PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Performance management system (PMS) is the heart of any people management

process in organization. Organizations exist to perform. If properly designed and
implemented it can change the course of growth and pace of impact of
organizations. Performance management could be defined as it begins when the job
is defined and ends when an employee leaves the company. Between these points,
the following should be understood for a working performance management
system.
Developing clear job descriptions: Job descriptions are the first step in selecting
the right person for the job, and setting that person up to succeed Job descriptions
provide a framework so the applicants and new employees understand the
expectations for the position.
Selection: Jobs have different requirements. This is the process of matching the
skills and interests of a person to the requirements of a job. Finding a good job "fit"
is exceptionally important. Use of a selection process maximizes input from
potential co-workers and the person to whom the position will report.
Providing effective orientation, education, and training. Before a person can
do the best job, he or she must have the information necessary to perform. This
includes job-related, position-related, and company-related information; an
excellent understanding of product and process use and requirements; and
complete knowledge about customer needs and requirements.
Providing on-going coaching and feedback. People need ongoing, consistent
feedback that addresses both their strengths and the weaker areas of their
performance. Effective feedback focuses more intensely on helping people build on
their strengths. Feedback is a two-way process that encourages the employee to
seek help
Conducting quarterly performance development discussions. If supervisors
are giving employees frequent feedback and coaching, performance reviews can
change from negative, evaluative, one-sided presentations to positive, planning
meetings.
Designing effective compensation and recognition systems that reward
people for their contributions: The power of an effective compensation system
is frequently overlooked and downplayed in some employee motivation-related
literature
Providing promotional/career development opportunities for staff: The
supervisor plays a key role in helping staff develop their potential. Growth goals,

changing and challenging job assignments and responsibilities, and cross-training

contribute to the development of a more effective staff member.
Assisting with exit interviews to understand WHY valued employees leave
the organization: When a valued person leaves the company, it is necessary to
understand why the person is leaving. This feedback will help the company improve
its work environment for people. An improved work environment for people results
in the retention of valued staff.
A performance management system will only be effective if it:
1

Is aligned with a companys corporate direction and business strategy

2Objectively measures performance.

3Is trusted to be fair by employees
4Both managers and employees see that they have something to gain from
using the system.

Organizations succeed when they continuously nourish the top performers and
improve (or weed out) the poor performers. The big challenges of following this
strategy are identifying the real performers, provide a competitive compensation to
retain & motivate them and improve employee skills & competencies to maintain
the business competitiveness.
EmpXtrack Performance Management System is an integrated web-based tool to
improve organizational performance by setting SMART Goals for employee,
evaluating employee performance, recommending highly competitive compensation
plans, managing employee
trainings & development and promoting right employees
to critical positions.
Based on globally followed HR practices and principles, this performance
management system provides right tools to engage employees in productive
work, help employee achieve their goals, bring objectivity & transparency in
employee evaluations, manage employee trainings, manage employee
compensations, promotion and careers.

Features

of Performance
Management System

Setting

SMART Goals for

Employees: Goal
Setting Software provides leaders, managers and employees with web-based tools
to set SMART goals and track progress on frequent intervals.

Evaluate Employee Performance: Employee Appraisal Software ensures

objective and accurate evaluation of your employees performance and helps you
find the strengths and weaknesses of the employees.

Coach and Train Employees to improve their performance: To continually

improve performance of your organization you need to continuously training
employees to update their skills and competencies. Training Management Software
allows you to manage employee training effectively.

Define competitive employee compensation plans: Employee compensation

plan helps you to remain competitive in your business and attract and retain
talented employee.

Promote right employees to critical positions: Organizations success by

placing right employee in
right positions. EmpXtrack Succession Planning Software helps you to identify
critical positions in your organization and recommend right employee to fill these
positions.

a. Discuss its advantages and disadvantages.

Modern businesses have been leveraging management information systems (MIS)

to manage, order, organize and manipulate the gigabytes and masses of
information generated for various purposes. MIS helps businesses optimize business
processes, address information needs of employees and various stakeholders and
take informed strategic decisions. However, budget allocation and monitoring issues
can affect the efficacy of MIS. It has its advantages and disadvantages depending
on organizational deployment and usage.
Advantages
Management information systems have changed the dynamics of running
businesses efficiently. Decentralization is one of the biggest advantages; it allows
monitoring of operations at low levels and frees up resources for departmental
managers to devote time to strategic activities. Coordination of specialized projects
and activities is much better and decision makers in the organization are aware of
issues and problems in all departments. Another advantage of MIS is that it
minimizes information overload, which can be quite common with conventional
businesses in the modern era.
Better Planning and Control
MIS has to be designed and managed in such way that it aggregates information,
monitors the company's activities and operations and enhances communication and
collaboration among employees. This ensures better planning for all activities and
better ways to measure performance, manage resources and facilitate compliance
with industry and government regulations. Control helps in forecasting, preparing
accurate budgets and providing the tools and vital information to employees, top
management and business partners.
Decision Making
The purpose of MIS is to generate synthesized and processed information from
computerized/automated and certain manual systems. Information distribution to all
levels of corporate managers, professionals and key executives becomes quite
seamless with streamlined MIS. Managers are able to make quick, timely and
informed decisions. Top management and board members can take strategic
decisions, plan future growth and business expansion activities based on the data
and information generated by MIS.

Disadvantages
Depending on organization deployment, usage and extraneous factors, some
disadvantages related to Management Information Systems can come to the fore.
Allocation of budgets for MIS upgrades, modifications and other revisions can be
quite tricky at times. If budgets are not allocated uniformly or as per immediate
requirements, key functionalities might get effected and benefits might not be
realized consistently. Integration issues with legacy systems can affect the quality of
output and vital business intelligence reports.

1. Discuss three (3) major challenges that typically users face in building and/ or
using information systems. AND elaborate the ways to overcome those
challenges.

Having made the plan of the MIS, the development of the MIS calls for determining
the strategy of development. As discussed earlier the plan consists of various
systems and subsystems. The development strategy determines where to begin and
in what sequence the development can take place with the sole objective of
assuring the information support.

The choice of the system or the subsystem depends on its position in the total MIS
plan, the size of the system, the user understands of the system and the complexity
and its interface with other systems. The designer first develops systems
independently and starts integrating them with other systems, enlarging the system
scope and meeting the varying information needs.

Determining the position of the system in the MIS is easy. The real problem is the
degree of structure, and formalization in the system and procedures which

determine the timing and duration of development of the system. Higher the degree
of structured ness and formalization, greater is the stabilization of the rules, the
procedures, decision making and the understanding of the overall business activity.
Here, it is observed that the user.s and the designer.s interaction is smooth, and
each other.s needs are clearly understood and respected mutually. The
development becomes approach with certainty in inputs process and outputs.

In the prototyping approach, the designer.s task becomes difficult, when there are
multiple users of the same system and the inputs they use are used by some other
users well. For example, a lot of input data comes from the purchase department,
which is used in accounts and inventory management.
The attitudes of the various users and their role as the originators of the data needs
to be developed with a high degree of positivism. It requires, of all the personnel, to
appreciate that the information is a corporate resource, and all have to contribute
as per the designated role by the designer to fulfill the corporate information needs.
When it comes to information the functional, the departmental, the personal
boundaries do not exist.

These calls upon each individual to comply with the design needs and provide
without fail the necessary data inputs whenever required as per the specification
discussed and finalized by the designer.

Many organizations use MIS successfully, others do not. Though the hardware and
the software is the latest and has appropriate technology, its use is more for the
collection and storage of data and its elementary processing. There are some
factors which make the MIS a success and some others, which make it a failure.
These factors can be summarized as follow.

Factors Contributing to Success

If a MIS is to be a success then it should have all the features listed as follows.

i.

The MIS is integrated into the managerial functions. It sets clear objectives to
ensure that the MIS focuses on the major issues of the business. Also
adequate development resources are provided and the human and
organizational barriers to progress are removed.

ii.

An appropriate information processing technology required to meet the data

processing and analysis needs of the users of the MIS is selected. The MIS is
oriented, defined and designed in terms of the user.s requirements andits
operational viability is ensured.

i.

The MIS is kept under continuous surveillance, so that its open system design
is modified according to the changing information needs.

ii.

MIS focuses on the results and goals, and highlights the factors and reasons
for non-achievement.

iii.

MIS is not allowed to end up into an information generation mill avoiding the
noise in the information and the communication system.

iv.

The MIS recognizes that a manager is a human being and therefore, the
systems must consider all the human behavioral factors in the process of the
management.

v.

The MIS recognizes that the different information needs for different
objectives must be met with. The globalization of information in isolation
from the different objectives leads to too much information and its non-use.

vi.

The MIS is easy to operate and, therefore, the design of the MIS has such
features which make up a user-friendly design.

Factors Contributing to Failures

Many a times MIS is a failure. The common factors which are responsible for this are
listed as follows.

I.

The MIS is conceived as a data processing and not as an information

processing The MIS does not provide that information which is needed by the
managers but it tends to provide the information generally the function calls
for. The MIS then becomes an impersonal system.

II.

Underestimating the complexity in the business systems and not recognizing

it in the MIS design leads to problems in the successful implementation.

III.

Adequate attention is not given to the quality control aspects of the inputs,
the process and the outputs leading to insufficient checks and controls in the
MIS.

IV.

The MIS is developed without streamlining the transaction processing

systems inthe organization.

V.

Lack of training and appreciation that the users of the information and the

generators of the data are different, and they have to play an important responsible
role in the MIS.

VI.

The MIS does not meet certain critical and key factors of its users such as a
response to the query on the database, an inability to get the processing
done in a particular manner, lack of user-friendly system and the dependence
on the system personnel.

VII.

A belief that the computerized MIS can solve all the management problems of
planning and control of the business.

VIII.

Lack of administrative discipline in following the standardized systems and

procedures, wrong codings and deviating from the system specifications result in
incomplete and incorrect information.

IX.

The MIS does not give perfect information to all the users in the organization.
Any attempt towards such a goal will be unsuccessful because every user has
a human ingenuity, bias, certain assumption not known to the designer. The
MIS cannot up these by providing perfect information.

IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGE

The implementation of the information technology is a complex task and needs a

detailed and careful planning for successful implementation. It is necessary to
prepare a plan of implementation covering the following features. These features
are:
1. Site preparation
2. System development plan
3. Information technology installation schedule
4. Recruitment and training of computer personnel
5. Training of the users
6. Investment plan

Site Preparation
This is a major activity, wherein you prepare the site for the physical installation of
the hardware i.e., the main computer system, the peripherals, the electrical and
communication cabling, the air conditioning system, the tape-disk consumable
storage, and the office layout for the professionals. The space allocation for each of
these items is based on present need with some allowance for the future.

The modern information technology needs site preparation at the user.s end as
well for the convenience and the ease of operations. Most of the information
technology. installations need infrastructural facilities, such as a conference room,
and training cum demonstration room with the modern aids of training. This process

of site preparation takes away 10 to 12 per cent of investment. In all these matters,
guidance is available from the hardware vendors. A committee consisting of the
vendors. representatives, architect and interior designer, and in-change of the
information technology implementation would be ideal for a planned site
preparation activity.