Improving Employee Performance And Productivity: Performance Diagnostic And Action Plan

Analyzing the Problem

Question:

Discuss About The Employee Productivity And Effectiveness?

The report is arguing about the performance of the person and the points where the individual lacks. The person selected is intelligent enough but is weak at delivering and imparting the knowledge to the other end. Because of the introvert nature, he usually does not suggest any idea and is poor at the time of presentation because the individual faces problem at the time of public speaking. The person is unable to face the public as there is a lack of self-belief and anxiety level is high.  At the initial level, the problem of the person is analysed and reasons behind such personality are studied and measures are taken to improve the performance of the person. Through performance diagnostic, the wheel of motivation is researched and traits motivating the person are figured out to use them for encouraging the person.  The action plan is build up where FFOCR feedback is briefly discussed and actions upon the wheel of motivation are taken for further improvisation in the nature of the person and making him extrovert so that person is able to react as per the situation. At the end, further improvisation and leadership goals are decided using the SMART strategy.

In nutshell, it could be said that the personality differs from person to person and it highly affects the performance of an individual and in an organisation, the top level management needs to focus on this particular aspect to boost up the morale of the person and raising the belongingness of an individual within the enterprise. For this motivational factor has to be selected from the wheel of motivation. Finally, establish a leadership goal and within the time limit, the specified goal has to be accomplished to improve the overall situation of organisation and the individual.

Performance is the activity performed by the person. It involves the way in which the work has been accomplished. Performance varies from person to person. It depends upon the quality and capability of a person. Some people are good at certain specific things which might be lacking in another person[1]. For instance, former is better in decision-making but communication skills are not better enough while later is better in communication but lacks in making a decision. Therefore every person has some or the other quality and demerits. The analysis will be made on the particular person whose performance is lacking. The gap will be analysed and data will be collected to review the performance, the reasons should be figured out by meeting the person and measures will be taken to improve the performance and evaluate the root cause of mistake so that development could be made and performance get improved.

Performance Diagnostic

There is a person who persists keen general knowledge and highly aware of the external environment. The problem that actually exist is that the individual is not able to deliver the knowledge to the other end.[2] The communication skills are even good but the confidence level is not up to the mark. The individual is unable to face the public or in other words, the public speaking skill is lacking in the person. This might be business of the introvert nature of the person which does not allow the one to speak up the thoughts[3]. In this way, the person’s abilities are not clearly understood and they get deprived of the areas which they actually deserve.

On analysing the situation it could be accessed that the person is carrying the reserved nature and despite having a lot of knowledge it could not be delivered to the peers. Though the skills and knowledge are reflected from their conduct and the way the work performed by them when it is about public speaking the person fails and is not able to utter a single word. In this way, the individual lacks in rendering presentations and giving ideas in public meetings[4]. Thus, measures will be taken to improve such an introvert nature and making the person extrovert by building the surroundings generous and involving him along with the other people and staff of the office. He will be made to share his views on the current situations, praising him and motivating the person to speak up so that better ideas from his end could also be generated which would be beneficial for the individual as well as organisation.

As per the analysis and figuring out the area of improvement it could be hypothetically stated that the basic issue that is occurring might be due to lack of confidence and this could either be from the childhood or there are hidden reasons which need to find out to know the root cause.[5] For that, a meeting with the person has to be fixed and interaction has to be made and questioning must be made to know the correct answer so that better solution could be derived out.

The performance diagnostic helps in analysing the problem and where the person is lacking on the wheel of motivation. Wheel of motivation comprises of positive motivation, positive engagement, negative motivation and negative engagement.[6] The wheel consists of various attributes and behaviour of the person which will be clearly understood by studying the performance diagnostic. The performance diagnostic of the prevalent problem goes as follows:

Action Plan

Initial purpose: The original purpose of this diagnostic is to find out the actual problem with the person and after being so knowledgeable and talented why the person is not able to gain the deserved position.

Performance variables: Through performance variables, the three levels of performance are taken into consideration and the problem of performance management is studied using these three levels of performance which stands like Organisational level, process level and job level. The area which is highly affected by this problem is identified. Due to the performance problem the person is affected at the organisational level because the presentation and public facing tasks are not accomplished. Also, the job/ performer level is deprived as adequate performance does not take place because the hidden knowledge and abilities are not shown to the outer world and lot more skills are hidden which could reward him on the later stage or enhancement of position might take place.

Performance measures: This diagnostic measures the performance of the individual at the organisational, process and performer level and what improvement are needed could also be identified at this level only[7].

Performance needs: At this level, the need of performance is studied at the organisational, process and job performer level. The classification could be done using the taxonomy of the performance. The taxonomy helps in changing and managing the system through invention, improvisation, troubleshoot operation and understanding.

Improvement proposal: This diagnostic helps in improving the phase of the proposal. The ideas and innovation to cure the problem are involved in this particular proposal where modification takes place and weaken area identified is improved for the betterment.

On considering the performance diagnostic the following issues are marked on the wheel of motivation. There is a lack of self-belief in the person and anxiety surrounds him which does not let the real person speak up and perform the best on-field i.e. present the view and raise the view by successfully delivering the knowledge and ideas in the meetings.

The action plan will include the procedure of resolving the issue that the person is facing. For this what steps are needed to be taken are studied thereafter the measures will be initiated to gather the information about the problem[8]. The first step will be marked out so that the beginning could be made to resolve the personality issue of the person.

Frame: Initially the objective will be framed to analyse the individual performance gap. For that, the perspective of the person must be understood and actual performance has to be evaluated. The previous records of the person must be scrutinized and a background check has to be made. Facts have to be collected by gathering the information about the person. The latent qualities must be figured out and the individual should be encouraged to showcase his quality and crack the opportunities and position that he deserves.[9]

Establishing Leadership Goals

Facts: Facts are the information that should be collected to know the person closely. The friends, family and another fellow person should be contacted and for gaining the better results the person himself must be interviewed because only that person could clarify the exact problem as that is the one who is being through it. The reasons will be asked of such a low confidence and lack of self-belief. The cause of anxiety should be analysed and cure has to be made to convert the introvert into the extrovert. The root of the problem should be studied and also this is not a one-way task even the person himself has to make attempts to bring this improvement[10].

Outcome: The results that will arrive after having one to one with the person should be implemented. On analysing and studying the situation it was summed up that the person was facing low confidence problem and self-belief was lacking in the individual due to whom he was unable to speak up the views even on having the knowledge. Because of the anxiety and shyness the hidden knowledge, skills and abilities were not introduced ever. The public fear never let him come up with the competencies he possesses. On conversing and making a background check it was analysed that the nature of a person is this only. Also, there are certain past factors that suppressed the person to speak up at times. For improvising, this thing the meeting helped was open discussion took place. In order to bring confidence in the person, certain trips and trips within the organisation could be made where he could mix up with the staff and informally share the ideas which will be the first step towards the growth process. Some activities should be inculcated within the free time where small quiz short festive and many more can be conducted to boost up such people and bring up a sense of belongingness so that they could open up in the environment to perform outrageously.[11]

Consequences: Consequences those are figured is that such performance issue occurs firstly because for the nature that prevails by birth. Another consequence faced is due to fear of being wrong, there are certain people which have a tendency to lose faith when being wrong. Therefore because of such shyness communication get curbed and expectations are not raised, which if communicated could have resulted in better conclusion for the company as well as the organisation and surroundings.[12]

Recommendations: It could be recommended that extra cares to such people are required to make them feel the belongingness. The potential appraisal should be made of such person and specific motivational theory has to be applied because the motivational factor differs from person to person. Some might get motivated with job security while others may feel beneficial in job satisfaction and then there are a lot of people who get motivated with financial resources.[13]

In the wheel of motivation, there are four bifurcations upon which the personality of the person and their performance are measured. There is primarily the positive motivation which could be monetary like incentives, benefits, the rewarding and yearly increment in the salary.[14] Then there is a positive engagement that includes the involvement that an employee holds within it is highly connected with persistence, planning and managing the task. Also, as discussed earlier there are people that get motivated when terrorised or pressurise. Their efficiency gets an increase when the workload is given to them or salary deduction is the end they know. Thus, negative motivation is equally important as the positive is. The negative motivation inculcates the feeling of anxiety to do the work, the failure might threaten the person so that he could react to the situation and work accordingly and lastly, there is uncertain control as well which curbs the personality of the individual and he is not able to express himself. Negative engagement depicts that the employees are not involved in the organisation. These are the personality traits which might lead to disengagement for the introvert and self-sabotage to the extrovert.[15]

As far as the person is considered there is a problem of self-belief and anxiety in him. This depicts that the person is positively and negatively motivated. When the positive motivation is encouraged it would result in the development of person’s attachment and the individual could open up with the colleagues. Such acts increase the flow of energy and communication gaps are reduced to create the understanding and build up better employer-employee relations. The negative motivation results in anxiety and pressurises the person with the burdens of work. This lead to mistakes in the tasks and degrading the performance and the person cut off the way to people so that he could avoid the comparisons. The comparison and discrimination might be the problem of the person that the performance is decreased and he is not able to interact with the people to understand the mistake because strict actions are taken by top management.[16]

The main issues are that firstly the person is introvert and reserve so in such situation top management should adopt differential activities to interact and make the person comfortable. There should be a genuine and required gap between the managers and link between both should not get lost and managers must timely take the report upon the performance and adjustment of the person within the environment and the problems if any must be immediately solved out. Peer comparisons have to be avoided and individuality must be respected so that organisational commitment could be gained. Time should be imparted to the person to make an adjustment and superior, subordinate and peers must support him to build confidence and increase the comfort. Speak up session can be conducted where every person can speak up any point or topic of their choice and other should perform the effective listening, in this way the knowledge area will be analysed and more about a person is known which would result in the relaxation and soothing environment of the organisation and the person feels confident and attachment is ensured.[17]

As per the strength and weakness of the researcher the implementation program might take a turn. As per the strength, the positive activities will be paid more emphasis and the weakness might be converted into the opportunity. There could arouse the situation where the weakness of one might be the strength of other and the former may get to learn a lot from the later. [18]The opportunity of the former could be the threat to the later which shall be solved out to remove the shyness and increasing the compatibility among the staff[19]. Such sessions and converting one’s weakness into strength would result in opening up of the person and make him a little extrovert which will improve gradually if such sessions and relaxation are timely provided to the person.

The leadership approach to achieve the goal and improve the personality SMART criteria could be adopted. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound[20]. A brief description goes as under:

Specific: For the leader, it is essential to be specific and set a predefined goal in the mind of. Concerning the situation, the specific goal is to collect the people and have interaction with one and all to know the problem so that solution could be derived.

Measurable: the Measurable goal is the specific thing that is made as the target. The goal of the manager is to initiate and enhance the unity among the staff in one month and solving the personality problem and performance within the specified time to prove oneself as the best leader.

Achievable: The goals that are constructed should not be vague and reality as to be attached to it. The promissory words do not make any sense if such are not even followed. The objective should be to improving the trait of the person and making him involved in the company. Raising the employee’s position to the director and fulfil the desires and connecting the minds of people. It is not a solution as this might demotivate other members and situation may get worse.

Relevant: The goal should be relevant to the organisational problem and it must not divert from the topic. The issue is to solve the performance problem of the person and increase the personality to enhance the performance of the employees. An adequate solution must be derived to resolve the issue and emphasis should be paid so that moral values are not lost.

Time-bound: For every problem, there is a need to set a time limit because entire time cannot be devoted to the single problem. Thus only specific concentration for a particular time is given to concentrated problem only in order to increase the performance of the individual and making him comfortable within the environment so that further development of the organisation and the employees may take place.

Conclusion

 Hence, it could be concluded from the entire report that there are certain people comprising of divergent attitudes and personality traits which affect the performance of the person. There are people with the introvert nature who feel shy to share their knowledge and do not easily get connected to other people or the organisation. For that, the personality analysis has to be made. In performance analysis initially, the actual situation must be understood thoroughly and afterwards analysing of the situation will take place so that improvising areas could be identified. Performance diagnostic is used to study the wheel of motivation for the person. When the analysis has been done thereafter action plan is conducted where FFOCR feedback was constructed to completely learn about the situation. The study of the performance analysis could be better evaluated on understanding the actions as per the wheel of motivation. The areas of problems are identified an appropriate theory of motivation should be applied to get better results. Negative motivation should be avoided because it might cause the harassment and tension on the mind of the person and which may result in depression or even worse situation. Top management should pay attention to such people in order to involve them because the nature of every person is different from the other. Lastly, the improvisation has been made followed by the leadership goals and adopting the SMART technique to appropriately solve the issue of the person and achieve the organisational goal which is fixed and focused.

References

Awadh, Alharbi Mohammad, and Mohammed Saad Alyahya. "Impact of organizational culture on employee performance." International Review of Management and Business Research 2, no. 1 (2013): 168.

Aylin Ates, Patrizia Garengo, Paola Cocca, and Umit Bititci. "The development of SME managerial practice for effective performance management." Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 20, no. 1 (2013): 28-54.

Bain & company, “Performance improvement diagnostic”, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.bain.com/consulting-services/performance-improvement/performance-improvement-diagnostic.aspx.

Besl, Alli. “Introversion vs. extraversion and job performance”, Select International, 2017, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.selectinternational.com/blog/introversion-vs.-extraversion-and-job-performance.

 Bilanich, Bud, “ Solving the 11 most common performance problems”, Contracting Business, August 1, 2006, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.contractingbusiness.com/hvacrdb/solving-11-most-common-performance-problems.

Dausend, Linda “SMART goals for leaders managers”, Flash Point Leadership Consulting, March 23, 2017, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://blog.flashpointleadership.com/what-if-leadership-was-a-smart-goal.

Exponential programs, “Top 5 Responsibilities of a manager”, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://www.exponentialprograms.com/professional/blog/top-5-responsibilities-of-a-manager/.

Hills, Jan, “The role of feedback in performance management - the conditions for success”, HRZone, November 17, 2016, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://www.hrzone.com/perform/people/the-role-of-feedback-in-performance-management-the-conditions-for-success.

Jensen, Jaclyn M., Pankaj C. Patel, and Jake G. Messersmith. "High-performance work systems and job control: Consequences for anxiety, role overload, and turnover intentions." Journal of Management 39, no. 6 (2013): 1699-1724.

Jiang, Kaifeng, David P. Lepak, Jia Hu, and Judith C. Baer. "How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms." Academy of Management Journal 55, no. 6 (2012): 1264-1294.

Karl, Bryson “Performance management: 5 solutions to challenges we all face”, BambooHR, September 2016, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/performance-management-5-solutions-challenges-face.

Lifelong achievement, “The Wheel”, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://www.lifelongachievement.com/the-wheel-i7/.

Lin, Raz, Sarit Kraus, and Yaniv Mazliah. "Training with automated agents improves people's behaviour in negotiation and coordination tasks." Decision Support Systems 60 (2014): 1-9.

Mackay, Tarina, “Motivation and engagement”, Wordpress, October 21, 2014, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://tarinamackay.wordpress.com/.

Michie, Susan, Lou Atkins, and Robert West. "The behaviour change wheel: a guide to designing interventions." Needed: physician leaders 26 (2014).

Pierce, W. David, and Carl D. Cheney. Behavior analysis and learning. Psychology Press, London, 2013. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zYF_AAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=analysing+peoples+behaviour&ots=K6m2oEeNDg&sig=s6Bpx0JMdWzWKrZPCy7z9e_e39A#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Schiffer, Eric, “Must-know facts for better business performance”, Forbes, January 19, 2015, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericschiffer/2015/01/19/12-must-know-facts-of-performance-in-business/#2d4c8ade797d.

Sullivan, John, “The top 30 most common (and critical) interview problems”, Talent Management and HR, February 8, 2012, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.tlnt.com/the-top-30-most-common-and-critical-interview-problems/.

Trinka, James A., “Action plan to achieve breakthrough improvement in employee productivity and leadership effectiveness”, Gov Leaders, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://govleaders.org/action-plan.htm.

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[1] Awadh, Alharbi Mohammad, and Mohammed Saad Alyahya. "Impact of organizational culture on employee performance." International Review of Management and Business Research 2, no. 1 (2013): 168.

[2] Bruno Vinel, “5 challenges with organisational and employee performance, LinkedIN, Septe,ber 29, 2015, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-challenges-organisational-employee-performance-bruno-vinel.

[3] Alli Besl, “Introversion vs. extraversion and job performance”, Select International, 2017, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.selectinternational.com/blog/introversion-vs.-extraversion-and-job-performance.

[4] W. David Pierce, and Carl D. Cheney. Behavior analysis and learning ( Psychology Press, London, 2013). https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zYF_AAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=analysing+peoples+behaviour&ots=K6m2oEeNDg&sig=s6Bpx0JMdWzWKrZPCy7z9e_e39A#v=onepage&q&f=false

[5]  Raz Lin, Sarit Kraus, and Yaniv Mazliah. "Training with automated agents improves people's behavior in negotiation and coordination tasks." Decision Support Systems 60 (2014): 3

[6]“Performance improvement diagnostic”, Bain & company, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.bain.com/consulting-services/performance-improvement/performance-improvement-diagnostic.aspx.

[7] John Sullivan, “The top 30 most common (and critical) interview problems”, Talent Management and HR, February 8, 2012, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.tlnt.com/the-top-30-most-common-and-critical-interview-problems/.

[8] James A. Trinka, “Action plan to achieve breakthrough improvement in employee productivity and leadership effectiveness”, Gov Leaders, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://govleaders.org/action-plan.htm.

[9] Jan Hills, “The role of feedback in performance management- the conditions for success”, HRZone, November 17, 2016, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://www.hrzone.com/perform/people/the-role-of-feedback-in-performance-management-the-conditions-for-success.

[10] Eric Schiffer, “Must-know facts for better business performance”, Forbes, January 19, 2015, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericschiffer/2015/01/19/12-must-know-facts-of-performance-in-business/#2d4c8ade797d.

[11] Kaifeng Jiang, David P. Lepak, Jia Hu, and Judith C. Baer. "How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms." Academy of management Journal 55, no. 6 (2012): 1265.

[12] Jaclyn M. Jensen, Pankaj C. Patel, and Jake G. Messersmith. "High-performance work systems and job control: Consequences for anxiety, role overload, and turnover intentions." Journal of Management 39, no. 6 (2013): 1700.

[13] Aylin Ates, Patrizia Garengo, Paola Cocca, and Umit Bititci. "The development of SME managerial practice for effective performance management." Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 20, no. 1 (2013): 30.

[14] “The Wheel”, Lifelong achievement, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://www.lifelongachievement.com/the-wheel-i7/.

[15] Susan Michie, Lou Atkins, and Robert West. "The behaviour change wheel: a guide to designing interventions." Needed: physician leaders 26 (2014).

[16] Tarina Mackay, “Motivation and engagement”, Wordpress, October 21, 2014, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://tarinamackay.wordpress.com/.

[17] “Top 5 Responsibilities of a manager”, Exponential programs, accessed on September 16, 2017, https://www.exponentialprograms.com/professional/blog/top-5-responsibilities-of-a-manager/.

[18] Bryson Karl, “Performance management: 5 solutions to challenges we all face”, BambooHR, September, 2016, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/performance-management-5-solutions-challenges-face.

[19] Bud Bilanich, “ Solving the 11 most common pereformance problems”, Contracting Business, August 1, 2006, accessed on September 15, 2017, https://www.contractingbusiness.com/hvacrdb/solving-11-most-common-performance-problems.

[20] Linda Dausend, “SMART goals for leaders managers”, Flash Point Leadership Consulting, March 23, 2017, accessed on September 16 2017, https://blog.flashpointleadership.com/what-if-leadership-was-a-smart-goal.