Employee Benefit Plans - Essay Example in Performance Management

According to Varma et al. (2008), a Performance management system can be regarded as a systematic manner through which the general performance of an organization can be made better through the improvement of individuals who work for an organization. Through performance management, the individuals that perform better can be promoted by communicating expectations, the definition of roles within a particular competence framework and establishing benchmarks that can be achieved. In summary, the systematic process consists of both strategic and an integrated approach that ensures delivery of satisfactory results in a company. The two job positions that will be analyzed in this paper are airline job positions accurately accounts manager and regional sales manager.

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Performance managements systems serve different functions in an organization. One of the primary functions of performance management systems is to assist an organization to maximize its profits. To achieve maximum benefit, an organization can use p.m.s to increase the effectiveness of a regional sales manager, reduce wastage of money and excessive spending as far as accounts manager is concerned and help in increasing strategic implementation. Performance management systems assist in ensuring a business makes profits.

It is necessary for a company to adapt performance management systems because it helps in supporting management controls and in doing so increases the effectiveness of the control (Aguinis, 2009). The system gives the managers guidance in directing the employees and ensuring they achieve the set objectives and ensure there is minimized error and maximized efficiency. There are several different job evaluation methods, but the two approaches to be discussed are job ranking and points rating methods. Job evaluation is a process that is objective and systematic used by companies in comparing jobs within the company to define the value of each task. It is not concerned with evaluating the people that perform the job but evaluating the job itself. When carrying job evaluation, the focus is on the skills needed, job responsibilities, education level and working conditions.

The first job evaluation method that can be used in the case of an accountant manager is job ranking process. In this method, all jobs in an organization are ranked in order of importance which is based on the contribution of the position in achieving the organization objectives. The accounts manager is highly rated because the department is critical in ensuring all other staff function. Without the accounts department then the company will not know the profits it makes or the losses, employees will not be paid and so on. The advantage of the job ranking method is that it is the simplest method to use. Furthermore due to its simplicity it is economical to put into effect and involves very minimal paperwork. However, the job ranking process can suffer manageability issues especially when there many different jobs in one firm. The other disadvantage is that the position ranking method has no definite standard to determine the different jobs and which is more important to an organization than the other (Brannick, 2007).

The second job evaluation method is the points rating method. It is the most used method of job evaluation. Points ranking involves the breakdown of jobs based on responsibility, skills, knowledge, training, effort, and hazards. The points are after that allocated to each of the mentioned factors.The factors that most important to perform the job are given more weight after they have been summed up. In the end, the jobs with the same number of total points are put in the same pay grades. The point ranking method has three advantages. The first advantage is that it offers accuracy and comprehensiveness when it comes to job evaluation. The other advantage is that through this method, human judgment, and prejudice are reduced since the system cannot be manipulated. Lastly, the point ranking method is most favored by workers since they feel it is a fair method. When it comes to the disadvantages, the first notable one is that the point ranking method consumes a lot of time and is expensive to conduct. Its complexity can be a challenge to the average worker, and it is not suitable for managerial positions because the content of the work cannot be measured in quantitative terms.

In both cases the compensation plan must analyze the purpose of the plan; if it is to ensure profits, customer retention and so on. As far as sales representative position is concerned, it is necessary for an organization to consider the budget and the input of the sales manager. Use of the industry benchmarks can also help in creating an effective compensation plan for the sales manager. The accounts manager is responsible for driving the firms sales, and therefore, there must be a pay for performance analysis to come up with an effective compensation plan. The job responsibility must be looked at, and incumbent accounts managers are involved in creating the plan.

The first benefit of providing employee benefits to the mentioned positions is that it can boost the morale of the employees. Since the employees understand what is expected of them and how they can achieve their goals and the possible rewards they will do their best to achieve the best performance levels (Rosenbloom, 2005). The second benefit of employee benefits is that it ensures better job performance since every detail is well described and all the staff now what they need to do. Some benefit plans offer health benefit which then means the firm will have healthy employees and therefore more productivity (Sears, 2005).

References

Aguinis, H. (2009). Performance management. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Brannick, M. T., Levine, E. L., Morgeson, F. P., &Brannick, M. T. (2007). Job and work analysis: Methods, research, and applications for human resource management. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.

Rosenbloom, J. S. (2005). The handbook of employee benefits: Design, funding, and administration. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Sears, M. T. (2005). The benefits performance process: Maximizing the performance of your employee benefit plan. Lafayette, Calif: KSIE Press.

Varma, A., Budhwar, P. S., &DeNisi, A. S. (2008). Performance management systems: A global perspective. Abingdon [England: Routledge.