Running head SUSTAINING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE 1 Riordan Manufacturing Sustaining Employee Performance Fundamentals of Human Resource Management Team B HRM 300 SUSTAINING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE 2 Riordan Manufacturing Sustaining Employee Performance In 1991 Dr Riordan a professor in chemistry started Riordan Plastics Inc University of Phoenix 2008 Initially Riordan was the result of Dr Riordan determining that his patents of processing polymers into high tensile plastic substrates could have commercial applications University of Phoenix 2008 The company later evolved into Riordan Manufacturing in part because of its strong focus on research and development and the acquisition of a fan manufacturing plant and later the expansion into the production of plastic beverage bottles University of Phoenix 2008 Through expansion both globally and domestic Riordan has become a plastic injection molding industry leader and is a Fortune 1000 enterprise University of Phoenix 2008 As with any industry leader their employees are the reason for company success Success is not a random occurrence it is however a sum of all parts Those parts for Riordan are found in two key jobs within the company their performance management systems their evaluation methods their compensation policies and benefit programs There are several different jobs at Riordan Manufacturing but the two jobs that would stand out the most for Riordan Manufacturing is a Research and Development Associate R D This is one of Riordan Manufacturing s key positions in their company An R D associate is one who is responsible for identifying industry trends researching and developing what may be the new best thing on the market R D would also play a huge role in developing a new idea or product And because Riordan Manufacturing has a good R D department they are currently the industry s leader in identifying industry trends Along with Research and Development another position that is very valuable to Riordan Manufacturing is a Sales position This position is what will help Riordan Manufacturing to be able to keep and satisfy their customers Riordan SUSTAINING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE 3 Manufacturing takes pride in being able to maintain rigorous quality controls innovative solutions responsive business attitude and reasonable pricing To help Riordan Manufacturing to keep their customer s satisfied and happy a sales department will be needed for continued success Riordan Manufacturing strives to be a solution provider for their customers The Sales department is the agent that helps the company in its growth and progress The fact is no matter how great the product they will not sell itself and this is why Riordan Manufacturing needs their Sales department So without a Research and Development Associate R D or a Sales Associate Riordan Manufacturing would not be as successful as they are today A performance management system allows for reviewing the work completed by an employee over a specified timeframe Additionally these systems should allow for development and documentation DeCenzo Robbins 2007 A review allows for both the employee and the manager to develop mutually agreed upon goals and performance measurements however development gives a method of identifying the areas where there is needed improvements DeCenzo Robbins 2007 The documentation aspect of a performance measurement system is the record of the appraisal and the outcomes DeCenzo Robbins 2007 Documentation is important as it provides the backup needed to prove whether or not a performance measure has or has not been achieved Performance appraisals can be difficult because of the emotional and human element involved and if there is a lack of structure to the process Performance appraisals even with their difficulties should not be avoided At Riordan there does not appear to be any formal performance management system The Riordan philosophy is that job performance communications are best if they are informal and on a day to day basis University of Phoenix 2008 Riordan encourages regular conversations between employees and supervisors and hopes that these conversations will give each side an opportunity to discuss SUSTAINING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE 4 goals strengths weaknesses and develop plans for the future University of Phoenix 2008 A more formal performance evaluation of all employees at Riordan are normally conducted at the beginning of the fiscal year and merit based pay adjustments are calculated from the results of these more formalized appraisals University of Phoenix 2008 Riordan has an extensive employee recognition program and believes in rewarding their employees and it is therefore recommended that Riordan formulates a more formal and consistent performance management system According to the personnel files the existing system appears to involve the manager writing a memo about the employee strengths accomplishments weaknesses goals etc University of Phoenix 2008 but there does not appear to be a formalized system so that one employee s memo is not left up to the subjective nature of a supervisor To continue to be a successful company and draw and retain quality employees it would behoove the human resource management department to develop a system which is equitable and consistent across the board Job evaluation measures the quality features of work Taking a close look at the two key positions at Riordan which are research and development associate and Sales it is very important to have in place effective evaluation methods As a R D associate or sales associate there are four basic methods of job evaluation Those methods are Bedaux s Method market based evaluation analytical point ranking and classifying job posts There are many advantages of each of these methods for example the Bedaux method takes into account more factors influencing the difficulty level of a job post Market based evaluation method allows the job to be paid as much as the market pays for the job Analytical Point Ranking allows for evaluating and describing the differences between posts This method allows additional factors to influence the difficulty level of a job post additionally it gives the SUSTAINING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE 5 evaluator evaluation criteria to follow which allows a relationship between work and remuneration that is flexible Classifying job posts method is easy to use and to be understood by the employees Just as there are advantages unfortunately there are also disadvantages to these