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Performance management system

Written by Ana Canteli on 22  June 2021

When proposing an effective performance control system, no one doubts the need and logic of one at a financial or economic level since we are all aware of how important they are in making strategic and operational decisions in those areas. However, when it comes to doing the same with human capital, both the concept and the purpose are more abstract and therefore more challenging to define and pose.

An effective performance management software is a methodology that an organization follows supported by the processes, systems, and metrics necessary to measure and monitor business performance. And any entity interested in improving and maximizing corporate performance management cannot ignore the impact that employee performance has on the organization's results. Moreover, when carrying out this approach to high business performance, it is essential to commit the management, who will manage resources, especially in time, money, and knowledge, necessary to develop the strategy.

On the other hand, having business performance management software is not just for the leading companies. In an environment in which competitiveness, globalization, and uncertainty reach heights never seen before, having performance management tools helps to guarantee the excellent performance of the entity. In addition, it should not be forgotten that as a company develops, the organization chart becomes more complex since it has to present the scorecard with the functions and responsibilities and give access to related information. Such as the knowledge and experience required for human resources, objectives and remuneration levels, etc. As we can see, as soon as we think about the situation of any organization, business performance management software is increasingly necessary.

Performance management objectives

Although an effective performance management system has to provide some flexibility - as it has to be able to adapt to corporate culture, to different management models, which in turn will be defined by other management processes -. It is also true that it must be a source of solution to recognized and specific challenges and objectives.

Organizations often purchase and implement integrated performance management systems for the following reasons:

• Improvement of results: especially at the economic level, because in the end, any organization is judged by the results accounts. An enterprise performance management system shows how the implementation of the policy strategy contributes to the continuous improvement of results.
• Communication and feedback: a high-performance management system has to ensure that all its members know the entity's vision and strategic objectives and are aligned with performance expectations. If, in addition, it is possible for workers to use the system as a means of feedback, it will be possible to suspend the cyclical limitation that performance appraisals usually presents and make it a process of continuous improvement.
• Planning improvement: when implementing and developing a corporate high-performance strategy, we can deviate from the objectives set over time due to a multitude of factors. A reliable performance management system should help us identify them in time and maintain the essential characteristics of any goal: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and with a particular time horizon. This contributes to strategic planning being directly related to performance appraisals so that performance evaluation is carried out in the most objective possible way, taking into account the objectives and what has happened during the period analyzed.

The OpenKM document management software has all the necessary tools to become your company's employee performance management system.

Phases of performance management

Any strategy worth its salt must be organized in successive stages, without which it would not be easy to articulate the business project.

• Planning: the directive in coordination with the middle managers must reach a consensus regarding the objectives and the necessary and available means and resources (they are not the same) to achieve them. It is possible that as a result of the above, the job descriptions, their responsibilities, and the related compensation will be updated. All this information rests in contents that can be created and managed in very different ways. The OpenKM document management system can be the ideal platform in which the company members design and develop the documentation resulting from planning the company's strategy. Each person or group of people affected by the planning will have access to the platform based on the profiles and roles assigned and the security policy applied at a granular level. In addition, thanks to the communication tools present in the document management system, the staff will be aware of any relevant updates or changes.
• Implementation: once the objectives have been defined and the means to achieve them clarified, it is necessary to act accordingly and carry out all the changes, updates and even start new tasks to solve previously untreated issues. Thanks to functionalities such as workflows, automation, zone OCR, reports, subscription service, etc., the organization will have all the necessary tools to apply the plan developed by the managers.
• Monitoring, review, and update: Once the performance management system has been defined within the platform, it is time to monitor, review, and update phases when necessary. We must be aware that the perfect strategy does not exist due to both internal and external factors to the company are constantly changing. Therefore the capacity of the performance management system in adapting to changes is a significant factor when choosing the technological tools on which the company will rely. The OpenKM performance management system is run in open source, which guarantees the organization the necessary flexibility to adapt the document management software to current and future needs. In addition, the complete API, together with the presence of the SDKs for Java PHP and .Net, allows any organization to seamlessly integrate the system within its software suite. On the other hand, once the daily work has started within the platform, the monitoring and review tasks can be carried out daily and sustained over time.

Performance management benefits

Performance management has many advantages, all of which are within reach of any organization.

• Corporate culture: The performance management system of an organization is the cornerstone on which the communication and transmission of the values ​​and objectives of the organization rest, which contributes to clarify and strengthen it by promoting the commitment of all members of the organization.
• Improvement of staff performance and talent management: The employee performance management system can and should be used to measure the professional performance of the organization's human resources and, in turn, should become a reliable instrument for people dedicated to the management of the staff. The detection of deviations should be compensated with the offer of training courses, career plans, and why not compensation programs that maintain the motivation of the employees and contribute to the retention of the best workers.
• Minimization of errors and biases: One of the most sensitive contributions of a performance management system is the potential to reduce and even eliminate errors in the system. The existence of possible internal conflicts and even the presence of factors that influence personnel management - such as the halo effect, echo, contagion, contrast effect, scoop, or recency - can be tackled with the consistent and responsible use of the high-performance management software. The discouraging effect that performance appraisals can sometimes produce on workers should not be overlooked. Suppose the organization undertakes to evaluate the professional exercise of its human resources globally. In that case, this will encourage staff to feel more valued, since the company's "hard" results will be emphasized and the human aspirations that the company must also contemplate.

Contact us to see how OpenKM can become your customized performance management system