Work Performance

Measurement of Work Performance Measurement of Work Performance

Performance is the end result of an activity . Managers at all organizations are concerned about the work performance which is the end product of work processes and activities . Organization 's performance goals can only be achieved through its employees . An effective performance measurement and management system aligns individual and teamwork behaviors to the organization 's business strategies , goals , and values . For an organization to achieve its goals , it is important that each employee understands individual roles and responsibilities that are integrated to achieve

organizational goals

There must be continuous dialogue between leaders and employees to set performance expectations , monitor progress , and evaluate results Combined effort of the leader and staff to plan , measure and analyze and manage performance enable them to successfully measure and account for work performance

Tools and Techniques to Measure Work Performance

The most frequently used performance measures are

Organizational Productivity

Organizational Effectiveness

Industry Ranking

Productivity is the ratio between the level of input and output . It is important for managers to increase the productivity level to increase work performance . The same level of input should produce a higher level of output or a lower level of input should be used to produce the same level of output (Robbins , Coulter 2005

To measure work performance it should be seen how the efficiently the resources including land , capital and especially labor is being utilized in both service and manufacturing firms

The managers should also check how appropriate the goals of the organization are and how effectively is working being done to achieve those . E .g . Customers , suppliers , shareholders each have their own goals and interests . But at the end of the day the manager has to see how well the overall goals are being met

Comparing the work performance against previous way of work done in the same firm or against the industry standard can help managers measure work performance . It is an eye opener for the managers . Managers need appropriate tools to monitor and measure work performance at organizations

Economic Value Added tool is a financial tool that measure work performance by measuring corporate and divisional performance . This is calculated by subtracting the after tax operating profit from the annual cost of capital . It focuses manager 's attention on earning a rate of return that is over and above that of the cost of capital

Companies like Hewlett-Packard and Equifax make use of this (Heizer Render 1996 ,

.457

Balanced scorecard is another tool that measures work performance by focusing on four major areas that is financial , customer , internal processes and people /innovation /growth assets . The basic idea is for managers to set goals in each of these areas and then compare if the goals are being met . The Ontario Hospital Association in Canada developed a scorecard for 89 hospitals to evaluate their work performance

Bench marking is usually done to compare the organization 's work performance with the best practices among competitors . It is the standard of excellence...