Management Observation Program Best Practice 8 – Cross Organizational Trending

Management observation programs generate a wealth of individual and workgroup performance data. All too often, workgroup managers view their employees job functions as being singularly unique and so don’t consider pooling their observation results with peers. Doing so, however, creates the possibility of identifying broader organizational trends that may be culturally driven and more economical to resolve with a single integrated initiative.[wcm_restrict plans=”41928, 25542, 25653″]

How to Blend Management Observation Program Data from Dissimilar Work Groups

The first question is often: What do Human Resources, Finance, Production, Maintenance, and Engineering personnel have in common such that their performance data can be pooled? The most obvious answer may be that they are all people. And while their jobs are different, as humans they behave in ways that impact the business, both positively and negatively. Regardless of the impact, these behaviors are reflective of organizational culture; not the one written in a policy document and posted on walls but the actual living values of the people comprising the organization.

Sample Performance Measures

With this in mind, common management observation program measures for an organization striving to achieve performance excellence might include:

• Human Performance Error Rate – number of human error-related problem reports documented per 10,000 person-hours worked calculated monthly

 
Some contributing metrics may include:

• Industrial Safety Error Rate
• Procedure Use and Adherence Error Rate
• Self Checking Error Rate
• Peer Checking Error Rate
• Communications Error Rate
• Procedure/Work Instruction Error Rate
   
• Management Observation Program Performance Index (infield) – number of infield management observations performed per month by workgroup counted monthly. Often included is a quality measure (either an average score indicated or weighting against the total number) and number of cross-functional observations performed
• Management Observation Program Performance Index (in training) – number of training observations performed by members of management per month by workgroup counted monthly. Often included is a quality measure (either an average score indicated or weighting against the total number)

Performance Measure Presentation

Management observation program performance measures should be developed and presented in a manner consistent with that of other corporate performance measures. These measures should be horizontally shared as discussed in StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Best Practice 2 – Horizontally Shared and StrategyDriven Podcast Episode 9 – Horizontally Shared Organizational Performance Measures.

Performance measure construction is discussed in further detail within StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Best Practice 3 – Common Construction Characteristics and StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Whitepaper – Construction.

Additionally, management observation performance measure drivers should be documented as described in the StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Best Practice 7 – Documenting Performance Measure Drivers.

Performance Measure Analysis

Depending on the severity of the issue, a root cause, apparent cause, or direct cause analysis should be performed to identify those actions needed to prevent recurrence. As with the measures themselves, causal analysis begins with those causes common to all persons. Examples of potential causes include:

Standards and Expectations Compliance Factors

• Were corporate performance policies/practices communicated to the individual(s)?
• Are the corporate performance policies/practices understood?
• Have the corporate performance policies/practices been reinforced?

Environmental Factors

• Were procedures/work instructions readily available?
• Were the proper tools available?
• Was the area well lit, quiet, clean, and conducive to the conduct of assigned work?

Personnel Factors

• Was the individual qualified to perform the work/task?
• Did there exist an unacceptably high workload?
• Was the individual(s) under excessive time pressure?
• Was the individual(s) distracted?
• Was the individual(s) fatigued?

Performance Factors

• Were corporate performance policies/practices followed?
• Were procedures/work instructions used?
• Was the work performed at the appropriate time (in accordance with an approved schedule)?

The analysis should then seek to identify breakdowns in corporate sponsored preventative measures. Once common causes are identified, a common, often corporate driven, solution to resolve these causes can be formulated and implemented. Both of these efforts should involve a multidiscipline team representing each of the organization’s several functional workgroups as discussed in StrategyDriven Self Assessment Program Best Practice 2 – Multidiscipline Team.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”41928, 25542, 25653″]

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