Page 53 - DCOM102_DMGT101_PRINCIPLES_AND_PRACTICES_OF_MANAGEMENT

Unit 2: Evolution of Management Thought

Notes
from overseas as well. Now, I look back and feel that for a six year old organisation, we
have done reasonably well.
There is one point, however, which we have neglected in this time and that is our
performance measurement. I mean, we don't have any single and objective tool to judge
and evaluate our performance on non-financial parameters.
I personally feel that we need to have such a system which can guide us internally to
develop insight into our customers, our employees and our strengths and how to improve
upon these areas." Vijay was addressing his team of functional heads at the meeting.
Hearing his views, all of them took some time before speaking. Anjali Mehta, the Human
Resource Chief said, 'We are using a model for assessing human assets in our organisation.
Accordingly we have annual employee satisfaction survey and very effective performance
appraisal system. Besides this, we need to understand the dynamics of an organisation and
the industry we are operating in. Worldwide the turnover in software industry is higher
than the average. Also the compensation for software professionals is growing all over, at
astonishing rates. Even in such a dynamic environment, we have managed to retain our
people at very good level. I personally don't see any need for another system of performance
evaluation specifically in human resources but I am open to any decision, taken jointly in
the interest of the organisation".
Vijay however, still felt very strongly for this issue despite listening to his team. He
brought the topic again and again. His team eventually decided to go according to his plan
and sat down to develop a yardstick for performance. After many debates and discussions,
they decided to focus on the following issues:
1. Customers - The many issues related with this were how clients see the organisation.
their needs, reducing lead time and developing relationships.

2. The strengths, i.e. the competitive advantage the company has, their efforts in
marketing and product development and how they can build upon internal
resources, etc.
3. The financial perspective and the measures to improve their performance.
4. The perspective of learning, emphasis on training and development.
All these combined together would give a unified-report on all elements, that may affect
the overall performance of the company. It would also provide them a base for future
strategic planning and expansion.

Once the performance parameters were finalised, Vijay decided to seek an opinion from
his advisor and a practicing consultant, in a top consulting firm. He briefed him about
their initiative and asked for his advice.
"For an organisation like yours, is important to have such a tool. The business today is
more complexed than it was some years back and financial measures are no more considered
the only measurements of performance. You need wider indicators that measure the
critical factors that influence success.

I further suggest Eskewed, a readymade package for your organisation. This will cover all
these measures and also give you an easier way of implementation. However, you need to
take help of external consultants who can guide you through the implementation process,
the advisor wrote back.

Contd...

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