Performance management at the national institute of management
- Advantages and disadvantages of the existing performance system
The performance system that existed at the National Institute of Management (central India) was a unit based work measurement and reward system. This system was specifically good because it could measure the duration required to complete part of a job of the entire job. The system determines work measurement by using techniques that would indicate mental and physical effectiveness in work terms of every specific task. Each of the tasks had a specific number of units allocated to them. The number of units varied based on the nature of task. Having the knowledge of the amount of time a work or a part of a job takes to complete is important especially for the scheduling of daily work.
Therefore, the advantages of this performance system are several. The first one is that it helps in proper and effective planning of work. It helps in making the much needed decision about the number workers needed for a job completion. As mentioned earlier, it also helps in scheduling different tasks allocated to workers. The other advantage is that the system is very transparent. This is because it clearly indicates the minimum amount of work that every member of faculty has to perform from the beginning of every academic year. The system was very clear in creating room for additional payments to be received at the end of a year based on the amount of units earned. Issues such as performance quality were effectively addressed by the system. If the students rated a teaching staff well, then the system ensured that the individual earned units as a reward. So, there was a lot of emphasis on the quality of performance by the faculty members.
There are also disadvantages that are associated with the system based on the review of the advisory team. The first disadvantage is that the system does not really focus on quality assessment as it purports to. Considering the fact that the institution is an academic institution, there was no need to have such a form of reward system. The system had an unusual teaching load. According to the requirements for teaching, the system required a 166 percent teaching load increased compared to the minimum requirement. This meant a lot of work for the faculty members. It did not focus on the necessity of research and publishing of research article. Faculty members were also responsible for the research activities. However, a lot of emphasis was laid on teaching activities.
- Status of the system in addressing organizational objective
The system used at the National Institute of Management failed to address the organizational objectives satisfactorily. It has been in use for two years in the organization however, the amount of work load specified for the units earned by the faculty members has been too low. At the same time, some members of faculty were able to earn units for certain task that were beyond normal level. In addition, the system was only fully in use in the city campus and one other campus of the institution. It was not operational in some of the campuses.
- Short term and long term implications
The short term implication of the performance management system to the faculty members is that they have every task required of them clearly stated at the beginning of an academic year. Task as such as teaching, research, and consulting were clearly stated out for each faculty member at the beginning of every year. Also at the same time, the members could be required to perform administrative duties based on the requirements of the institution. The long term implication of the performance management system to both the directors and the faculty members was the reputation that the institute continued to enjoy as a leading business school in the entire of India. To the board members, the long term implication of the performance management system meant that the problem of high turnover rate among the faculty members would be reduced. Therefore the institution would actually be able to recruit and retain faculty members for a long period of time, especially the high performers. Also, on the long term perspective, the institution was able to earn itself a higher ranking compared to previous years when the system was not operational.
- Contrasting and aligning the perspective
The perspectives of the various stakeholders were different. There was the advisory team that was charged with the responsibility of reviewing the performance system. Then there were the faculty members who had a different opinion regarding the system of performance measurements. The best way to align both perspectives is to look at the larger objective of the system. The system was intended to improve the quality of performance for the faculty members which would eventually translate to the quality delivery of services in the institution.
- Incentives to motivate faculty members
The best incentives that would motivate the faculty members to perform in the right direction are the administrative responsibilities and research and publication. The faculty members needed to be given administrative responsibilities based on their contribution to various fields of research within the organization.
- Stages of the performance management cycle
The organization seems to have left an important stage of the performance management cycle. This is the executive training program that is done in every academic year. This affects the subsequent stages of organizational performance. There was also a general skewed distribution for the units that the student subscribed to. This provided the teachers with the highest number of subscribers the opportunity to gain more units according to the reward system.
- conclusion
In conclusion, the board of directors would make two key steps as a way forward. The first one is conducting appraisals on regular basis. The idea of doing the appraisals twice in a year is good since the organization will be in a position to report on the performance of every faculty member within the same period. Every faculty member should be required to make a personal work plan that is measurable. This work plan should be of the entire year and should be discussed with the board members. After which, during the semiannual appraisal, it can be established whether the faculty member managed to achieve the work plan. The second key step is to reduce the number of units allocated to the some task such as teaching and increase the units on the research and publications. By reducing the units, it would reduce bias impact as a result of a skewed distribution of the units.
References
Becker, B., & Gehart, B. (2000). the impact of huaman resource management on organizational perfomance. academy of management journal, 779-801.
Nambudiri, R., & Jayasimha, K. (2008). performance management at the National Institute of Management. Richard Ivey school of business, 1-25.
