FBLU030 Business Administration

Introduction

Line Managers are the one who oversees other employees as well as the operations in the business and reports to the top managers. They are important role players in supervising, operation of businesses and managing the workers. Some of the roles includes hiring and recruiting of talent, provide the training for new hires, performance feedback and coaching to the members of the team, communication of the goals and others (Storey, 2016).

The essay is based on the various methods and approaches that line managers in the organisation uses to increase the motivation of the employees. Theses methods relates to the performance appraisals and management. The advantages and disadvantages of these appraisals are also discussed along with the steps that can be taken to avoid these problems.

Role Of Line Managers In Performance Management And Appraisals

Theory Of Casual Attributions

Based on theory of casual attribution, the measures developed so that all the line managers are in sync with the HR managers and they effectively implement the external and internal attributions. The external attributions are related to the task difficulty (Gilbert, De Winne & Sels, 2011). The internal attributions are the inclusion of motivation and ability for accomplishing the actions. Whenever the HR managers feel that the practices of HRM policies is not implemented in appropriate manner by the line managers, they can ascribe this in the internal attributions related to line managers. And if the support from HR professionals is lacking then external factors are ascribed. The understanding of the traits that helps in effective implementation of the HRM can be used by managers to know their behaviour in implementation of the Human Resource Management (Vlachos, et al., 2013).

AMO Model

There are various organisations that are lacking in the employee’s well-being which in turn leads to non-performance of the employees. The cause can be the managerial style that is applied by the line managers or non-conductive environment for the employees. The AMO model is defined as the Ability, Motivation and Opportunity. Ability includes the policies and practices with the assurance that an organisation’s employees get the best and they are prepared for the skills of being a multi-tasker that is they are ready to take up responsibilities o each role in the organisation. The necessity of the organisation is that they ensure the check on the skills of employees so that minimum supervision is needed by them. (Appelbaum et al., 2000) stated that accurate selection and recruitment process should be ensured by the organisations so that skilled and capable workforce is recruited by them. For this, proper training should be provided to the employees. To make the employees take care of their discretionary practices, employees should be motivated through intrinsic, extrinsic or any other trust factor. The extrinsic factor includes the use of financial motivators like incentives, commission or performance pays. The intrinsic motivators are the ones that comes from within through inner satisfaction, where the organisation enable an encouraging and trustworthy environment and the employees are feel wanted and are valued. If the organisation fails in the motivation factors then there are employee turnovers in the organisation like they will leave the job or will be absent for long time. Opportunity comes to employees when the employees are involved in the decision-making process. So, the organisation should decentralize the process and remove the control that relates to the hierarchy (Almutawa, Muenjohn & Zhang, 2016). There are many other different ways through which the employees can be given opportunity and the chance to get involved in the by being in the team that is self-managed or given the opportunity where their voice is heard (Bos‐Nehles, Van Riemsdijk & Kees Looise, 2013).

Appraisal Methods

There are various appraisal methods that includes Management by Objectives that is where the employees and managers together plan, organise, identify the focus of the appraisal period. When the managers set the clear goals, debate goes on between the subordinates and the mangers on the set objectives achievement. This method of appraisal is used for overreaching the goals by using SMART method which relates to realistic, achievable, specific, time-sensitive, measurable (Bexelius, Carlberg & Löwing, 2018). One of the methods is 360-degree feedback which is related to the appraisal in a multidimensional way. This feedback incorporates customers, managers, peers and the direct reports. The method eliminates the performance reviews and the individual competence can be clearly understood. Another method is Assessment Centre Method that enables the employees to get a clearer picture of how they are observed by others. The impact of their performance is judged. The advantage is that the future performance of the employees can be predicted by this method (Herd, Alagaraja & Cumberland, 2016).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Performance Appraisals

The advantages that are included in the appraisal of the employees consist of performance improvement where the aim of the performance appraisal is to improve the employee’s performance. This helps in the evaluation and analysing of the opportunity factors like social process and technology. The second advantage is the development of the employees as the system of appraisals determines the need of training for the employees who are in more need of it and this acts as a primary information source with regards to the potentialities and strengths of the employees. The third is the corrective actions that need to be taken if there is a detection of any deficiency in the employee. These can be corrected through the appraisal systems. These systems also deemed t be the valuable tool for the planning of career of the employees as it supports in the SWOT analysis of the employees. The management can also decide upon the transfers, promotions and the rewards for the employees. The employees also get motivated by the use of these systems and the management can do systematic judgement on the transfers, increase in salary, demotions and promotions of employees (Grote & Grote, 2011).

The disadvantages in the appraisal of the performance involve the Halo effect that is the influence of Rater’s impression on specific rate qualities ratings. These occur when the employees are rated on the basis of the job criteria even in the cases when they are in the position of performing only in a particular area. The second is contrast error. The rating of the employees is based on the standards of performance. The occurrence of contrast error occurs when employees are given the rating without performance rating taken in account. The rating is also based on the comparison of past and present performance. The Rater Bias is also the disadvantage in influencing the rating. For example, supervisor may underrate the employees on the basis of the sex, race, appearance, religion and favouritism. Another error is of Central Tendency where all the employees are rated on a narrow range and the management thinks that all the employees are on the average level. Leniency and severity are also a barrier for performance appraisal that deals with the rating of employee on the basis of some objective and the conclusion is drawn on the basis of it. The sampling error composes of little sample from the whole employees and the rating is done on the basis of it. Also, the involvement of regency and primary error where the behaviour of employee on the initial stage compared to the end of the appraisal may be different and thus is a disadvantage for the employee’s appraisal (Marin-Garcia, Bayarri & Huerta, 2015).

How To Overcome Disadvantages

The management can deal with the disadvantages by minimising the problems during the review process of the performance. These includes that the organisation can develop performance management that is precise. There are steps to do it like a range of evaluation criteria can be used and relying only on one parameter. By this step, the organisation can reduce the impact of Halo effect, contrast of attribution and error of recency. Secondly, the reduce in the appraisals that are not based on the individual traits as their behaviour does not decide the results that will be delivered by the employee. This eliminates the stereotyping negative impacts. The problem can also overcome by providing the training to employees (Keep & Storey, 2014). This can mitigate the problems ta normally arises and this gives managers the tools and knowledge for doing their job in a proper manner. Appraisers should use the methods to appraise the performance of the employees. This prevents the errors related to the distribution from happening. Another way of avoiding the review error is by obtaining feedback from more appraisers. The methods that can be used for this purpose are 180-degree analysis and 360-degree analysis that includes the evaluation by the professionals (Horng & Lin, 2013). The department managers should be engaged and these managers should know tat how they will review the performance and give a constructive feedback to measure the performance of the team. They should be keen in helping their team to learn so that the team’s performance is improved. So, the value of the performance management needs to be understood by the organisation. Training and communication are key to capture the cooperation and interest of the employees (Hynes, 2012). For implementing any process, the leaders need to be committed. Apart from this, the employees should be made aware of the performance reviews. They need to be assisted that this will identify their strengths ad this will improve their performance and they will be able to answer the questions related to their strengths, weakness, where to improve and how they can become more efficient. They should be made realised that the objectives are collaborative and not only for the organisation. The best way of avoiding the problems of appraisal is to provide the feedbacks on the regular basis and not once (GÖRÜN, KAYAR & VAROL, 2018). So, saving of comments at the time of appraisals, the simpler principle of giving feedback as and when the problem arises or detected and celebrate during these activities are going on. This will make the employees understand that are they doing well and there will be no surprise for them to gain appraisals at the time of annual appraisals.

Conclusion

As per the discussion above, it can be concluded that the role of line managers is very important in an organisation as they are the ones who oversees the employees as well as they are accountable to the top managers. They are the ones who also collaborate with the HR managers by supporting them in the recruitment process. There are various methods, as discussed above regarding the performance appraisal and the management like casual attribution theory, AMO Model, 360-degree review and others. The way of solving the disadvantages related to the appraisals are also discussed.

References

Almutawa, Z., Muenjohn, N., & Zhang, J. (2016). THE EFFECT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ON EMPLOYEES’COMMITMENT: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF THE AMO MODEL. The Journal of Developing Areas, 50(6), 17-29.

Appelbaum, E., Bailey, T., Berg, P., Kalleberg, A. L., & Bailey, T. A. (2000). Manufacturing advantage: Why high-performance work systems pay off. Cornell University Press.

Bexelius, A., Carlberg, E. B., & Löwing, K. (2018). Quality of goal setting in pediatric rehabilitation—A SMART approach. Child: care, health and development, 44(6), 850-856.

Bos‐Nehles, A. C., Van Riemsdijk, M. J., & Kees Looise, J. (2013). Employee perceptions of line management performance: applying the AMO theory to explain the effectiveness of line managers' HRM implementation. Human resource management, 52(6), 861-877.

Gilbert, C., De Winne, S., & Sels, L. (2011). The influence of line managers and HR department on employees' affective commitment. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22(8), 1618-1637.

GÖRÜN, M., KAYAR, Ä°., & VAROL, B. (2018). 360-Degree Performance Appraisal and Feedback System: A Study with Heads of Departments in Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 17(4), 1425-1437. 

Grote, D., & Grote, R. C. (2011). How to be good at performance appraisals: Simple, effective, done right. Harvard Business Press.

Herd, A. M., Alagaraja, M., & Cumberland, D. M. (2016). Assessing global leadership competencies: the critical role of assessment centre methodology. Human Resource Development International, 19(1), 27-43.

Horng, J. S., & Lin, L. (2013). Training needs assessment in a hotel using 360 degree feedback to develop competency-based training programs. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 20, 61-67.

Hynes, G. E. (2012). Improving employees’ interpersonal communication competencies: A qualitative study. Business communication quarterly, 75(4), 466-475. 

Keep, E., & Storey, J. (2014). Corporate training strategies: the vital component?. New Perspectives, 109-125.

Marin-Garcia, J. A., Bayarri, L. R., & Huerta, L. A. (2015). Protocol: Comparing advantages and disadvantages of Rating Scales, Behavior Observation Scales and Paired Comparison Scales for behavior assessment of competencies in workers. A systematic literature review. WPOM, 6(2), 49-63.

Storey, J. (2016). Human resource management. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Vlachos, P. A., Epitropaki, O., Panagopoulos, N. G., & Rapp, A. (2013). Causal Attributions and Employee Reactions to CSR. Industrial & Organizational Psychology, 6(4), 334-337.

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