Developing Objectives and Measuring Results

There are two primary activities involved in developing measures of results. The first is identifying performance objectives that state the outcomes an employee is expected to achieve. The second is specifying these in sufficient, measurable detail that it is clear to both managers and employees whether or not the objectives have been met. Ideally, the results to be achieved should be tied to the organization’s strategy and goals. As discussed, this is typically achieved by developing cascading goals, where organizational goals are cascaded down through the different levels to individuals. These linkages help to ensure that the work of all organizational entities is aligned and focused on achieving important organizational goals. Although an individual’s objectives should support higher level goals, an employee’s development needs can also be taken into account in setting their objectives. These can be targeted to improving current job performance or preparing the employee for career advancement.

Linking Individual Objectives to Higher-Level Goals There are two strategies that can be used when linking individual goals to higher level goals at the next level :

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Start with an employee’s individual performance outcomes and work upward to link them to relevant higher level goals

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Start with a higher level goal that is relevant to an employee’s job and work downward to develop an individual performance objective

The decision about whether to link upwards or downwards is a personal preference. Some find it easier to start with something concrete from their job and work upwards towards a less tangible concept. Others find it easier to start with a broader, higher level concept and develop something concrete they can do on their job that relates to this. An example of how department goals could be cascaded to individual objectives appears below. Note that the individual objectives are related to only one of the department goals. Objectives can be related to more than one goal at the next higher level, but it is unlikely that goals at one level will relate to all of the goals at the next level.

Practical Exercise

At the end of this chapter, practical Training Exercise 6 can be used to help employees learn how to link individual objectives to higher-level objectives.

Identifying 

Individual Objectives There are several guidelines that should be followed to develop effective performance objectives. The first is that difficult but attainable objectives lead to more effective performance than moderately difficult goals. Second, in order for employees to achieve their objectives, they must feel committed to them and they must feel they are achievable. If employees feel that they cannot reach their objectives, they will be demotivated to try. This is why it is important to ensure that employees accept their objectives and are motivated to achieve them. The best way to ensure this is to make employees an active part of the objective setting process and work with them to arrive at objectives that are challenging and achievable. It is also important for managers to communicate and commit their support by providing guidance and resources to employees as well as removing obstacles to goal attainment. The “SMART” mnemonic helps managers and employees remember the key characteristics of effective objectives.

While the idea of setting individual objectives may seem straightforward, the process of doing this is usually more time consuming and difficult than people expect. Especially initially, when managers and employees are not accustomed to developing objectives, they find it challenging to identify and clearly define them. One reason is that both managers and employees tend to naturally think in terms of the work behaviors employees perform on the job and not tangible, well defined outcomes. For example, job descriptions typically contain.

work behaviors or job tasks. Identifying performance objectives requires going beyond these and thinking about the specifi c outcomes, products, or services that result from work activities. Two examples of work activities appear on the previous page, along with how these could be translated into performance objectives. The fi rst work activity is to manage customer projects. An objective from this activity could be managing a specifi c project according to a project schedule and meeting customer satisfaction metrics in the end. The second work activity is to conduct evaluations of human resources programs. An objective of this activity might be to conduct a specifi c program evaluation study, where defi ned quality and timeliness metrics are met.

Ensuring Expected Results of Objectives are Measurable

Performance objectives should be clearly defi ned in terms of measurable outcomes so that both managers and employees know when and whether the objective has been achieved. Jobs that lend themselves best to setting measurable objectives have static performance requirements and hard productivity measures (e.g., dollar volume of sales, profi tability, miles driven, or pieces produced). On the surface, writing objectives for these types of jobs may seem easy and straightforward. But, consider the following questions :

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Did the worker who produced the most pieces also produce the highest quality pieces ? 

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Did one employee have more modern equipment than another, enabling her to produce a higher volume of product, irrespective of how hard either worked ? 

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Was the driver who went the furthest distance speeding and endangering others the entire way ? 

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Was one salesperson’s territory in Wyoming and another’s in New York City ? 

Based on the number and proximity of potential customers, the person in New York may have had more opportunity to make sales than the person in Wyoming.

The bottom line is that even when measures seem straightforward to defi ne, it is important to think through the consequences of  those that are selected. For example, quantity measures are usually easier to defi ne than quality measures. However, if only quantity metrics are used, employees will focus on producing a lot, possibly to the detriment of producing quality. Likewise, it’s important to take into account the individual’s opportunity to perform in his or her particular circumstances. If one employee is working on a machine that produces products twice as fast as another employee’s machine, the employee with the slower machine will never be able to outperform the one with the faster machine, no matter how hard that employee works. Rather than impose the same goals on all staff, consideration should be given to real differences in opportunities employees may have so that stretch but achievable objectives can be set for everyone. There are four types of measures that are commonly used: timeliness, quality, quantity, and fi nancial metrics

Although there are four primary ways to measure results, these can be used together. In fact, linking different types of measures usually improves the quality of the measure, for example :

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Processed 99% of candidate job applications within one week of receiving them (quantity and timeliness). 

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Developed an online training course that taught 90% employees how to independently use automated transactional systems and reduced training costs by $500/employee (quantity, quality, and financial metrics).

The more detail managers can provide in terms of the target objective and expected results, the more clearly the performance expectations will be understood. In addition, this will also help avoid disagreements about whether an objective has been successfully met. A very important caveat, however, is not to fall prey to measuring peripheral aspects of the objective that may be easy to measure but do not assess the most important things. For example, meeting a deadline is easy to measure but improving customer service may be what’s important to measure.

While many different types of measures can be identifi ed, there is the very practical issue of which and how many of these can be reliably and accurately assessed without creating systems and processes that are so burdensome that they die of their own weight. To implement and maintain an objective setting process that is effective and manageable over time, the measures selected need to capture what’s most important, refl ect critical bottom line results, and be practical to obtain. Shown below are several examples of objectives that are more or less well defi ned. These examples show how a clear defi nition of expected results can increase understanding and avoid disagreement around whether or not objectives were actually met.

In developing objectives, managers need to ensure that they are written to refl ect fully successful performance for the job and level, such that most employees would receive “meets expectations” ratings on their objectives. If an employee exceeds the objectives (for example, produces signifi cantly better quality, quantity, timeliness, or impact than defi ned), he or she should be given a higher rating. However, high ratings on performance objectives should be reserved for individuals who perform well beyond the expectations for their job, and these ratings should be the exception rather than the rule.