Case
Tower Insurance is a leading insurance company in New Zealand. Sophie, an immigration from China, transferred from another function at Tower Insurance into an important HR role. It was not long before complaints were coming in, which set the stage for an unpleasant mid-year performance review.
“What is your future plan?” asked her boss Mike, trying to build some perspective on the situation rather than jumping into a series of criticisms. Sophie had no answers. “Tell me what you would like to achieve in this job?” Mike persisted. After avoiding a direct answer she eventually blurted out, “Why are you asking me this? I love this job.” Then she burst into tears.
Mike knew there was a problem but could not put his finger on why she was doing so poorly. Neither did he have the time to devote to a lot of coaching. He knew she was motivated and had a good track record in her previous job. Despite the complaints from her internal clients he wanted to give her a chance. His solution was to sidestep the issue by getting her to report to another manager Ross, with a great reputation for mentoring. Ross took her under his wing.
Sophie was smart and dedicated, but had no relevant experience and no idea how to do the job. It was a serious but fixable problem. Sophie was actually glad that the company reviews were frequent, not just once a year, there was a chance to detect and respond to the problem early on.
TASK
You are Sophie’s new manager Ross. You have been given the responsibility of mentoring Sophie and develop a Performance Management System (plan) for her for next year.
Develop a Performance Management System for Sophie as per the guidelines given below:
Steps in Performance
Management Plan
Development Detailed requirements LOs assessed Marks
Leadership Approach
• Identify and justify what kind of leadership style you will adopt in Sophie’s performance management planning process. Your discussion must show knowledge of leadership frameworks and approaches. (4 marks)
• Discuss and compare at least 2 management approaches in your discussion. (4 marks)
LO1c 8
Performance
Management Approach • Identify and justify what kind of performance management approach you will take in Sophie’s performance management planning process.
LO1a 8
Coaching • Discuss the coaching process for efficient goals completion you would follow in order to seek her LO1a 4
cooperation and ensure her performance acceleration. Tools of performance management • Identify at least 2 performance management tools you will apply for Sophie’s performance management. (2 marks)
• Justify and evaluate the effectiveness of these tools in this specific scenario.
(6 marks) LO1a
Sample Solution
