Insider action research on Infor PSSC employee performance management

• Main Author: Roxas, Jeffrey B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4776
• Institution: De La Salle University

My organizations success, like any organization, is largely dependent on the quality, commitment, and performance of our employees. Effective Employee Performance Management (EPM) is one system aimed at improving employee performance, and this insider action research sets out to assess the current EPM process of Infor PSSC, a multinational IT-ERP offshore company. This research also aims to collaborately implement, with the committee members, interventions that lead to improved EPM practices. Following also the implementation of the intervention actions, the targeted developmental changes of the committee were analyzed and evaluated against established related frameworks to arrive at an improved EPM process. In doing this research, I utilized the Insider Action Research (IAR) methodology based on the Insider Action Research Model (Coghlan & Brannick, 2010) because it provided a framework wherein the researcher himself is also an active member of the organization. Furthermore, since IAR aims for both purposeful action and organizational research, the end results as well as the reflections I drew from the interventions were also analyzed. In journalizing my thoughts and reflections, I used the ORJI method and the Left Hand Column method. We, the committee, analyzed existing EPM related documents, data gathered from employee engagement surveys, and feedback from focus group interviews as part of the data gathering cycle. Insights from the data became basis for implementing changes to the EPM process as part of the intervention cycle. Afterwards for the evaluation cycle, the effectiveness of the interventions was assessed through data collected from formal interviews, informal focus group discussions and another employee engagement survey. Using frameworks related to the intervention actions, the Employee Performance Management Framework, Group Development Model, and the Characteristics of High Performance Team Model, I uncovered key findings that gauge the overall success and effectivity of the entire IAR cycle. Also that, the implemented interventions led to an improved overall EPM process as reflected in the employee survey feedback. However, specific areas within the process were still highlighted as requiring further development, specifically employee professional growth and training. Another key finding focused on the committees collaborative process in developing the EPM process interventions. The committee utilized inter-department team dynamics that helped make the project end results successful. Replicating this process can help define a guide, future teams or committees can use to make them successful also. The IAR recommendations include (1) amendments and improvements to the EPM policy, (2) staff professional development pathing (3) performance evaluation process training for people manager appraisers and staff appraisees and (4) dedicated time to complete the process and to acknowledge the value of performance evaluation as different means of improving the employee overall quality of work. Personally, in the course of the IAR, I have come to see that ultimately, the individual employee has to have ownership of the EPM process. If the employees themselves own the process, they will also own the results of the process. I also believe that management should work collaboratively with the employees and all stakeholders in the on-going review of policy and procedures associated with the EPM process. Doing so is the only means for it to be genuinely effective and successful in the long run.