Performance

Introduction

All athletes, whether it be trained or untrained, should ingest fluids before, during and after training or competition in order to achieve optimal euhydration. Fluids are required to prevent dehydration (loss of >2% body weight) and excessive electrolyte loss which leads to impaired exercise performance, fatigue and physiologic function, with >3% dehydration increasing the risk of developing an exertional heat illness (e.g. heat cramps, exhaustion or heat stroke (Casa, 2000). Fluids also provide a carbohydrate source to prevent the depletion of the body’s stores (Maughan 1994) – thus the composition of fluids is crucial. The amount and rate of fluid replacement will depend on a variety of factors – individual athlete’s sweat rate; exercise duration; exercise intensity; environmental factors; acclimatization state and the sport dynamics for example opportunities to drink and access to fluids (Casa, 2000). The absorption of fluid into the body depends on the speed at which it is emptied from the stomach and the rate at which it is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine. The higher the level of fluid in the stomach, the more gastric emptying is encouraged.

Aim of Sports Drinks

Sports drinks aim to provide a number of different functions including provision of substrate, prevention of dehydration, electrolyte replacement, pre-exercise hydration and post-exercise rehydration (Maughan, 1998). The functional characteristics of a sports drink can be manipulated by altering the different variables which include carbohydrate content: concentration and type; osmolality; electrolyte composition and concentration; flavouring components; and other active ingredients (Maughan, 1998). Composition of Sports Drinks

The major components of sports drinks are carbohydrates and electrolytes. Evidence suggests that the only electrolyte that should be added to sports drinks is sodium (Maughan, 1994). Sodium does not have a direct impact on physical performance but has a number of essential functions including maintaining plasma osmolality (Below et al, 1995), encouraging voluntary fluid intake (Passe, 2001) and reducing urine output (Vrijens & Rehrer, 1999). Present in small amounts, sodium helps to quicken the rate of gastric emptying and increases the rate of fluid absorption into the intestine. Sodium concentration in sweat and plasma are 10.0-70.0mEq/l and 135.0-148.0mEq/l respectively (Latzka & Montain, 1999, Costill, 1984). Athletes have a sweat rate of around 1litre/hour during exercise which increases in higher temperatures (Brouns F & Kovacs E). It is important to remember that sweat rates and sweat electrolyte content vary between each individual athlete (Sawka, 2007). Carbohydrates are the main energy source during exercise and are stored as glucose in the liver and muscles. Consuming sports drinks containing a carbohydrate source helps to maintain the body’s glycogen stores and prevent glucose levels from falling too low. However, high concentrations of carbohydrate in the drink slow the rate of gastric emptying (Merson el al, 2002).

Types of Sports Drinks

There are three types of sports drinks, all of which contain various levels of fluid, carbohydrates and electrolytes (usually 10-25mmol/l of Sodium) – (i) Isotonic drinks contain fluid, electrolytes and 6 to 8% of a carbohydrate source. These empty from the stomach at a rate similar to water and quickly replace fluids lost by sweating and supply a boost of carbohydrate. Isotonic drinks are the drink of choice for most athletes for example in middle and long distance running and team sports. In the Position Stand by the American College of Sports Medicine Position 2007, isotonic drinks are recommended for events lasting longer than one hour .(ii) Hypotonic drinks contain fluid, electrolytes and a low level of carbohydrate and quickly replace fluids lost by sweating. This is suitable for athletes who need fluid without the boost of carbohydrate e.g. jockeys and gymnasts. A study by Bonneti and Hopkins 2010, found that the ingestion of a hypotonic drink enhanced performance similar to that of an isotonic drink, suggesting that hypotonic drinks may be the preferred option for endurance performance of longer than an hour. More evidence is needed to prove this, but it seems that water is absorbed into the intestine more rapidly when using a hypotonic drink over an isotonic drink ( Bonneti & Hopkins 2010) (iii) Hypertonic drinks contain fluid and high levels of carbohydrate. They are used to supplement daily carbohydrate intake to meet energy demands, particularly in ultra distance events were high levels of energy are required. They need to be used in conjunction with isotonic drinks to replace fluids.

Studies on Carbohydrate-Electrolyte Sports Drink

In an area of on-going research, many studies have been conducted with carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drinks and their effects on performance. Table 1 summarises the effect of these drinks when compared with placebos. Studies lasting longer than one hour, with the addition of carbohydrate to the drink, have shown to increase performance (Coyle, 2004). Events lasting less than one hour have shown to have no need for carbohydrate electrolyte sports drinks (Bonen et al 1981, Powers et al 1990). However, a study by Murray et al 1989, found that drinks containing 8-10% carbohydrate delayed fluid absorption and gastric emptying whilst drinks containing 6% carbohydrate solution enhanced exercise performance after 1 hour. When comparing a 15% carbohydrate-electrolyte solution to a 2% carbohydrate-electrolyte solution in a hot climate, it is in fact the 2% solution that increased performance and prevented fatigue (Galloway & Maughan). There has been numerous studies conducted with high carbohydrate content solutions (above 10 %,) but this amount of carbohydrate content should ideally be used in carbohydrate loading only and not when looking to increase performance.

Conclusion

There is clear evidence that drinks, containing an energy source in the form of a carbohydrate and an electrolyte, have beneficial effects for athletes and improve performance (Convertino et al, 1996; Casa 2000) provided exercise duration is long enough to allow empting of the drink from the stomach followed by absorption into the intestine (Shirreffs, 2003). It is important to remember, that every individual is different, and what suits one person in a given situation may not suit another, therefore customized fluid replacement programmes are advised (Maughan 1993).

References:

Below PR, Mora-Rodriguez R, Gonzalez-Alonso J & Coyle EF (1995) Fluid and carbohydrate ingestion independently improve performance during 1 h of intense exercise. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 27, 200–210.

Bonen A, Malcolm SA, Kilgour RD, MacIntyre KP & Belcastro AN (1981) Glucose ingestion before and during intense exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology 50, 766-71.

Bonetti DL & Hopkins WG (2010) Effect of Hypotonic and Isotonic Sports Drinks on Endurance Performance and Physiology. Sportscience 14, 63-70.

Brouns F & Kovacs E (1997) Functional drinks for athletes. Trends in Food Science & Technology 8, 414-420.

Cade R, Spooner G, Schlein CA, Pickering M & Dean R (1988) Effect of fluid, electrolyte, and glucose replacement during exercise on performance, body temperature, rate of sweat loss, and compositional changes of extracellular fluid. Journal of Sports Medicine 12, 150-6.

Casa DJ (2000) National athletic trainer’s association position statement: fluid replacement for athletes. Journal of Athletic Training 35, 212-224.

Converertino V, Armstrong L, Coyle E, Mack G, Sawka M, Senay L & Sherman W (1996) American college of sports medicine position stand: exercise and fluid replacement. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 28, I-vii.

Costill DL (1984) Sweating: its composition ad effects on body fluids. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 301, 160-174.

Coyle EF (2004) Fluid and Fuel Intake during exercise. Journal of Sports Science 22, 39-55.

Davis JM, Lamb DR, Pate RR, Slentz CA, Burgess WA & Bartoli WP (1988) Carbohydrate-electrolyte drinks: effects on endurance cycling in the heat. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 48, 1023-30.

Galloway SDR & Maughan The effects of substrate and fluid provision on ermoregulatory and metabolic responses to prolonged exercise in a hot environment. Journal of Sports Science 18, 339-351.

Latzka WA & Montain SJ (1999) Water and electrolyte requirements for exercise. Clinics in sports medicine 18, 513-524.

Maughan RJ (1993) Fluid replacement in sport and exercise – a consensus statement. British Journal of Sports Medicine 27, 34.

Maughan RJ (1994) Fluid and electrolyte loss and replacement in exercise. In Oxford Textbook of Sports Medicine, pp82-93 [M Harries, C Williams, WD stanish & LL Micheli editors]. Oxford: Oxford university press.

Maughan RJ (1998) The sports drink as a functional food: formulations for successful performance. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 57, 15-23

Merson SJ, Shirreffs SM, Leiper JB, & Maughan RJ (2002) Changes in blood, plasma and red cell volume after ingestion of hypotonic and hypertonic solutions. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society.

Millard-Stafford M, Rosskopf LB, Snow TK & Hinson BT (1997)Water versus carbohydrate-electrolyte ingestion before and during a 15-km run in the heat. International Journal of Sports Nutrition 7, 26-38.

Murray R, Seifert JG, Eddy DE, Paul GL & Halaby GA (1989) Carbohydrate feeding and exercise: effect of beverage carbohydrate content. European Journal of Applied Physiology 59, 152.

Passe DH (2001) Physiological and psychological determinants of fluid intake. In Sports Drinks: Basic Science and Practical Aspects, pp45–87 [RJ Maughan, R Murray editors]. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.

Powers SK, Lawler J, Dodd S, Tulley R, Landry G & Wheeler K (1990) Fluid replacement drinks during high intensity exercise: effects on minimising exercise-induced disturbances. European Journal of Applied Physiology 60, 54-60

Sawka MN (2007) Position Stand: Exercise and Fluid replacement. American College of Sports Medicine, 377- 390.

Shirreffs SM (2003) The Optimal Sports Drink. Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur <> 51, 25-29.

Tsintzas K, Liu R, Williams C (1993) The effect of carbohydrate ingestion on performance during a 30-km race. International Journal of Sports Medicine 3 127-39.

Vrijens DM, Rehrer NJ (1999) Sodium-free fluid ingestion decreases plasma sodium during exercise in the heat. Journal Applied Physiology 86, 1847–1851.

The purpose of this report is to analyse the share price performance of Marks and Spencer and relate to this any news announcements during the period between the 29th of October 2000 and the 1st November 2001. This report will compare the performance of Marks and Spencer with the FTSE 100 and FTSE All Share Index, highlighting any abnormal rises or falls in Marks and Spencer’s share price and will relate these to certain news or press announcements. Such announcements may have ultimately contributed to the change in share price of Marks and Spencer specifically or the stock exchange more generally.

Instead of using the actual share price of Marks and Spencer the total return index will be used to show changes in the companies share price. This is an index that calculates the performance of a group of stocks assuming that all dividends and distributions are reinvested. It measures the growth in value of a shareholding over the period. When comparing the companies return index with that of the FTSE 100 and All Share average the index will be rebased to a value of 100 at the start of the period. This allows a simple comparison to see how the share price has done over the period. A similar thing will be done when comparing Marks and Spencer to selected competitors namely Next and Sainsbury’s.

Findings

The share price and return index of Marks and Spencer has done remarkably well between October 2000 and November 2001. This may come as a surprise to some people as between 2000 and 2001 operating profit excluding tax fell by an unprecedented 224% to 145.5 million. This would have been partly due to the fact that overall turnover fell despite a rise in turnover of 8% in international sales. During the same period earnings per share fell from 9.6p to (0.2)p however the dividend per share of 9.0p remained the same, which was important as this gives a clear indication of the strength and stability of the organisation.

The graph on the following page (Graph 1) compares the rebased return index of Marks and Spencer, the FTSE 100 and FTSE All Share Index over the desired time period. The graph clearly illustrates how successful Marks and Spencer’s share price has been especially when compared to the more general FTSE index. Whereas the rebased return index has increased by over 50% for Marks and Spencer to 169.13, the FTSE 100 and All Share return index has fallen nearly 20% to 81.67 and 81.69 respectively.

The graph above shows that over the year concerned the return index and therefore share price has generally increased for Marks and Spencer whereas the FTSE 100 and All Share Index has declined albeit at a slower rate than M;S has grown. However, there are exceptions to this and the share price may have risen or fallen sharply due to news announcements as I will now explain. For example on October 9th 2001 the return on an investment in Marks and Spencer increased by 9.84%.

The reason for shares in the troubled retailer jumping 10% was because it revealed its first quarterly sales increase in three years. The figures were being interpreted in some quarters as the first sign of a turnaround in the retailer’s fortunes and chairman and chief executive Luc Vandevelde said the company “had made a step in the right direction”. However, even though an increase in sales has sent Marks and Spencer shares soaring, some analysts were urging investors to treat the figures with caution.

Unfortunately the news wasn’t good for M;S on April the 9th 2001. On this day City stockbrokers were set to downgrade M;S after a leaked report stating the company would make �20 million less profit than was expected, suggesting that the problems that M;S was facing were more serious than first thought. However, even this bad news didn’t affect the return on the investment that day as it only fell by 1.05%.

More bad news reported in the Financial Times on June the 19th 2001 didn’t adversely affect the return index for M;S. On this day the retailer announced it was pulling out of continental Europe and selling its US clothing and supermarket chains. Unfortunately the company was forced into this decision and has ultimately decided to focus on its core British retailing. On this day the investment in Marks and Spencer has grown nearly 2%. This was in spite of the fact that the French government is threatening legal action after the struggling retailer announced plans to close all its stores in France.

Some other news announcements which have affected the return index of Marks and Spencer include when M;S announced its new group strategy on the 27th April 2001. This strategy basically entailed focusing on its UK retail business and restoring the trust and confidence of its core customers. This news leads to a 7.03% increase in the value of an investment in M;S for that day. On April 27th 2001 Marks and Spencer announced that Luc Vandevelde waived his entitlement to a bonus and to underline his confidence in the future prospects of the company, he reduced his notice period entitlement from 12 to 9 months. However, such news didn’t increase the companies return index as expected and for approximately a month after this announcement the return index for the company gradually declined before picking up again at the end of May and the beginning of June.

The graph below (Graph 2) shows that Marks and Spencer has outperformed some of its retailers despite suffering from tumbling profits and bad reviews in the press. The average daily return on an investment between October 2000 and November 2001 has been 0.22%, compare that with the FTSE 100 and All Share index of (0.07) and Next and Sainsbury 0.13 and 0.02 respectively and it shows how remarkably well Marks and Spencer has done during this period despite all the setbacks it has faced.

Another major date which occurred in the bounds for this report was of course September 11th. Obviously the terrorist attacks had a major adverse effect on share prices generally. The day after the terrorist attacks the FTSE 100 fell by 288 points- the largest one day point’s fall in the 20 year history of the index. The total return index for Marks and Spencer fell by 4.11% on that day and there were similar losses in the days following the terrorist attacks.

However, it wasn’t just Marks and Spencer that was affected by this even but the FTSE 100, All Share and stock exchanges generally. Each of the three graphs shows how the return indexes seem to follow a general downward trend after September 11th. The graph labelled graph 3 on the following page simply shows the actual share price for Marks and Spencer, as well as the FTSE 100. It paints a similar story to the return indexes in that the share price for Marks and Spencer rose considerably during the period studied whereas on the other hand the FTSE 100 index fell by over 20%.

Conclusion

In conclusion between October 2000 and November 2001 Marks and Spencer shares have increased by approximately 50%, which is in complete comparison to the FTSE 100 index where the shares have declined by roughly a fifth. However, during this period Marks and Spencer was really struggling with most analysts reluctant to recommend buying M&S shares, as the company profits more than halved since 1998, when they topped 1bn. Most UK and for that matter overseas shares fell in value last year. The FTSE 100 index ended the year lower than it had started for only the third time since it was set up it 1983.

There were also no signs of recovery. This would have been largely due to September 11th; as such events can not be compensated for or predicted, however in saying that the FTSE was also on a downward trend in the year prior to September 11. Despite all the gloom and doom associated with shares, Marks and Spencer came out smelling of roses. Even though their share price was helped by the company buying back its own shares it has still done remarkably well. After all its share price hitting a 10 year low in 2000, since then it bounced back 50%, making them easily the best performers in the FTSE 100 index of blue chip shares, which is quite an achievement.

Aim: To identify how effectively and efficiently your chosen company is run. To produce a report based on your findings on the performance of the business. The business I have decided to investigate is Karen Millen. It is one of the UK’s most successful retailers of woman’s fashion. Its main products are womenswear, footwear and accessories. Karen Millen operates under one business structure from concept through raw material purchasing, production and distribution to the actual point of sale. The focus on design continues throughout all aspects of the company.

The market within which it operates is eighteen to forty year olds, the clothes range from young stylish casual wear to smart evening wear. The company’s mission statement is “We provide our customers with the best value for money through the most convenient shopping experience”. Classification of business Karen Millen is a private limited company. It has two founding partners: Karen Millen and Kevin Stanford. The business was started with an initial investment of i?? 100 when 100 metres of white cotton was bought to make shirts to sell their friends.

They started off by doing ‘a party plan’ network to sell their products, which generated sufficient income to finance their first store, which was situated in Maidstone, Kent. The business then expanded over the years and know has over 150 stores worldwide with more than 1,000 employers. Karen Millen is also open to people to franchise. This is when someone buys the right to trade under the trade name. The company hasn’t undergone any major changes of classification it is still controlled by Karen Millen and Kevin Stanford but around 5 more people own shares in the company.

It is still a private limited company. The two original partners now own 60% of the company and 40% is owned by shareholders. This states that the two founding owners are still in control of the company but they have just added different sources of finance. The profits mainly go to Karen and Kevin. It also has franchisers which take a percentage of the profits but only from the stores in which they own. Advantages of having a private limited company is it is run by the directors and owners of the business so they know exactly what is going on.

It will be protected by limited liability and all the profits will go to them. Disadvantages of having a private limited company is if anything goes wrong the partners will have to pay and debits will be sent to them and they could lose their homes. The company also has franchisers, advantages for having a franchisee is they will have a well known name and logo, gains from national advertising and they are simple to set up. Disadvantages of having a franchisee is it could require a large capital outlay, it has limited scope for individual action and you would need to monitor and control the company.

Business Objectives To achieve efficiency of operation, convenience and customer service in our stores. * To provide a working environment where there is a concern for the welfare of each member of staff. * To provide the best quality service by working closely with our team of store designers. The objectives above for Karen Millen are very clear. They show exactly what the company is trying to achieve and govern the way they operate. The objectives are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable or Achievable, Relevant or Realistic and Time.

Their first objective is set to make sure the operation of the company is to go smoothly and to make sure everything works together well. The second objective is set to make sure the staff who work for their company are getting the best out of working their. To make sure they are happy with their working life and to make sure they are safe whilst at work. The third objective is set to make sure the whole company is working closely together with each other to get the best out of the business. It is to make sure the quality of the service is at its best and the clothes are of a high standard.

Karen Millen is meeting all of the objectives that it has set. They have achieved these by providing good quality service, by making sure the products are off a high quality and the customer service within the stores is excellent. The company also makes sure the staff have a good working environment by giving them benefits whilst working their and making their work enjoyable. Since the business has started the partners have made sure the design, manufacturing and retail process is done under one business structure.

This makes the efficiency of the operation well organised. The company hasn’t failed and is expanding more and more everyday. There are a few conflicts between the objectives of the company such as between making a profit and providing services to the community. If the community is small the demand for a service will be low because the prices are high and it’s a clothes retailer. If the company increases the prices of the products it will cause a conflict with the customers. Profits will only be made if the shop is situated in a larger community.

Introduction

            Companies and corporations exist to conduct businesses as established in their respective mission and vision statements.  These goals, mission and vision statements are achieved through the employment of a workforce.  The workforce therefore of a company is as important as the mission or vision statement as the case may be.

            The employees are the backbone of the corporation.  They move the company into what it is called for in the community depending on the nature of the business it is in.  Thus, these employees must be treated with importance and high regard and in a manner consistent with equality and fairness.  Corporations, in the conduct of their business, must ensure the safety and well being of every employee.  In fact, laws provide for compensation benefits and packages to promote healthy working conditions and protect the rights of workers against possible abuses of the management and eventually endanger their rights guaranteed by the constitution as well as those provided for in statutes.

            The foregoing however does not warrant unwarranted benefits in favor of the employees. The corporations or management has the right likewise to protect its own interest particularly that which relates to its relations with the employees.  In corporate success, it is necessary that goals and objectives of the management and/or proprietors on one hand and that of the employees on the other hand meet in order to achieve the corporate goals.  Thus, the need to determine whether individual performance meets the set corporate goals and objectives; it is equally important that both parties, the management and the employees act together towards a common goal and only then there can be attained success in the business organization.

            This paper treats in the relevance and significance of performance evaluation, performance management of employees particular performance appraisal as an aspect of performance management and other related topics.

Performance Evaluation, relevance

            Performance evaluation is very important in all organizations, whether conducted for profit or not, as in the case of a bank in the present controversy.  It is understood that bank operations are imbued with public interest and so must be conducted with utmost care and diligence; thus protecting the rights of the employees, employer, the government and most importantly the public.

            Organizations view performance management in relation to performance evaluation as a key towards establishing or enhancing from among the employees initiative in work performance for increase marketability, speedy business transactions and business renewals (Haines, et al., 2004).

            Effective organizations highly regard performance management in the course of their dealings.  Employees are engaged as part of the planning process and more so in the evaluation process.  Effective performance management subsumes an effective performance evaluation (http://www.opm.gov/perform/overview.asp, 2008).

            Performance evaluation is the process of assessing individual performances of employees giving them an assessment on their effectiveness in the performance of their respective work assignments and which serves as a guide on the progress of their respective careers (https://my.tennessee.edu/portal/page?_pageid=34,275744&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL, 2008).   Moreover, it is usually conducted by having an interview with an employee annually or semi-annually in order to determine the employee’s weaknesses and strengths in the work and provide remedy for the same (Heins, et a., 2004).

            It has for its aim the following:

“collect and disseminate information relative to performance aspects”;
“promote interdisciplinary flow of technical information among researchers and professionals”; and
“serve as a publication medium for various special interest groups in the performance community at large”, (Nain, No Year).
The present case involves an employee of a bank (Charlene) holding the position of Senior Teller of a loan department in a bank.  Personal information reveals that Charlene is a black American and works with whites.  Her being a Black may have affected her performance evaluation which will be explained in the following discussions.

            Charlene works closely with another Black.  In the course of their dealings, she is found to have exhibited a positive attitude towards work and mingles well with others.  Her personal evaluation sheet reveals an exemplary performance worthy of promotion and emulation.  Charlene expected to be promoted to a higher position which is a supervisor position in the loan department.  However, one Terri came into the picture who has been a Senior Teller of one of the branches of the bank.  Terri was eventually appointed to such supervisory position, and not Charlene.  As a consequence, Charlene became subject to the supervision of Terrie who, among others, had the task of evaluating the performance of the former.

            Work performances of Charlene show deterioration from the quality of work expected of her, in contrast to her prior work performances before Terrie became her supervisor, as reflected in the performance evaluation report.  The latter shows that Charlene showed good performance which gained her promotions for short periods of time, implying a quality of work beneficial to the clients of the bank and the bank itself.  However, Terrie’s observations were totally in contrast to the prior performance evaluation reports.  She observed the constant tardiness of Charlene as well as consistent mistakes in the conduct of the latter’s responsibilities like the crediting of amounts causing prejudice and embarrassment to the bank.

            The conduct of the performance evaluation upon Charlene in the present case has served the purpose above set forth, such as the determination of the performance aspects of the employee concerned thereby establishing discipline and control over such employee and serves as the information guide among the rest of the employees in the company.

            By its nature, a performance evaluation is expected as much as possible to be free from inequality or biases, to effectively determine quality of work performance.  Considering that it is intended to determine among others, productivity and profitability, the same must be based on sufficient standards free from biases.  In the instant case, Terrie exhibited to have high regard to avoid having to commit prejudicial acts against Charlene due to her being a Black American.  Resort to dismissal has not been adopted as a major recourse in order to prevent controversies arising from alleged discrimination.  In fact the result of the performance evaluation such as the dismissal of Charlene has not been acted upon just to guarantee the total absence of discrimination in the workplace.

            Moreover, performance management is seen effective as when the same is made by managers who are exceptionally focused.  In a study conducted by Wood (2007), it is the senior management’s duty, as in the case of Terrie, to align the mission and vision statement of the company and that of the employees, the latter through the conduct of performance evaluation.  Together with the duty of the senior management to conduct performance evaluation is its duty to effectively communicate the company standards and corporate purpose across the organization, particularly to an employee who has already been the subject of surveillance and investigation pursuant to a low performance quality at work.  In the present case however, the senior management failed to appraise the employee, Charlene of her deficiencies in terms of work quality, despite the continuous promotions she received from the same company.  The deteriorating work performance has been brought partly by the management for failure to convey to her the established standards of the company; instead, she was given a high performance rating in her personal evaluation report. It is in this part that the performance evaluation report did not serve to work for the benefit of the employee concerned as well as the company.  An important aspect of performance evaluation is not simply the routinary and ceremonial conduct of employee evaluation but that of actually appraising and informing the employee concerned of the outcome of the same for purposes of improvement and development in the work.

            In the present case, the performance evaluation report sets as the standard in determining the quality of work performed by an employee.  Studies have shown that performance evaluation serves as the gateway towards determining quality of work performance in relation to satisfaction not only to clients’ standards but also of the stakeholders towards a future of high profitability (Mitchell, 2008).

            Performance evaluation thus has a direct link to business profitability.  Good quality of work entails high productivity and eventually high profitability.  It is thus safe to say that an effective performance management must be taken into account in the course of the conduct of the business to align the needs of the corporation, the clients as well as that of the employees.

Components of Performance Evaluation

            Performance evaluation as a process in general has the following components:

1.                 Performance planning – Under performance planning, corporate goals and objectives are laid down with certainty and concreteness to appraise employees the basis and quality of their work.  This is a mode of aligning company goals and objectives in relation to individual goals and objectives, as well as qualifications of employees.

2.                 Performance coaching – When corporate goals and objectives are set forth and the standard for evaluating performances are laid, employees during and after the conduct of performance evaluation ought to be informed of the results thereof.  Employees have the right to be given a feedback on the evaluation report to keep them in tract of their work performances in career development and to better improve their work performances when appropriate.

3.                 Performance appraisal – This is often mistaken as performance evaluation but is in reality, only a part and parcel of what it is.  It is the formal documentation of the feedback on the basis of the performance evaluation and conveying the same to the employee with the expectation that the employee concerned would improve his performance at work.

Performance Appraisal

            In more concrete terms, performance appraisal is the process of conducting performance evaluation periodically, either annually or semi-annually.  It is usually conducted to check employee weaknesses and strengths vis a vis requiring work improvement to meet corporate standards as well as international standards.  Indirectly moreover, the same is used as a standard for giving out employee rewards for superior work performance (Haines, et al., 2004).   Bacal (No Year) moreover, strongly stressed that performance appraisal must focus on work performance rather than being used as a tool on determining who to promote or who to remove from office.   It should aimed at giving employees the real status of their work performance and demand from them efforts to improve the same, otherwise, proper sanctions be imposed.

            However, as can be seen in the instant case, the performance evaluation conducted by Terrie and the other superior officers of Charlene, is not really intended to improve the performance of the latter.  There have already been reported and observed deficiencies in the work which Charlene exhibited, but all were not properly documented.  Instead, her poor performance was made the basis for her promotion to get rid of her from the superior officer’s control and supervision.  The fear of removing her from work is fear in stupidity.  It the duty of the management to properly appraise her of her poor performance in order to achieve the goal of performance appraisal, that is, work improvement.  This actually did not happen.  Every superior officer aimed at removing Charlene from his supervision and so indicate in the report a positive performance evaluation report so she would immediately be promoted to a higher position.  It is evident that there is really no intent to improving her performance but only to get rid of her from the workplace.  This is a misconception of what employee appraisal is.

            Performance appraisal is intended for work improvement after a deliberate conduct of employee evaluation periodically.  It is aimed at prescribing and keeping the company standards to improve work performance.  It is not one primarily made to determine employees who deserve to be promoted or kicked-out from work as is usually done.  This does not however totally foreclose the idea that performance appraisal or performance evaluation can never be the basis for work promotion.  The same may hold true as one of its secondary purposes for the primary aim of performance evaluation is work improvement and not employee removal.

            From the foregoing, performance appraisal is important in obtaining higher productivity in the work place.  An effective employee is one who meets the demands set forth in the corporate policy and is able to cope with the required standards for improvement upon appraisal or otherwise.  Corollarily, an effective employee is able to conduct himself consistent with corporate demands and thus, meets the corporate goals and objectives.  This means high productivity and profitability in the work place.

            In sum, performance appraisal aims at increasing productivity and profitability by utilizing and maximizing the human resource (work force).  This has a domino effect beginning from the performance of the employee to increased productivity.  Thus, where an employee has failed to comply with his responsibilities and likewise fails to meet the improvements demanded of him, he then fails to give effect to corporate goals and objectives, in effect, failing to contribute to company productivity.  In the case of Charlene, the performance appraisal has not been effective.  She was neither performed nor consulted on the outputs of her work.  She remained under observation by superior officers, without her knowing or being made aware of the consequences of her acts.  Another superior officer came and guaranteed improvement on Charlene, which was however proved futile considering that the person from whom the improvement should come from and from whom it should have been demanded remained blinded.  She may be aware of her tardiness and consistent mistakes and errors in the crediting of accounts in bank transactions, nevertheless, it is the duty of every superior officer to appraise her of her status and the impacts of her acts on the company and on the client.  These, they failed to do in the performance appraisal.

            An effective performance appraisal is one which truly understands the essence and use of the same.  Many at times it has been misunderstood as a mode of removing unproductive employees or granting promotions to those who are showing exemplary performance in the work place.  The same should substantially adhere to the key components such as performance planning, performance coaching and performance appraisal; with the latter done by actually giving the employee concerned the opportunity to be informed of the status of his work performance, and require from him the improvements needed to meet the desired goals and objectives of the corporation.  More importantly, the employee must be given the opportunity to correct himself considering that the end view of every performance appraisal is for work improvement and not removal or promotion as the case may be, although the latter two may be incidental to the conduct of performance appraisal.  The same should highlight important aspects on work status and the required work improvement.  Equally important is the opportunity of the employee to correct and improve work performance in a considerable period of time.  Failure to this would render the term ‘performance appraisal’ futile.

            In the instant case, it would have been a real performance appraisal where at the beginning Charlene was informed of the actual status of her work performance in the workplace.  It is well to note that Terrie was doubtful on her actual work performance due to discrepancy on the words of other superior officers and the actual work performance evaluation report.  The latter discloses a commendable work performance while the other officers say otherwise.  It was later discovered that previous superior officers under whom Charlene had been subject of supervision and control were forced to indicate a positive work performance which gained Charlene her promotions for considerably short period of time.  This is a clear mistake on the part of the management.  Their acts of giving her promotions despite backlogs in work and poor performance are acts of tolerance which may be understood by Charlene as something commendable considering that her attention was never called.  Eventually Charlene was dismissed from work.  It can be observed that while she was given several chances to improve, she was never actually subject of probation.  She was asked to relate to the management her problems in her work but was never actually told of the consequences of her acts.  She was given several opportunities but was never aware of her poor performance that would call her awareness and possible consequences of her acts

Conclusion

            Performance management is an important aspect in business organizations to achieve high rate of production, good quality of work thereby increasing productivity and profitability.  Performance management is a broader concept than performance appraisal.  The latter is an aspect of the former.  An effective performance appraisal is one which contains performance planning, performance coaching and performance appraisal.  Performance appraisal is a process of formally evaluating the status of the work performance of the employee giving the latter the opportunity to know of his actual work performance and in case of poor performance, the opportunity to improve himself as an employee, and that only failure to comply the same warrants dismissal or removal.  Work performance moreover may be made the basis of granting employee rewards and employee promotions.

            An effective performance appraisal must properly identify the weaknesses and strengths of an employee and brining to his awareness the results thereof for purposes of further improvement or maintenance of the work performance or immediate improvement in case of poor performance.

            Employee participation is important not only in matters involving work loads but more importantly in performance evaluation.  It is important that an employee is aware of his participation in the decision making processes particularly that which relates to his tenure in the organization.  He is expected to meet corporate goals and objectives and so must be informed as to whether his performance matches that of the corporate goals.  While management has the prerogative to terminate the employment in case of poor performance, an employee has likewise a right to security of tenure which must be respected and observed pursuant to an effective performance appraisal.

Bibliography

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Mitchell, M. (2008). Journal of Performance Management. ABC Trends in the Banking Sector: A Practitioner’s Perspective.

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Bacal, R. (No Year). Management File – What IS The Point Of Performance Appraisal. http://www.work911.com/performance/particles/perfpoint.htm

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Leadership deserves executive compensation. It is widely acknowledged that senior executives normally employ more efforts than other employees like designing the corporate culture and implementation, patterning the strategy that influences shareholder value and setting the environment and corporate climate that ultimately impact the customer experience (McCool, 3) . All the above tasks are not easy thus the executives deserve executive compensation. In deed losing a strategic leader to turnover related issue is fatal for a company, a move felt across the firm.

The main challenge is that debates on executive compensation are mostly emotional and sometimes not on issues. As widely experienced, by capping on the pay of executives firms plunge to the risk of massive strategic employee turn over especially to other incentive ridden firms across the borders (Flannery and Hotfricher, 23) . For instance, the US treasury loosened the grip of planned ceiling on executive pay at $500,000 fearing that European banks and Asian firm would lure the talented staff (Clark) . Executive Compensation is justified

Despite the debate that emotionally has criminated executive compensation, executive compensation critically looking at issue forms one off the competitive advantage that blue chip firms are utilizing. Most blue chip firms are a remuneration policy that clearly draws the line on how executives are remunerated in transparent manner (Nippani et al. , 12) . As stated before, the tasks that executives are responsible for are enormous. Literally, they form the engine of a firm while other segments of the organization remain as components that make a vehicle move.

By so doing, the executives must perform the following tasks. First, the executive management bears the bulk of designing the corporate culture of an organization will eventually follow. The task even extends to influencing the whole organization to follow the corporate culture. Secondly, it is the duty of the executives to design the corporate strategy that guides the firm. The corporate strategy definitely extends to impacting on the customer experience within the firm (Mathers and Goodman, 18) .

Additionally, the corporate climate that guides the firm in dealing with internal issues and external factors is steered by the decisions of the executives. It ought to be acknowledged that corporate decisions unlike other forms of decision making possesses the characteristic of tedious analysis, burning midnight oil in meetings among extensive consulting and traveling all to the well being of the firm. This makes the executive deserving of the executive compensation. Strategic decisions making is more risky than operational and tactical decision making (White, 23) .

The process takes lots of executive time and efforts in choosing the best optimal decision. This makes the executive management deserve fair compensation on the decisions they make. Logical reasoning stipulates that although they are compensated fairly, it is good decision to consider giving them opportunity to share in the firms’ profits like being given stock options that are highly subsidized (Equity, 65) . The debate on executive compensation is highly emotionalized leading to public criticism on the recipients of the scheme. Executive compensation helps in recruiting high talent caliber of leadership in the management.

It is common sense that highly performing employees at the executive level are on high demand and need motivation (Tran and Kleiner, 9) . These are persons that have seen companies turn around due to their experience and highly valued management and leadership techniques and styles. Recruitment firms agree often persuade the interested firms on a particular highly performing individuals must offer attractive executive compensation if they desire to attract and retain executives that are highly talented . This explains why the US rebuffed from the planned capping on executive pay at $500,000.

Conclusions The debate on executive compensation when tackled on a logical perspective rather than the often emotional front holds more water on the support for executive compensation. These are individuals that are on high demand and their efforts and decisions steer the firm strategically. It is catastrophic to consider capping on their earnings. The executives dedicate lots of their physical resources in running the firm. Finally, to attract and retain talented top performing executives, then attractive and honest compensation policy is vital.

Performance Measurement Paper LaVonda Jones MGT/437 6/30/2010 Dr. Kemit Grafton Performance Measurement Paper Project managers use performance measurement to help plan, initiate, execute, and close projects that they work on. Using measures like evaluating, controlling, and budgeting helps project managers and team members monitor progress on the project. In this paper, one will compare and contrast the above measurements and discuss the importance of each within a project. Evaluating a Project Using the evaluating measure helps the project manager improve the performance of the team.

They determine what the team needs so that the team may accomplish the goals set in the planning phase of the project. When the project manager evaluates a project, the manager makes sure that the goals for the project are clear. The strategies and objectives are coherent for the team to understand how they should complete a successful project. The project manager must work with the team and agree on a plan for the project. The team will use all resources that are available to them when evaluating their project. Clarifying ground rules are necessary so that all team members are working together in the same direction.

Negotiations are necessary by the team as a whole and documentation is necessary to keep written proof of project ordeals. For a project manager to efficiently evaluate their project, the project manager should keep track of past projects and use them to set the standard or determine if things are moving along on track for the new project. 2. To Control How can managers ensure their subordinates are doing the right thing. Today managers do not control their workforce mechanically (measurement of time-and-motion for control as during Taylor) However managers still use measures to control, while allowing some space for freedom in the workforce. Robert Kaplan & David Norton) Business has control bias. Because traditional measurement system sprung from finance function, the system has a control bias. Organisation create measurement systems that specify particular actions they want execute- for branch employess to take a particular ways to execute what they want- branch to spend money. Then they want to measure to see whether the employees have in fact taken those actions. Need to measure input by individual into organisation and process.

Officials need to measure behavior of individuals then compare this performance with requirements to check who has and has not complied. Often such requirements are described only as guidelines. Do not be fooled. These guidelines are really requirements and those requirement are designed to control. The measurement of compliance with these requirements is the mechanism of control. 3. To Budget Budgets are crude tools in improving performance. Poor performance not always may change after applying budgets cuts as a disciplinary actions. Sometimes budgets increase could be the answer to improving performance.

Like purchasing better technology because the current ones are outdated and harm operational processes. So decision highly influenced by circomstance, you need measures to better understand the situation. At the macro level, elected officials deciding which purpose of government actions are primary or secondary. Political priorities drive macro budgetory choices. Once elected officials have established macro political priorities, those responsible for micro decisions may seek to invest their limited allocation of resources in the most cost-effective units and activities.

In allocating budgets, managers, in response to macro budget allocations (driven by political objectives), determin alloactions at the micro level by using measures of efficiency of various activities, which programs or organisations are more efficient at achieving the political objectives. Why spend limited funds on programs that do not guarantee exceptional performance? Efficiency is determined by observing performance- output and outcome achieved considering number of people involved in the process (productivity per person) and cost-data (capturing direct cost as well as indirect)