UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE
By: Fred H. Hall II
Instructor Joyce Willhite
Introduction to Human Resources HR 353
Park University
June 20, 2015

Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Factors Affecting Employee Performance 3
Work-Home Balance 3
Technology 4
Environment 4
Motivation 4
Feed back 4
Knowledge of structures 5
Repertoire 5
Goal clarity 5
Abilities, training and experience 5
Mental models 6
Relationship between Employee Performance and Motivation 6
Conclusion 8
Works Cited 10

Introduction
The success of any organization depends mostly on the performance and hard work of its employees. Employee performance is the effectiveness and the efficiency of employees in attaining organizational objectives. It entails all aspects which indirectly or directly relate and affect the work of employees. Employers or managers should recognize the need and regiment desires of the employees to create an effective performance. Employee performance can be increased through proper incentive systems. Understanding individual employee performance is a logical approach to enabling and supporting employee efforts, assigning work and what to expect and also providing assessment and feedback. Feedback help in praising performance and positive behavior and in identifying areas the organization need improvement. Performance management systems help in managing the day-to-day basis of the organization. The system ensures that the organization gets maximum performance from its employees. “After recruitment, employees subsequently demand or expect other benefits to compensate them for their effort and time towards achievement of organizational objectives which are different from the standard salary or wage” (Fitz-enz, 2009). “Failing to offer such benefits leads to dissatisfaction which can be exhibited through constant grievances, high absenteeism, strikes and high labor turn overs leading to low performance and low productivity” (Falcone, 2010).
Factors Affecting Employee Performance
Work-Home Balance
Personal problems sometimes affect the performance of employees. The managers need to be prepared to discuss some personal issues affecting employees when necessary. “Granting employees time off so that they can be able to deal with their personal problems show that the organization value them and thereby improve their performance” (Houldsworth & Jirasinghe, 2006).
Technology
Technology, when accompanied with proper training of employees can act as an effective tool to improve employee performance because it reduces time and stress encountered when doing the job manually.
Environment
Unsuitable environment provide barriers to good employee performance. Competing priorities, missing tools and equipment and repressive climate can interfere with employee’s ability to perform. “The environment must be manageable to provide and support desired performance” (Falcone, 2010).
Motivation
Being capable of doing something and to want to do it is two different things altogether. Employees work for two basic reasons; to serve somebody else purpose and getting a reward or serving a purpose which is their own. The greatest motivators are incentives and self-satisfaction.
Feed back
There is no employee who can perform to the standard if there is no information regarding actual situations in relation to intended results or goals. “Feedback enables correction, informs progress and also shows the attainment of the objective” (Lyster & Arthur, 2007). Lack of feedback causes poor performance due to lack of correction. For most hard tasks, feedback is available without putting much effort on anyone. For soft tasks however, the loop of the feedback is open especially when the main impacts of somebody’s actions are the reactions of the others.
Knowledge of structures
Knowledge of the structure helps in figuring out what should be done in a particular situation. It also helps people to say how the results they seek depend with the actions they