Page 183 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

166 analysis of performance potential
optimizefuturepersonneldecisionsconcerningsuccessionplanning(Gerpott&Domsch,
1995) and helps to realize a cost-effective investment of training and management de-
velopment expenses. Concerning the level of the individual, the maximum objective
of potential analysis is to identify for each employee (a) whether and which abilities
and skills could develop and could be developed, (b) which positions on which level of
the organization in what time could be filled, and (c) what qualifications, efforts, and
expenses are required for the achievement.

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE MEASUREMENT OF POTENTIAL

NEEDS ANALYSIS

Within the framework outlined above an appropriate potential analysis should follow a
needs analysis which is performed in three steps, namely organizational analysis, analysis
of future job functions, and qualifications required to fill the job functions as well as
the person analysis. These steps resemble the analysis which is done in order to identify
need for personnel development in general or training needs specifically (Goldstein,
1993; Patrick, 1992; Tannenbaum & Yukl, 1992; Wexley & Latham, 1991).
The organizational analysis starts with an examination of the organization’s short-term
and long-term objectives (Goldstein, 1993). The identification of long-term or strategic
goals should take into consideration changes outside the organization that are to be ex-
pected (legal acts, the market situation in general, as well as the needs of customers and
the behavior of competitors specifically, environmental changes, technological develop-
ment, etc.).
On the basis of this review, the job functions which are required to enable the organiza-
tion to survive in the future are determined (Patrick, 1992; Reid, Barrington, & Kenney,
1992). For each of these future jobs the criteria for success have to be identified—
e.g., by critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954)—and the required qualifications
to perform successfully in that position may then be derived. Jochmann (1989) recom-
mends the distinction between professional aspects, subject-specific aspects, and more
general aspects. The latter cannot be part of a professional training but are acquired
through job practice such as the competence to manage interpersonal relationships and
the smooth running of the daily business. This process further involves the anticipation of
internal changes such as scheduled retirements, expected promotions and organizational
restructuring processes.
On the basis of this second step a person analysis (Goldstein, 1993; Tannenbaum &
Yukl, 1992) is performed. It is checked for each employee or the candidates who are to
be recruited, which of the relevant qualifications presently exist, and how probable the
gap between actual qualifications and those required in future can be bridged either by
training or by further job practice. If this probability for the current employees or the
anticipated new staff is too low, a new run has to be set up. Of course, this analysis is
not done on a one-by-one assignment of employees and future jobs; rather, the HRM
will keep a register of all those highly qualified and, on a long-term basis, developed
personnel who are suitable for different types of jobs.
A needs analysis performed in the aforementioned steps would be sound; however,
it would still not be sufficient to guarantee successful performance of the organization