Training Magazine Middle East March 2015 | Page 26

Talent Management

HR's Blessing

BY JOSEPHINE NNENNA

Organizations all over the world use a performance management system to monitor organizational, team and individual performance and productivity. Truth be told, there are indeed great benefits in using a performance management process, ranging from goals alignment, performance and reward management to retention strategies to achieve organizational strategy.

Okay! So, reality check - why is the system failing to yield all the potential benefits that were sold to management?

Why is it more of a transactional and compliance tool for many rather than the strategic tool that is meant to be used to accomplish organizational vision and goals?

Why is HR losing the war on system buy-in and entrenchment of a performance culture?

The root cause can be traced to some of these issues, differing across organizations and industries on varying degrees.

One reason is when an organization leans strongly to the Fombrun model that depicts hard human resources management strategy. Employees are seen as any other asset and resource and should be treated as such without recourse to their feelings, psychological contracts are violated, decisions are made at the top without consultation or seeking input from the bottom chain.

Employees are emotionally disconnected and detached from the organization; they become resentful, cynical, unresponsive and passive at best. They view their attachment to the organization as primarily transactional; thus, treat every initiative in the same manner - without commitment and gusto. They comply because they have to and only when it becomes imperative that they really have to do it to keep their jobs.

Spending time and energy prepping up employees to comply makes it very transactional rather than strategic for the HR function and the organization.

26 | TRAINING MAGAZINE MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2015

or curse?