ScientificallySystematicallyOriented PM.docx

ScientificallySystematicallyOriented PM.docx

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ScientificallySystematicallyOrientedPM

Scientifically&Systematically-Oriented:

WhatFactorsProducetheSuccessofPerformanceManagement（PM）?

Introduction

Performance,constitutedofbehaviorsandconsequences,isgeneratedbyasuccessfulmanagement.（Mawhinney,T.C.,Redmon,W.K.&JohnsonC.M.,2001）Performancemanagement（PM）isaterminologyinventedbyDr.AubreyC.Danielsanddemonstratingahumanresourcemanagement（HRM）skillincontrolofbehaviorsandconsequences.（Daniels,A.C.&Daniels,J.E.,2004）Hedefinedthat“performancemanagementisasystem,data-orientedapproachtomanagingpeoplebyprovidingpositiverecognitionandreinforcementforanindividualandgroupperformance”.（Daniels,A.C.,2000a.Accessed:

2010,Nov.1）AlthoughtherearemanydifferentdefinitionsofPMwhichhasbeenwidelyappliedinsuchvarioussectorsasemployeeperformance,softwareperformanceandorganizationalperformance（Daniels,A.C.,2000b）,thisessaywillfocusontheapplicationofPMforemployeeperformancebasedonDaniels’sdefinition.

Inbusiness,somemanagershavelessconsiderationforPMduetoitssimplicity,whilesomemanagerswhoareadoptingitincorrectlytomanageperformanceseemtogetfewbenefitsfromit.However,PMshouldbeappliedscientificallyandsystematicallyforsuccess.Inotherwords,asuccessfulPMoughttobebasedonbehaviormodificationandoperateallstagesofPMprocessinsequence,especiallymeasurementstage.Thisessaywillinitiallysetoutbehaviormodificationincludingtheimportance,

theprinciplesrelatedtoABCtheoryandthetechniquesbasisofit—lawsoflearning.ItwillthendescribePMsystembeforehighlightitssignificantstage—‘measurement’viacomparingthestagewithperformanceappraisal.（seeFlowchartA）HRMpractitionersandmanagerswillbenefitfromtheessayfortheirdecisionmakingonwhethertoadoptthebehavior-basedPMforperformanceimprovementandhowtoapplyitcorrectlyforsuccess.

BehaviorModification（BM）—thetheoreticalbasisofPM

“Organizationalbehaviormodificationcanprovidemanagersofalllevelsandtypesoforganizationswithapracticalandeffectivetoolforshapingemployees’behavior.”（Luthans,F.1973:

156）

SuccessfulPMreliesgreatlyonbehaviormodification,whichhasundergonealargeamountoflaboratoryexperiments,andthestarterinresearchofBMisDr.B.F.Skinner.（Daniels,A.C.,2000a）AccordingtoSinner（1974）,behaviormodification（BM）isanapplicationofskillsbasedonempiricismforbehavioroptimization.Nowadays,peopleareattractedbyBMinsteadofmanageriallyconventionalrationales.（Babb,H.W.&Kopp,D.G.,1978）Basically,BMfeaturesquitelargelyinsuccessfulPMwhoseprinciplesareassociatedtoABCtheory（Antecedents,BehaviorsandConsequences）andtechniqueshavetheirrootsin‘Lawsoflearning’.

BM—aninstrumentalsolutionforperformanceproblems

ThereisanincreaseinresearchoutcomespresentingthatBMisbeneficialforimprovingemployees’performance.（Babb,H.W.&Kopp,D.G.,1978）McAdam（1975）maintainedthatBMischaracterizedbymeasurementandspeculationwhicharedifferentiatorsforanyscientifictheory;themeasurementinBMaimstoimprovestaff’sbehaviorsmerelydependingonpredictablebehaviorswithregardlessofpersonallyunpredictablefactorssuchasID,EgoandSuperego.Heassertedthatifemployeesareconcernedwiththeirbehaviors,theirattitudeswillconcentrateonthem.Therefore,LuthanF.,&White（1971）suggestedthatBMshouldbeemployedinHRM.Hersey&Blanchard（1972）addedthatBMcanbeeffectivelyusedtoalteremployees’performancemorethanattitudeviapositivereinforcement.Inbusiness,giantssuchasIBM,AT&TandMaytaghaveappliedBMintraining.（Babb,H.W.&Kopp,D.G.1978）Luthans（1973:

156）,consequently,concludedthat“managementcannolongeraffordtoblinditselftothisextremelyimportantdevelopment”.

BM—ascientificsystemforbehaviorimprovement

Psychologistshaveexploredbehaviormodificationthroughamultitudeofexperiments,renderinganoutstandingsuccessinsolvingbehavioralproblems.（McAdam,J.,1975）

PrinciplesofBM

Allhumanperformancecanbedividedinto3elementswhichcorrelatewitheachother.（McAdam,J.,1975）（seeFlowchartB）Scott,Swan,Wilson&Roberts（1986）statedthatbehaviorsarecaused,enhanced,sustainedandunderminedbytheirconsequences.Theycanbedefinitelyimprovedbyawards,butdifferentformsofawardswillresultinvariousresults.Skinner（1974）maintained（seeFlowchartC）that‘positivereinforcement’（e.g.praiseorawards）ismoreeffectivethan‘negativereinforcement’（e.g.criticismorpunishment）forperformanceimprovement.Firstly,positivereinforcementwillincreasethefrequencyofbehaviorsinthelongterm,dependingonprovidingthebehaviorswithaconsequenceswiftly.（Skinner,B.F.,1974）Forexample,Daniels（2000a）explainedthatemployeeshardlyshowtheirpotentialsintheirworkduetonopositivemotivationreceivedbythem.However,negativereinforcementcanonlyalterbehaviorsinashortterm,buttriggerlotsofunfavorableresults.（Skinner,B.F.,1974）Forinstance,ifamanagerscaresasubordinatewithbeingunemployed,thesubordinatewouldpossiblyproduceproductsinanamountjustforkeepinghisjob;evenmoredefectivegoodswouldbeproducedinhiswork.（Daniels,A.C.,2000a）Hence,Daniels（2000a）concludedthatpositiveapproachesenablemanagerstonotonlyachievetheirworkobjectivesbutobtaintheirsubordinates’potentialsforwork.

BasisofBMtechniques—LawsofLearning

TheprincipalcharacteristicofBMisthatitstechniquesdependconsiderablyonlawsoflearning（Martin,G.&Pear,J.,2009）whichisdividedinto3steps—readiness,exerciseandeffect.

（seeFlowchartD）‘Readiness’referstoafactthatifapersonhasaphysical,mentalandemotionalpreparationforlearning,hewilllearnefficiently;otherwise,hewillhavenointentiontostudy.Inaddition,‘exercise’presentsafurtherfactthateffectivelyrepetitivepracticesbringaboutaperfectlearningandlongerheldinformationinpeople’sbrains;thatwillcontributetoanimprovementonlyiflearnersreceiveapositivefeedback.Dependingontheinteraction,‘effect’comestoasituationthatthelearningcanbeenhancedbyanenjoyablefeelingorbecomesweakduetoanunsatisfyingfeeling.Mostimportantly,thelearnerwillbeencouragedandsuccessfullargelythankstopositivereinforcement.（Thorndike,E.,1999）

Insummary,PM,whichderivedfrompsychologists’researchonhumanbehaviors,iseffectiveandefficientformanagerswhocanjustchangeconsequencesofemployees’behaviorstoimprovetheirperformanceandrepeatimprovedperformanceviaimmediatelypositivereinforcementwhichcanencourageemployees’potentialsinordertoachievetheaimofPM—notonlydogetemployeestoworktowardscompanies’objectives,butgettheirmaximumpotentialsforwork.Therefore,PMauthorities,asmentionedinthesection,advocatescientifically-orientedPMappliedinbusiness.

PMprocess—asystemwhereitselementslinkeachother

“Butunlessalloftheelementsarepresentandappliedsystematically,youarenotpracticingPerformanceManagement,andyouarenotgettingmaximumperformance.”（Daniels,A.C.,2000a,Accessed:

2010,Nov.1）

ForaperfectPMprocess,Daniels（2000b）arguedthatPMshouldbeaprocesstofacilitatemanagerstolearnencouragingemployees’potentialsthroughaseriesofconcretestageswhichseemtobesimplebuthavetheiroriginsinlawsofleaning.Therefore,Daniels（2000a）suggeststhatthereare3majorstrandsinPM（seeFlowchartE）:

‘measurement’isabasisforperformanceadjustmentthroughthecollectionofstatisticsoncurrentemployees’performance;‘feedback’allowsemployeespartakingthesedataconcurrentlyforsupervisingtheirperformance;‘positivereinforcement’isemployedtorecognizeoptimizedperformancerightlyandquicklyinordertorepeatimprovedperformance.Inparticular,reinforcementiscloselyconnectedwithperformanceimprovement.

Oncloserinspection,Daniels（2000a）statedthatthefullapplicationofallelementspresentsarealperformancemanagement;inotherwords,theymustbecarriedoutsystematicallystepbystep.Luthans（1973）maintainedthatmeasuringstaff’scommonbehaviorsandperformancecanberegardedasabeginningpointandareferenceforfuturedecisionmaking.Managers,forinstance,shouldperceiveemployees’recentperformancebeforemakingdecisionongivingrewardstorightemployeesatarighttime.Danielsthenaddedthatfeedbackcontributestotherecordofperfectperformancepubliclyknownandself-improvementofemployees.Forexample,ifemployeesknowthestandardsaboutwhatkindofperformancecangetrewards,theywillimprovetheirpreviousperformancebasedonthem.Finally,Skinner（1974）believedthatpositivereinforcementisnotonlysuperiortopunishmentforchangingbehaviors,butalsocangrowthefrequencyoffuturebehaviors.Inpractice,whenemployeeslearnthatrewardssuchaspayrise,dayoffandpromotionarecorrelatedtooptimizedperformance,theywillrepeattheirimprovedperformanceinalongterm.Accordingly,Luthans（1973）concludedthatiftheselawsandskillsareimplementedsystematicallywithaconcretepurpose,behaviorswillbeinevitablyenhanced,sustainedandaltered.

Torecap,althougheverypartinPMprocesscanberegardedasanindependentsection,PMprocesswillbenothingifmangersapplytheprocesspartly,astheentireapplicationoftheprocesscontributestoanaccuratedecisionmakingonaperformanceadjustmentplaninwhichmanagersandemployeeswillparticipa