Performance management system strengths and weaknesses in a government organization

¶ … Performance Management System in the Organization

The objective of this study is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the performance management system in the organization in which the writer of this work is employed and to make recommendations to improve this system.

The writer of this study is employed in a government organization that is aligned with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hiring standards and selections. Each separate government organization is required to develop their own hiring and onboarding procedures therefore, these are unique to each individual agency. A 45-day model is used to recruiting and hiring of new employees.

Assessment of Organization Processes

Day One and Two

Noted as a weakness in attracting the best talent is the many steps involved in the process since the first ten steps in the hiring process are redundant and seemingly ambiguous and little excitement is present until the candidate reaches step eighteen which is the step in which an offer of employment is extended. Following acceptance the process to onboard makes a requirement of an extensive amount of paperwork as well as exchange and verification of personal information.

Newly hired employees spend their first two days at Headquarters in orientation and training, which provides the employees knowledge on the culture of the organization as well as in regards to the organizations values, goals, components, roles and responsibilities. Each component is scheduled and the agency is briefed on new hire and business cards made available to the newly hired employees. These briefings are informative and assist the new employees however, there is so much paperwork required and this means that the HR team does not have sufficient time to spend on providing information regarding the insurance differentials and co-pay for each of the insurance plans. This results in the new hires being rushed in making health insurance choices.

Day Three To Fifteen

The third day the new hires will report to the new organization, meet with their supervisor and discuss their role. The new hires are provided with the necessary tools to begin work immediately however, there is a time lapse of 10 to 15 days before the manager actually meets face-to-face with the newly hired employees and introduces them formally to the team. There is also a problem concerning the internal boarding and orientation in that it is lacking and quarterly briefing relate newcomers. In the five years that the writer of this work has been employed with the organization the writer has yet to attend or sponsor any newly hired employees to what is an apparent 'virtual new comer's orientation'.

III. The Literature

The work of Pimentel ( ) reports that mentoring" is the history of business itself. At one time, the one-on-one guidance of a wise master to his/her apprentice was the only way someone could learn a trade. A person did not go out and get a job -- he or she went out and recruited a mentor." (p.1) The benefits of employee mentoring are stated to include such as the following:

(1) The mentor or coach can provide individual assistance to employees who encounter difficulties or who are experiencing the challenges of transition as new employees.

(2) The availability of a mentor or coach can empower the employee and demonstrating the employer's commitment to that person's success.

(3) The mentor or coach can help to establish a climate in which employee personal and career growth can take place and create a safe place for employees to bring questions and problems.

(3) The mentor or coach can model appropriate business behaviors that you want to cultivate in the employee.

(4) The mentor or coach can keep the employee informed about opportunities where his/her skills dovetail with the company's goals and strategies. (Pimentel, 2006, p.2)

It is related in another source that onboarding is "the process of helping new employees become full contributors to the institution." (Dartmouth, nd, p.1) Schooley (2010) reports "Successful business mentoring programs match mentors with experienced staff to speed time to competency while also transferring knowledge and increasing internal talent. Within the Fortune 500 today, about 70% of the companies have formalized mentoring programs. In other companies, about half have some kind of mentoring function in place." (p.1) Reported as critical components of mentoring are those of: (1) planning; (2) communicating; (3) training; and (4) sponsoring. (Schooley, 2006, p.2) The mentoring continuum is reported by Schooley to be in the nature of informal, hybrid and formal as shown in the table labeled Figure 1 in this study.

Figure 1 - The Mentoring Continuum

Source: Schooley (2010)

Recommendations

Arising from this analysis and assessment of organizational onboarding processes, it is clear that what is missing in the organization at focus in this study is mentoring which is shown in the research to have clear benefits to both the newly hired employee and the organization. Also shown in the literature reviewed is that mentoring of new employees adds value to the organization for the employee and to the employee for the organization.