Click here to skip navigation
OPM.gov Home  |  Subject Index  |  Important Links  |  Contact Us  |  Help

U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Advanced Search

Performance Management

More Topics

"More Topics" includes additional resources and documents on performance management and award-related topics.


Staff Recommendations     (What to read when you can't read it all.)

Title

Description

Evaluating Performance Appraisal Programs: an Overview (1/99)

Suggests procedures and criteria for evaluating the implementation and effect of performance appraisal programs.

Good Measurement Makes a Difference in Organizational Performance (6/99)

Presents the findings of a study done by the Metrus Group on the value of using strategic measures to track customer and employee satisfaction, financial performance, and operating efficiency.

Good Performance Management Aids Retention and Productivity (4/99)

Presents the results of three studies on retention and productivity describing the critical factors for creating a productive work environment and retaining good employees.

Merit System Principles and Performance Management (4/96)

Explains the Federal Government's merit system and how it is supported by employee performance management.

Warranty Conditions (2/95)

Describes the key factors that must be in place for performance management programs to succeed.


back to top

Resources

Title

Description

Alternative Pay Progression Strategies: Broadbanding Applications (4/96)

Reviews basic aspects of compensation and broadbanding; presents three categories of pay progression strategies and discusses the affects of combining the strategies.

Evaluating Performance Appraisal Programs: an Overview (1/99)

Suggests procedures and criteria for evaluating the implementation and effect of performance appraisal programs.

Terminating GM Instructions (P.L. 103-89) (10/93)

Instructions how to comply with P.L. 103-89, The Performance Management and Recognition System Termination Act of 1993, and move Performance Management and Recognition System (PMRS) employees into the agency Performance Management System (PMS) and the General Schedule pay plan.


back to top

Performance Management

Title

Description

Accountability Can Have Positive Results (Winter 2001)

Explains the positive and valuable results that individual accountability can bring and how managers can implement positive accountability.

Competencies That Support Effective Performance Management (Winter 2001)

Provides an explanation of competencies and describes which specific competencies supervisors and team leaders need to develop to help them manage their employee's performance.

Developing Strategic Compensation (fall/00)

Describes OPM's research on seven compensation components, including performance management issues, and some of the relationships among them.

Effective Performance Management: Doing What Comes Naturally (10/97)

Describes performance management as a systematic process including: planning, monitoring, developing, rating, and rewarding.

Formula for Maximizing Performance (Summer 2001)

Explains how organizations and employees must have both the capacity and the commitment to perform in order to achieve good performance.

Implementing FCAT-M Performance Management Competencies: Understanding Performance Management Process and Practices (7/08)

First in a series of articles that describes supervisory competencies. Explains why it is important for supervisors to have a good understanding and a firm of the performance management process and their agency practices.

Implementing FCAT-M Performance Management Competencies: Performance Coaching and Feedback (7/08)

Second in a series of articles that describes supervisory competencies. Explains why it is important for supervisors to possess good coaching skills and be able to provide their employees effective feedback.

Implementing FCAT-M Performance Management Competencies: Facilitating Performance (7/08)

Third article in a series that describes supervisory competencies. Explains why the ability to initiate and the skill to guide employees toward performance goals are important to today's supervisors.

Implementing FCAT-M Performance Management Competencies: Differentiating Performance (7/08)

Fourth in a series that describes supervisory competencies. Explains why supervisors need to become experts in establishing performance plans that allow them to make meaningful distinctions in levels of performance.

Implementing FCAT-M Performance Management Competencies: Building Performance Culture (7/08)

Last in a series of articles that describes supervisory competencies. Describes highly specialized skills and abilities a manager must possess to effectively deal with employee performance in a high performing work unit.

Improving Performance Through Partnership (2/94)

Presents some of the key concepts and underlying philosophies of the 1994 report by the National Partnership Council. These ideas are the basis on which changes will be made in human resource management, with improving Government performance as the primary goal.

Kennedy Space Center Aims High With Its Goal Performance Evaluation System (Winter 2001)

Describes how the Kennedy Space Center uses an innovative interactive software application to plan, manage, and communicate center-wide initiatives.

Pay for Performance: Your Performance Management Program Is the Foundation (April 07)

Defines pay for performance and describes what characteristics organizations with successful pay for performance programs share.

Warranty Conditions (2/95)

Describes the key factors that must be in place for performance management programs to succeed.


back to top

Managing for Results

Title

Description

Achieving Success Through Results-Based Management (6/99)

Mr. Maurice McTigue, a former New Zealand Cabinet Minister and international authority on performance management, shares his views on results-based management.

Clear Goals Lead to Success in GSA (2/00)

Explains how GSA's Linking Budget to Performance initiative got Region 2 to focus on results and performance improvement.

The Fable of the Beekeepers and Their Bees (8/97)

Describes the advantages of measuring and rewarding results versus activities.

Good Measurement Makes a Difference in Organizational Performance (6/99)

Presents the findings of a study done by the Metrus Group on the value of using strategic measures to track customer and employee satisfaction, financial performance, and operating efficiency.

Making the Connection: Aligning Employee Performance with Organizational Goals (8/99)

Describes the Handbook for Measuring Employee Performance: Aligning Employee Performance Plans with Organizational Goals and explains how to obtain a copy.

Measurement and Rewards Improve Performance at GSA (2/00)

Explains how the General Services Administration (GSA) Linking Budget to Performance initiative improves organizational and individual performance.

Organizational Goals Can Be Powerful Energizers (4/00)

Describes how strategic goals and objectives can be used to improve employee performance.

Performance Agreements Lead to Improved Organizational Results (Winter 2001)

Describes the benefits three agencies gained by using results-oriented performance agreements with their agency leaders and executives.

Performance Management Competencies: Setting Goals (Summer 2001)

Discusses goal setting competencies for supervisors and reviews recommendations made in two publications.


back to top

Evaluating Performance Management

Title

Description

Agencies Discover the Value of Evaluation (8/99)

Describes how two agencies had their performance appraisal programs evaluated, what they found, and changes they plan based on those results.

DOT Evaluates Its Performance Management System (10/98)

Presents techniques used to evaluate performance management system.

Evaluating Awards Programs for Effectiveness (12/99)

Explains the characteristics of an effective awards program and offers sample questions to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of an agency awards program.

Evaluating Performance Appraisal Programs: an Overview (1/99)

Suggests procedures and criteria for evaluating the implementation and effect of performance appraisal programs.

Supervisors in the Federal Government: A Wake-Up Call (Summer 2001)

Reviews an OPM study of the status of agencies' efforts to select, develop, and evaluate first-level supervisors.


back to top

Poor Performers

Title

Description

What to Avoid When Writing Standards (6/98)

Defines "retention" standards, discusses the basic requirements for these standards, and highlights some of the things you should avoid when writing them.


back to top

Performance and Reduction in Force

Title

Description

Assigning Retention Credit in a RIF (4/98)

Looks at how to assign credit when an employee does not have three ratings of record within the last four years or has equivalent ratings of record.


back to top

Recordkeeping and Documentation

Title

Description

Agencies Can Use Referral Bonuses To Support Recruitment and Hiring (Spring 2001)

Explains how agencies can use referral bonuses to help recruit and hire new employees.

New Nature of Action Codes for Reporting Awards to CPDF (5/99)

Memorandum explains the new Nature of Action Codes that will be required for all awards effective on or after October 1, 2000, when reporting to the Central Personnel Data File (CPDF).

You Asked About This –Must agencies still file Standard Forms 50 (SF50) for awards in employees' Official Personnel Files (OPF)? (6/99)

Explains the new filing requirements that prohibit agencies from filing award documentation in employees' Official Personnel Files.


back to top

Telework

Title

Description

Managing Teleworker Performance (Fall 2001)

Summarizes case studies from AT&T and the IRS on their experience with telework.

Telecommuting Requires Topnotch Performance Management (Winter 2001)

Describes how supervisors can maintain employee performance levels in a telecommuting environment.

Telecommuting: Reviewing the Basics (Fall 2001)

Reviews the benefits of and barriers to telecommuting in light of the Government's initiative to encourage telecommuting.


back to top

Other Related Topics

Title

Description

Change the Language To Change the Culture (6/00)

Describes the importance of developing and using balanced measures to create an empowering, results-oriented, integrated, and externally focused culture.

Good Performance Management Aids Retention and Productivity (4/99)

Presents the results of three studies on retention and productivity describing the critical factors for creating a productive work environment and retaining good employees.

Merit System Principles and Performance Management (4/96)

Explains the Federal Government's merit system and how it is supported by employee performance management.

Performance Management Clearinghouse: Sharing Practical Information (4/00)

Describes plans for the new performance management clearinghouse and explains how agencies will be able to share their experiences and best practices on this new webpage.

Promoting Innovation in Government (Summer 2001)

Presents the recommendations of a Toronto University study on how to promote innovation in public organizations.

Team Leader Guide Sees Performance Management Role (8/98)

Presents a brief overview of the Team Leader Guide and describes some of the performance management functions that team leaders can do.


back to top

Case Studies and Examples

Title

Description

Automating Performance Management (2/99)

Explains some advantages and disadvantages to using automated appraisal software applications, and describes two agencies' experiences using automated applications.

Awards Programs Share the Same Goals: Results (10/99)

Describes how two agencies aligned their awards programs with their organizational goals to support achieving those goals.

Balancing Measures: An Evolving Process (10/99)

Describes how several agencies have used balanced measures to improve performance and achieve organizational goals.

Effective Communication Improves Customer Service (4/00)

Describes effective agency customer-focused feedback practices recognized by the National Partnership Council.

Group Incentive Award Increases Productivity (12/99)

Describes a Department of Interior group incentive award program.

Internet-Based Performance Management (2/99)

Describes two agencies' success in using the Internet to post information on their award and performance appraisal programs, and gives examples of the type of information they included.

Measuring Hard-to-Measure Work: Secretary (6/00)

Describes how to identify elements and standards that measure the results of a secretaries' work.

Recognizing and Rewarding Supervisors and Managers (8/00)

Describes the criteria three agencies use to recognize outstanding supervisors and managers who demonstrate exceptional supervisory skills.

Using Customer Service Goals to Energize Support Organizations (6/00)

Describes the efforts of one support organization to link to their agency's strategic goals and how they choose to communicate their organizational goals to customers and employees.

Using Intranets to Communicate Performance Management Programs (4/00)

Describes how several agencies are using intranets effectively to provide their supervisors and employees with performance management information.

What a Difference Effective Performance Management Makes! (Spring 2001)

The Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Services shares how performance management has a positive effect on their organizational bottom line.


back to top

Book Reviews

Title

Description

The Balanced Scorecard by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton; Harvard Business School Press, 1996 (8/99)

Reviews the book, The Balanced Scorecard, and briefly explains the balanced scorecard approach.

The 9 Natural Laws of Leadership (Winter 2001)

Reviews Dr. Warren Blank's book, The 9 Natural Laws of Leadership and briefly explains the connection between leadership and performance management.

The Strategy-Focused Organization (Spring 2001)

Reviews Kaplan and Norton's book, The Strategy-Focused Organization, and briefly explains the 5 principles for achieving strategic focus and alignment.

Team Talk: Maintaining High Performance Teams During Change (8/00)

Summarizes characteristics high performance teams must possess to survive organizational change as described in John P. Kotter's book, Leading Change


back to top