Managing performance
Carol Atkinson and Sue Shaw CHAPTER OBJECTIVES When you have read this chapter you should be able to:
CHAPTER
8
¶ explain the role of performance management in developing human capital
advantage for organisations
¶ analyse the nature of the processes associated with performance manage-
ment (goal-setting, competence, development, 360-degree feedback, perform-
ance measurement and evaluation)
¶ discuss how performance management operates as a form of reward ¶ consider the issue of managing team – as opposed to individual – perform-
ance
¶ analyse international issues in performance management and consider the
complexities of expatriate performance management
¶ critically examine the role of performance management.
PURPOSE AND SCOPE
In this chapter, we present a critical evaluation of performance management which begins with a consideration of the argued importance of performance management, moves through discussion of its inherent processes and associated key issues, and ends with a critique of such processes and their organisational contribution. This evaluation permits insight into why organisations adopt performance management systems (PMS) and the challenges they face in achieving their goal: the improvement of individual and organisational performance. We tackle a number of the book’s over-arching themes, considering broadly the influence of globalisation and increased competition on an organisation’s need to maximise performance, and discuss also more specifically the increasing need to devise PMS that apply to expatriate employees, the incidence of which has increased with globalisation. Technology and change are again broadly argued to have driven an enhanced need for organisational performance, and consideration is given within the final section on future issues to the emerging role of technology within PMS. A key theme within this chapter is that of cultural variation which we address within most...