THE SCOPE OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Performance management strategy focuses on what is involved in
managing the organization. It is a natural process of management, not a
system or a technique (Fowler, 1990). It is also about managing within the
context of the business (its internal and external environment). This will
affect how performance management processes are developed, what they
set out to do and how they operate. The context is important, and ]ones
(1995) goes as far as to say ‘manage context not performance’.
Performance management strategy concerns everyone in the business —
not just managers. It rejects the cultural assumption that only managers are
accountable for the performance of their teams and replaces it with the
belief that responsibility is shared between managers and team members. In
a sense, managers should regard the people who report to them as
customers for the managerial contribution and services they can provide.
Managers and their teams are jointly accountable for results and are jointly
involved in agreeing what they need to do and how they need to do it, in
monitoring performance and in taking action.
Performance management processes are part of a holistic approach to
managing for performance that is the concern of everyone in the organization.