Sears Performance Management Process, Research Paper Example

Employee Feedback

| Q1 – Within the context of the Human Resources Department in Sears Corporation, the following feedback mechanisms are used with employees. The firm has historically relied on employee surveys to gain direct feedback. In addition the use of multi-perspective performance appraisals has been adopted over the last five years. This is designed to place the Managers in more of a mentor and coaching role to their employees. It encourages a constructive frank exchange of views with the Manager and Employee collaborating as a team towards meeting organizational objectives. Sears has also printed $5 coupons on sales receipts that it issues to its customers. These are redeemable if they call an 800 number and provide feedback on customer service. This is a means of relating employee service directly to customer satisfaction. In the recruitment phase selection tools have been used to assess an employee’s suitability to the job, particularly in terms of customer service and reliability. (Kirn, S.P. et al 1999).

| Q2 – There are a variety of tools and techniques that Sears employ within the Humanb Resources Management process. They rely heavily on surveys like that of ‘a compelling place to work’ which is used for attitude assessment of employees in the my opinion counts survey. Sears uses a leadership system based upojn the ‘3 C’s’ approach i.e. 1) Compelling Place to work 2) Compelling place to shop and 3) Compeling place to invest. Sears puts a great many of its management team through the Sears University which an employee can be selected as part of the employyee performance management process. This concept has been widely successful in terms of indoctrinating managers into the organizational culture and behavioural methods used in the Company. The firm is highly computer literate and this ethos embeds virtually every aspect of the Company business. This includes the HR System RESTRAC that is used in the hiring process for employees at Sears.

| Q3 – Within the context of my own organization the performance management process has improved over the last 5 years. This has largely been attributed towards a move of 360 degree feedback solicitation within the performance appraisal process. The culture has also shifted more to an empathetic management or leadership style where coaching and mentoring of employees has been introduced as part of the educational development cycle. The organization is also collaborating with the local University in terms of running a range of customized leadership and management courses that have been designed to directly reflect the organizational culture, goals and objectives. Similar to the Sears University concept but really an outsourcing concept using the skills, facilities and teachers from the local University. The organization has become more computer literate in the production of reports and statistics to facilitate the performance management process. (Heathfield, 2011)

| Q4 – The process can be improved by more direct employee input into the overall performance management process. Historically, this has been self-serving to the organization with little reference to the benefits that the system can also provide to the employees. This is the question of inclusivity and developing a holistic PM system that serves an integrated set of objectives that benefit both the employees and the organization. Considerable progress has been made in the last three years towards addressing these objectives. One approach might be the adoption of Herzberg Motivation Hygiene Theory. To measure employee motivation you would need to examine such elements as opportunities for promotion, quality of work, levels of responsibility, challenges, sense of personal achievement and growth in the job. Hygiene factors would include: company policies, wages, quality of supervision, inter personal relations, environmental setting, working conditions and feeling of job security. The approach would be based upon interviewing the team and determining whether they had positive or negative attitudes towards work and an explanation of the reasons thereof. The Analysis can then be divided into the Motivation and Hygiene classifications.

References

Heathfield, S. M. (2011, 11 12). 360 Degree Feedback: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Retrieved from About.com: http://humanresources.about.com/od/360feedback/a/360feedback.htm

Kirn, S. R. (1999). Strategic Human Resource Management at Sears. Human Resources Management, 329-335.