Written Assessment 2 – Developing a performance management system
Note: You must read and understand all information in this document. If you do not understand anything, please speak with your on-campus
lecturer/tutor or if you are a FLEX student contact the course coordinator directly: Dr Laura Baker (l.e.baker@cqu.edu.au); ph: 47265327.
We are here to help and support you in any way we can.
2
Length: 2000 words 10% (excluding title page, references and appendices only)
Weighting: 50%
Reference style: CQU American Psychological Association (APA)
Document type: MS Word or pdf documents only
Aims:
This assessment item aims to develop the following course learning outcomes as stated in the course profile. The ability to:
2. Outline the key approaches to identifying and assessing employee and organisational performance.
3. Identify the important relationship between an organisation’s performance management system and human resource management.
Purpose:
The purpose of this assessment item is for you to demonstrate your ability to construct a training program in relation to a performance
management topic by using, and correctly citing, a range of relevant scholarly literature. The training program should therefore be
supported by evidence based practice. You’ll use your understanding of performance management processes, concepts and techniques to
develop a training program for managers and staff. You are expected to source material from a wide range of scholarly/academic peer
reviewed journal articles and other textbooks to submit your response in an essay format. In doing so you are expected to use appropriate
conventions of essay writing: structure, language, length and tone. You’ll also be expected to appropriately use the American Psychological
Association (APA) referencing system which will be quite new to many of you.
Details:
This assignment MUST be a properly constructed essay. It should not contain headings or sub-headings. The introduction should introduce
the topic of the essay; main objectives of the training, the scope of the training, who the training is for and the benefits it will have,
for example. The main body of the assignment should be comprised of paragraphs that describe different aspects of your training program.
It should present the evidence you have collected to support your decisions about what to include in the training program. It should also
make clear links between the training program content and competitive advantage for the organisation. The conclusion section should
restate your arguments, summarise the evidence and make a conclusion from all previous discussions. For more information about how to
write an essay you should follow the five steps for writing an academic essay here: https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1498
Click on each of the links in the diagram to find out more about each topic.
The assignment should contain a coherent, but necessarily restricted review of the academic literature on the HRM topic in question. The
literature review should be integrated into the assignment and not be a separate section. A reference list formatted in the prescribed APA
style is compulsory. Further information regarding formatting of assignments and other information is available at
https://www.cqu.edu.au/student-life/services-and-facilities/referencing/cquniversity-referencing-guides
This assessment item requires you to research your chosen topic to enhance your understanding of and utilisation of academic literature.
Whilst you should AVOID using only the textbook for the course (Aguinis, 2013), it should be cited in regard to broad performance
management principles. You will be expected to present information and evidence from, and cite, at least twelve (12) relevant peer
reviewed academic references (absolute minimum requirement). Although these may include other academic sources such as books on specific
HRMT topics, chapters of edited books and so on, it is highly recommended that you use peer-reviewed journal articles. The quality and
number of citations will demonstrate the breadth and depth of the literature used to support your decisions. Your marker is interested in
the analysis that you developed from YOUR review of the literature and how well you use the literature to discuss the topic.
A good guide would be to use some recent references (ideally some of these would be journal articles from 2010-2015) in your discussions.
The reference lists found in your prescribed textbook, as well as other texts, are good places to start when searching for relevant
journal articles. Reliance on websites or textbooks only is NOT an appropriate academic literature search and will not help you to achieve
higher marks and/or grades in this course.
Task:
“Only human capital can produce a sustainable competitive advantage. And, performance management systems are the key tools that can be
used to transform people’s talent and motivation into a strategic business advantage.” Aguinis (2013) Performance Management (3rd Edition;
Pearson New International Edition)
Human Resource Managers have a key role in designing Performance Management Systems within organisations. They provide training to
managers and staff about the use of these systems and how they lead to a competitive advantage for the organisation. Select one of the
topics below and design a training program to be delivered to managers by a Human Resource Manager.
• Choosing a measurement approach
• Measuring results and behaviours
• Gathering performance information
• Performance management and employee development
• Reward systems and employee and organisational performance
Assessment criteria:
A marking rubric is available on Moodle and your lecturer/tutor/course coordinator will discuss it with you before the assessment item is
due. The five criteria that will be used to mark your essay are:
• Demonstrated knowledge of key approaches to identifying and assessing employee and organisational performance.
• Identification of the relationship between Performance Management Systems, organisational performance and Human Resource
Management.
• Ability to critically evaluate different Performance Management Systems.
• Appropriate use of the conventions of Essay writing: structure, language, length and tone.
• Appropriate use of the APA referencing system.