Improving Employee Performance and Commitment

Improving Employee Performance and Commitment:

A Study of ACME Corporation’s Talent Management System

The purpose of this report is to asses the performance appraisal system for my employer. For the purposes of this discussion, my employer will be referred as ACME Corporation. Organizations differ tremendously with regards to performance management systems. Some organizations have very formalized and structured process to evaluate, develop, and reward their team members. Other organizations have informal performance appraisal systems. This report will discuss the positives and negatives of ACME’s performance system.

ACME has implemented a new performance appraisal system for 2012. The performance appraisal system is coincidentally called Compass; reference the Cascio chapter 9 discuss of performance management as a compass. Cascio describes performance management as a compass pointing team members in the desired direction (Cascio, 330). The role of the manager is to assist the team members with following the direction that the compass is leading them.

To provide sufficient context for this evaluation of the ACME Corporation performance appraisal system, an understanding of my role within the corporation must be disclosed. I serve as a Principal Leader at ACME Corporation reporting directly to the Executive level management team. ACME is a consulting and professional services firm that focuses mainly on the energy, environmental, and health care fields. My Executive Leader oversees the IT Management Services division of ACME Corporation. Within the division are three lines of business. I manage the System Administration line of business with 31 employees that report up to me with four mid-level managers under me supporting the organization.

The ACME Corporation performance appraisal system, while in its infancy, is an excellent tool to manage and drive employee performance, known as “Talent Management”. The Compass system at ACME...