It is impossible to make an organization function correctly if there is no list of the fundamental company values. In the period of the Talent Management changes (2003-2008), provided by the senior director of Maersk Group’s HR department and the head of HR, a significant meaning was attached to implementing performance measurement standards (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). Thus, the purpose of this paper is to discuss various aspects of the performance management process, apply the knowledge to establish an appraisal for the Maersk Customer Service, and assume which performance rating scale can be the most advantaging.
Firstly, the performance management system aims to create an incredibly stimulating environment to expose employees’ talents. In order to organize the ststaffvaluation logically, the six-step approach has been invented. Beginning with setting goals to align with a higher level, the primary and concluding influence is exerted by the HRM’s. They are responsible for decision-making and answer the questions of whether an individual should be promoted, paid more, or vice versa. Consequently, they account for administrative decisions rather than for developmental purposes.
Secondly, the company’s leaders spread the organization’s cultural values, describing behavioral expectations and standards toward the employees. The necessary part is to align an individual’s goals with the organization’s strategic plan because it immediately affects either the person’s key performance indicator or the company’s sales and success. In fact, there are different ways of how to ensure such a process. Primarily, HRM should be specific in the target setting, distributing the tasks fairly to each department. For instance, in 2008, Bill Allen at the Maersk’s head of Group HR assisted in changing the HR function to strategic instead of administrative (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). He used delegation as a promising tool to assign operational responsibilities to different business unit levels. Then, HRM should give real feedback to the staff and do not treat performance reviews as an unnecessary formality. Such monitoring needs to happen regularly. In addition, to guarantee the performance management process corresponds to the strategy plan, diverse colleagues should measure the employees’ performance: supervisors, peers, or even themselves.
There are three substantial approaches to determine performance in an evaluation form. The first one is the trait method, which allows managers to examine employees’ certain characteristics in correlation with the job. In case when the evaluation appraise is designed carefully, the trait method may be mainly unbiased and objective. It includes the graphic rating scale method, mixed-standard scale method, forced-choice method, essay, etc. For example, the trait method could be applicable in Maersk’s customer service, while a person is rated on traits such as politeness and attentiveness toward the customer (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). However, this method sometimes could be unprecise as the traits tend to be vague and subjective.
The second method is the behavioral method, and it specifically illustrates and enumerates the exhibited actions within a specific job. In other words, the managers track emplemavioral conformity to the company’s rules. The behavioral method includes the critical incident method, the behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS), the behavioral checklist method, and behavior observation scale (BOS) and others. For instance, a person is rated on criteria as “giving a correct greeting to a client via the phone” and so forth.
The third method is the results-based one, and it concentrates on the employees’ accomplishments. According to this approach, achievements define people’s evaluation outcomes. Looking at the sales figures and production output, the objectiveness is transparent despite the previous two performance appraisal systems (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013). Besides counting productivity, there also exists management by objectives. In other words, employee and a supervisor discuss and make an agreement that the performance rate will be based on gaining the goals set mutually. Thus, it is possible to consider the company’s benefit and an individual’s needs. Perhaps, such a method is the most applicable to the sales department.
Identifying the best-suited appraisal for the Maersk Customer Service, one should draw attention to Maersk’s leadership development in the period of Talent Management (2008-2012). Bill Allen has developed the system which divides the staff into “high performers (30%), successful (60%), and less successful (10%)” (Groysberg & Abbott, 2013, p. 6). Therefore, the best and influential appraisal could be the personal scorecard’s record or any other results-based method. Maersk’s culture propagandizes that the company’s plan becomes everyone’s job, so the distribution in a cascading way (from departmental to individual goals) will impact every individual. It will empower staff to improve and provide the feedback grounded on measures.
In conclusion, it is essential to emphasize that all the listed above methods’ pros and cons were thoroughly observed. The majority of HR managers maintain that the method such an essay writing is generally time-consuming even though it provides more detailed information about the staff. Backward, tick-oriented evaluation, such as a mixed-standard scale, is less informative. Moreover, the frequency plays a significant role in performance rating scales accuracy. Thus, the performance management process is the complex system, which should be prudently organized and followed step by step to push forward the organization.
Reference
Groysberg, B. & Abbott, S. L. (2013). AP Møller-Maersk group: Evaluating strategic talent management initiatives. Harvard Business Publishing.