human resource Essay

British Journal of Economics, Management & Trade
3(2): 73-88, 2013

SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org Case Study on Performance Management. A
Comprehensive Approach
Xavier Sales1* and Jordi Carenys1
1

EADA Business School, Arago 204, 08011-Barcelona, Spain.
Authors’ contributions

This work was carried out in collaboration by both authors, working together on all aspects of the research, analysis and manuscript writing.

th

Received 19 December 2012 th Accepted 24 February 2013 th Published 19 March 2013

Research Article

ABSTRACT
Aims: The aim of this article is twofold; analyze a performance management system
(PMS) in a holistic manner, and evaluate the goodness of this PMS based in its ability to create the ex ante conditions to achieve organizational objectives.
Study Design: Case study research.
Place and Duration of Study: Field work took place at the premises of the company between January and July 2011.
Methodology: The research relies on deeply conducted case study on a sports retailer and merchandiser using a comprehensive framework to describe its PMS and the connections among the different areas.
Conclusion: Our research contributes to literature by showing how the strength and coherence of the links between the components of the performance management system of the case company was able to create the ex ante conditions that increase the likelihood of achieving organizational objectives. The study shows that weaknesses in one area of the PMS can be, at least partly, compensated for by strengths in other areas.
Keywords:

Performance implementation. management;

management

control;

retailing;

strategy

____________________________________________________________________________________________
*Corresponding author: Email: xsales@eada.edu;

British Journal of Economics, Management & Trade, 3(2): 73-88, 2013

1. INTRODUCTION
Performance management systems (PMS) embody the set of organizational activities employed by managers to focus employee attention and motivate behavior for the ultimate purpose of implementing the organization’s strategy [1]. PMSs consist of several interrelated but often loosely organizational practices, typically strategic planning, budgeting, incentive compensation design, and organizational structuring. Much of the early literature on this topic has been categorized under the heading of management control systems, following the seminal work of Robert Anthony [2]. However, in our view, this has become a more restrictive term than was the original intention and we prefer to use the more general descriptor of PMSs to capture a holistic approach to the management and control of organizational performance.
This article builds on the view that too much attention in the performance management literature has been given to the analysis of control tools in isolation in opposition to a comprehensive discussion. Additionally, literature has focused on ex post measurement of performance while ignoring the analysis of the ex ante setting needed to create the conditions that increase the likelihood of achieving that performance [3].
The purpose of this study is twofold; first analyze a PMS in a holistic manner, and evaluate the goodness of this PMS based in its ability to create the ex ante conditions to achieve organizational objectives. Since it is virtually impossible to fully guarantee the achievement of organizational objectives, perfect control is not a realistic expectation; however PMS does enable organizations to influence the behaviour of its members to increase the likelihood of achieving organizational objectives. A PMS creates the ex ante conditions when its components, not only are individually well designed, but also they are coherently linked to each other [1]. Like any other system, a PMS is greater than the sum of its parts and there is a need for alignment and coordination

Show More