The dilemma of managing continuous change in performance management Research Paper

The dilemma of managing continuous change in performance management - Research Paper Example The paper tells that in recent times, change in business environment has been inevitable as business strive to remain relevant and competitive. Bradford and Warner note that the need for change in business environment has been brought about by technological advancements, increased customers and shareholder’s expectations, new initiatives, competition, and the need to increase demand among other factors. Therefore, in order to meet the new challenges and attain the organizational goals and objectives, organizations have introduced several changes. However, introduction of change, whether small or big, to organizational functions and processes have often proved intimidating to some managers and have sometime not yielded the intended outcomes. This has resulted to adopting of change management strategies by managers in order to manage change successfully. According to Bradford and Burke, change management can be defined as the application of a set of principles, skills, processes , and tools for managing people and processes within an organization in order to transition or shift the organization from its current state to the desired or intended future state. Several researches have shown that in the modern competitive environment, it takes more than the known management strategies to realize organization’s full potential Bradford and Warner. There is need for managers to welcome change and manage it effectively in order to achieve organizational success in the long- run. Continuous management of change is critical in performance management. Louis (2004, p. 46) explains that the essence of managing change in the organizations is to improve performance and ultimately achieve organizational goals and objectives. As such, continuous management of change is related to performance management. Performance management refers to activities and processes that ensure that goals are met consistently in a manner that is efficient and effective (Aubrey, 2004, p. 95) . The focus of performance management is in regard to processes, departments, organization, and employees and aims at facilitating overall performance of the organization through attainment of organizational goals and objectives Bradford and Warner (2010, p. 18). 1.1 Purpose of the Study The purpose of this research is to foster an understanding of the dilemma of managing continuous change in performance management. The research purports to get deep insights on the dilemmas of managing continuous change and how they impact on performance management. 1.2 Problem Statement In the face of challenging business environment brought about by increased customers and shareholder’s expectations, technological developments, and competition, management are supposed to make continuous changes in their organizations in order to stay remain relevant and be successful (Bradford and Burke, 2005, p. 22). In the process of managing continuous change in order to improve the performance of organi zation, managers are faced with dilemma. The dilemma is on whether the intended change can lead to improved performance or