Managing Team and Individual Performance

Requirement

Scenario
 may use their own employment context, or that of another organisation with which they are very familiar, to base their assignment. However, in the case that they are not able to do so, please use the below scenario:-
You are a manager, leading a department in a medium sized company. You are responsible for setting work and development objectives for your team and for monitoring performance and achieving business results.

Task 1

Explain why it is important for individual and team objectives to link into overall organisational objectives and, use a practical example to demonstrate how this is achieved. Identify the factors you need to take into account when agreeing objectives for your department or work area and when agreeing objectives with individual team members. Given that objectives link together and often overlap, there is a need to agree individual and collective responsibilities for the part everyone will play in their achievement. Identify how you would organise the agreement of responsibilities with team members and colleagues, using examples where possible, and acknowledge the potential pitfalls when this is not done well.

Answer:

The objectives of an individual, the team, and the whole organization should align together so that all the objectives are attained simultaneously. For instance, if an individual aspires to grow further in the same function, then that individual will contribute to the team in completion of the project. This will help the organization as a whole in completion of the overall project within the set timeframe (McLean, 2006). For instance, if the goal of an individual is to have work life balance, and the project being handled by the team requires 18 hours of work every day. This conflict in objective will negatively impact the overall output, as one member of the team is not ready for the challenge. To build the organization to its optimum capacity, it is important that the goals of individual, team and the organization are interconnected. It can be done through the promotion of the skills and attitudes that are imperative for the successful completion of projects and are also desired by the individuals who are expected to work over the same. For a successful contribution from the individuals, the managers within the organization have to understand the training cycle of the organization and also the initiatives that are generally taken in order to collaborate with every individual in the organization.

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During agreement to come up with the goals for team and individual, the first thing that should be taken into consideration is the workload (Bluck, 1996). It should be ensured that no member of the team is taking unnecessary stress. It is to be ensured that work is distributed among all the members equally. The managers and negotiators should ensure that they are prepared in advance to conduct an effective negotiation. The essential support required by each individual should be fulfilled by the management while deciding over the goals and objectives. Moreover, involvement of each individual into the discussion and placing the bigger picture during the decision making will result into fruitful results.
The individual and team responsibility should be identified distinctly as the overall result of the team will be the collective effort of each of the member within the team. The members of the team should report as per the usual communication channel to the team leader (Margerison and McCann, 1990). For instance, the normal reporting will be done to the seniors and the communication of the whole project can be done to the project manager. 

Task 2

Examine three different circumstances when conflicts can arise in the workplace. Use practical examples where possible. For each situation outlined, describe what would be your strategy to manage the conflict and restore mutual trust. Describe internal and external resources that may be available to assist you in this activity. Explain why it is important to build an atmosphere of trust and support and identify some of the activities you would undertake in order to achieve this aim. Identify strategies you could employ as a manager to minimise or prevent conflict.

Answer:

Building informed and supportive trust within the organization will help everyone grow. All the big organizations trust their employees and that is the reason why they are able to handle such huge business collaborations. These organizations are Apple, IBM, Microsoft and others. For an effective business, the trust factor should come with two characteristics and they are supportive and informed. Supportive trust factors works when there is vertical structure of trust in the organization, on the other hand, the informed trust factor works when there is acceptance of level of trust that are being exhibited by the bigger organizations. The organizations can begin the culture of trust by investing in right individuals during hiring them.  They should be trusted and caring which will be carried in the whole organization by default (Dimitrakos, 2012). The second thing would be to helping these people stay informed about all the happenings around the block and also keeping enough patience while in the process of guiding them towards the next goal and achieving the success. The other ways round can also be taken to effectively bring the trust factor in the organization. They are identification of key individuals in the organization and involving them in the activity. The next step would be to create a framework that can help the employees stay up to date with the information. Moreover, celebrating any success and failure together can be beneficial in building the environment of trust. Along with that, having the key assessment of the all the individuals and providing them periodic feedback on their improvements will also help in building trust.
In general there are four causes of conflict that occurs in the workplace (Black, 1971). They are:

  • (i)    Less information:  If the employees in the workplace feels that any change is being not informed to them or they are being kept aloof from any information intentionally, then it give rise to conflict.

  • (ii)    Less Resources: If the available resource is less and the demand is more from the management side, then it leads to conflict as the handler cannot finds themselves in difficult situation of fulfilling the need with fewer resources.

  • (iii)    Relationships: The environment at the workplace can be stressful or productive and this depends entirely on what are the current relationships of the employees with each other.

  • (iv)    Management:  If the management of the organization is not competent enough to handle the changing situation and any other issues, then this may lead to conflicts.

The management of conflict can be achieved through the following available strategy:

  • (i)    Understanding the point of view of the other party can help the former to understand the real cause behind the conflict. Each employee should understand that it is important to look at things from others perspective also.

  • (ii)    Emotions: Keeping emotions in check while resolving the conflict is important as getting angry might worsen the situation. It should be handled calmly and compassionately.

Task 3

Evaluate recognised processes for monitoring and evaluating the performance of individuals and teams, identifying the various stages and how often a review should take place. Provide a reflective account of a review you have conducted with a team member, saying what went well and what you would do differently next time. Describe at least two methods of providing feedback to individuals and, two methods of providing feedback to the team. Explain three sources of recorded information that will help you to measure and keep track of different aspects of team or individual performance, and explain how you would use each of them in a performance review.

Answer:

In the individual performance evaluation, the individuals’ performance is measured against the various already defined objectives. The evaluation allows the organization to understand where the individual is standing at the moment and the things that need to be done in order to achieve the required objective. This type of performance is dependent on the feedback and recognition of the employee. The team performance appraisals have become important as accomplishment of challenging tasks can be easily undertaken by the teams in an effective manner. The performance evaluation of the team can be the sum of individual performance, or the overall performance of the team in comparison to the already defined objectives.

The feedback methods to individual and teams can be given through three techniques that are mentioned below:

  • (i)    Feedback Sandwich: This kind of technique can be used to provide feedback to the individual or team by following the middle path where the feedback includes the corrective steps that will be taken by the listener, and also the praises are given for the things that are performed very well (Dohrenwend, 2002). The only thing that should be kept in purview is that, the communication should be clear and concise and should not confuse the listener. 

  • (ii)    EEC Model: The EEC model consists of Evidence, Effect and Change, where the focus of any feedback is the improvement of the individual performance and the team performance. For instance, giving feedback on schedule recovery to the team about the deviating timeline by the project manager to the team can be taken in the purview of EEC Model where the feedback is constructive and has space for improvements only.

  • (iii)    Group Feedback: The group feedback entails that feedback is given to the whole team at once. While this method generally leads to the misunderstandings as everyone in the team has different orientation and capacity to grab the idea (Adelson, 1975).  That is same message cannot be tailored according to every individual at once. 

The most common systems of recording the performance of individuals or team are ratings, narrative, rankings, and or 360 degree. Ratings generally include performance on the job, skills that are with the individual, behaviour, and the knowledge possessed. These variables can be rated on the scale 1 to 5. Placing specific notes besides each rating can help in understanding the reason of such ratings when compiled later. The second method is Narrative, where a summary is written about any individual’s or team’s performance. When given certain structure, the narrative can be the most effective way to deal with the evaluation as it gives greater detail. The third system is Rankings, where individuals are ranked according to variables and based on that required trainings are imparted or the employees are fired. The fourth method is 360 degree, where the feedback about the individual is collected from the peers, superiors, and various other linked sources. 

Task 4

Describe three indicators that might suggest to you as the manager that the performance standards of a member of your department were becoming unacceptable. Provide possible reasons for the slippage. Using the stages of a performance improvement cycle, examine how you would address and follow up the poor performance issue/s with the individual or team concerned. Include an outline of at least three different methods, or combination of methods you would consider as options to support performance improvement, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each. You may use a work based example to illustrate your answer where possible.

Answer:

Performance improvement cycle helps the manager in supporting the employees in reaching their potential (Wysocki, 2004). This is done in three steps that are: (i) review the things that have been completed, (ii) plan the things that are required to be done, and (iii) acting on the formulated plan. The first stage is the plan where the future requirements regarding the performance are brought down on paper and priorities are set as per the requirements from the individuals. The second stage is developing the plan where the current expertise is improved to meet the expectation of the plan and also the opportunities are identified. The next step is performing where the actual action takes place and the plan is given existence. The last step is reviewing the whole planning and the actions. This step identifies whether the goal has been achieved, and if achieved then whether there are shortcomings that can be improved further while working on the next project.
The identification of poor performance of the employees can be done through below mentioned indicators. 

  • (i)    Employees fail to meet the goals is the sure indicator of whether the performance is falling. This is obvious way to identify the poor performance.

  • (ii)    If the employees are relying heavily on other employees to complete their task then it can be taken as the sign where the employee is failing to achieve the required productivity meter.

  • (iii)    If the quality of work done by the employee is poor or the quality requirements are not being met, then it can be taken as the indicator of poor performance.

  • (iv)    If the employee is facing difficulty in workplace while performing their duty either with the staff or the boss, then it indicates that the employee has lost the interest or his performance graph is falling down.

Mentioned below are the methods that can be used to support the performance improvement within an organization:

  • (i)    Increasing the Employee Engagement: The employees who are engaged within the organization are more connected through various channels and assume themselves as the integral part of the organization. These types of employees contribute more to the organization by going extra-mile. Moreover, when they understand that the management is open for the new ideas, then they regularly come up with ideas that are constructive and beneficial for the organization.

  • (ii)    Collaboration: Helping the employees to collaborate with each other foster the environment where employees work together and help others in their improvement and growth. This kind of activities help employees expands their knowledge and leads to the creation of the opportunities that solve various problems.

  • (iii)    Sharing Vision: The employees who are able to understand the vision of the organization are able to contribute to the organizations’ success in a better way. They feel empowered when they understand that their activities are contributing to the organization’s overall growth. 

  • (iv)    Continued Learning: If the environment in the organization is developed in such a manner that it foster learning or the management focuses on the knowledge improvement of the employees then it helps employees feel supported. They assume that the organization is contributing to their knowledge improvement which is a long term investment. Thus, employees work harder for the benefit of the organization.

  • (v)    Feedback: If the organization gives continuous feedback to the employees, then the employees stay aware about the areas they need to work on to improve their quality and ability to handle more work in future. The feedback system works well in helping the employees in such activity.

  • (vi)    Recognizing Achievement: If the management of the company recognizes the achievement of the employees either by giving prizes or bonus, then it motivates the employees in working harder to improve their performance to gain more praise in future.

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Task 5

Discuss your organisation’s disciplinary and grievance procedures, and the current legislation that applies to these. Provide an overview of how disciplinary and grievance procedures and adherence to current legislation works in your own organisation. Identify the responsibilities of line managers in disciplinary and grievance processes and describe the skills required in order to deploy the procedures effectively and within the legal framework.

Answer:

The disciplinary procedure of the organization follows the following steps while resolving any issue:

  • (i)    Informal Resolution of the disciplinary issues, where the employees are addressed on personal level for the correction of their conduct. 

  • (ii)    Formal Action: When the concerned employee fail to stay on the line on informal directions, then formal action becomes imperative. The first step in formal action is the establishment of facts and then the notification to the employee in writing. Moreover, if required, meeting can be also held to decide on the proper action.

  • (iii)    Informing Result: The employee is then informed about the result on whether he/she has to pay the penalty or has to give written consent that no such action will be repeated in the future.

  • (iv)    Opportunity to Appeal: The disciplinary committee gives the employee opportunity to say their concern on the case that has been developed.

  • (v)    Revisit: If the employee is granted another chance to improve and that employee fails to recover, then further action will be taken in such cases which may include dismissal based on the code of conduct.

The Grievance procedure of the organization follows the following steps while resolving any issue:

  • (i)    Informal Resolution: Like disciplinary procedure, resolving grievances at the informal level is considered the first step from any senior officials. 

  • (ii)    Grievance Procedure: The systematically developed grievance handling procedure comes in place when the informal methods fail to address the issue. 

  • (iii)    The next step is in the continuation of the previous one, where the employee informs the employer about the grievance in writing. Then a formal meeting is setup where both the party discuss over the issue. The appropriate action is decided and employee is allowed to appeal again if the grievance has not been solved.

The role of the manager in implementing both disciplinary and grievance procedure is important in various aspects (Smith, 2002). In spite of the presence of strong discipline and grievance handling mechanism, managers should try to prevent the problems from occurring. The established informal methods will be beneficial for the same. Moreover, if the manager holds regular meeting with different employees, then it will help in developing positive relation which can be beneficial in easy redress of grievance being raised. The managers need to respond to the issues well within the time before the issue scales further. If the manager has no idea about the solution of such issue, then that manager can seek immediate help from the concerned HR department.

References

  • Adelson, J. P. "Feedback And Group Development". Small Group Research 6.4 (1975): 389-401. Web.

  • Black, Cyril E. Conflict Management. Princeton, NJ: Univ. Press, 1971. Print.

  • Bluck, Robert. Team Management. London: Library Association Pub., 1996. Print.

  • Dimitrakos, Theo. Trust Management. Heidelberg [u.a.]: Springer, 2012. Print.

  • Dohrenwend, A. "Serving Up The Feedback Sandwich". Family practice management (2002): n. pag. Print.

  • Margerison, Charles J, and Dick McCann. Team Management. London: Mercury, 1990. Print.

  • McLean, Gary N. Organization Development. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2006. Print.

  • Smith, Mable H. "Grievance Procedures Resolve Conflict". Nursing Management (Springhouse) 33.4 (2002): 13. Web.

  • Wysocki, Robert K. Project Management Process Improvement. Boston: Artech House, 2004. Print.

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