Performance management is the process that makes an organization incorporates its employees in almost all activities of the company so that the enterprise can achieve efficiency. The key part in performance management is the employee involvement in decision-making. The activities that are involved in this process include planning where the human resource department sets the work schedule to be followed and the expected results if the work is done on their planned schedule. Continuous monitoring of the employee performance under regular schedules is imperative as Armstrong and Taylor (2014) assert. The other activity involved is that of capacity development amongst workers. The company trains employees on what skills are critical so that they can perform as expected. The final thing is that the management has to analyze performance with specified period. Analysis of performance calls for rewards. Rewarding employees make them happy and commit them to work for the organization. It is a motivation to them and attracts employee loyalty towards that organization.
The human resource department is mandated to ensure employees welfare is catered for while they are in the workplace. It is also involved in making disciplinary actions to employees who violate the code of ethics set by the company (Jeston and Nelis, 2014). There have been various disputes among employees at Acme Manufacturing Company. There is a need to build back the reputation lost hence a disciplinary action plan to those involved in disputes is an essential tool to bring peace in the company between the first and the third shifts of employees. The conduct of staff at work increases their efficiency of operations. Rules and regulations are critical to protecting the rights of each employee, and any violation leads to punishment. The disciplinary action plan to be implemented would be divided into two sections where the employees would be educated on what is expected of them while in service. The plan defines the kind of misconduct that is punishable.
There will be training for all employees that would allow them to know how they should relate to fellow employees, their supervisors any staff member to the firm. The training sections will cover lessons directed to increase efficiency and create a peaceful coexistence within the company. It will also clearly define duties that each shift of employees would be doing failure to which they would be punished. The first lesson will help the employee learn how they can diffuse hostility and threating situations that come their way. They will be advised to report any cases of violent acts by fellow employees. The other thing to be covered here will help the staff to learn on how they can deal with anger and hostility. Awareness amongst employees will contribute to counter violent behavior (Fullan, 2014). The vacant seat of human resource manager could have contributed to the violent acts between the first and the third shifts. Now that the position is occupied, there is someone to impose rules. The training is just but an official way to tell our employee's strict measures will be taken on those who are undisciplined.
The category of violence that is identified here is that of violent acts among employees. The employees have not been respecting one another. They do not even care about the risk of killing as evident in one of the employees who was carrying a gun. The rules that will govern all employees so that they do not act in abusive and violent manner include the following, which the disciplinary action. Depending on the situation, the punishment for any employee misconduct will range from written warnings, which serve as formal communication so that when the employee misbehaves is discharged (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). The other form of punishment would include suspension without paying employees the days they are out of duty. The worst cases will lead an automatic discharge and replacement. As stipulated by the Western Michigan University (2016) in the work schedule for every shift, offenses will be as follows:
Negligence of duty is punishable
Argument among employees and any supervisor is also a criminal offense
Abusive language to fellow employees, supervisors, and customers. Any insult will be considered offensive language.
Intentional destruction of other people’s property or even company is a form of misconduct and will be punishable.
Substance use while on duty and even possession of drugs are illegal
Deliberate activity that is endangering the life of oneself and that of other people
Any conduct of kind like felony conviction, a misdemeanor conviction that is connected to moral turpitude while you are within the company premises and indecent or immoral behavior
Failure to comply with instructions and ignorance of guidelines
Late reporting to work unless you have permission
Possession of any form of weapon within the enterprise will lead to contract termination and filing a case with the police for possessing weapon
The correction measures that can improve the behavior and change the bad reputation of the company among the public include the following:
Effective communication to all stakeholders of the company especially the employees since they are the people who are having chaos now and then. This will be effected through weekly meeting where they will be educated on what is expected of them
New communication channel development where any offense will be directed to human resource to implement the disciplinary action on the offender
Employee awareness of warning signs that require their attention at workplace
Controlling access and movements around the company premises. The exit and the entrance will be regulated as per schedule. The employees programmed in the different shift will not interact with the previous shift. The supervisor is expected to ensure before a shift leaves the company, they should have accomplished all the duties planned for that day.
Counseling sessions for employees. Those who are involved in conflicts will be addressed personally to bring peace in their minds and with other people.
The management with the aid of the human resource department will discuss all violent acts according to the company disciplinary code of ethics.
Policies and procedures for guidance and performance management of shift workers
A policy is a statement that is guiding methods and principles. The guideline, on the other hand, shows the best practices that are expected to be followed to achieve standards and quality in performance. A procedure is the systematic guidelines that will result in output. It is the duty of the human resource management to come up with policies, directives, and procedures to achieve efficiency (Jeston and Nelis, 2014). Some of the strategies that will help employees under shift work schedule include teamwork plan. Some of the policies and guidance to impose include adoption where employees need to adhere to the new laws and any misconduct will be punishable. The disciplinary procedures that dictate the kind of punishment to misconduct is a process implemented by the human resource manager. Depending on the case of misconduct reported to the HR, the action to punish the employee will depend on the formal guidelines in this disciplinary protocol. Any act of violence that is directly affecting the well-being of oneself or fellow employee will lead to discharge from the company. The human resource will call a disciplinary committee that will officially investigate the matter and give their recommendation. The same committee will discuss any misconduct reported and decide on disciplinary measures to be taken. The employee involved in wrongdoing having appeared before disciplinary committee will not get a job promotion. This rule will attract all staff to behave responsibly. The shifts will be rescheduled after every week so that those who were in shift one works in shift two and three in the other weeks. Employees will be moved from their respective shifts based on the decision by the human resource manager.
Performance standards
The elements of performance dictate to employees what they should do while on duty. Setting standards for performance will help the management and the employees to measure how well a job was done. The main issue to ensure in making performance standards is the objectivity, measurability and realistic. They are written in terms elements so that they meet each expectation at specified time. The process is a long one, and it consumes much time to implement. The managers weigh the outcome so that they can know if it is worth investing in quality standard. Standards are achieved if the management defines the job very well and describes the measures needed to achieve the objectives. Performance goals need to be measurable so that the management can evaluate the progress.
The quality addresses the extent to which work is good. It gives a clue on how the final product is like. The quality will ensure accuracy, effectiveness and appearance.
Timeliness is critical in determining how fast an activity is done. Setting timeliness standards need not allow any margin for error. They are realistic as time is a precious resource to business. Manufacturing requires time resource to be more efficient because production is measured over a given period.
For quality purposes, the management can measure the quantity of work. The volume measure takes the expression of error rate for instance; the error percentage expected and can be allowed over unit work.
Cost effectiveness is a measure concerned with how much the company is measuring the expenses incurred by the business to produce. Based on the resources that are at the disposal of the enterprise, the management sets standards with their records (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). The resources here include money, time and the human resource. The standards here will be measuring the aspects of maintaining and if possible reducing the unit costs involved in the production.
After these general rules, there is particular action. The Precise proposal addresses appropriate activities. They are always in line with the general standards. Therefore, specific measures are elaborate factors of quality, quantity, timeliness and cost effectiveness of the elements of measuring standards. The degree to which quality standards are measurable dictates the specific actions. For our case, quality is measured so that the management can gain control over its employees and their work. To analyze quality, the control system checks if the work is done is completed within the stipulated period and if it complies with the company objectives. Ensuring the company objective and goals are achieved, the management needs to provide the following critical elements of performance standards are present within the firm operations.
Team participation. Successful standards are achievable with teamwork. When employees and management are in good terms, they work to achieve one common goal that helps in achieving efficiency in the company operations. In our manufacturing plant, the company needs to coordinate the employees very well to ensure they appreciate one another. Through this, they will remain committed to working for the better of the enterprise. The human resource will develop a job schedule indicating the person to undertake each task. Through the supervisors, the employees will need to accomplish their duties within their shift hours of operation. Planning is essential in managing employees. Teamwork is vital in ensuring employees are working towards achieving their personal and group goals. It attracts all staffs’ willingness to work any shift and even do more responsibilities apart from those, which they are scheduled to do. Teamwork invites knowledge sharing among the team. This will lead to continuous skill improvement hence increased performance. The element of team playing ensures all the team members work together to ensure that they achieve the set goals.
Technical assistance and guidance. The training programs and the counseling of employees ensure that they are informed about their rights and what they should do whenever they encounter difficulties and chaotic situations. Guidance equips employees with knowledge and skills so that they make little errors in their operation activities (Purce, 2014). All the staff needs to follow and obey the supervisor in charge to ensure that they attain the crucial aspect of guidance. Through this, there is the minimization of the costs the company is incurring. Huge error percentages lead to losses for the management will account for every product whether faulty or good for sale. The customers of the company products are the one to compliment whether a product is good or not.
Therefore, employee satisfaction will attract them to make the best for the enterprise and staff. They will also create personal relations with customers building up customer loyalty. When the employees are educated about the company’s products, they are happy to share this knowledge with their clients helping them to understand how to use products. Knowledge sharing assures support from all the stakeholders of the company (Western Michigan University, 2016). To test the success of knowledge sharing, the human resource will conduct research in the market to ensure more than 70% of the customers agree that the company employees are willing to assist them in any manner so that they understand the company and its products better. The time of response is also critical, therefore; this training and guidance will also educate the employees on the importance of communication and the time resource. Customer questions need a response within less than three hours.
Specifications. This element is paramount in measuring the output. The company has a schedule of production that is interrupted by regular chaos among the employees. This component would allow the human resource to set the work schedule and the expected work for each shift (Purce, 2014). The new laws will be pinned in all the company notice board, and the supervisors will have a copy so that they impose the requirements for increased performance.
References
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Fullan, M. (2014). Leading in a Culture of Change Personal Action Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons.
Jeston, J., & Nelis, J. (2014). Business Process Management. Routledge.
Purce, J. (2014). The Impact of Corporate Strategy on Human Resource Management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
Western Michigan University. (2016). Employee Conduct and Disciplinary Action. Retrieved 9 June 2016, from https://wmich.edu/hr/handbook-conduct
