The challenge of delivering high quality, effective and efficient public services in a tighter fiscal climate is not only a considerable one, but one of many dimensions. It demands, among other things, talented management, the ability to improve performance across the board, and it will test the effectiveness of many a top management team.
Dilum Jirasinghe, an associate director in the Hay Group London office led the session, which focused on improving performance and particularly on how the performance management systems have been changing the last 2 - 3 years as organisations mved away from performance appraisal to more sophisticated models that were better integrated with corporate goals and the total human resource framework. The key question addressed was: With notions and models of performance management having evolved considerably in recent years, what constitutes a state-of-the-art performance management system and what are the best doing differently?
Commenting on a number of studies of leading brand names, Dilum discussed a number of key findings including the need to align pay to performance in a significant and meaningful way and, in turn, to align performance to strategic goals.
Turning to the public sector and studies of the ways in which performance was managed in different public sector bodies across Europe, it was reported that nearly all organisations studied had set about looking to manage performance in one way or another and the key test was how well different bodies were effectively linking performance management with broader organisational goals and issues. Major cultural differences were reported, but the best had a clear vision of what high performance looked like within their business and organisation. They also hadperformance management frameworks that balanced the need for consistency and control with local accountability and a supportive regime.
However, it had been noted that a great deal depended on the maturity of organisations - on their ability to design and effectively implement schemes that were in step with the organisation's value system and its wider operating systems and practices. In the end performance management systems must be fully aligned with the values and culture of the organisation.
Dilum is a chartered occupational psychologist and holds a Hay Group expert role for performance management. She recently conducted collaborative research with Henley Management College and co-authored a book on Managing and Measuring Employee Performance – Kogan Page Ltd (2006).
Dilum Jirasinghe's Presentation: Copies of Dilum's presentation are available on request. Contact Kim McKnight, (T) 02890 542966
*A previous Session in this series dealt with Talent Management (30 April 2008). The next Session is on Top Team Effectiveness (25 June 2008): Brochure.
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