Posts Tagged ‘control’

Effective Means to Measure, Control, Improve Employees’ Productivity

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

To accurately measure, control, improve employees’ productivity, there is a need to implement productivity metrics. These quantifiable figures make it easier to measure the abstract concept of productivity.

We all know how important the productivity of employees in a certain workplace is. This is because the overall success of the company greatly relies on just how productive its employees are. And this is the primary reason behind the pressing need to measure, control, and improve employees’ productivity.

Measuring, controlling, and improving the productivity of your employees is not as easy as one may think. Organizations all over the world have long been trying to come up with concrete ways to measure the productivity of employees. This is quite hard because there are so many aspects of productivity that are quite difficult to quantify in the first place. However, over the course of time, many specialists and such have come up with what are known as Productivity Metrics, to accurately measure employee productivity.

So, what exactly are these metrics? And how do they measure productivity? The main thing to remember here is that for you to measure productivity accurately, you need to know a few things first. These include the purpose of such measurement, the method to be used for such measurement, and the desired result or outcome of the resultant action that will take place after such measurement. These technical terms translate to you having to know the reason behind measuring productivity, the method to use to measure productivity, and the desired outcome or course of action that will take place to address the results of the measurement. These are the underlying concepts behind productivity metrics.

To answer the question pertaining to purpose, you need to check the goals and objectives that the organization originally put up during its very foundation. As for the method of measurement, this would then be your very own productivity metrics already. These are the quantitative figures that you will be using to quantify and measure productivity. The resultant action, on the other hand, would depend on how far the organization is from realizing corporate goals and objectives. And because these productivity metrics are crucial for the success of the organization, then they can also be aptly termed as Critical Success Factors or CSFs.

With all of these aspects defined, the next logical step would be the implementation of the metrics themselves. For the metrics to be properly implemented, you should first identify each contributing element. These are: the metric’s name, the metric description, the measurement procedure, the measurement frequency, the threshold estimation, the current threshold, the target value, and the units. The metric name and its description show what needs to be measured. The measurement procedure explains how measurement would take place here, whereas frequency pertains to how often this measurement would take place. Threshold estimation focuses on the calculation of the thresholds of measurement. The current threshold, in the meantime, is the value rage within which the measurement is considered normal for the metric being measured. The target value pertains to the best value possible for the metric, while the unit pertains to the unit used in measuring the metric.

All of these aspects are put into play as part of the means to measure, control, and improve the productivity of employees. As long as these are properly put into place, there is much promise for the accurate measurement of productivity and for the development of appropriate solutions towards the improvement of productivity here.

In Search of Effective Control Employee Performance Tips

Monday, February 25th, 2008

Control employee performance tips help managers learn from other experienced managers on how to effectively manage employee performance. Fortunately, with the development of the Internet, having access to these is no longer a big problem.

For inexperienced managers, control employee performance tips are necessary inputs that will aid them in decision-making.

Performance management is a crucial aspect in the operation of every business organization. This involves the process of successfully channeling and managing employee knowledge and skills so that overall company objectives are achieved. Some of the most important managerial functions include assessing employee performance and providing employee feedback. In performance assessment, it is important that managers are able to develop an evaluation system that would take into consideration metrics that truly matters. In the assessment stage, five categories of job performance are usually measured namely; interaction, communication, productivity, job skills and knowledge, and quality concerns.

After an assessment has been made, the manager must be able to communicate to the concerned employee his or her feedback. An effective feedback needs to be specific, credible, timely, behavior-based and purposeful. It should provide positive reinforcement and should help employees identify what it is that they are doing well and what needs to be improved. Also, negative feedback or criticism should pertain to the working attitude or performance and should not be a personal attack. Or else, the feedback becomes an instrument of prosecution.

Another important aspect of controlling employee performance is to assess the skills that employees currently have and to identify what skills they need to develop or improve for future use. Once skill gaps or limitations have been identified, it is now time to develop a training and development program that would best address the needs of employees. Creating an individual development plan for employees or team members is also a good way of keeping track of employee performance. From these plans, management would have a better idea of the more immediate training and development needs of their workforce.

While it is important to recognize the limitations of employees in terms of their performance, it is equally important to recognize their efforts in helping the company achieve its goals. Awards, rewards or recognition are very effective incentives for good work. Good managers should know how to motivate their employees or subordinates, instead of manipulating them. The difference between both lies with the fact that motivation looks upon positive reasons for hard work while manipulation involves the use of punitive or coercive measures to make people do their jobs.
Employee performance problems naturally occur in organizations.

These stem from the fact that there are different personalities in an organization. Employees have different principles, priorities, values, work attitude and are affected differently by motivational factors. Therefore, meeting such problems should not be a cause of alarm. What is important is that managers should be able to address such problems as soon as they arise. Otherwise, employees would perceive their superior to be ineffective.

To address employee performance problems, managers should ask for suggestions from the concerned employees to prevent reoccurrence of such roadblocks. Since the employees themselves came up with a possible solution to their problems, they will develop a sense of responsibility or commitment to overcome their performance dilemma. For more control employee performance tips, managers can rely on the Internet as a resource tool.