Term Paper on "Performance Improvement Project Area to Be Targeted"

Term Paper 6 pages (1747 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

performance improvement PROJECT

Area to be targeted

Tasks and activities

Expected commencement dates

Expected results

Organizational

Skills

Employees will need to work in coordination with other employees

Employees will share research findings with other departments team spirit must always be present

Interdependency is critical

Interaction with senior management needs to be improved better coordination among employees better coordination between departments more support for organizational strategies better use of research greater motivation

Details of what a performance improvement project is:

Performance Improvement plan is needed when an organization seeks to improve organizational/departmental or employee performance and wants to achieve some specific goals with its help. In a systems thinking organization, each department of the organization is seen as part of the bigger whole and not treated as a separate entity. Separation of departments had previously been a popular approach where it was felt that if all departments improved themselves, the organizational performance would improve on its own. But this approach is no longer effective because of changing economic and business conditions. Now each department is seen as an integral part of the organization and is improved keeping in view the role it plays and the position it enjoys in the firm's performance. (Aronson)

In other words, each department needs to think of itself as an important part of the bigger vehicle and needs to assess the ways in which it impacts the organization on the whole. This is an outward thinking approach where each entity stretches outwards and looks outside of itself to understand how it can improve and where the obstacles lie. Similarly in a systems thinking organization, employees also tend to think outside of themselves to assess their strengths and weaknesses and gain ultimate success. Kofman & Senge have probably the best explanation on the subject:

The defining characteristic of a system is that it cannot be understood as a function of its isolated components. First, the behavior of the system doesn't depend on what each part is doing but on how each part is interacting with the rest... Second, to understand a system we need to understand how it fits into the larger system of which it is a part... Third, and most important, what we call the parts need not be taken as primary. In fact, how we define the parts is fundamentally a matter of perspective and purpose, not intrinsic in the nature of the 'real thing' we are looking at. (Kofman and Senge, 1993, p. 27)

Previously, we had seen how management literature would focus intensely on improvement of individual performance for overall organizational success. This is still important but the approach has changed directions. It now moves from inside to outside instead of the other way around. In many cases, a firm seeking enhanced organizational performance would focus on development and improvement of its staff. Better training, development of organizational skills, better communication etc. are focused upon which ultimately proves healthier for the organization on the whole.

In a systems thinking organization, the same performance improvement project might be applied but it will need to focus on better training about systems thinking approach and employees will be trained to think outside of themselves. This helps an organization stick with its new approach while at the same time employees also get to learn more about the new approach as they try to improve their skills.

Rate Organization's performance in this area:

An organization that is truly interested in systems thinking approach must fully understand the problems and hard work associated with introducing and implementing a new approach. Systems thinking cannot be exactly be an old approach for any organization since its relatively new and replaced the old analysis method. The old method has already been explained above and it is important now to see how this organization ranks in systems thinking development.

The approach was introduced in 2003 and has since then been a consistent part of company's strategies, plans, mission, targets and annuals goals. The firm has worked hard to implement systems thinking approach but it truly lags in the area of educating its staff about this new approach. It cannot be denied that the firm has provided training but this training has not been adequate because most employees still appeared to have just a vague idea of what systems thinking meant. They all appeared willing to discuss and learn more but it appeared that while the firm was keen on introducing this new approach, it never provided the kind of education needed to make a new method work.

Employees felt that while they had always been excited about systems thinking approach, they did not really understand the concept that well and felt that the firm never really came up with the kind of literature employees needed. about a very small percentage of employees (20%) understood the concept but they were mostly senior employees who had been with the firm for over five years. The majority did not have a clear idea about this approach and were actually hesitant to ask their supervisors. This is again wrong since the whole concept of systems thinking is based on interaction with each other. Rating the firm, we would say it could get a 5 for incomplete and rather ineffective implementation of systems thinking approach. However the 5 that it does get is for introducing the approach to the 20% of the staff in proper manner. Though it had failed to really have an impressive impact on the performance, it had nonetheless ensured that the organization was serious about adopting this new approach for performance enhancement-therefore at least half the battle was won.

The obstacles to improving performance in this area that currently exist:

The main obstacles exist in the area of employee education and training. Since most employees are not clear on the subject of systems thinking, they do not understand how it can be used for performance improvement. This is acting as a major problem in implementing this approach completely. For this reason, the staff almost appears incapable of thinking as part of the whole. Another major problem was that firm had failed to notice this learning problem and since it had not yet been identified, nothing serious had actually been done. In the book, The Fifth Discipline, the author, Senge, had explained some reasons why a firm's employees may fail to think interdependently. These have been identified as the following categories:

I am my position"

The enemy is out there"

The illusion of taking charge"

The fixation on events"

The parable of the boiled frog"

The delusion of learning from experience" (1990, pp. 17-26)

The benefits that an organization would result from this performance improvement project:

The most important benefit accruing from this performance enhancement project would be better coordination and interactions between departments and between junior and senior staff. Since we have already identified these two as the major obstacles, we need to understand that once the performance enhancement project is used, it will produce the most positive results in these areas. Once the employees start thinking systematically, they are more likely to see systems thinking as a completely new way of doing things. They will no longer see it as just another approach but will start viewing it as a new paradigm altogether that will not only help the organization itself but will also positively influence individuals. Thus a systematically thinking organization is the one where employees "would truly like to work within and which can thrive in a world of increasing interdependency and change." (Kofman and Senge, 1993, p. 32)

Systems thinking" is critical to all organizations that want to be seen as learning organizations since in such an organization continuous learning is encouraged. However when the key critical resource i.e. The employees, fail to understand the approach itself, they are not likely to learn much. For this reason adequate training and education programs need to be started so each employee would gain a clearer picture of the whole concept. And it must be done in way as to make the employees see the benefits that exist in such an approach for them and their careers. Senge further explains that: "At the heart of a learning organization is a shift of mind --from seeing ourselves as separate from the world to connected to the world, from seeing problems as caused by someone or something 'out there' to seeing how our own actions create the problems we experience. A learning organization is a place where people are continually discovering how they create their reality. And how they can change it" (1990, pp. 12-13)

Some other more typical benefits would be:

More coordinated research

Better support of company's strategies

Better teamwork

Fewer conflicts

Lower redundancy

The Metrics that will be used to measure this project and how those metrics align with the mission and goals

This project will use the metrics of brand equity and stock price to measure performance of the organization and will use Average Revenue per employee and average cost… READ MORE

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