Performance
checks

Write down your answers in the space below to the following questions on Managing Performance.

Question 1     If a product has to be perfectly spherical, how might you measure the extent to which the required standard is met over a period of time?

Question 2     Give four examples of connected stakeholders.

Question 3     Who decides what is acceptable performance?

Question 4     Why should performance standards be quantified wherever possible?

Question 5     When might a standard be revised?

Question 6     What is meant by job enlargement? Give a brief description in your own words.

Question 7     Now define job rotation, briefly.

Question 8     What is a SMART objective?

Question 9     Which kind of jobs lend themselves most readily to job enrichment?

Question 10     Name three ways in which you can have ongoing communication with staff regarding their performance.

Question 11     What is the most basic principle about giving negative feedback?

Question 12     We have used the term ‘autonomy’, without defining it. How would you explain what it means?

Question 13     Make three suggestions to someone who asks: ‘How can I motivate my staff?’

Answers to these questions can be found on pages 120–1.

Read the following case incident and then deal with the questions that follow. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

Nicole Petty worked at the head office of a travel company for ten years. Initially she found the work exciting and demanding but the pressures of work were very high. She was earning a good salary by the travel industry standards, but was becoming increasingly frustrated with the heavy work load.

When asked to manage a new travel agency office in Torquay, Nicole jumped at the chance, seeing this as an opportunity to spend less time on administration and more on ‘being a travel agent’.

Nicole engaged three members of staff – two counter clerks, Jenny Downs and Darryl Proven, and an administrative assistant, Shanin Ahmed.

Nicole decided that she would organize the agency on a specialist basis as far as possible. All clients requiring an individual holiday would be referred to her and Nicole would design a package especially for them. This was the most difficult and interesting part of the work. However, she decided to let Jenny take care of the administrative side of these holidays. Nicole also decided to handle all business travel enquiries personally.

Darryl was to specialize in package holidays, while Jenny was to look after air, rail, coach and ferry reservations and ticketing, together with car hire and independent hotel bookings. Issues related to passports, visas, foreign currency, traveller's cheques and travel insurance were dealt with by both counter clerks.

The counter staff were obliged to enter all transactions in a central filing system for easy reference. Shanin was responsible for ensuring that information was correctly filed, although she spent most of her time on other clerical duties and word processing correspondence dictated by Nicole and the two counter clerks. All letters were checked and signed by Nicole.

Prizes and incentives earned by the counter clerks for the sale of special offer package tours were pooled and redistributed equally between Jenny, Darryl and Shanin at the end of each month.

After three months of operation, Nicole reviewed the performance of the agency and was not pleased with what she found. Absenteeism was increasing and the timekeeping of the staff had deteriorated. A number of customers had complained about the ‘off-hand manner’ of the counter staff and about the quality of service in general. Some customers had even complained about the quality of the typed correspondence. Nicole approached her employees and expressed her concern. She was surprised to learn that all three were not happy with their wages and Darryl also added that he was bored with the job.

Nicole promised to review their wages and hinted that they would all receive a reasonable pay rise.

You only need to write two or three sentences in response to each question.

1   How could Nicole go about introducing job enrichment in the travel agency?

2   What would be the likely effects of introducing job enrichment?

3   Describe the job changes Nicole might make to enrich the jobs of the two counter clerks.

4   Advise Nicole as to any other changes she could make that might improve motivation.

The time guide for this assignment gives you an approximate idea of how long it is likely to take you to write up your findings. You will find you need to spend some additional time gathering information, talking to colleagues, and thinking about the assignment.

This Assignment may provide the basis of appropriate evidence for your S/NVQ portfolio. It is designed to help you to demonstrate your ability to motivate your team to improve their performance.

What you have to do

1   Select a job you feel would benefit from job enrichment.

2   Provide a brief description of the job as it now exists.

3   Describe, briefly, the changes you would like to see made to enrich the job. Explain how each change you've recommended would contribute to the process.

4   Then consider the expected effects of carrying out this plan – on the job, on the person concerned, on you and on the rest of the team.