Performance Management and Organizational Goals: The conventional goal management processes of organization was characterized with goal setting initiatives in which individuals sought managerial approval for personal goals as part of performance review and management. These self-defined goals were usually activity-oriented since they focused on what an employee or individual would try to do within a specific period of time. The problem with this conventional approach is that individuals would establish goals without consideration of their impact on others or based on departmental or organizational goals. As a result, a new methodology has emerged that links performance management to organizational goals. The emergence of this methodology has been influenced by the fact that organizations in the modern world are more complex and consist of diverse workforce that necessitates new and evolving leadership.

Linking Performance Management and Organizational Goals:

The traditional approach of establishing organizational goals involved the development of self-defined goals that were used as part of performance review or management of an individual employee. Most of these goals were activity-centered with their main focus being what an employee or individual would try to accomplish in the coming year. While these goals also focused on self-improvement and personal development measures, they were established in isolation. Therefore, self-defined goals were not established in consideration of their impact on others or in light of organizational goals.

According to Hardy (2012),...

This methodology has been developed to deal with the problems associated with traditional approach of performance management in relation to goal setting. The other reasons for the emergence of the tactic is the increase complexity of modern organizations, which are characterized with diverse workforce and new and evolving leadership models. Unlike the traditional approach, the new methodology i.e. cascading focuses on translating organizational goals into performance measures across every organizational department and level (Hardy, 2012). This method of linking performance management to organizational goals is based on a top-down approach since the performance measures are from senior leaders to the individual employee.
Based on this new methodology, there is a strong relationship between performance management and organizational goals. The relationship between the two concepts is evident in the fact that establishing a clear link between organizational goals and performance metrics help employees to understand the value of their work and contributions to the organization. This in turn encourages or motivates the individual employees to give their best towards the accomplishment of common goals. Generally, the link between performance management and organizational goals creates lines of sight between individual employees and the wider objectives of the organization.

In essence, performance management focuses on developing performance measures…