Performance Review II – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #510 by Asrar Qureshi

Performance Review II – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #510 by Asrar Qureshi

Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #510. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here.

Continued from Previous……

Besides MBOs and KPIs, there are some more types of appraisals which are used in various organizations, albeit in fewer ones in Pakistan.

360 Degree Appraisal

As the name implies, it is the type of appraisal done for managers by five dimensions of interaction. The appraisal is done by:

1. Employee herself/himself

2. Customers - Optional

3.     Direct Subordinates

3. Direct Seniors

4. Peers at similar positions in the same department and other departments

This gives a complete roundup of feedback from all concerned.

The philosophy that goes behind this method is this. In other appraisal tools, the appraisal is done by the manager for his direct report. In fact, first the employee appraises herself/himself and submits the findings to the manager. The manager reviews the submission and then sets up discussion with the person. They review the appraisal together; the manager gives her/his feedback, and the appraisal is finalized. In the 360-degree system, the employee, her/his manager, subordinates, and peers review independently on the same format. All submissions go to HR who then process it for scoring. The manager and direct report hold a discussion on the final shape of appraisal. 360-degree system of appraisal is designed to eliminate biases which may creep in during one-on-one interaction. Secondly, 360-degree is done in absence of one another, and it may also help to eliminate biases which may come in face-to-face interaction. We shall see later how well the philosophy works.

OKR – Objectives and Key Results

OKR is considered to be a great tool for setting challenging Objectives and aligning collaborative efforts to achieve these.

OKR tool development is attributed to Andrew (Andy) Grove who was a co-founder of Intel. He introduced this concept at Intel and documented it in his book titled ‘High Output Management’. John Doerr was a salesperson at Intel during that time. According to his own account, he worked at Intel for over fifteen years and became convinced of the effectiveness of OKR. 

In 1999, when Doerr was working with a venture capital firm, and he introduced the idea of OKR to Google. The idea clicked and OKR quickly became central to Google’s culture as a “management methodology that helps to ensure that the entire company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization”. 

Since becoming popular at Google, OKRs have found favor with several other such tech organizations such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Uber, and Microsoft. [Wikipedia]

This is how the OKR system works.

The organization, not individuals, sets up the Corporate Objectives. Each department and member determine 3-5 Key Results in their area of work which will help achieve organizational Objectives. The strongest point of this system is that it aligns the entire organization in the direction of organizational Objectives, something which is not as effectively achieved in MBO and KPI system.

OGSM – Objectives, Goals, Strategies and Measures

The origin of OGSM tool is unclear, but most likely it originated in the Post World War II in Japan, later imported into the US. Initially, it was used by car manufacturers, but it is now employed by several Fortune 500 companies like Procter & Gamble. 

This is how OGSM works.

OGSM framework forms the basis for strategic planning and execution as well as a strong management routine to keep the plan part of day-to-day operations. It aligns the leaders to the objectives of the company, links key strategies to the financial goals, and brings visibility and accountability to the work of improving capabilities of the company. It has a concise format, usually one-page, and indicates progress through simple color coding. 

OGSM has found particular favor with organizations who have units, operations, and employees in many parts of the world. OGSM helps to identify strategic priorities, and then decentralize the initiatives to capture market opportunities with optimized resources. OGSM enhances speed and execution and aligns team members and operations across the globe.

Balanced Scorecard

Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton are credited with the development of Balanced Scorecard tool. 

A Balanced Scorecard is a ‘Strategy Performance Management’ tool. It is a well-structured report which is used by the managers to keep track of the execution of activities by the staff within their control and to monitor the results. However, Balanced Scorecard is also used as a tool for ‘Operational Performance Management’ tool.

The reasons for these tools not becoming widely used in Pakistan will be discussed in the next part.

To be Continued......

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