Introduction
The workforce of any organization is one of the key components in achieving success. An underperforming staff member presents a big problem to the organization because of the inefficiency of their work. In this paper, ways through which an underperforming store manager in Coles Stores should be handled will be addressed.
Underperforming workers hinder the progress of an organization making it less efficient and unable to meet its goals and mission. These employees need to be dealt with in the realms of their rights. Most companies start off by counseling underperformers, if this does not work disciplinary action is taken. In some situations, dismissal of an incompetent worker is necessary.
Store Manager
Coles store owners employ store managers to run the daily activities of the individual stores of the large franchise. The managers are tasked with a lot of responsibilities. The store managers are tasked with the duty of not only running the daily operations but to assess the performance of workers as well. The store manager is in addition to these tasks, is set with the responsibility of marketing the supermarket’s products and ensuring customer relations are pristine. It is their duty to build relationships with the customers. The store manager is also responsible for establishing good client relations as well as promoting the brand’s image.
In the case scenario, the store manager is deemed as being underperforming in their duty. The tasks assigned to this docket are too crucial to have it filled with an underachieving employee. This paper seeks to first explore the features of performance management that could be implemented to counter this trend. There will be a run through of the underlying issues that lead to underperformance and the role of the Human Resource Development (HRD) in solving the problem of the underperforming manager.
Specific Issues Surrounding Underperformance Management
Some workers are reluctant to accept changes introduced by the management. This will lead to a decline in productivity of those employees. Their unwillingness to adapt to changes will cause them to have inadequate skills. This lowers performance. Policies and work practices change from time to time in work environments due to newer methods of management. The lack of willingness to be flexible to such changes hampers the workers’ performance levels.
Poor performances amongst workers in a company also result from poor attitudes. This manifests itself as employees failing to follow instructions. Some of them flat out refuse to take instructions. They are unwilling to accept responsibilities and more often than not pass it to other workers. This usually leads to insubordination.
Poor communication between various departments in a workplace scenario also leads to an underperforming workforce. Most employees seek to avoid conflicts with other workers and their superiors. Employees often hide behind emails instead of dealing with each other and superiors. This is to some extent, a sign of passive aggressiveness. Very many workers will resort to writing an email to co-workers and the boss even when their office may be right next to theirs. This reluctance to share problems with other colleagues leads to a decline in performance.
Businesses that depend on customer satisfaction for market share, like supermarkets, cannot stay in business for long with employees who cannot communicate well with clients. This can be in the form of rudeness to customers; delaying requests etc. These underperforming individuals end up hurting the company’s balance sheets as customers tend for competitors with better customer service delivery.
An employer was not communicating their expectations and requirements of the worker also lead to employee underperformance. This occurs when the company has not clearly expressed what he requires of and expects from each employee. The employer should reinforce the need for the standards set to be achieved, maintained and if possible surpassed. Leading by example will prompt an increase in productive efficiency.
Features of Performance Management
Performance management includes the set standards used to gauge the compliance of the workforce to their set duties. The measures of performance should be clearly spelt out to the workers. An effective performance management strategy should start from the top management cascading down to individual employees (Antony, 2009).
In the case study, an underperforming store manager at Coles needs to be dealt with. Performance management deals with the evaluation policies that dictate whether an employee is underachieving. Underperforming amongst employees usually manifests itself in various ways. The workers’ quality and quantity of work may not be up to par with the employer’s expectations. The employees may be slow to respond to instructions given to them. Customer complaints increase as the quality of product produced declines. The employees may also fail to complete tasks assigned to them on time. The underperforming workers are prone to accidents that could be avoided in the workplace. Such workplaces will report a lot of spoilages in their inventory as a result of the underwhelming performance of the employees.
The best performance management feature that could be employed to deal with these issues would be proper job descriptions to inform the workers of their duties. A clearly written job description, workers are able to carry out their duties with a clear understanding of the boundaries and expectations that they are bound with.
The work force may also be going against some workplace practices or norms (Herbers, 2010). These practices may include company-set rules and regulations relating to safety requirements, theft amongst employees, employees harassing each other, absenteeism etc. Poor performance may also manifest itself as a result of employees’ personal behaviors being transferred to the office. Personal behaviors of some employees lead to a decline in their performance levels. These behaviors may include excessive drinking, smoking during inappropriate hours and places, employees sleeping during work hours, disregard for personal cleanliness and hygiene amongst workers among many more.
HRD Function Integration with Performance Management Function
The Human Resource Management department is a crucial part of any corporation's structure. In the Australian case study, an organization's Human Resourced department is charged with bringing out the most efficient level of output from the company's workforce. This includes both the company's blue collar and white collar divisions.
The Human Resource Management department should be flexible to the changing landscape within the workforce(Antony, 2010). They should be external and internal factors that could be detrimental to the labor force's productivity levels. They need to understand how the workforce’s external environments affect their efficiency levels at work.
The world has become increasingly interconnected. With it, people have become more and more connected. Experiences can be shared all around the world instantaneously. With this, employees can now gauge working experience with distant friends and associates. Information can now be disseminated more quickly than ever before. Hence, best practice management techniques and methods can be shared between different human resource departments. This will boost efficiency, as can be seen in the Australian example.
The HR department is tasked with organizing reprimanding the underperforming employee in the organization. This role can be taken up in several forms. Interview discipline occurs when the employee is interviewed immediately after a report of underperformance has been noted by the employer. This meeting will seek out to find the root of the problem and warn the employee. The other alternative would be progressive discipline with an increase in severity. The first could be a warning letter, followed by an interview if things do not improve.
In the example of Cole’s department store, the HRD should ensure that the store manager is properly trained and oriented on best practices as pertains to customer satisfaction, overseeing financial aspects of the store such as budgets, proposals, and ensuring the right employees are hired during interviews, and general operations of the store.
The human resource department is also set with the task of evaluating the manager’s performance through performance appraisals from time to time. This will ensure that the worker is kept productive. These evaluations lead to recommendations to either renew current staff contract or terminate if deemed surplus to requirements.
Training is usually an effective method of increasing performance (Abston & Kupritz, 2011). One of the main causes of employees underperforming is lack of understanding of tasks put across to them. Adequate training or a proper orientation is important. This enables the worker to know exactly how everything in the company works. This will reduce time wasted asking older employees to show them how things work.
Reward Management Strategy
A reward is anything tangible or intangible given out for performing a certain task, the common forms of which are financial pay. The form of pay could be on the basis of the work done, benefits for extra work and bonuses. Monetary compensation is proven to be the most effective type of reward strategy to motivate workers to perform better. The purpose of a reward system is not only encouraging staff but also motivate them to put more effort.
The company’s reward management system can also be used as a tool in handling a worker who is not performing to the best of their abilities (Nankervis, 2010). There should be an award that recognizes the best performing store manager at Coles on an annual or monthly basis. The rewards that come with being the manager of the month will act as an incentive to increase the performance of the store manager in the case being analyzed.
A reward management system is a great tool used by human resource to motivate its workers. The notion of using the carrot instead of the stick in dealing with performance is applied in this scenario. The store manager will make an independent decision to engage more passionately in their duties because of the potential personal gains he/she stands to make. Reward is a great motivator of a workforce.
Human Resource Management and Corporate Strategies
Companies work along set guidelines that dictate its functioning and goals. These strategies can be achieved with the help of human resource management functions such as HDR, performance management and reward management. To achieve any strategy, the company must involve its workers. An industry with underperforming workers will often fail because there will be no internal driving force in the corporation. Situations where employees think that they can do things in a better way than their employers are prevalent in work places. This is due to the fact that modern employees like autonomy and prefer to challenge themselves (Gilmore & Williams, 2009).
A strong workforce will lead to faster accomplishment of strategies. Through Human Resource Development, workers are trained and given advice on how to perform their duties more efficiently. Performance management ensures that the workers are kept on “amber alert” making them more productive. Reward management seeks to make the workforce more motivated. A motivated workforce achieves all the strategies set before it.
Recommendations
The human resource department can also re-design schedules to align with the differing external conditions facing underperforming workers. This can be achieved through creation of a full-time and part-time schedule option for employees. The store manager can delegate duties to their juniors during different shifts to increase efficiency.
Employee counseling sessions can work as a means of addressing underperformance. The store manager should be called for a closed door meeting where a discussion on the duties can be discussed. Counseling sessions are usually private and works to establish a rapport with the employee. Successful sessions determine the cause of underperformance and the employee works out on how to improve.
Disciplinary action against underperforming workers is also an option that could be used to deal with the underachieving store manager. Disciplinary action takes the form of warning letters and in extreme situations dismissal of the employee might be necessary.
References
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