Performance management and Organizational structure

Introduction

IOne of the challenges faced during my contribution for developing a business plan is uncertainty in my own ideas. While doubt is widely experienced by most first time entrepreneurs on whether their ideas are good and acceptable or bad, I had to learn to overcome uncertainty by building my confidence, speaking up and finding ways to improve other members ideas. The coffee box having adopted some of my ideas in creating the business plan, this experience has taught me the value of being bold, a virtue I look to input in my future entrepreneurial adventures and team contributions. Organizational structure and performance management are key factors that must be put in place to ensure good performance of an organization or business, this essay explore the theoretical underpinning and organizational application of these two at the coffee box, a monthly coffee subscription service that enables offers customers a wide range of coffee and other items on a monthly basis. .

Performance management

Performance management is a systematic and on-going process of managing and monitoring workers performance against set parameters in order to establish if organisations objectives have been met. Performance management involves identifying, measuring and developing performance strategies through communication between a supervisor and employees in order to define organisation expectations, policies, and strategy of the employee in achieving organisation goals. While performance management is aimed at benefiting the organisation it can only be achieved when the employee is satisfied in their line of work through formal and informal communication and feedback. Over the years, performance management has shifted from paper communication to less formal feedback mechanism focused more on coaching and training. To establish effectiveness in performance management and accountability, other elements of the organisation have to be established, these elements include; Goal setting; goal setting is an element of performance management that involves setting objectives and timelines in which they are achieved. It is the measurement criteria against which employee’s success or failure thereof is evaluated against their performance in alignment to organisation goals. Different goals may be set to attain different objectives within the organisation. These goals are; job description goals- these are goals that emphasize on job description and duties of employees indefinitely unless changed. In the relation to Hiltons, these goals may be customer service and financial target goals (Bipp & Kleingeld, 2011). Project related goals- these are goals set in order to achieve specific project objectives. These goals are not constant and may change regularly in a year and last as long as the period a project continues or new project are adapted. Behavioural goals; these are goals that form the culture of an organisation and mostly emphasize on how things are done rather than what should be done. While behavioural goals aren’t directly tied to an outcome, they are things employees do to improve or close down on an outcome. Behavioural goals make provisions for personal behaviour and how workers relate to their peers, compatibility and attitude in the work environment. They may further be divided in to macro and micro goals. The final type of goal is stretch goals which are ambitious goals aimed at achieving results beyond current observable or experienced output. These goals are aimed to improve an organisations overall performance and competition (Chen & Chu, 2011). Management Involvement- managers play an important role in achievement of company goals. While a majority of work relies on employees direct input, managers are entitled with creating organisation goals and targets, they are also responsible for training and coaching a majority of the workforce. Managers are also responsible for observing and recognising excellent performers within the organisation, providing feedback on their performance against set objectives and rewarding positive performance. Active performance of managers reflects on the general performance of employees (Balmer & Thomson, 2009). Learning and Development- Performance management cannot be achieved without proper investment into the workforce by an organisation. In order to equip their workforce with knowledge and skills, an organisation needs to invest in training and quality education of staff. Learning and development may be individual but in order to achieve high performance, these activities should be done in relation to organisation goals (Vnoučková, 2013). Feedback and Coaching- in order to establish performance rate, goals need to be measured against output. Feedback from managers and supervisors should be made regular and timely in order to give employees time to improve on their general performance. Feedback main be provided in terms of communicating what has been done, what has been achieved so far and what still needs improvement. Feedback also includes teaching the workforce on how to personally evaluate their performance and set individual goals so as to reduce time on supervision but achieve set goals (Feldhoff et al., 2014). On-going Conversations - performance management may involve a combined system where all the four components are brought together within the organisation. The component; goals, management, learning and feedback can all be applied at ones through open discussions in order to achieve organisation targets. While individual components can be applied at respective times, this combined system ensures improvement of performance through contribution of different individual’s within the organisation. It encourages creativity and improves work relations through openness and sharing (Berry et al., 2009).

Performance management theories

While there is no single worldwide accepted performance management theory, there are three main theories organisations can select from; these theories are Social cognitive theory, goal theory, and control theory. Social cognitive theory- this model explores the relation between behaviour, cognitive abilities and environment events as determinants in relation to an individual’s performance in an organisation. This theory makes assumptions in that; this model assumes that a workforce can learn through observation of other individual’s actions hence acquire knowledge and influence change of behaviour which would influence their overall performance in the organisation. The second assumption is that learning does not occur immediately but could be gradual over a period of time despite immediate observation (Bandura, 2009). The third assumption is that and people set goals individually and drive behaviour change towards achieving the set objectives, the fourth assumption is that individuals regulate and manage their behaviour throughout the learning process. In an organisation this is important in measuring an individual’s personal performance and from what he has learned to what he has adapted and regulated. The final assumption states that rewards or punishment has a direct and indirect impact in the outcome of an individual’s learning and behaviour. The short coming of social cognitive theory is that it does not put into consideration other factors that influence an individual’s performance it is also directly immeasurable and solely relies on reference or comparison between two individuals (Bandura, 2009). Goal theory – Edwin Locke researched and developed the theory that individuals who have set challenging specific goals perform better that individuals who set individual general and simpler goals. This model provides five principles on goal setting such as; setting clear highly defined goals which are measurable within a specified timeline. The second principle is challenge which states that the goal must have a reasonable level of difficulty so as to motivate an individual by creating challenge (Alanazi et al., 2013). The third Principe is that an individual must make an intentional effort towards meeting the set goal and build challenge. The fourth principle is information the goal setter must build feedback by creating a mechanism to receive information on their performance and general progress. The final principle is time should be properly aligned with the tasks complexity in that an individual should give themselves enough and realistic time to achieve the set goals. The major drawback in this theory is that set goals could be too complex hence lead to unethical behaviour in order to achieve. The theory also focuses on an individual’s effort only and doesn’t make provisions for external factors (Alanazi et al., 2013). Control theory- this theory states that an individual’s internal controls and external controls prevent an individual from diverting on the set goals. These control systems could either be centralise or decentralise. Centralised controls are bureaucratic measures put in place in organisation by the organisations administration. Decentralised controls on the other have are forces individuals don’t have much influence over such as commodity prices and competition from similar organisations. This theory stresses that weak social controls result in eccentric behaviour while stronger social controls make individuals conform to societal requirements. While this theory focuses on society controls to control individuals, it does not consider impulsive behaviour as a means of deviation (Doyle et al., 2013).

Organisational application of performance management at the coffee box

In order to evaluate performance, information has to be collected and measured against set goals and objectives. While objectives and goals of the coffee box are to ensure customer satisfaction and maximise profits responsibly, this is only achievable through clear communication of set goals. The key components of performance management are implemented by the organisation as follows; Communication- at the start of every day, employees and supervisors go over their daily expectation of the day. Duties are assigned to various individuals and daily goals communicated by the supervisors. This direct communication does not only create a constant reminder of what they are expected to do as individuals but also provide communication on project goals or stretch goals at that particular time. Communication at the start of the day state and specify expected results at the end of the day, behaviour and attitude of workers towards clients and fellow employees are highlighted on where improvement need to be done and in comparison to their previous performance. Execution- constant communication during work hours in encouraged between employees and supervisors who are also stakeholders in the business. Documentation of performance in terms of hours and achievements and is done by the department supervisor so as to measure daily performance but also attend to emerging issues arising from the daily activities that may hinder employees performance. Updates on how far employees have gone to achieve their daily goals is also done. Constant feedback or reinforcement on performance is done so as to achieve daily targets and handle arising emergencies and challenges effectively. Assessment of performance- at the end of the shift, employee’s evaluation is done by supervisors through provided assessment forms which staffs fill. Evaluation resources do not only enable individuals assess their performance but also enables the corporation better their services in general and identify well performing staff. Assessment vary from individual, supervisors, customer and managerial. The difference in assessment levels creates measurement of achievement of different goals at the coffee box. Feedback- while communication channels among supervisors and staff at the coffee box is open, immediate feedback may not be a guarantee due to nature of decision making which involves all stakeholders and the CEO. General findings on daily performance are communicated at the start of the next day so as to enable employees identify their short comings from the previous shift.

Organisational structure

Organizational structure provides the basis under which activities are divided, allocated, coordinated and supervised in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives, it sates the standard guidelines and procedures under which organizations are undertaken.in order to understand organizational structures, the following theories details on it as follows; .

Theories of organizational structures

Classical theory; the classical theory depicts an organization as a machinery object and the human resource available in it as the components making the machine functional, this theory states that in order to make the organization more productive, human resource has to be made proficient as well through specialization of their input and proper coordination (Lam., 2011). Neo-classical theory; while classical theory focuses on a formal approach of organisational structures, neo-classical theory incorporates behavioural approaches and the influence of human relations on productivity of and organisation (Estola, 2013). Modern organisational theory; this theory integrates classical theory and neo-classical theory. It views an organisation as a dynamic system that is prone to changes in its external and internal structure. It focuses on probability of success and study of patterns through data collection as a way to maximise productivity in an organisation (Craib, 2015). .

Organisational application of organisational structures at the coffee box

The coffee box applies neo-classical theory in its organisational structure in that despite clear set objectives of the organisation, it applies a decentralised system of management whereby each shareholder is responsible for a specific department and decision making is only undertaken through independent input and consideration of the shareholders ideas during meetings. While all shareholders are responsible for specific departments, they all report to the CEO. With business ideas being developed and put into existence every day, creativity is my entrepreneurial skill. With the first step of every business development being coming up with a business idea, I look forward to creatively improving on existing business ideas and identifying business gaps because I observe that most businesses are the same in many ways and just brands differ. Owing to the constantly changing world, building unconventional ideas would satisfy this constantly changing need; that is why my first step to entrepreneurship is creativit .

Conclusion

The coffee box lacks a unified approach in its management. While input from shareholders is highly respected and undertaken to decide on the businesses goals and daily activities; input from the rest of the employees may not necessarily be considered. This approach may make

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