Setting Performance Standards

A standard is simply a statement of what will be acceptable performance. Perfection obviously is not standard. Standards should be attainable by the average person and surpassed by superior performance.

Key questions the individual needs to ask himself concerning his job are: “What are the performance standards that need to be maintained/achieved in my section?” and “How can I tell when I am performing my job to standard?”

The main requirement of the standard is that it should mean the same thing to the people who are using it. It is better to put emphasis on facts and data rather than opinions and subjective judgment. Not everything can be measured. In making some of the most important business decisions such as, “Will it sell?" or "Will he fit into his job?” or “Should we trust them?” judgment as well as measurement must be used. Any standard, which enables you to distinguish failure from success, is better than none.

Units of Measurement

Percentages, e.g. “no more than 2 percent rejects”.

Frequency of occurrence, e.g. “stocks checked six-monthly”.

Averages, e.g. “average score of seven units produced per hour”.

Time limits, e.g. “all new supervisors attend the basic supervision course within one week of being appointed”.

Absolute prohibition, e.g. “no files to be lost”.

Reference to external standards (legislation, etc.), e.g. “quality consistently meets government inspection standards”.

It is obviously better to apply a standard to the result or output of the job.

Action Plans

Action plans provide a method for identifying who needs to do what and when in what order to accomplish a goal. In other words, action plans outline and sequence the steps and the resources (people, finance, time, and equipment) needed to achieve the performance goal.

Action plans assists with the following:

• Break complex or overwhelming goals into manageable performance objectives,
• Help prevent delays caused by omitting important steps or not beginning critical action steps early enough,
• Produce better estimates of how much time or money is needed to carry out a project or to reach a goal,
• Communicate and clarify the roles of people involved in meeting the goal by clearly establishing accountabilities and deadlines,
• Provide check-points to help the people check progress toward meeting the goal and,
• Help the people to predict what might go wrong and to prevent potential problems from occurring.

To decide whether an action plan is needed and how detailed the action plan should be, the manager should consider:

• How experienced, motivated, and dependable a person is.
• The difficulty and importance of the performance objective.
• How many other people are involved.
• Whether the person is new to the task or has had difficulty in performing the task in the past.
• The amount of money to be spent in achieving the performance objective.

Action plans are a valuable tool for setting up performance since they specify exactly what needs to be done by when and help both manager and employee track performance progress.

Click here to view a video on operational management.

Click here to download an example of an action-planning pro-forma.