137

Performance management
administration

It has often been said in this book – but it bears repetition – that it is the
processes of performance management as practised by line managers that
are important, not the content of the system and how it is administered –
and the content often consists largely of forms. The elegance with which
forms are completed is not important. Their purpose is no more than that of
recording views and decisions; they are not ends in themselves.
Similarly, administrative procedures should not weigh down performance
management. It is important to establish the principles of performance
management and get everyone to buy into them, but administration and
control procedures should be carried out with a light touch. There should be
scope for managers to decide on their own detailed approaches in conjunction
with their staff as long as they abide by the guiding principles. Performance
management practice should indeed be monitored through the evaluation
approaches described in Chapter 16. This may reveal the need for individual
managers to receive more guidance or training. But oppressive control will
only prejudice managers against the process that they will think has been
imposed upon them. This is contra to the whole thrust of performance
management, which is to get managers and their staff to recognize that this is
an effective process of management from which all can benefit.
138 l Performance management

Performance management is not a form-filling exercise, as many tradi-

tional merit rating or performance appraisal schemes appeared to be. HR
managers who spent their time chasing up reluctant line managers to
complete their appraisal forms and return them to the personnel
department often unwittingly defeated the whole purpose of the exercise.
Managers tended to be cynical about their rating and box-ticking activities
and often produced bland and unrevealing reports that could be prepared
without too much effort. They became even more cynical if they had any
reason to believe that the completed forms were gathering dust in
personal dossiers, unused and unheeded. And, sadly, this was often what
happened.
A case could be made for having no forms at all for managers to complete.
They could be encouraged to record their agreement and the conclusions of
their reviews on blank sheets of paper to be used as working documents
during the continuing process of managing performance throughout the
year.
But there is much to be said for having a format that can help in the
ordering and presentation of plans and comments and act as an aide-
memoire for reference during the year. And the mere existence of a form or
a set of forms does demonstrate that this is a process that managers and
their staff are expected to take seriously. This chapter considers traditional
methods of documentation and at the end refers also to web-enabled
performance management.

PURPOSE
Before designing performance management forms it is necessary to be quite
clear about their purpose. The following questions need to be answered:

1. To what extent are these working documents for use by managers and
their staff?
2. What information does the HR department need about the outcome of
performance reviews?
3. How is the quality of performance reviews to be assured?
4. How can employees be reassured that they will not become the victims
of prejudiced or biased reports?
 Performance management administration l 139

1. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT FORMS AS WORKING

DOCUMENTS
There is no doubt that the main purpose of any performance management
forms is to serve as working documents. They should be in continual use by
managers and individuals as reference documents on objectives and plans
when reviewing progress. They record agreements on performance achieve-
ments and actions to be taken to improve performance or develop compe-
tence and skills. They should be dog-eared from much use – they should not
be condemned to moulder away in a file.
For this reason the forms should be owned by the manager and the indi-
vidual (both parties should have a copy). Any information the HR
department needs in ratings (for performance-related pay or career
planning purposes) or requests for training should be incorporated in a
separate form for their use.
The employee can still be protected against unfair assessments and
ratings by providing for the manager’s manager (the ‘grandparent’) to see
and comment on the completed report. These comments could be shown to
the individual who should have the right to appeal through a grievance
procedure if he or she is still unhappy about the report.
There is, however, a good case for the HR department having sight of
completed review forms for quality assurance purposes, especially in the
earlier days of operating performance management.

2. INFORMATION FOR THE HR DEPARTMENT

The HR department may need to know:

l who the high-flyers are – for development and career planning;

l who are the people who are performing badly – to consider with the line
manager what action needs to be taken;
l performance ratings for performance-related pay decisions;
l recommendations on training to assess any common training needs and
to initiate training action;
l about the performance of any individual who might be considered for
promotion, transfer or disciplinary action.
140 l Performance management

Another factor that helps to persuade many organizations to hold copies of

the review forms centrally is that a decision in an unfair dismissal case may
depend on the quality of record keeping as well as the honesty of the
performance review process – performance review forms may be required
for evidence. This can create a problem if a manager who has produced
bland, superficial but generally favourable reports on an employee is later
allowed to take disciplinary action for incapability. Employment tribunals
do not look with favour on this type of inconsistency. It is always necessary
for the HR department to compare review reports with the picture painted
by managers when the latter request disciplinary action and to question any
inconsistencies.
The approach adopted by most organizations is to require at least a copy
of the review form to be held centrally together with a copy of the
performance agreement if this contains training and development recom-
mendations. Managers and individuals would, however, be encouraged to
retain their own copies as working documents.
It is necessary to remember the provisions of the Data Protection Act,
which give employees the right to inspect any documents or records that
contain personal data.

3. FORM DESIGN
When designing performance management forms the aim should be to keep
them as simple and brief as possible while allowing ample ‘white space’ for
comments. Like all good forms, they should be self-explanatory, but they
may be supplemented by notes for guidance.
Although documentation should be kept to a minimum, such documents
as are used should be well designed and presented. A typical form is illus-
trated in Figure 9.1.
There are many varieties of performance management forms used by
different organizations – some more elaborate with, for example, a special
‘performance planner’ form, and some simpler ones.
They do, however, all have the same basic themes and in some way
include spaces for:

l agreed objectives;
l agreed performance and personal development plans;
l review of performance against objectives;
l review of achievements against development plan.
 Performance management administration l 141

PERFORMANCE AND DEVELOPMENT: AGREEMENT AND REVIEW SUMMARY

Name: Forename(s):
Job title: Department:
Reviewer's name: Job title:
PERFORMANCE AND DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT
Objectives Performance measures

Competencies Agreed actions

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Development need How it is to be met Action by whom Target completion date

PERFORMANCE AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW

Objectives Achievements

Competencies Actions taken

Development needs Actions taken

Comments by reviewer:

Signed: Date:

Comments by reviewee:

Signed: Date:

Figure 9.1 Performance management form

142 l Performance management

If a competency framework exists, the form may include a section listing the
competencies with space for comments.
Forms in organizations with performance-related pay (PRP) will often
have an overall rating section. Those without PRP may still retain ratings as
a means of summarizing performance.

WEB-ENABLED PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Web-based software can make it easy for managers and employees to record
role profiles and performance agreements including performance
improvement and personal development plans and objectives, monitor
progress against the plans, access online performance documents, and
gather multi-source (360-degree appraisal) comments. All these data can be
used to assist in performance reviews and record further agreements
emerging from the reviews. The aim is to reduce paperwork and simplify
the process.
The Raytheon web-enabled system is used as the basis for their
performance development scheme described in Chapter 2. It incorporates a
‘performance screen’ and a ‘performance and development summary’ as
well as 360-degree assessment tools and details of how the Raytheon
compensation system works. It enables goals to be cascaded down through
the organization, although employees can initiate the goal-setting process
using the performance screen as a tool. Employees can then document their
accomplishments against their goals on their performance screen.