Luxcar Case Study

Introduction

Due to the changing nature of work, numerous companies have undergone a transition from an evaluative to a developmental approach in regards to their performance management strategy. Mirroring this approach, Luxcars had similarly implemented ongoing feedback within their performance management system to improve employee engagement and operational efficiency. However, Luxcars are currently facing a disparity occurring between intended and actual outcomes; consequently this has resulted in significant employee dissatisfaction, a drop in productivity and increase in costs. This report will detail the issues encountered by Lux Cars in relation to their upgraded performance management system. This report will additionally discuss solutions

Historically, Luxcars had primarily relied on annual performance appraisals, thereby had not developed a culture supportive of ongoing feedback. Luxcars had not accounted for the time required for all staff to adapt to a complete renewal of the organisation’s performance management system; this is evident through the collective unwillingness to commit to frequent performance feedback sessions. Luxcars’ sudden shift to performance feedback sessions may have been implemented too swiftly, additionally lacking adequate planning and regard to corporate strategy. Collecting insights generally from employees, managers and colleagues appeared to have been an excessively broad approach and lacked direction in terms of information being collected. Hence, Luxcars was more susceptible to mass collections of general, unnecessary and irrelevant information which failed to serve a purpose in furthering employee and organisational outcomes; such an approach did not enable for attention to be drawn to specific areas of concern. Thus, this in turn had resulted in unnecessary costs as well as unexpected increased stress and workload for staff. It should also be noted that Luxcars differs significantly from other firms adopting the strategy of ongoing, informal feedback (e.g.

This strategy will be advantageous in ensuring Luxcars are to target areas of concerns, preventing unnecessary wastage of resources. Furthermore, this will foster a steady development of feedback seeking behaviours in employees to become accustomed to the practice without a significant increase in workload. Allowing feedback to be provided on an as needed basis will additionally allow for employees to raise concerns as necessary, thus removing the obligation and lessening the pressure to constantly discuss their performance. As opposed to being given in the form of large batches in a non-continuous fashion, the provision of feedback is seen to be more effective when given as soon as required in small quantities and enacted on in a timely manner (Hillman, Schwandt & Bartz 1990). Resultantly, this will ensure a minimisation of costs and negligible impact upon employee productivity. This proposed solution is able to be practically implemented as supported through the creation of an online feedback tool (Becom & Insler 2013). As a further benefit, an online feedback tool would facilitate ease of communication, allowing for the effective provision and reception of feedback. Additionally, providing timely feedback will thereby allowing plentiful time for discussions to be held between employees and managers in order to initiate