Performance Management Assessment

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Situation Description:
The organization I am familiar with makes plastic molded toys. It is located in Minneapolis, it has 143 employees. There are thirty marketing/sales employees, the rest are managers, administration staff, and production employees. The production process is done by teams of two types, the plastic molding teams and the finishing teams. The background and history of the company is that before 2011, the company produced plastic molded toys using forecasts and production plans which were based on historical data. The result was large unsold inventory that pushed up the costs. The situation changed in 2011 when the company started using point of sales information to identify the current trends in the market and adapting the production to changes in market trends. This has resulted in improved profits and growth of the company. The current performance management system is based on employee evaluation by the supervisor. The HR sends a performance evaluation form to each supervisor which has the name and designation of the employee being evaluated. The supervisor must return the completed form by the deadline mentioned on the form. The criteria on the form are different for sales and production employees. During most years, the criteria are repeated so the employees and supervisors know the factors that will be used for evaluating employees. For example, the criteria for production staff were productivity, contribution to the team, efforts at cost reduction, waste reduction, and flexibility to changes. These criteria are considered adequate for production staff. The supervisor has to rate the employee on a five point scale from five-excellent to one-inadequate. The performance management score is used for annual increments, promotions, and bonus. There are different criteria for sales/marketing staff and the forms are sent to the Sales Manager for distribution to supervisors/team leaders.

Performance Management System Diagnosis:
We use the 6 key questions for effective performance management: First, can employees describe their jobs? No, in my company there is team based structure and each employee is required to take up any task assigned to the team. For example, in a production team for making molded plastic toys, I have seen team members who are experts in making iron castings for plastic molding, helping with wooden frame-making. Every team member may do any task assigned to the team. Such teams are required because production teams must respond fast to market changes.

Second, do employees understand and have access to what they're expected to know? Yes, in my company sharing of information is very important. The market trend information is shared with designers and all production teams. The designs are shared with all team members so that each helps in putting in place the changes required in production. In my company there is not gap between what the team leaders expect the team members to know and what the team members actually know. The employees have critical knowledge (1).

Third, do leaders and employees understand the most critical processes of their jobs? Yes, in my company the critical process is designing, making wooden frames based on designs, making iron casts from the frames, and using the casts to produce toy molds. There are no multi-shifts in my company and every team member knows and understands the process in its entirety.

Fourth, which qualities and skills do employees need to do the job? Initially, the teams in the company are formed based on the skills and abilities of employees. For example in the plastic molding team, there is one specialist wooden frame-maker, there is another person who has experience in iron-casting, and a third person who is an expert in injection molding process. However, the culture of the organization is such that team members join in and do the task at hand with their utmost effort. For example, when a design is received the injection molding expert joins in with the wooden frame making. Similarly, when the injecting molding process is on, the frame maker will pour plastic pellets in the molding machine.

Fifth, do employees and their leaders ...