Performance Techniques Associate Business Employees

Question: Discuss about the Performance Techniques for Associate Business Employees. Answer: Introduction Performance of the employees that are associated with a particular project is the key to the success of the same. There are a number of techniques that are available in order to measure the performance during and after the implementation are done. These techniques are a generalized criterion and can be applied across any industry and project domain. The measurement of the performance is an effective tool to determine the efficiency of the employees and their learning abilities as well. The report covers reflection as a performance technique to suggest the approach to follow during performance measurement and covers the strategy, need and the process to perform the same. Project Overview The project in which the reflection technique is applied to understand and measure the performance of the employees is the project on web site development for a financial firm by the organization XYZ. The aim of the project was to design, develop and implement a web portal in the form of a web site for a firm named ABC and deliver the same as per the schedule and under the defined budget. Project Resources There were 6 resources that were included in the project internal team which are as listed below. Project Manager Business Analyst System Developer Test Engineer Networking Engineer Database Administrator Reflection Performance Technique Reflection is a mechanism that determines the performance of the employees through a set of processes that combines the methods, events and procedures to form a record of the learning activities after the project or up to a certain stage in the project. These set of learning activities present the knowledge acquired by the resource and the same aids in the improvement of the performance. This technique may come up with a number of results associated with the practices followed by the employee during the project life cycle and would reflect the positives and negatives associated with the same (Stefano, 2016). Need of Reflection The process of reflection applied in the project of web site development would allow the employees and the managers to understand the performance of self and the team as well. Knowledge is an important element and the basic aim of an employee is to gain more and more of knowledge and skills during the project timeline. Also, the ability to implement the acquired knowledge correctly is also equally important. Reflection process allows the integration of the knowledge and the adaptation of the same in the routine processes. This would in turn make the way for the following activities. It would speed up the improvement process associated with that of the performance It would allow the resources to improve the team spirit and relations with the team members It would enable the management units and the individual team members to enhance their learning It would enable the management units and the individual team members to find solutions to the outstanding issues Reflection process same would enable the management units and the individual team members to speed up the processes associated with the resolution of the conflicts and disputes (Nobel, 2014) There are often scenarios wherein performance measurement and reflection as a tool for the same is not considered as a significant activity during the project life cycle. There are a number of drawbacks and disadvantages that result out of the same and it also showcases the need of the reflection activity to be executed. With the absence of reflection as a tool to determine the performance, state of learning and acquired knowledge, the employees follow the path laid out by the experts and the past references. It often leads to a number of traps which may cause some of the major reasons of failure. With the non-appearance of reflection as an instrument to decide the execution, condition of learning and obtained information, the workers take after the way laid out by the specialists and the past references. It often leads to the development of the emotion of anger and frustration among the employees. There is also increased level of dependency that has been observed among the employees and the project teams that do not reflect to determine their performance. The same can be negative for the success of the project. The conflicts and issues remain unsolved and untouched and lay dormant which may appear at one point of time and may cause some severe devastation (Smith and Eaton, 2016). Reflection Process Interaction and Reaction The first process through which the reflection activity can be carried out is the interaction and reaction process. It will include the processes of interacting with the team members individually and as a group to understand their approach, level of learning along with the key activities performed by them in the course of the project. The context of the interactive activities will be noted down in every step and will then be consolidated to come up with a substantial outcome. The reaction of the employees will also be determined through some of the sample sessions and the rounds of questions and answers. There would also be interaction and reaction rounds that will be executed in order to understand the level of knowledge and learning among the employees (Colbert, 2016). Strategic Narrative It is the reflection process that is carried out by the managers or the leaders and the strategy of the company is narrated in the form of past, present and future. This process of reflection has a number of advantages which are as enlisted below. The process would bring forward the required changes with respect to the strategies and policies that are followed in a XYZ organization. It would enable the leaders and senior managers to implement the required changes in the architecture without disrespecting the work done by the leaders in the past. The process would allow a constructive interaction between the leaders and the team members. It would also bring the leaders closer to the personal viewpoint of the resources and thus enables them to implement the changes in better fashion. There are also a lot many other stakeholders that are involved in the strategy making and they are included in the narrative process to understand their efforts and views. Project Sponsor, project owner, subject matter experts and likewise would be included as per this step. The company values are strengthened with this process The process allows the participants, that is, the employees to retain the information and the points discussed for a longer period of time. Reflective Constants It is always advisable to base any process on certain pre-defined methods and elements. This process in the reflection procedure focuses upon the constants that are determined to understand and measure the performance of the employees. These constants are kept as the baseline and the specific results associated with the particular employees are then evaluated on the basis of the constants. The values of these elements may vary from one organization to the other organization. Practitioner Capability Capability of an employee in an organization is a mix of knowledge, skills and the ability to implement the same. This process of the reflection determines these capabilities of an employee by studying the individual competence and capability. The ability to learn along with the ability to demonstrate the same is determined with the process of reflection in the process of performance measurement (Brooke, 2016). Knowing-in-action This process of reflection refers to the process to think, analyze and reflect the steps that are associated with the carrying out of a particular activity. It is commonplace when something is turning out badly or the employees are apprehensive about something new or strange and can't help pondering it, yet specialists once in a while to formalize the procedure. This process would be carried out once the development and implementation of the web site would be completed (Munby, 2016). Assessment Methods Maturity Modeling There are a number of methods that are available to assess the information and results that are collected through the processes of reflection that are specified above. The next step is to assess the same to come up with the results or statistics associated with the same to understand some key areas and the required changes as well. One such tool for assessment is the maturity model. It is a model that helps the leaders, managers and the related resources to determine the effectiveness of the team and individual team members in a particular task, activity or project. On the basis of these results, it aids in determining the steps that must be acquired for the improvement of the performance. These can prove to be extremely helpful if executed correctly and accurately. These have been structured in a series of steps or levels associated with the effectiveness. It is recommended to go from one level to the other while maintaining the order in order to improve the capability and make the required changes. The maturity of the organizations in terms of the definition of the policies, implementation of the policies, application of the methodologies and likewise is done by categorizing them in a number of different levels by the maturity model. This scheme helps in assessing the changes that are required to be made in the existing atmosphere (Aho, 2016). Level Description of the level Level 1 Ad Hoc There are no defined processes involved at this level and the same gives rise to a chaotic environment for the execution of the activities. There is a lot of work that is required to be done for bringing the changes and improvement for the entities at this level. Level 2 Repeatable At this level, there are basic controls and policies that are defined with respect to a particular organization and its entities but the coordination and consistency between the defined processes is usually missing for the entities that are marked at this level. Level 3 Defined At this level, the integration and definition of the controls and methodologies is present which enables the entities to achieve the specific as well as the generic goals. Also, the project specific descriptions, policies and methodologies are also defined at this level for the employees to follow and reflect. Level 4 Managed At this level, along with the definition of the required policies and standards, there are also systems present for the execution and implementation of the same. Level 5 Optimizing The organizations that qualify for this process pass successfully through all the levels that have been defined above to see the performance patterns that are present and are recorded over a defined period of time. Specific and generic goals that are associated with the project and the organization are achieved at this level. Once all the levels that have been defined above are set and passed, there are a certain steps that are followed to determine the performance of the associates with the help of the maturity model. A measurement scale is defined and set for the determination of the performance. For instance, the highest level that an organization may achieve as per the maturity model may be level 3 or 4. In such a case, the assessment guidelines will be formed on the basis of the scale that is set accordingly. XYZ organization is a level 3 organization and the scale would therefore be developed accordingly The next step is to decide upon the Key Result Areas (KRAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Key Result Areas (KRAs): These areas are also referred as the critical success factors and are the strategic factors that may be internal or external to the organization. It is these areas in which the strong positive results must be achieved and reflected. The key result areas in the project would include. Design aspects of the web site Usability of the code Ability to meet the deadlines Customer Feedback Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): KPIs are the high performance measures or metrics that is usually specific to a particular goal. It assists the leadership to understand and determine if the organization is moving in the direction of the progress or not. There is a questionnaire that is prepared and circulated to the team members and the leaders as well to fill and send back. The responses to the questions would then be assessed and evaluated. Ranking of the employees is done after this process is completed. It is based upon the combination of the five steps that have been described above and the employees are rated on the basis of their performance usually on the scale of 5 with 5 being the best performance level. A comparison is then made with the benchmark that is set and the same may vary from one organization to the other and may also have variance between the projects in the same organization in a certain cases. Affinity Diagrams The second method which may be used to use the reflection results for assessing the performance and measure the same are the affinity diagrams or tools. Affinity diagram refers to the graphical representation in the form of a diagram which is used for the organization of ideas and data that are associated with a particular organization. It is used to sort the ideas on the basis of the relationship that is reflected through the diagram. There is a process that is defined for the use of the affinity diagrams which is as described below. The information that is required to be assessed is first written down and recorded in the form of sticky notes. The opinions and ideas of all the team members are recorded in this steps and every participant is recommended to come up with at least five or more sticky notes. Once the process of recording the ideas on the sticky notes is completed, the same are put on a wall. The team members and the participants in the activity are then called one by one to take a look at the sticky notes present on the wall and come up with their opinions and the relationships that they could acquire by the same. The team members are also asked to sort and put the information and ideas present on the wall in to defined groups or themes on the basis of the relationship. The team members are also asked to write the titles for the group or their specific sticky notes (Hqontario, 2016). The affinity diagrams are very applicable in the process of reflection and performance measurement as these help in the understanding of the complex issues that are involved and the resolution of the same. It is monitored by the leaders to examine the ideas that are put up by the individual team members to understand their level of thinking and the learning experience along with the abilities such as decision making and problem solving. It has been used in the organization to determine the specific traits associated with the professional behavior of an employee. Conclusion Performance measurement of the employee is an important parameter that is required to be assessed accurately and correctly. The activities such as appraisals, promotions and likewise take place on the basis of the results of this activity only. If the correct results are not attained, then there may be incorrect judgments made by the managers and the same may negatively impact the productivity of the employees that give in their hundred percent in terms of performance. Reflection strategy and processes is an effective tool for the performance assessment and measurement. It is performance technique that is made up of a number of processes and events to determine the performance and learning abilities of the employees that are associated with the organization. This technique of performance measurement has a number of advantages as it motivates and encourages the employees to perform better and also brings forward the areas that they need to improve upon leading to the overall staff dev elopment for the organization. It also allows the leaders and managers to reward the employees correctly on the basis of their performance and the same leads to increase in the efficiency and creates and urge and zeal to perform even better. There are a few employees that perform extremely badly in spite of several attempts to improve the same. Such entities can be identified easily through this process and the under performers are then eliminated or made to go through extensive trainings for improvement. References Aho, M. (2016). A Capability Maturity Model for Corporate Performance Management An Empirical Study in Large Finnish Manufacturing Companies. [online] Available at: https://www.drmika.com/download/aho_-_a_capability_maturity_model_for_corporate_performance_management.pdf [Accessed 13 Oct. 2016]. Brooke, M. (2016). Developing the Reflective Practice Capabilities of Pre-Service Trainees in TESOL Through Online Means. [online] Available at: https://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/research/books/4th%20Symposium%20proceedings/8).%20Mark%20Brooke%2017-10-2014.pdf [Accessed 13 Oct. 2016]. Colbert, J. (2016). Defining and Using Key Performance Drivers by John Colbert - BeyeNETWORK. [online] B-eye-network.com. 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