Measuring Results and Behaviors

 

5.1.	Measuring Results
	Chapter 2 included some information about how to assess performance when a results approach is adopted. If one adopts a results approach, one needs to ask the following key questions :
	-	What are the different areas in which this individual is expected to focus efforts (key accountabilities)?
	-	Within each area, what are the expected objectives?
	-	How do we know how well the results have been achieved (performance standards)?
	As a reminder, key accountabilities are broad areas of a job for which the employee is responsible for producing results. A discussion of results also includes specific objectives that the employee will achieve as part of each accountability. Objectives are statements of important and measurable outcomes. Finally, discussing results also means discussing performance standards. A performance standard is a yardstick used to evaluate how well employees have achieved each objective. Performance standards provide information on acceptable and unacceptable performance, for example, regarding quality, quantity, cost, and time. Organizations that implement a management by objectives (MBO) philosophy are likely to implement components of performance management systems, including objectives and standards. For example, the contract for the chief of police of the city of Flevoland in the Netherlands includes a direct link between objectives of the police department and his  personal income. Similarly, the police department of the city of Utrecht (also in the Netherlands) has specific performance objectives including that 150 suspects of public violence and 1,050 minors suspected of any crime should be brought before the public prosecutor annually. Similar objectives have been set by police departments in England and Wales. Setting these objectives has not always led to the intended results because, in many cases, police officers resort to gaming strategies to achieve the objectives, often at the expense of providing a high-level quality of service to their local communities. Nevertheless, overall, an emphasis on objectives and standards is likely to allow employees to translate organizational goals into individual goals, which is a key goal of MBO philosophies.     5.1.1. Determining Accountabilities The first step in determining accountabilities is to collect information about the job. The primary source is, of course, the job description that has resulted from the job analysis and a consideration of unit and organization level strategic priorities. The job description provides. information on the tasks performed. Tasks included in the job description can be grouped into clusters of tasks based on their degree of relatedness. Each of these clusters or accountabilities is a broad area of the job for which the employee is responsible for producing results.     After the accountabilities have been identified, we need to determine their relative degree of importance. To understand this issue, we need to ask the following questions :       - What percentage of the employee’s time is spent performing each accountability?     - If the accountability were performed inadequately, would there be a significant impact on the work unit’s mission?     - Is there a significant consequence of error? Could inadequate performance of the accountability contribute to the injury or death of the employee or others, serious property damage, or loss of time and money?       Although determining accountabilities may at first seem like a daunting task, it is not  that difficult. Let’s discuss an example based on a real job in a real organization to illustrate how it is done. Consider the position of Training Specialist/Consultant Leadership & Team Development for Target Corporation, a growth company focused exclusively on general merchandise retailing (www.target.com). The job description is the following : Identifies the training and development needs of Target Corporation’s work force (in collaboration with partners), with primary emphasis on exempt team members. Designs and delivers training and development workshops and programs and maintains an ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of those programs. Assumes leadership and strategic responsibility for assigned processes. May supervise the non exempt staff.     Based on the job description and additional information found on Target’s Web page regarding the company’s strategic priorities, a list of the accountabilities, consequences of performing them inadequately, consequences of making errors, and percentage of time spent in each are shown in the following :       - Process leadership. Leads the strategy and direction of assigned processes. Coordinates related projects and directs or manages resources. This is extremely important to the functioning of Target leadership and the ability of executives to meet strategic business goals. If this position is managed improperly, then it will lead to a loss of time and money in training costs and leadership ineffectiveness. (40% of time)     - Supervision of nonexempt staff. Supervises nonexempt staff working in the unit. This is relatively important to the functioning of the work unit. If nonexempt staff members are supervised improperly, then the development of the employees and the ability to meet business targets will be compromised. (10% of time)     - Coaching. Conducts one-on-one executive coaching with managers and executives. This is extremely important to the development of internal leaders. If managers and executives are not coached to improve their performance, there is a loss of time and money associated with their poor performance as well as the cost of replacing them if necessary. (20% of time)     - Team-building consultation. Assists company leaders in designing and delivering  their own team-building sessions and other interventions. This is relatively important to the successfulness of teams at Target. Mismanagement of this function will result in teams not meeting their full potential and wasting time and resources on conducting the team sessions. (10 % of time)     - Product improvement. Continuously seeks and implements opportunities to use technology to increase the effectiveness of leadership and team development programs. This is important to the effectiveness of training delivery and could result in significant gains in efficiencies of the systems if carried out effectively. (10 % of time)     5.1.2. Determining Objectives After the accountabilities have been identified, the next step in measuring results is to determine specific objectives. Objectives are statements of an important and measurable outcome that, when accomplished, will help ensure success for the accountability. The purpose of establishing objectives is to identify a limited number of highly important results that, when achieved, will have a dramatic impact on the overall success of the organization. After objectives are set, employees should receive feedback on their progress toward attaining the objective. Rewards should be allocated to those employees who have reached their objectives. Objectives are clearly important because they help employees guide their efforts. To serve a useful function, objectives must have the following characteristics :       1. Specific and clear. Objectives must be easy to understand. In addition, they must be verifiable and measurable, for example, a directive: “Cut travel cost by 20%.”     2. Challenging. Objectives need to be challenging (but not impossible to achieve). They must be a stretch, but employees should feel that the objective is reachable.     3. Agreed upon. To be most effective, objectives need to result from an agreement between the manager and the employee. Employees need an opportunity to participate in setting objectives. Participation in the process increases objective aspirations and acceptance, and it decreases objective resistance.     4. Significant. Objectives must be important to the organization. Employees must believe that if the objective is achieved, it will make a critical impact on the overall success of the organization. In addition, achieving the objective should give the employee the feeling of congruence between the employee’s performance and the goals of the organization. This, in turn, is likely to enhance feelings of value to the organization.     5. Prioritized. Not all objectives are created equal; therefore, objectives should be prioritized and tackled one by one.     6. Bound by time. Good objectives have deadlines and mileposts. Objectives lacking a time dimension are likely to be neglected.     7. Achievable. Good objectives are doable; that is, employees should have sufficient skills and training to achieve them. If they don’t, then the organization should make resources available so that the necessary skills are learned and equipment is made available to achieve the goals.     8. Fully communicated. In addition to the manager and employee in question, the other organizational members who may be affected by the objectives need to be aware of them.     9. Flexible. Good objectives are not immutable. They can and likely will change based on changes in the work or business environments.     10. Limited in number. Too many objectives may become impossible to achieve, but too few may not make a sufficient contribution to the organization. Objectives must be limited in number. Between 5 and 10 objectives per review period is a manageable number, but this can change based on the position and organization in question.

		Several organizations set goals following these guidelines. For example, Microsoft Corporation has a long history of using individual goals in its performance management system. The goals at Microsoft are described by the acronym SMART : specific, measurable, achievable, results based, and time specific. Examples of objectives (one or two per accountability) are the following :
		-	Process leadership. Develop leadership development processes and training programs within budget and time commitments. Meet budget targets and improve executive leaders’ “leadership readiness” scores across organization by 20% in the coming fiscal year.
		-	Supervision of nonexempt staff. Receive acceptable managerial effectiveness rating scores from your nonexempt staff in the coming fiscal year.
		-	Coaching. Improve the managerial effectiveness scores of executive coaching clients in the coming fiscal year.
		-	Team-building consultation. Deliver necessary team-training sessions throughout the year within budget and with an acceptable satisfaction rating (as measured by the follow up survey that is sent to every team) for team training sessions in the coming fiscal year
		-	Assessment instrument feedback. Deliver assessment feedback with an acceptable approval rating from your coaching clients in the coming fiscal year.
		-	Product improvement. Improve satisfaction with training delivery in the coming fiscal year by receiving acceptable scores while staying on budget.

	5.1.3.	Determining Performance Standards After accountabilities and objectives have been determined, the next step is to define performance standards. These are yardsticks designed to help people understand to what extent the objective has been achieved. The standards provide raters with information about what to look for to determine the level of performance that has been achieved. Standards can refer to various aspects of a specific objective, including quality, quantity, and time. Each of these aspects can be considered a criterion to be used in judging the extent to which an objective has been achieved.
		-	Quality: how well the objective has been achieved? This can include usefulness, responsiveness, effect obtained (e.g., problem resolution), acceptance rate, error rate, and feedback from users or customers (e.g., customer complaints, returns).
		-	Quantity: how much has been produced, how many, how often, and at what cost?
		-	Time: due dates, adherence to schedule, cycle times, deadlines (how quickly?) (e.g., timetables, progress reports)?
		Standards must include an action, the desired result, a due date, and some type of quality or quantity indicator. For example, a standard might be the following : Reduce overtime from 150 hours/month to 50 hours/month by December 1, 2012, at a cost not to exceed $12,000. The action is reduce, the due date is December 1, 2012, and the indicators are the reduction in hours from 150 to 50 and at a cost not to exceed $12,000. Standards usually describe fully satisfactory performance. As soon as a standard has been created, one can create standards that describe minimum performance and outstanding performance. For example, the minimum standard could be the following : Reduce overtime from 150 hours/month to 75 hours/month by December 1, 2012, at a cost not to exceed $12,000. The standard suggesting outstanding performance could be the following: Reduce overtime from 150 hours/month to 40 hours/month by October 1, 2012, at a cost not to exceed $12,000
		In writing standards, consider the following characteristics that often determine whether one has a useful standard :
		1.	Related to the position. Good standards are based on the job’s key elements and tasks, not on individual traits or person-to-person comparisons.
		2.	Concrete, specific, and measurable. Good standards are observable and verifiable. They allow us to distinguish between different performance levels. A good standard allows supervisors to measure the employee’s actual performance to determine if it is below expectations, fully satisfactory, or above expectations. Standards are specific and concrete so that there should be no dispute over whether and how well they were met
		3.	Practical to measure. Good standards provide necessary information about performance in the most efficient way possible. Good standards are created by taking into account the cost, accuracy, and availability of the needed data.
		4.	Meaningful. Good standards are about what is important and relevant to the purpose of the job, to the achievement of the organization’s mission and objectives, and to the user or recipient of the product or service.
		5.	Realistic and achievable. Standards are possible to accomplish, but they require a stretch. There should be no apparent barriers to achieving the standard. Employees should be able to reach the standards within the specified time frame
		6.	Reviewed regularly. Information should be available on a regular basis to determine whether the employee has reached the standard, and if not, remedial action should be taken.