|
Back to the Performance Improvement Journal Home PageOctober, 2002 Editor's Notes |
|
Article Summaries
|
| What's All This Fuss About Measurement? by Alan Ramias Getting results data after an intervention ought to be the easiest kind of measurement. Assuming the intervention was worth doing, the client is the most direct source of results data. If data collection is not currently performed, partner with the client to develop a straightforward indicator of results achieved and encourage the client to obtain and publish the data. The more involvement the client has in results measurement, the more believable the numbers, and the greater your credibility as a provider of results-proven service. Aligning Executive Coaching With Strategic Business Goals by Ellen Kumata It's a dream of top management and human resources executives: seamlessly aligning individual development with an organization's strategic goals. To achieve this alignment in the senior ranks, leaders of some of today's top companies are building on the success of executive coaching as a development tool by leveraging their coaches as instruments for strategic alignment and change, to bring their entire organization to a higher level of performance. Traditional executive coaching focuses on helping individual executives develop their potential or in addressing specific needs for improvement. It usually follows a counseling model of identifying an individual's goals, challenges, and development needs and then helping him or her gain insight on how to address these needs (which are often interpersonal in nature). The strategic approach, in addition to focusing on addressing the needs of individual executives, also focuses on the strategic objectives of the organization and what executives need to do both as individuals and as a group to achieve those goals. Using Six-Sigma to Change and Measure Improvement by Karl G. Feld and William K. Stone This case study examines how and why Honeywell's Market Research Department chose to replace its traditional telephone data-collection and paper-based tabulation and reporting with blended-mode surveys, consisting of e-interviewing and real-time reporting. It did so because internal application of the Six-Sigma quality control process quantitatively demonstrated that while neither telephone interviewing nor self-administered online surveys could sufficiently control sources of error in the data collection process to bring the Research Department into compliance with the company's Six Sigma quality standards, a hybrid approach using blended modes combined with live interviewers and their traditional skills could. When combined with web-based reporting tools, this combination also delivered unique customer satisfaction measurement and service benefits and significantly increased the return on investment, changes which neither of the other data-collection modes or the more traditional reporting systems could realize. Coaching Complexities: Human Resources as Stretch Agent by Irving H. Buchen Human resources' advocacy of coaching as a managerial and evaluative tool can benefit from the research that has been done on the multigenerational range of employees and their chronological and cultural preferences for different leadership styles and team relationships. Currently five generations (soon to be six) coexist in a typical organization, raising concern about the effectiveness of a one-size-fits-all coaching approach. In addition, studies of different nationalities and work cultures reveal a dramatic series of attitudinal differences towards such basic work factors as directive and nondirective supervisory styles, individual versus team approaches to work, work sharing, cross training, and so on. When these differences are clustered into a series of employee profiles, and when those in turn are aggregated, the result is a comprehensive set of coaching foci to achieve organizational operations and change. The Myths of Change Management Martin E. Smith, PhD Attempts at organizational change are often bedeviled by myths that key decisionmakers hold about the change process. Some of these myths: We know all about change; we live with change constantly. The toughest part of change is designing the solution (the fix). A strong, executive-level leader guarantees success. If you want to understand the priorities of an organization, look at the strategic plan. Culture change is about changing people's values. You know that you have achieved successful change when the change has survived the shakedown period. This article describes tactics for preventing these myths from interfering with efforts to support and manage the change effort. Facts and Fables of Performance Management in the 21st Century by Clinton Wingrove, BSc, DMS, MCIPD, MIM No initiative demonstrates the vital nature of the strategic partnership between human resources (HR) and line management and the critical linkage between HR and enterprise direction more than performance management. Yet for every opportunity it offers, performance management presents a challenge as well. And like any process that is part art and part science, the process of measuring an individual's success within an organization is fraught with as many fables as facts. Truly effective and integrated performance management processes actually comprise 11 different processes. |
|
Home | Contact ISPI | info@ispi.org Would you like to receive more information about ISPI Programs?
|
