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The success of a business is contingent on not only the business concept, but also the personnel, who are the heart of the company. Performance management can be improved in a company by increasing morale and by providing strong leadership. The management control function is evolving by having a wider perspective on control as it relates to its role as a management function. Managers are becoming less controlling of their workers, and this helps build morale. In this essay, I will outline some of the factors that influence performance management in a way that can benefit the company. It isn’t only the fundamentals of a company that makes it a success, but the performance management and how it relates to leadership and morale that allows a company to thrive.
The extreme bossism that was prevalent in the past is slowly dissipating, as the boss and employee work more closely together. Some of the control mechanisms include employee incentives, which can increase productivity, instill shared beliefs and encourage innovation. Employee incentives, however, cost the company money to fund. Another example is the constraint mechanism. This allows the manager to set a limit to the amount an employee may consume of a resource. This can help control over-use of a particular resource, but it can limit the amount needed for the employee to execute their task. A balance needs to be found. Many organization uses the steps of the control process to establish standards, to measure the company’s performance against these standards and to correct the deviations from standards set out in the plans, (Sutton,2009).
While leadership is a component of control, leadership implies working more closely with the employees. In leadership, the manager influences and guides the employees work and ensures they are moving in the right direction. Empowerment implies the loss of control in some cases. When uniformity and consistency are vital, empowerment should be addressed cautiously. This is sometimes needed when a company is experiencing tight finances and when operations need to be standardized. However, empowerment can be a good thing when the employees work closely with the customers, when the technology is complex, when the processes are constantly evolving, when employee initiative has a high payoff, when an employee needs motivation and when the environment isn’t certain, for example, (Mulcahy, 2005).
Meetings need to be arranged and each member of the group should be involved. The followers should feel they have an opportunity to share their beliefs and observations. They may have problems that need addressing by the leaders, and they may provide valuable feedback. This is also an opportunity for the leader to find out who is potentially at the top of the group. The leader must also push the employees hard in order to get the most out of them. Planning needs to be taken extremely seriously so that each member of the group is working together. A training plan should be put in place so that the followers are able to work with precision. The experienced employees should be utilized to pass on their knowledge, rather than having each new employee start from the bottom themselves.
Each leader should take responsibility for their group; otherwise, there is a chance no-one takes responsibility. Also, the leader needs to play a role in the performance of everyone, in order to help everyone focus. Without a shared vision, the leader will have a difficult time meeting the company’s goals. The leader also needs to take competition very seriously, because customer retention is the building block for the sustenance of many companies. In order to execute the vision of the company in the best way possible, the leader should be well aware of what is happening within the company. This requires them to monitor the employees, while not micromanaging them. Giving them the right amount of scrutiny is needed, and finding the right amount of supervision is vital in ensuring they perform and are not over managed. Over management could lose the respect of the employees and it could decrease the enjoyability of their job.
Good leaders have a certain quality to them called idealized influence. This is a behavioral type that is adopted by leaders to make followers want to emulate their actions. But in order to act in a way where people want to follow the leader, the leader must act in ways that exhibits a high moral standard. However, “moral” is a very abstract term and can take on different definitions depending on who is interpreting the action. According to Jeremy Bentham, a deceased English philosopher, an ethical decision can be calculated based on whether it has the greatest positive impact on the greatest number of people, (Sutton, 2009).
Leaders should have the ability to communicate clearly to their audience what is the best way to proceed. This requires an ability to analyze a situation, sometimes quickly, before taking action. When a leader can clearly communicate their ethical decision, it can clearly define the acceptable behavior of the group. It begins to define the qualities of the group and this statement is often infectious when a leader is well-respected by the group they are leading. The bond that is built is strong when a leader has high ethical standards and communicates their message clearly. Some of the decision could challenge what the group may believe, but with strong enough leadership, a new outlook among the group members can be forged. Challenging the status quo can trigger the group’s members to develop forward thinking.
The type of mentality that is taken up by a group that has been around for a while might sound something like this: “This is the way we’ve always done it.” That way of thinking doesn’t provide for evolution of practices. Also, the leader shouldn’t just tell the group what to believe, they should ask for input so that each member feels they are part of the decision-making process and this will also strengthen the unit.
It takes some time before a leader is able to impact their followers. The followers may at times doubt their leader, especially at first; this could lead to testing the leader to see how assertive they are and how worthy they are of leading the group. But through time, a good leader is able to build the trust of the followers, and so the followers are more willing to trust their leader.
The best leaders are able to frame what they envision as being the best strategy for the group. This helps the group learn about what the leader has in mind about their direction. As relationships build over time, the leader’s job becomes easier because they aren’t working upstream against the doubt of the followers. Once the minds of the followers are opened, the leader is more able to influence their way of thinking. When a leader doesn’t have the trust of the followers, there is a lack of coherency in the group, which may cause the group to not have any direction. In most situations that require a group, the members need to get along to work to achieve a common goal, (Mulcahy, 2005).
Poor leadership, or a difficult group of followers, could mean all the difference between being successful as a group and failing. In almost every situation, the views of each group member need to be molded to conform to the beliefs of the other members in order to act as a unit and not become entangled in various viewpoints.
Once the trust is gained, the leader needs to make sure they stay consistent and drive home the beliefs they possess, otherwise the leader can lose credibility. The leader’s values must be the foundation that holds the group together and, over time, these values will spread throughout the group.
Poor leadership skills can take their shape in many forms. Generally, a lack of communication between the leader and the followers is the source of most poor leadership skills. The leader needs to feel comfortable addressing the followers and needs to communicate well in order to relay their values and build the group of followers into a unit with the same goals.
Meetings need to be arranged and each member of the group should be involved. The followers should feel they have an opportunity to share their beliefs and observations. They may have problems that need addressing by the leaders, and they may provide valuable feedback. This is also an opportunity for the leader to find out who is potentially at the top of the group. The leader must also push the employees hard in order to get the most out of them. Planning needs to be taken extremely seriously so that each member of the group is working together. A training plan should be put in place so that the followers are able to work with precision. The experienced employees should be utilized to pass on their knowledge, rather than having each new employee start from the bottom themselves, (Sutton, 2009).
Leadership is a vital component of performance management. Each leader should take responsibility for their group; otherwise, there is a chance no-one takes responsibility. Also, the leader needs to play a role in the performance of everyone, in order to help everyone focus. Without a shared vision, the leader will have a difficult time meeting the company’s goals. The leader also needs to take competition very seriously, because customer retention is the building block for the sustenance of many companies. In order to execute the vision of the company in the best way possible, the leader should be well aware of what is happening within the company. This requires them to monitor the employees, while not micromanaging them. Giving them the right amount of scrutiny is needed, and finding the right amount of supervision is vital in ensuring they perform and are not over managed. Over management could lose the respect of the employees and it could decrease the enjoyability of their job.
Works Cited
Mulcahy, D. (2005, June). The Importance of Leadership. Bridgewater State College.
Sutton, R. (2009). How to Be a Good Boss in a Bad Economy. Harvard Business Review.
