How can a PMS assist with the up-skilling and development of an employee?

An organisation using Performance Management System when evaluating their employees will be able to spot the high to the poor performers. The performance appraisal technique will guide management how far the employee is in need of up skilling to deliver high standard of work and be effective.

Performance Appraisal System is the process by which organisation evaluates employees’ job performance. It is through the Performance Appraisal Interview that the Manager talks about the strengths and weaknesses of the employees. Discussions on this should be encouraged so that employees can express themselves regarding their personal development needs.

The discussions should include agreement of both parties regarding these strengths and weaknesses. Employees should be aware and agreed upon that they will need some more up-skilling and development in some particular areas. The areas for improvement can be some trait of behaviour or character or any technical aspect of their job.

Throughout the completion of implementing the PMS, the skills development of each employee need to be recorded in a particular database and in relation to this, their performance can be evaluated. The PMS will allow the company to know about what were the previous skills that the employee already possessed and what skills they actually require to deliver better performance on the job place. Therefore, by referring to the PMS the company will be able to find out which skills will be more suitable for which employees and hence provide them with the required and ongoing training sessions so as to make them before better skilled workers.

Thus effective training and development on the job, off the job or combination of both will ensure that knowledge and skills and behaviours learned will improve performance.
Training should be consistent with the organisation value system, be integrated in work processes and operations and aim to improve aptitudes for service delivery. On the job training help employees learn through observing colleagues, supervisors perform their job and repeating, improving their behaviours. Whereas off the job training enable employees meet other persons out of the organisation and thus sharing of knowledge and skills among everybody can be an advantage.

Some appraisers recommend training because they are genuinely interested in seeing improvement in the people under them. Others may use training courses as a punishment or as a reward. It is a generally accepted belief that training should never be used as a punishment. It is also advisable for superiors to distinguish between training for development and training for reward. Rather than superiors recommending specific training courses, it would be better for them to indicate training needs, and for someone else [for e.g. the personnel manager, Training officer] to training course limits the recommendations to courses known by him.

Another reason for this is that training needs need not necessarily point to training courses. A need might be better met through on-the-job training or being assigned a special project or through job rotation. Appraisers are also generally not familiar with training vocabulary, and may recommend vaguely a “management course” where a training officer may be able to come up with a much more specific and useful course content.

It is not of course enough to put training recommendations on paper and then see that they are carried out. Feedback on how effective the training has been must be obtained by superior who recommended it in first place. This must be done with discretion and the full awareness of the employee. The whole purpose of training is defeated by the superior demanding a conduct report on the employee’s behaviour at the end of the course. The point that has been missed is that a training course is just the right environment for an employee to experiment, make mistakes, and from them, thus stimulating the process of development. The best thing would and initiate be for the employee himself to report back on his own progress and initiate a course of action for improvement back on the job. If feedback is not obtained by the superior, all the learning that has taken place during the training is likely to be forgotten as quickly as it was learnt. It has to be put to use in the real world. It has to be on the form for the appraiser to indicate what action has been taken and the improvements seen.

It is understood that training is the key factor in order to assist employee in their up skilling and development, of course through the Performance Management System.