Managing Non-Performers

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: June 7th, 2010

Introduction

MANAGING NON-PERFORMERSOrganizations focus mostly on managing high performers, probably as a risk mitigation measure.

After all the high-performers are considered as the drivers of business and their retention is a high priority for the organization.

This article, however, examines how to manage non-performers which may sometimes be 10-20% of your employee strength. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, Performance Management | 30 Comments »

Utilizing Employee Performance Appraisal Systems optimally?

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: May 24th, 2010

Introduction

are-organizations-utilizing-employee-performance-appraisal-systems-optimallyAn employee performance appraisal process runs a few times during the year. If designed appropriately, significantly more information can be captured and analyzed by organizations. This may require some modifications to the appraisal instrument such that it can be used for employee feedback, self development and studying the rating patterns of supervisors besides a host of other analytics.
What more can be done by organizations in utilizing this important process is a focus of this article.

What most organization currently do!

Employee performance appraisals are generally being used by most organizations to:

  • Evaluate employees contribution to the organization based on the goals assigned to them.
  • Determine employee ranking in terms of ‘Excellent performer’, ‘good performer’, ‘average performer’ and so on.
  • Know the current ratings of an employee in competencies and skills related to their job positions & identify development plans.
  • Capture information about training needs.
  • Finalize incentives such as performance bonus and annual increments.
  • Manage promotions and transfers.
  • Identify succession plans.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Employee Appraisals, HR Best Practices | 24 Comments »

Checklist for HR Effectiveness

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: May 21st, 2010

This survey is a self-help tool that can help you gauge the effectiveness of your HR function. The following steps need to be followed to use the tool.

  • Select the size of your organization.
  • Check the statements that you believe are applicable and leave the others blank.
  • Click on the ‘Calculate HR Effectiveness’ button at the bottom of the page. Results would be displayed immediately.

This survey does not record any data and is available when you Click here

Posted in:  HR Best Practices | 7 Comments »

I Interviewed and the Recruiter Won’t Get Back to Me

By: Tushar Bhatia
Date: May 14th, 2010

I recently read a great blog post by Suzanne Lucas at the URL I Interviewed and the Recruiter Won’t Get Back to Me

What Suzanne talks about is the suspense a candidate faces post an interview. In todays job market where jobs are scarce, each person wants to hear the results and then make choices or move forward. Not hearing anything adds to the negativity already present. In Suzanne’s words, there is nothing worse than a silent rejection and it can lead to a bad reputation for the recruiter and your company. Who knows, you may need to talk to the candidate again in the near future! Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices | 4 Comments »

Employee Training: A Management Perspective

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: May 10th, 2010

employee-training-a-management-perspectiveHow does the management view employee training and what do they expect from it? This was a question which intrigued us; we wanted to understand how senior employees looked at the training function from a strategic perspective.

This article captures our discussions with employees in Operations, Management, HR & Training departments. We wanted to understand what companies did post the employee evaluations, during succession planning, manpower planning, recruitment and training budget allocation process.

The rest of the article discusses our approach and insights gained. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources | 28 Comments »

Getting the Performance Appraisal Right

By: Tushar Bhatia
Date: April 19th, 2010

Most companies want to appraise their employees on a periodic basis and their Human Resources Getting the Performance Appraisal Rightdepartment is generally responsible to manage this process. I have often seen that the buy-in and participation from the Line managers is not as much as one would expect. Based on my meetings with a large number of HR managers, Line Managers & Senior Level Executives, I have come to realize that there is much more to a Performance Appraisal than what is truly understood by all stakeholders.
This article discusses how HR Managers can create a Performance Appraisal System that adds true value to the organization and becomes a useful and strategic employee development tool. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Employee Appraisals, HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources, Performance Management | 39 Comments »

Variable Incentive Plans: A Motivation & Retention tool

By: Tushar Bhatia
Date: April 6th, 2010

Variable Incentive PlansSince the past two years Variable Incentives did not work very well since most employees wanted the security of a high base-pay and meeting targets was largely unpredictable. The economy is on an up-swing again and employers & employees see new opportunities for increasing incomes.

Organizations want to curtail their fixed costs, hence salaries may not increase dramatically and immediately, but Variable Incentive Plans are coming to the fore to retain high-performers and encourage achievement.

As soon as we think of Variable Incentives, our thought goes to the employees in the sales department, but in my recent research I have found that each employee, irrespective of their department can be included in the company Variable Incentive Plan. Although the goals, their relative importance and the expected achievements may vary across job roles. The rest of this article explores the various categories of Incentives that can be applied to employees in different job roles and how HR can use this tool to motivate and retain employees across the entire company. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Compensation Planning, Employee Rewards, HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Payroll, Performance Management | 22 Comments »

ROI on automating the Payroll Function

By: Tushar Bhatia
Date: January 6th, 2010

It is difficult to anticipate the benefits of taking your payroll online. This was a challenge faced by one of our recent customers where the HR department found it challenging to estimate the ROI derived from implementation of an integrated Payroll software. Manual Payroll System

This article describes some of the benefits analyzed and presented to the senior management such that critical purchase dollars were allocated for the procurement.

The exercise which started as a small initiative actually helped me dive deeper into how a CFO or CEO perceive their human resources department and what are their expectations from an HR platform.

What I will share here is a small part of the study in how organizations are managing their human capital assets and the challenges being faced versus what are the best practices. In this, I will share what are the different metrics and how can organizations save costs in this critical area.

Elements of ROI

To determine the ROI, we had to first understand how the payroll process works in a manual environment. Our interactions revealed that there are three distinct steps in the successful processing of a payroll which are:

1. Data gathering
2. Processing
3. Disbursement and Reporting Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Compensation Planning, HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Payroll | 51 Comments »

What Web 2.0 and SaaS Software offer that Legacy ERPs do not provide?

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: October 27th, 2009

In the last few years, Web 2.0 and SaaS have captured a significant portion of the market led by legacy ERP systems. Even large enterprises (which only showered their love on ERPs) are now accepting the value of SaaS application over legacy ERPs.

A survey about SaaS conducted in August 2009 by Business Week Research Services found that four out of five managers and senior executives in North America are either interested in, or in the process of, adopting the Software as a Service approach to information technology. In fact, roughly a third of the 326 respondents’ companies have already fully or partially adopted the SaaS approach for at least one application. Read more … Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, HRMS (HRIS) | 7 Comments »

Employee termination or firing – HR’s role is critical!

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: September 22nd, 2009

Termination or firing employees at work is a not-so-liked but mandatory process at business. All businesses big or small at time terminate or fire employee because of business compulsions. However, the recent downturn has accelerated the employee termination largely due to financial and performance problems.Employee Termination Letter

Decision to fire an employee is never welcomed, however, there are some acceptable reasons for terminating an employee:

  • For poor performance at work or low productivity.
  • Being indisciplined or showing unethical behavior at work.
  • Not conforming to the company policy.

Above reasons are well accepted by other employees, business community and also by the legal framework of the country and states for growth of business.

Unfortunately, we also witness incidents of “unethical and unacceptable” terminations. These are neither acceptable by the communities nor by the legal framework. It is needless to mention that law has reprimanded such actions of the employers severely, whether they were intentional or unintentional.

It is unethical and legally unacceptable to terminate an employee -

  • On basis of sex, race, color, ethnicity;
  • On basis of medical disability;
  • On basis of religious faith;
  • On basis of pregnancy;
  • On base of age, etc.

The law says says that it is “illegal to discriminate in any aspect of employment, including hiring and firing”. Read more information on Unethical Discriminatory Practices.

Firing employees also exposes the organization to potential risks ranging from motivational to legal. Here are some of the common risks:
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, Human Resources, Performance Management | 3 Comments »

Importance of HR Data for a CEO

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: August 9th, 2009

I used to believe that HR Data was useful for HR Departments only since the department was responsible for employee development & management activities. Alternately, the CFO and CEO were only interested in metrics such as cost of hire, total compensation, cost for training etc which were more oriented towards financial goals and treated employee costs as a “cost-center”. My perception changed in a recent customer interaction.

It was during an EmpXtrack training session for one of our clients in India, when their HR Director asked that we provide extensive HR dashboards to their CEO. While these reports were available for the HR Managers, I wasn’t sure if it could benefit the CEO in any way and hence I resisted.

Since the HR Director seemed to be a nice & patient gentleman, I thought of arguing a little and also better understand why he believed that the CEO would want to look at all this data. There were over 25 crucial dashboards already available for the CEO and what could be the benefits of having access to 100s of additional reports. Many questions came in my mind like –

  • Will the CEO have time to go through the reports,
  • What will be the implication of training him in using these?
  • What if one of the reports doesn’t work correctly? (It does happen!!!)
  • Was the CEO from an HR background or believed in Jack Welch’s theory of HR Management etc. etc.

The HR Director was obliging and I got some deep insights into how CEOs think and work. This also helped me better understand the needs of an effective HR department – especially for a company that has global ambitions and aggressive growth plans.

CEO in a VC PresentationThe HR Director said that they are into a Knowledge Intensive Business Services and their core strength lies in the quality of their people. While meeting potential investors and even large customers, our CEO is often asked following questions:

1. What is it about your management team / people that makes them uniquely capable of executing on this business plan?

AND/OR

2. Do you have the Right Leadership?

AND/OR

3. Does the team have passion for the business? Have they done it before: experience; market experience; intimate contact with potential customers, partners, and suppliers; etc. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Employee Appraisals, HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources, Motivation, Performance Management | 2 Comments »

Strategic Benefits of Online Leave Management System

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: July 23rd, 2009

Leave Management is one of the most important HR processes, that consumes a small but significant portion of managerial time. While managers are usually overloaded with projects & hunger for resources, approving subordinates leaves is a tight rope walk. On one hand HR has to ensure compliance with leave policy & ensure availability of sufficient resources for business continuance; while on the other hand it has to improve employee satisfaction. Most of us have witnessed bitter manager-employee relation on issues of leaves. Thus, leave management becomes an important strategic task for the organization.

Strategic Value of Leave

While many companies may take the leave management “not so seriously”, research shows that poor leave management has had bad impact on business performance. It can impact project deliveries and employee morale negatively. Here are some of the critical business issues, that are directly related to leave management. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, HRMS (HRIS), Human Resources | 23 Comments »

Web 2.0 and SaaS for Human Resource Managers

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: July 6th, 2009

Recently we were asked by “People and Management” a popular HR magazine in India to explain Web 2.0 and SaaS to their readers who are mainly senior HR Folks, CEOs and other management profiles. Our thoughts were published in the magazine as an article titled “Web 2.0 and The SaaS Factor for HR“. Here is the summary of this article. (Full version PDF available at request.)

Web 2.0 EffectIf you visit Internet often, you will have, most certainly, come across the two buzz-words, Web 2.0 and SaaS. Let us discuss what these two actually are, how these are redefining the workplace and why as HR experts, should we be interested in these technology issues. It has to be borne in mind, however, that Web 2.0 and SaaS concepts apply to several domains. Here follows its application in HR Management.

The Web 2.0

This Web 2.0 is a specific type of design of a web site that allows “communication, and information sharing” amongst the owner of the website and visitors. Unlike previous forms of websites which only allowed one-Way Communication (apart from filling a contact us form), Web 2.0 websites allow visitors to communicate with the owners about the content and also enables them to communicate with each other.

The Free Factor

The most significant thing about Web 2.0 is that it is free. Unlike yesteryears, when you needed to pay to create a web site, Web 2.0 works on the concept of free utilization of this powerful resource. Now anyone who has access to Internet can create a blog or website or open an account for free. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources | 38 Comments »

Writing SMART Goals (also called KRAs) from Job Descriptions

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: April 14th, 2009

Many Managers (Including HR managers responsible for writing others Goals) often ask to help them onHow to Write Goals KRAs for Sales HR Finance Managers and Executives creating Goals (Key Responsibility Areas) for different designations, which they can use for setting Goals and/or conducting performance appraisals. While most of these managers are completely aware of their job profile, they find it difficult to shape it in a written form.

Knowing your Goals and writing them effectively is an all-together different game. To describe your Goals (KRAs) you need to have effective writing skills and sound knowledge of terminology. Unfortunately, some executives/ managers may not have a flair for writing and thus unable to write their Goals (KRAs). This is true for HR also. So here are some tips that will help Talent Junction users to write Goals (KRAs) from the Job Descriptions.

SMART: A Smart Goal (KRA) is one which is:

  1. Specific : Clearly stated what to do and how to do?
  2. Measurable: States how the performance for this goal will be measured.
  3. Achievable: It can be achieved by employees if they work really hard (You can draw this conclusion by talking to employee, manager or someone who has done this job successfully).
  4. Relevant: The KRA (Goal) is relevant to the job and the performance on this goal will improve productivity of the employee.
  5. Time Frame: States a time frame to achieve the goals.

How to WRITE SMART Goals (KRAs)?

Here are the steps how anyone can write Goals (KRAs) from Job Descriptions: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Goal Setting, HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources, Performance Management | 47 Comments »

Successfactors of a Leader – Remembering Names

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: December 10th, 2008

Sometimes back I wrote a post ‘What’s in the name? SuccessFactors for HR‘ where I mentioned the special skill of an HR manager who knows every employee by name. While I was reviewing a new feature in the software EmpXtrack, called Employee Hierarchy (similar to an Organization Chart), I recollected a motivating incident.

How to Win Friends and Influence PeopleIt was in the beginning of year 2002, I worked with a business process outsourcing organization. One day I was working quite late and trying to finish a training project before leaving for the day. The Managing Director, Mr. Aashish, just passed by and saw me. Five minutes back, he came back to my desk and said ,”Hi Gireesh, why are you working so late today?” The rest was a normal chit chat.

This incident left me highly motivated for many months to come. I was amazed by the fact that my Managing Director knew me by name, while I was merely a grass-root level executive, almost a nobody in the organization which was 2500 big. Sometimes later I discussed this incident with my manager and he revealed that on seeing me working so late, MD has called him just to ask my name.

Later on a friend’s recommendation I read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. In this book Dale Carnegie (Section “Six Ways to Make People Like You”)says, “Remember that a man’s Name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”, which highlights how important it is to remember and call people by name.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HRMS (HRIS), Human Resources | 1 Comment »

Ten Tips For Downsizing with Grace in Difficult Economic Times

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: November 26th, 2008

Difficult economic times call for tough calls, and, downsizing is one of the toughest calls that leadership and HR have to take. Though downsizing is the most hated task and nobody wants to do it; it is a necessary evil for saving a company from an economic collapse.

With little efforts organizations can minimize the effect of downsizing on economy and employees to a some extent. Here are 10 tips that one can consider while downsizing:

1. Do a manpower analysis before you Downsize!

Think twice, do you really need to vacate those seats and happy faces. Do not make subjective decisions!

Work and re-work on your manpower requirements – for today and for tomorrow. A good manpower planning software can assist you and your mangers to accurately assess your manpower requirements. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Performance Management | 17 Comments »

Top Ten Bad HR Practices

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: October 14th, 2008

Every body talks about the best HR practices, it is good, but merely bringing in the best cannot give the desired results if some Bad HR practices co-exist in the organization. So what are those Top Ten Bad HR practices which caution & alert an organization.

Bad HR Practices1. Employee has no access to personal data (over-confidentiality): Can’t view, can’t update personal information; has no access to his/ her Leave records, salary data, attendance record, training & promotion details. Not sure if the management’s decisions are based on correct information. This breeds suspicion since there is a perceived lack of transparency.. Impact is on employee-employer relationships.

2. Lack of clarity on Deliverables: Absence of a well-defined job-description leads to lack of accountability. Nether the employee nor his/ her immediate superior (boss) are able to define the job-deliverables. Result is the loss of focus & interest.

3. Absence of Goal-based performance: Employee is unaware of the goals to be achieved during the year. There are no quarterly targets and no process to track their completion. The organization carries out merely an end of the year postmortem of an employee’s performance. The unaccomplished tasks go unnoticed. Difficult to build a performance culture in such organizations. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, Human Resources, Motivation | 7 Comments »

Invite your CEO to wear HR’s Shoes

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: September 29th, 2008

I posted one of the Talent Junction blog posts to CiteHR.com titled “How HR Manager can improve Performance“. It was very well received by the HR community (Read by 2,879 HR professionals and 54 posted thank you comments and still continuing.) One of the HR professionals on reading this post sent a very interesting email seeking help. Here it is…An HR Executive

Hello Mr. Gireesh,

I have read your Article. It’s Brilliant. I am working in an Airlines Sector as an HR Executive and doing routine work (Salary Processing, PMS, Recruitment etc.). I want to increase my work area in HR so that I can also give my contribution in increasing the performance and lowering the attrition rate of my company.

My biggest problem is my own Management. As they do not want to have Policies, Procedures etc.). Could you please give me some suggestion so that I can improve the performance of my company?

This mail has two messages: One, the restlessness of a self-motivated HR Manager to improve the performance of his organization and two, her unsuccessful attempts to involve the management into development of Human Resources. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, Human Resources, Motivation | 5 Comments »

Leadership insights on “Budgeting for Growth”

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: September 26th, 2008

I was invited to a attend a seminar conducted by a local chapter of a management group. The conference Budgeting-for-growthwas titled “Budgeting for Growth” where experts and industry leaders were invited to share their views on optimizing budgets for Marketing, Infrastructure, Information Technology and HR. Since my interest is in the area of HR, the viewpoints of a cross-section of the audience on budgeting for HR are shared below:

CEO of a Logistics Company: “Our IT budgets are managed by the IT department. They spend it mostly on hardware & support besides investing marginally on software purchases. Our VP – HR is exploring on-line systems through which he would be able to explore employee profiles quickly. I have no budgets allocated for this.”

MD of a Publishing firm: “My CFO feels that we have limited budgets for HR automation, but we may hire two additional executives in the HR department to manage the increase in workload as we expand. Additionally, our CFO is worried about hiring an expensive IT resource to manage any new HR system. We are in a dilemma!” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources | 7 Comments »

What the hell has an “Axe” to do with Performance Management business?

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: September 23rd, 2008

Thomas, Karl, Steve, Martha, Matthew, Bill and so many others in the organization complained of work pressure, unachievable targets, peer pressure, time management and loss of work life balance. Training Need Identification Despite working hard, their performance was going down and impacting organization’s bottom line.

Who is to blame for poor performance of employees and business? Ask line managers; they blame it on HR for poor hiring. Ask HR; they blame it on line managers for poor management skills. Ask me, I would say, the Axe???? Now you will ask what (the hell) an Axe has to do in performance management business? Let me tell you a small story…

Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked for a job to a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was good and so were the working conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees “Congratulations,” the boss said. “Carry on that way!”. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, Motivation | No Comments »

You Can Only Improve What You Can Measure

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: September 11th, 2008

Going through a book on Six Sigma, I came across this very popular statement “You Can Only Improve What You Can Measure“. Does it hold true for HR also? Why not?

If the answer to above is ‘Yes’, then for HR to improve its processes it is important to measure the current effectiveness. Here is a tool at EmpXtrack’s website which can help you to measure the effectiveness of your HR.

CEO’s checklist for HR Effectiveness‘, a tool designed by Maj. Gen. B. K. Bhatia, helps the CEO or Head HR of an organization to measure the effectiveness of their Human Resources Management functions. It is based on 20 most important criteria which constitute the framework of modern HR. Each criteria has a unique weight determined by the size of an organization.

HR Effectiveness Tool

Click here to use this tool to measure the effectiveness of your HR.

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources | 3 Comments »

10 things about Technology every HR Manager should know

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: September 11th, 2008

After spending a lot of time working on HR technology, I have just tried to collaborate some of the technology knowledge that any HR Manager should know.

1. The Era of Excel is over, its no more the most Powerful tool.
There was a time when Excel Geeks were highly in demand. Everybody will approach them for a solution. However, with the arrival of softwares like SAP, where HR can ask the software team to create personalized reports, Excel has been moved to the corner. With the amount of analysis and metrics that appear today, Excel is just insufficient. Added to it is the cost of acquiring MS Office. Open Office and Google Docs have appeared as the free alternatives to Excel. Sharing Excels sheets is fun with Google Docs. Though none of these serves as an alternate to customized HR software.

2. Locally developed softwares are out of fashion.
The technology is growing at such a pace that the small and one-room-run software vendors are unable to infuse the technology and dynamics that world of HR needs. Don’t you remember the important updates that you required but your software vendor was unable to do. People are changing, become more tech savvy, blogs are swarming all over – so how can you expect your employees to appreciate your locally developed software. And then there is no need to worry, the latest SaaS technology offers high degree of customization to develop a system meeting your specific needs.

3. Web based Software is the new affordable tool
The huge success of Monster.com, Salesforce, EmpXtrack, SuccessFactors, et ecetra is enough to prove that the era of web 2.0 has begun. Most of these, especially, EmpXtrack provides updates to the software at the fly, the price of these softwares is unmatched and no need to keep in-house support staff. So why would anybody keep the old, poorly interfaced software in HR. Would you? Click her if you want to see how a web-based HR software works.

This was HR in 1960s

Paper Based HR Department

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology | 3 Comments »

Top 10 HR Best Practices

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: September 10th, 2008

Here is a collaboration of Top Ten HR Practices that can help you achieve your organizational goals every year. It was originally posted on our corporate website, but for blog lovers I thought to put it here also.

Summary of HR best practices

1. Safe, Healthy And Happy Workplace
2. Open Book Management Style
3. Performance Linked Bonuses
4. 360-Degree Performance Management Feedback System
5. Fair Evaluation System For Employees
6. Knowledge Sharing
7. Highlight Performers
8. Open House Discussions And Feedback Mechanisms
9. Reward Ceremonies
10. Delight Employees With The Unexpected

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices | 1 Comment »

Denying Leave can cause emotional distress – Granting Leave can hamper project deliveries! What to do?

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: September 9th, 2008

I read an interesting case study in Human Capital magazine that was titled ‘hey! I put in my papers!”. The Lack of Employee Self Servicecase study was about a brilliant engineer joining a big brand employer and leaving the organization within 2 years with dejected feelings. Among many unfortunate things that happened to this engineer, the most prominent was related to one of the most common problems in the organizations – employee leave and absenteeism. This engineer needed 1 months leave to prepare for his entrance exam to a business management school. Instead of being straight forward, he asked a leave on pretext of being ill. When he reported back, he was asked lots of explanations and was asked to report to HR. Whatever happened left him and others hurt . This incident prompted him to seek opportunities outside the organization. Lastly, he left – at a hefty 60% financial growth to one of the competitor. Who lost – individual or the organization? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, Human Resources | 7 Comments »

Performance Driven Culture – Key to Organizational Success

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: August 22nd, 2008

At the core of each successful organization you will find a culture that strives for better performance every day. Organizations that excel in their domain are nothing but the result of their leaders’ painstaking efforts to inculcate a performance driven culture.

A performance driven culture is deep rooted at all levels in the organizationPerformance Driven Culture

Successful organizations have a focus on the performance of their employees. Here employees are rewarded based purely on their performance on a set criteria. Their performance goals and targets are clearly defined and communicated to them in a formal way. The employees feel motivated and accountable for their performance and strive to achieve/exceed the targets set for them. The only thing that pleases the managers and leadership is higher achievements and performance delivery.

Here performance management is not only an HR responsibility but all departments and managers take ownership of the performance management system. Employees at grass root level take self-initiatives to improve their individual and team performance and are often engaged in a die-hard competition with their peers; and raise the performance bars on a regular basis unless they have reached or exceeded the industry bench-mark.

A bumpy road

Nevertheless, the road to success in performance driven culture is not smooth and easy. Here are some of the challenges that an organization faces while nurturing a performance driven culture: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices | 3 Comments »