious employees. This is the reason why the companies
are trying to apply the hybrid approaches so that the positive side of both these old and new
methods can be utilized in the development of the corporation.
The bottom line- this study finds that the HR policies of amalgamating the traditional
method of performance review and the newer method of employee perforce measurement is

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effective in the current business settings. However, the management needs to keep the employees
motivated rather than keeping them just satisfied with their jobs. The employees need to be given
full freedom to apply their skills in different aspects so that multidimensional functions can be
done by the workforce which will transform the organizations to work more radically. In
addition to this the traditional method of checking regular development feedback is also
necessary. Doing these in the organization can definitely reduce employee turnover and
development of both workforce and the organization.
Buckingham, M. and Goodall, A., 2015. Reinventing performance management. Harvard
Business Review, 93(4), pp.40-50.
This particular article has discussed the methods applied in the HR department so that the
skills and efficiency of the employees can be increased. This study has analyzed the result of a
public survey conducted by one of the reputed firms named Delloite which reveals the fact that
the current setting or method that the company has been applying to enhance the employee
performance, does needing incur the employee engagement nor improving the performance of
the employees. This article discloses that in order to gain an all-inclusive growth, the companies
need to provide the employees all the facilities more individualized and nimbler. This will
support the growth of the employees rather than just measuring their performance in the previous
years. This study has detailed how Delloite has focused on building a talent-based organization
by changing their tools to measure the employee performance (Buckingham and Goodall 2015).
There are several steps based on which the company will be determining the efficiency of the
workers through performance intelligence techniques, decide their job levels most fitted their
skills and payments. These changes in the company will be also helping the project managers to

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address low performance and allocating additional resources so that the low performers can
develop themselves.
Findings- this study has purely concentrated its focus in understanding how the
employee performance has been measured and managed by Delloite. Unlike other companies
this one also raised that the system of evaluating the employee performance as well as providing
training, promoting and paying them, the traditional method is not potent enough. Therefore, this
company has applied new method which is more real time and fitting the needs of the
employees. This article finds out that this system applied in Delloide has limited objectives and
constant checking for reviews of the employees’ development. However, the company has
redesigned this new method so that it has more efficiency in terms of speed, agility, constant
learning of the workers and individual customization (Buckingham and Goodall 2015). This is
efficient to collect and measure the reliable performance data. In order to arrive at this design,
the company has followed steps like counting of time, reviewing the research of ratings and
controlling the study of the own organization itself.
The bottom line- as the study has disclosed that the traditional method of measuring
employee performance has been changing throughout the world. The companies are changing
their outlook regarding the performance development of their workforce. The management factor
of employee performance development has changed to fuel performance as the workforce of the
company is the only way to increased productivity of the firms. In this regard, the companies
operating internationally can employ the team leaders to research on the needs of the ground
level employee performance. Through teamwork, the company can collect exact priorities of the
employees as well as their aspirations. This will also help the companies to achieve transparency,
integration and efficiency. It is important to note that the companies do not have much

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information about the personnel and the knowledge about the various requirements remain only
one dimensional but through this measure the companies can take initiatives to judge the
requirement of the employees based on which the development will be measured. The main
objective of the companies must be to find the most fitted solution rather than finding the
simplest one. The critical evaluation of the existing measures to check the employee performance
must be supported by the technological support which will be helping the companies to avoid
any issues of human resource.
Aguinis, H., Joo, H. and Gottfredson, R.K., 2011. Why we hate performance management
—And why we should love it. Business Horizons, 54(6), pp.503-507.
This article mainly focusses on the delivery of the effective performance feedback in the
light of strength-based approach. To the authors, the performance feedback is one of the most
important factors to measure the employee performance. This method has potential to benefit the
workers of an organization both in team and as well as individuals. This study has discussed the
how an effective performance feedback has the potential to enhance the employee engagement as
well as job satisfaction. This article relies on the traditional method of measuring performance
improvement of the employees but the authors have employed one very important and specific
approach to measure and improve the employee performance (Aguinis, Joo and Gottfredson
2011). To this study, there are issues of comfortability of the managers in giving feedback as this
often leads to harm in the carrier of their employees rather than doing good. This is due to the
fact that these traditional feedback method analyses the enactive part or incapability of the
employees. This article has therefore, shifted from the weakness-based feedbacks to the strength-
based feedback system so that the employee affirmation and encouragement can be built. This is

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a constructive approach which is more powerful that the weakness-based approach of
performance measurement. This study has also discussed none recommendations to deliver
performance feedback more efficiently.
Findings- this study has pointed out that the managers of a firm are responsible to help
the employees to improve the job performance of the employees. This is the reason why they
need to deliver performance feedbacks more carefully so that these can motivate their
subordinates as well as empower employees by judging their skills as well as talents (Aguinis,
Joo and Gottfredson 2011). This article has pointed out that the management of an organization
if want to improve their employee performance must connect the positive skills with the negative
feedbacks. Thus, they will be able to manage the talents weakness of the employees. They must
create a support system to support each and every employee of the organization so that any type
of biasness issue does not emerge. The management need to take care of the reputation and
expectation so the employees. They must deliver the performance feedback in a private setting.
According to the traditional method, the employees were the only accountable persons to answer
the managers but, in this strength, based approach of performance feedback system, the
managers are responsible to evaluate the performance of the employees and detail all the positive
sides of them and talents. Instated of making general comments, the managers will be hiving
good performance feedback to their subordinates so that the employees get a specific direction to
press in the organiostioanl setting.
The bottom line- this study has discussed one of the most important feedback systems in
order to understand and measure the employee performance in the companies. The strength-
based approach of performance measurement can be effective for the managers in one hand and
the employees on the other. This method will help the companies to gain proper knowledge

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about the performance of the workforce by delivering the positive feedback in an accurate and
considerate manner. By tying feedback to important consequences at various levels throughout
the organization, the management gains trust and support of the employees effectively.
Aguinis, H., Gottfredson, R.K. and Joo, H., 2012. Delivering effective performance
feedback: The strengths-based approach. Business Horizons, 55(2), pp.105-111.
This study points out that all the common companies have similar types of performance
management system. This is very important factor for the progress of the companies. However,
the current situation of the business organizations, both the management as well as the
employees are skeptical that skeptical that the performance management system whatever the
companies are applying to measure performance of the employees must be able to add value.
This study has pointed out that in most of the cases, the performance measurement and
improvement is seen to be a waste of time as well as resources. To the authors of this study
mainly focus on the performance appraisals of the employees based on which the measure the
growth of the labor force of their companies (Aguinis, Gottfredson and Joo 2012). However, this
method has not been supported by the authors of this article. This new method however has
application beyond the traditional process of measuring performance of the employees. This
study has discussed the usefulness and benefits of this process and how this new method
particularly differs from the method of measuring performance through performance appraisal.
Findings- this particular article has pointed out that there are some very importunate as
well as specific advantages present in the new method of measuring performance of the
employees of an organization which will be applicable for the management as well as the

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employees and more importantly, the organization itself. This article has described some
research-based conclusions which are associated with the method so that the performance
management systems can be designed for measuring performance of the employees and
effectively implemented for realizing these advantages in the companies (Aguinis, Gottfredson
and Joo 2012). This article has more specifically pointed out that the performance appraisals are
not actually performance management. It is a continuous procedure which mainly identify,
measure, and developed the performance of the individuals of the workforce as well as the
teams. This method also aligns the performance of the employees efficiently with strategic
objectives of the organization. There are some features in a perfect performance management
system which includes its strategic congruency, contextual congruency, practical feasibilities,
specificity, ability to identify effective and ineffective performance, reliability, acceptability and
correctability.
The bottom line- according to the authors of this study, the performance management
system has benefits for the employees, managers and organization. This method can be applied
in the organizations so that the employees experience increased self-esteem, get fair chance to
understand their positions based on their behavior and identify different ways to maximize their
strength as well as minimize their weaknesses. The organization on the other hand get the scope
to differentiate among the good and better performers and allow them to share their
understanding with others and thus make the organization more fertile with different better
protection from lawsuits. This will also facilitate the organizational change hence can be
efficiently applied in the companies to gain more competitive advantage.

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References:
Aguinis, H., Gottfredson, R.K. and Joo, H., 2012. Delivering effective performance feedback:
The strengths-based approach. Business Horizons, 55(2), pp.105-111. Available at
http://www.hermanaguinis.com/BH2012.pdf.
Aguinis, H., Joo, H. and Gottfredson, R.K., 2011. Why we hate performance management—And
why we should love it. Business Horizons, 54(6), pp.503-507. Available at
http://www.hermanaguinis.com/BH2011.pdf.
Buckingham, M. and Goodall, A., 2015. Reinventing performance management. Harvard
Business Review, 93(4), pp.40-50. Available at https://hbr.org/2015/04/reinventing-
performance-management.
Cappelli, P. and Tavis, A., 2016. The performance management revolution. Harvard Business
Review, 94(10), pp.58-67. Available at https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-performance-management-
revolution.pdf.