In the traditional realms, the topic of innovation is often
attributed largely to the product specific deliverable.
I have long believed that in-order for organizations (especially
the kind of ones that i have experienced) to innovate and scale, it is
imperative for supporting functions to embrace the principles that lead to
innovation. By supporting functions i mean- HR, IT, Finance, Operations etc. As
an example, we may have the best product innovation strategy but if the
facilities is not supporting the engineers create a good physical environment,
then chances of breaking new grounds may be quite less. In the similar way, one
of the core supporting groups in the organizations is that of Human Resources.
In my experience, i have not seen many engineers having positive perception
about HR function and always seem to undermine the actual importance this group
has on the eventual outcomes of the organization. Like some functions, the
importance of HR is generally appreciated when this function is not there
rather than when it’s often there. HR department can often be equated with
Software testing department in the premise that both often seem to be thankless
jobs and the value of one is known more by the absence of the group rather than
by their presence, which is often taken for granted.
If i don't look back far too back, there has been some sort
of silent (not much talked-about) innovation happening in the HR function as
well. A lot of the age old practices are being re-thought and one such practice
has been that of performance management.
Historically, performance management (and the way it’s
traditionally done) isn't one of the most appreciated practices in the
organizations. Having experienced reasonable number of employee surveys, this
is one area that is often found wanting in the organizations. I won't discuss
this reasons about it in this post as this will be the subject of the upcoming
posts. In the next few posts, i will try and highlight some of the companies
that have brought in some refreshing thinking around handling performance
management and have shunned the old, traditional way of handling performance
management and adopted something new. I will highlight a few companies and post
that will try and provide some consolidated perspective around it. Alright,
just await the next few posts.
Just as a trivia around performance management, consider the
following snippet adapted from here-
Performance reviews
have been a part of institutional life since formative Harvard Business School
studies of the 1930s. Professor Elton Mayo found that "happiness and
productivity were directly related to the social structure of the workplace,"
Businessweek reports. "Suddenly it wasn't enough to just hire someone to
do a job; bosses had to manage and mentor people, too. They did that, usually,
with formal meetings."
Then, in 1950, the
performance review was enshrined in law. The Performance Rating Act of 1950
mandated the annual review of federal workers. Additional laws tethered bonuses
and salaries to the grades given in those evaluative meetings, setting a
nationwide precedent of annual performance reviews.
In the upcoming sections, I will be analyzing some of the companies that have gone ahead and embraced change in their performance management philosophy with the focus on the following points, which was the core i wanted to understand-
1. Motivation behind the change
2. Shortcomings with the traditional system
3. What kind of changes were embraced ?
4. Any other related comments
See you soon!
Image source:
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-performance-management-chart-keywords-icons-image44846962
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