Posted: April 1st, 2015

Case Study

Situation Analysis
Many active business organizations, like those operating in the financial sector, have found that opening of subsidiaries is an effective way of expanding business in the global markets [ ]. A good example is the opening of subsidiary firms, which ensures that they use the unexploited business opportunities in new markets. An example is the Money 4U Finance Limited, which was opened in 1995 as a subsidiary firm of West Cost Investments Limited. The company was opened to help in the provision of business and personalized loans, as well as offering mortgage broking services to the people in the region. The management of WCIL had seen opportunities in the region. In addition, restrictions had been reduced for businesses to enter the market. This gave banks opportunities to expand capacity in service provision.
Owing to the opportunities in the region, Money4U Finance Limited quickly established itself in the region. The Organization grew at a very fast pace. This growth is attributed to the good model of business that was enforced by the management. By the year 2010, the company was already operating on huge profits. At the same time, the management of WCIL was considering to commission the company as a full and independent bank. However, at this time the firm was facing problems in management. The human resource manager was accused of not embracing the principles of performance management. Sam, who was the manager, did not believe in performance management.  If he applied any of the principles in managing the company, then he did so in a very shoddy way.
Q 1 How to Effect Performance Management in Money4U
Though the organization is nearly becoming a fully-fledged bank operating independently, management gaps still remain to be a problem. Instead of fully embracing all employees, the firm has polarized them by grouping them into highly performing and the poorly preforming sectors. This, according to the proponents of the principles of management and human resource management experts, denotes a vacuum in the management of employees in the organization.  Performance management is being emphasized by management experts as the best way to enhance the performance of staff within the firm. If the employees increase the quality of output, through performance enhancement programs, the organization will attain an improvement in the general performance. This is indicated by sustainability in growth. This is evident in the profit margins within the financial records of the organization. Performance management is a responsibility of the top management of an organization. It should be initiated by the top management and sustained by the same management. Once these programs are set and kept rolling in the organization, it becomes easy to sustain them. The employees get used to the programs as they get acculturated by the organization. Organizations realizing huge profits have made performance management part of the culture guiding their operations [ ].
For the case of Money 4U Finance Limited, the company did not recognize the need for performance management.  The management was advised by the experts of management to raise the standards of performance management in the organization.  This could easily improve managerial aspects in the organization and lead to easy transition into a fully-fledged organization. Therefore, the company formed the organizational review unit, which was to oversee the restructuring of the firm. The main focus of the company restructuring process was the introduction of a comprehensive performance management system.
Performance management is a comprehensive exercise that is used in uplifting the performance of an organization through investing in employees. This is done through putting in place a performance system, which is a framework for applying the components of a performance management. For organizations that are using the system for the first time like Money4U, they must comprehend all the components of a performance management system. The management of these organizations must also understand the essence of the components, how they can be applied and their importance or relevance in improving performance. In this case, the first step that has to be taken by the chief manager of Money4U will be ensuring that the top management team understands performance management. They must get an in-depth understanding of the whole concept including all the practices that are attached to it through training [ ].
The management will have to undergo a detailed training including being taken through the organizations, which are known to use performance management. This is a very important step in the restructuring of the organization. The top managers will be the key implementers of performance management in the organization. Comprehensive training will make them have the concept at their fingertips. Therefore, it will be easy for managers to pass over the concept to the organization. Training is a very vital concept in attaining good results within an organization. Effective training starts with program implementers [ ].
After the top management of the organization has gained full incites about performance management, the next target groups are the employees. Training will be shifted to the employees. The concept of performance management will be introduced to employees through training. Training at this level will be conducted by the managers with only back-up assistance from external experts. Employees are the key determinants of the success of performance programs. Therefore, they must be fully aware of what the programs entail. In this case, employees will appreciate the programs and appreciate their outcomes. The next step will be introducing the performance management system. This will be composed of a performance appraisal and performance rewarding system [ ].
Performance appraisal is composed of training, promotion and motivation of the employees. Training and knowledge is an essential tenet of work in an organization. Performance appraisal will begin with recruitment and hiring of employees. The management will ensure that it hires people with the skills that complement the work expected. The employee entering the organization must demonstrate a strong sense of passion for the organization. They must demonstrate the ability of aligning their skills and motivation to the greater mission and objectives of the organization [ ].
After recruitment, the employees will be fully introduced to the organization. They will receive training so that they can align their knowledge and skills with the work that they will be doing in the organization. Organizations employ people with different levels of knowledge, experience and skills. One way of ensuring that these are translated into positive outcomes for the organization is through on work training of employees. The employees must be informed in time and informed of what the duty entails and how to execute it before being assigned new tasks. Training is a continuous process because the business environment keeps changing. With the changes in the business environment, organizations are forced to adapt to the environment by changing policies and nature of work. Organizations that embrace training culture have a high likelihood of achieving a better work output by their employees. Work flaws are greatly minimized.
The management of Money4U will come up with a system of promoting their employees. Promotion of employees is one of the ways through which they will get motivation. It makes them feel that their services are being appreciated by the organization giving them a reason to work harder. Promotion of employees will be based on the time that they have stayed in the organization. Also, the record of performance will be a consideration for promotion.
Apart from promoting employees, rewarding systems are the key genesis of motivating employees. Rewarding systems are essential for performance improvement. Sam, the chief manager of Money4U will introduce a reward system. A reward system will be based on the performance of employees. The performance of employees will be evaluated basing on standards that will be set by the organization. Money4U will agree with their employees on how their performance will be rated. Rewards come in different ways, and management will agree with the employees on the best rewards to reward the best performers. Rewards must be accepted by employees for them to act as motivators. They could be in monetary forms or in non-monetary forms. Examples of non-monetary motivators are promotions, the use of polite language, appreciation and other humane acts [ ].
As a means of rating performance, the organization will design methods of identifying what could be the causes for low performance. Modern managers should not ignore aspects of underperformance, because they derail the general development of an organization. Low performance can be an indicator of flaws in the organizational management systems. It could also be an indicator of problems on the side of employees, which need to be addressed. Poor performance will be assessed and analyzed to identify the training and development needs in the organization [ ].
The management will set a favorable work environment. This will be achieved through the provision of incentives to the staffs. The management will cultivate healthy working environment. Dialogue between managers and the staffs will be fostered. The employees have to feel free and speak out their views. The management must be ready to listen to employees and address their concerns in an amicable manner. An environment in which employees feel recognized will make them own up the organization. A good pattern of relationship between the top managers and the junior staffs is more visible in and organization that encourages open and horizontal communication [ ].
Q. 2 Effective Planning
Planning is important for improving performance in organizations. Good plans target the entire organization to effect change. As such, good plans are developed to improve the performance of an organization. Such plans are called strategic plans. Strategic human resource plans target the management, the staffs and all the stakeholders; both the internal and external stakeholders. Organizations are switching to strategic management due to fragmentation of fictions in the organizations.  For this case study, the human resource management should focus on the use of strategic planning to improve the performance in the organization. Therefore, the plan will be focused on the management of Money4U and the employees. For the organization to change from the perspectives of management that were problematic, they have to embrace change in the way the organization is being managed. The management has to accept and adopt better management practices. On the other side, the employees need to be part of the change in the organization. Therefore, employees should form the core aspect of the planned changes in the organization [ ].
Strategic plans aimed at increasing performance outcomes in firms have dualistic tendencies. They focus on the management of the organization. As such, for any change to be effected in an organization, the management has to be involved. In fact, it is the management of organizations that plans and implements management change in organizations. A Performance culture in the organization is generated from the management. Plans of improving the organizational performance begin with the management. The first priority of strategic plans is the management.  Before a plan is implemented, the management is equipped with the necessary skills of implementing plans. This is done after the stakeholders are made to understand the real essence of the plans [ ].
The plans that target employees are mostly implemented by the top management. The employees’ plans are structured in such a way that the employees understand the essence for change in the organization. Plans that target the employees are more comprehensive and involve both employees and management.