HR Performance Management Report PDF

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Summary

Formal Evaluation Recommendation Document for ALPHGAMING - which was my case study I created based on group work then wrote a report regarding it....

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Formal Evaluation Recommendation Document for ALPHGAMING

By Portia Jane Brooks Fletcher B8013351 Word count: 3,278 Teammates: Leanne Holder Alex Coed Haleema Asfar

Contents Page Content

Page Number

1.0 Executive Summary

3

2.0 Introduction

3

3.0 Induction

3

3.1 Technology

4

3.2 International

5

3.3 Training line managers

6

3.4 Handover

7

3.5 Future career possibilities/ Graduation

8

4.0 Overall Recommendations

8

References

9

Appendices

11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVVqFVB9Fel

1.0 Executive Summary This report is written in order to analyse a new proposed performance management process for ALPHGAMING, created by graduate interns. Currently, ALPHGAMING suffers from intern retention rates, one reason this may be due to is having no performance management process therefore interns are not realising their involvement and contribution to the company. The main recommendation gathered in this report is that the proposed performance system should be used to tackle intern retention rate however aspects will need to be changed. One main finding was the implications of the introduction app, the app will financially cause issues on ALPHGAMING and may have accessibility problems for users. The line managers will be coaching the interns and may become under further stress if they do not understand how to operate the app and consequently this will cause a breach in their psychological contract with the company. However, it may be useful to bring the app in, a year after the system has been put into place as it a useful communication tool to calm interns' nerves. Furthermore, a new system should be created, using partial divergence, for international operations to avoid conflicts in cultures. Also, CIPD courses are recommended in order to train line managers into management. Line managers are a cheap resource to coach interns, however, need prior training themselves in order to give effective feedback and develop communication skills. Line managers should not give their feedback through the app, but instead face-to-face and every month to see continuous development overtime and to make the interns feel more advantaged from the company’s internship. Lastly, for the interns to feel more valued and understand their contribution to ALPHGAMING, the Chief Executive, Mike Davies should attend both the office party and the graduation. 2.0 Introduction A performance management process is a continuous process of setting objectives, assessing progress and providing ongoing coaching and feedback to ensure that employees are meeting their objectives and career goals (Omes, 2019.) The aim of the new proposed performance management system is to improve retention rates of interns at ALPHGAMING in order to keep and bring back talent therefore a stronger and more successful organisation. This system will also bring down costs from training and recruitment therefore save time and effort. The aim is making the interns feel valued, recognised and developed using different learning techniques, for example physical group projects will be incorporated with line management feedback throughout their year-long stay, on their mutually agreed targets. By keeping the interns engaged through job variety, positive leadership and selfefficacy, they will have an improved task performance, reduced intentions to quit and better psychological health (Heery et al, 2017). 3.0 Induction Looking at Appendix 3, the duration of the induction program will last 1 week and be prior to the interns starting, this is important as it’s the first vital opinion the intern will have of

ALPHGAMING therefore be motivated to begin. Furthermore, the intern will feel welcomed and respected into the company creating good communication to other employees. Successful staff inductions play a key role in maximizing the potential of new staff (Slade, 2011). Hopefully, the interns will feel less nervous as they have met their fellow interns and their ‘buddy’ for the next six months. The first day of the induction includes the informal meeting of interns with each other and their paired line manager known as their ‘buddy’, the buddies will be explaining ALPHGAMING’s company culture. The interns will be around their colleagues every day, especially in the openspaced environments, so they need to make sure they have the same value systems in order to feel more job satisfaction, for example what the dress code is (Candidcareer.com, 2016). The next day entails all the line managers and interns to come together to attend a talk made by ALPHGAMING’s chief executive, Mike Davies whom will be introducing the new app, what is expected of them and the three-month probation period. A Chief Executive talk is important as it makes the interns feel more important/wanted for their future therefore more motivated within the company (Farkas & Wetlaufer, 1996). Additionally, there will be speeches from ALPHGAMING’s past graduates, describing their experiences at the company and the opportunity of individual projects every other Friday afternoon, these are used in order to reassure the new interns and help calm their nerves. The third day is a day off for the line managers, in order to avoid over stressing them, the past interns will be taking groups of new interns and giving them a full tour of the onsite buildings. Exploring the open-planned rooms will further show the laid-back and non-hierarchal company culture at ALPHGAMING, hopefully interesting and exciting the interns more about starting work. Secondly, on this day the interns will each have an opportunity to play a pre-sale game that’s in current development, this is inviting to the company as it gives the interns experience to a real-life project. On the Thursday, all the interns will attend a talk on ALPHGAMING’s confidentiality and Data Protection Act. Explaining the importance of confidentiality to ALPHGAMING is important to ensure to avoid serious consequences for the company including financial problems, the reputation of the company and existing relationships (Hiscox, 2018). Lastly on Friday, there will be thorough training for all interns into the app by an IT specialist. The app has short training tips/videos, details of themselves and other employees and a group chat in order to ask further questions about the company and to get to know each other more. However, this training may be costly towards the company and not successful as they can’t receive individual help if stuck. If this induction week was to be more successful, a talk/day spent on health and safety would be recommended to abide to legal duties. Secondly, at the beginning of the induction the interns should be greeted by other employees from the business to feel more included into the company. 3.1 Technology The new performance management process involves a new app for smartphones, due to ALPHGAMING being a technology-based company, it presumes each employee has a smart phone and will be able to use the app efficiently. With the interns being a part of Generation Z,

they have grown up with constant connectivity and universal smartphone use, technology is integrated into every aspect of their life (Mintel, 2019) therefore the app should be successful. The app is useful for new interns as it allows them to find further detail into the company from a laid-back informal view, interns can ask current employees about the culture, for example who makes all the coffees? This is vital in calming the intern's nerves prior to starting, it also makes them feel a part of the business due to the connectivity of the app having connotations of that of a family. Despite this, a huge disadvantage to the app is the costs of creating the app, high costs can impact the company's cashflow therefore costs elsewhere maybe needed to be reduced, for example lowering interns and other employees’ salary. Kennedy (1992) found reducing salary destroys morale, causes compliance and breeds alienation, therefore the interns are not likely to return after their graduate year. In addition, introducing an app may be difficult for the different generations for example generation X and Y whom may not be used smartphones will feel at a loss and may not be able to communicate with their intern, if they are a buddy, meaning they can’t give feedback. This then further impacts the intern as they feel unconnected to their buddy and won’t receive feedback on their work. To conclude, ALPHGAMING should not incorporate the app in the first year however bring it in for the next year of interns, if the rest of the process goes smoothly. Instead they should continue with emails to communicate with other employees due to low costs and other generations having a better understanding of how to use emails. 3.2 International After the first six months of the placement, students will have an opportunity for a foreign exchange at ALPHGAMING’s China operations. When sending the interns to international sites, ALPHGAMING must ensure interns are aware of a possible change in culture, meaning they need to edit their recommendations slightly for them to be accepted. The UK is known to take more of an up-front approach with feedback compared to China (Blackburn, 2019) therefore UK operations need to be mindful of this when giving feedback to Asian interns. This means line managers need further training on Asian interns and the performance management process may need to be edited. As suggested by Reilly and Williams (2012), balancing consistency and local autonomy can be difficult, ALPHGAMING take a convergence approach which has both positive and negative impacts. A positive impact is that it creates common values between interns and employees at all the operations. Furthermore, it transfers work ethics from different countries therefore it both imports and exports good business practice to all parts of the organisation. However, this harmonisation can stifle innovation, the bases of ALPHGAMING’s values, therefore interns may become uninterested with the workload. Furthermore, China is known for promoting short term achievement therefore favour financial objectives rather than organisational development. Thus meaning, employees who work at the China operations are used to giving low amounts of feedback, being less transparent and not using multi-sourced feedback due to working alone normally (Shen, 2004). This new system is going to massively impact on the international operations, causing conflict if not accepted. To conclude, using the system internationally will not be effective, there will be a huge problem with the acceptability of the ‘buddy’ system with high feedback, especially in China where this is not their usual company culture. This will then create a problem of achieving consistent feedback results, interns will therefore feel at a loss in the last six months. The new system

should use partial divergence in order to keep peace and ensure the process is still a continuous process of joint planning, agreement, dialogue and feedback (Blackburn, 2019).

3.3 Training line managers As mentioned by a past graduate intern in the 5-minute video, one of the issues causing interns to not return was due to line managers not communicating with them, causing a lack of feedback and personal development. One main skill needed for management is good people skills in order to be able to coach their intern and communicate with them well. Good people and management skills are vital as they form and cement relationships, provide the correct motivation and help the interns to meet their goals (Clarke, 2019). Secondly, they need to know how to train up the generation Z therefore there is a need to introduce a practiced-orientated approach to learning (Vikhrova, 2017), letting the interns be hands on with projects for example when shadowing. Furthermore, they need to be taught how to set mutually agreed targets and observe performance, as without this there will be minimum feedback. The line managers should be trained up in giving Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) for the interns to see their own personal development and for the line managers to improve their own personal development skills, which maybe the step from reaching the next band. One positive of using line managers in order to manage new interns is the low/non costs, line managers will have this responsibility in addition to their others. A lack of costs is an advantage to help with potential company cash-flow problems, as the creation of the app for example will be costly. Another benefit to the company is that by training the line managers to support interns, they will feel more engaged and important to the business therefore want to return in their graduate year. A study by Kruegar and Killham (2007) found that 59% of engaged employees say that their job brought out their most creative ideas when they are engaged. These ideas will create high performance at ALPHGAMING to be more competitive in the market. Despite this, putting an extra amount of unpaid work on the line managers will largely impact on how they view the organisation. Stiles et al (2015) suggested that when changing routines in organisations, the managers credibility entailed a lack of motivational support and thus therefore reflected negatively on the new scheme. Consequently, to avoid feeling overwhelmed they may do the bare minimum which then affects the interns stay and doesn’t create consistency with feedback. In addition, if managers show citizenship behaviours they are more likely to strike due to tiredness therefore there is rationale for engagement which is the Social Exchange Theory. This is based upon the theory that an employee’s level of engagement is a response to the resources they receive from the organisation (Blackburn, 2019). In the future, for the sytem to be successful, workshops and thorough training would be recommended for the line managers to feel more comfortable in having their own ‘buddy’ to monitor. Also, workshops and team building would be successful in helping with their lack of people skills and coaching skills. 3.4 Handover After the first six months of the internship, the interns will attend a small handover party and a 360-degree appraisal feedback session. The interns will then move on in the business to explore another section, for example the international operations to meet their new ‘buddy’ line

manager for the last six months of the internship. A new line manager will give the interns a fresh perspective, new feedback and new skills. Using a 360-degree appraisal technique, it is more successful as it provides constructive feedback including development opportunities and high recognition. Within the feedback, if there is underperformance this can quickly be addressed to raise the intern’s performance, further benefiting the organisation (Vidya et al, 2017). In addition, the advantage to the intern is that they feel they’ve got an all-round review of themselves from different perspectives therefore it is more valid and useful to them. Consequently, they will feel more involved in the business and can see how they have progressed in the first six months, giving a better view of the company. Despite this, using this feedback technique it can be unreliable due to inconsistent feedback, not all employees have the time or efforts to be filling in questions about another, especially line managers therefore if only two or three employees respond, the feedback is unreliable. In addition, employees are not trained in how to evaluate an intern’s action or on how to give honest and accurate feedback (Sullivan, 2012). Within the office party celebration, party food will be provided by the line managers and interns will be asked to pair up with another intern and create a PowerPoint to present back of what they have learnt in their first six months. This is important as it highlights to the interns what they have learnt from ALPHGAMING and how they will use this knowledge in their future careers. Using Gibbs Reflective Cycle (1988), interns can give structure to their learning, so they can plan for future experiences on things that went well or not so well. Additionally, they can reflect on what they learnt at the CIPD Event excursions and how these have improved performance growth. However, line managers may not want to go out to purchase the party food and this can be costly for the business. They may feel unaccredited for their management training to the interns and not attend the office party and feel a sense of job unsatisfaction. To conclude, another feedback technique would be recommended alongside the 360-degree appraisal (and training on feedback), for example constant feedback sessions with their line managers, the interns only receive a three-month probation meeting with their buddy and online feedback. Face-to-face feedback is vital in the intern's development and would be needed once a month to set-agreed targets and see if they have been met. Monthly meetings will be successful in seeing development over time. 3.5 Future career possibilities/ Graduation After the internship has been completed, the interns will all come together for a ‘graduation’ party. This party will be used in order to congratulate the interns of their completed year, it will take place in the large hall, and will include a DJ and a free alcoholic bar. However, this can be very costly to the company and cause conflicts on who is going to arrange the party. This will be successful in making the employees feel they have contributed largely to ALPHGAMING and help create a psychological contract between the intern and the company, so they want to return as a graduate. Lehman-smith and McLeish (2001) suggest that younger people search for job security through interaction with other employees in a supportive manner, in order to want to return to the job. Furthermore, the line managers at the party need to compliment the employees work ethics, give examples to how they have contributed to the company and explain how well they have fit into the company, in order for the interns to know their talents will be missed.

One recommendation would be that ALPHGAMING should include a rewards ceremony into the graduation party, for example create a certificate for each intern with a small compliment, to make them feel more valued. Additionally, within the graduation, the chief executive, Mike Davies, should attend and give his congratulations/appreciation to the interns, to make them feel more special to the business. 4.0 Overall Recommendations 4.1 Learning and Development One recommendation would be to use CIPD courses for leadership and management to train line managers, these are fully qualified programs which are designed for people in all business disciples (CIPD, 2019) and will help them get used to coaching the interns and improving personal development. 4.2 Offsite Meetings One example company who have a very high employee satisfaction rate is Cloudreach, this is due to their values and culture, Cloudreach ensure their leadership team invests huge amounts of time and money into taking care of staff, they have regular offsites to bring global staff together and welcoming offices with food supplies (Glassdoor, 2018). ALPHGAMING should take inspiration from this London-based company in order to make the interns feel at ease and create regular offsite meetings. 4.3 Innovation Additionally, the half a day’s free-paid innovation time every other Friday should be kept in the system, because it pushes for the interns own innovation and helps them feel more valued within the organisation. When a person feels valued in the organisation, they will feel competent to engage in creative behaviours, generate creative ideas and solve problems creatively (Cohen-Mietar, 2009), further benefiting ALPHGAMING. However, this free innovation time should be held once a month, as it is too costly for the business every two weeks. There is also a fear that interns may ha...