Running head: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AT NETWORK SOLUTIONS INC

Performance Management at Network Solutions, Inc,

Traci Hegarty
HRM520 Managing Performance for Results
Colorado State University Global Campus
Dr. Isabel Wan
July 17, 2016

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AT NETWORK SOLUTIONS INC

Performance Management at Network Solutions, Inc.

Performance Management (PM) comprises activities companies utilize to help guarantee
that actions performed by individuals within the company are consistently meeting their goals.
These goals being consistently met in an efficient manner provides a company the ability to
ensure that employee actions are aligned with company values and needs.
PM also provides a method of concentration on how the performance of a company down
to an individual employee affect the company, and allows organizations to align variables to
provide a guideline for employees to ensure goals are met. Doing so helps to get employees on
the same page as management, and helps to ensure the employees are devoted to the cause of
making the workplace more efficient and functional.
PM is primarily used in companies who have a large amount of interaction between
people and is designed to help how those interactions affect the work environment. According to
Armstrong and Barron (1998), PM is a strategic and integrated approach to increase the
effectiveness of companies by improving the performance of the people who work in them and
by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors.
A good PM plan creates a sense of employee buy-in and ensures that both the employees
and the employer are working harmoniously towards the same goal. The PM plan has the
functionality to allow implementation to the entire organization all the way down to an
individual employee or team.
Continuously identifying and measuring the performance and development of skills with
the performance in mind allows the organization to align employee performance with the

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AT NETWORK SOLUTIONS INC

strategic goals of the business (Aguinis, 2013). Implementation of such a plan ensures that there
is a high level of performance and works in collaboration with cost management plans.
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, Inc. discovered a functional issue with their performance plan. Their
employee performance was subpar and not adequately addressed, which created an opening for
competitor companies to attempt to take over the market and led to increased costs of
performance management. There was also a need to improve the facility of the company to
increase employee engagement leading to a higher level of employee achievement in alignment
with company standards. The performance cycle utilized by Network Solutions regarding the
performance management plan include:

Planning

Continuing negotiations among supervisors and personnel

Goal development and team building

Annual review of performance including a comprehensive summary
Growth forecasting
(Aguinis, 2013).
Overview of an Ideal System
In an ideal system, with a well-functioning PM plan, there are frequently a multitude of
characteristics which ensure the plan is implemented in a method which is the most beneficial to
the company. In such a system, many indicators are available to determine the utility of the plan
in relation to the overall goals of the company. These indicators include:

Availability and Ease of Use

Clear and Concise expectations

Reliability

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AT NETWORK SOLUTIONS INC

Frequent and Open Communication

o Impacting both employer and employee in 2-way discourse

Ability to Remedy Errors

o Appeals process
o Acknowledgement of human fallacy

Ethical
o Respect of employee privacy
o Supervisory team minimizes and acknowledges self-regard
o Reviews occur when adequate information is provided

Standardized
o Ongoing education provided to ensure consistent results

Thorough evaluations
o Job responsibilities reviewed and updated
o All employees receive review and feedback in timely manner

An ideal system provides a valuable overview of what a fully functional PM system looks like
and helps to implement the system into action (Madden, 2014).
Advantages
Network Solutions created a plan to provide a guideline to follow for the intended
implementation of a new PM plan. The organizations advantages were that the primary focus
was aimed towards the upper management team, and provided encouragement and motivation
for the leaders to assist the workforce. Additional focus was placed on the standards of the

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organization after providing senior management the opportunity to develop a plan to ensure
consistent and focused attentions was provided to the employees below them.
Finally, the creation of a detailed program designed to ensure that all employees received
training to learn how to assess the need of the company. These advantages provide the company
a well-educated, dedicated, and motivated team.
Disadvantages
While there are many advantages, there are also disadvantages to the implementation of a
new PM plan, including the option for employee ranking, where employees are asked to rank
their abilities and skills using a numerical indicator of their belief of the strength of their work.
Employees who receive feedback about their weaknesses and a guide for the improvement of
their deficiencies tend to work better and respond better to the feedback (Zaffron & Logan,
2009).
Additionally, imposing a severance package on employees who are failing to perform to
company standards does not provide a benefit to the company. Employees who struggle to meet
standards needs reeducation or coaching rather than the threat of termination. Possibly moving
the employee into another position would be more advantageous for both the employer and the
employee, resulting in hard work and dedication on the employees part.
Conclusion
Performance Management, when implemented in a functional method, is vital to ensure
the organization has a consistent method for educating employees in a method that is reflective
of the companys goals. Performance management needs to ensure that several issues are

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addressed, including the documentation of employee performance to determine compensation

and career paths, an increase in focus on the skill development of employees, and providing
clarity and accountability of expectations. Ensuring that all employees receive the same training
allows the company to truly understand how the employees are functioning and as a result the
PM plan will be more effective.

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References
Aguinis, H. (2013). Performance management. Boston: Pearson.
Armstrong, M. & Baron, A. (1998). Performance management. London: Institute of Personnel
and Development.
Madden, B. (2014). Reconstructing your worldview.
Zaffron, S. & Logan, D. (2009). The three laws of performance. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.