# Links [[Organizational Theory]] # References **Poor Performers** **_Summary_**_: Don’t let poor performers drag down the performance of the organization. Improve selection processes to avoid them. Fulfill your commitment meant to help them improve. But, when you have exhausted alternatives, terminate them quickly._ In my last article I advocated that managers devote their attention first to the best performers in the organization. Managers have the responsibility of getting the best performance from the organization and they can accomplish that best by working with high performers first. But, does that mean that managers should turn their back on employees who perform poorly? No. Commitment in the employer-employee relationship runs in both directions. When you hire someone you make a commitment to that employee as well as expecting a commitment from him or her. Managers have an obligation to help their employees achieve high levels of performance individually and for the organization. And, managers must begin fulfilling that commitment when they confirm the relationship. Managers should begin dealing with the problem of poor performers before they even hire them. They should take much more care in their selection process to hire people who have the requisite combination of talent, knowledge and skills needed for the job. Frequently people perform poorly in the job positions they fill because they do not have the full set of capabilities needed for the job. A strong selection process has two important sides. The first side has to do with defining the job. The job should have clearly determined requirements. Managers generally understand knowledge and skills needed to complete the job. But, they also need to understand what type of person best suits the position. What type of personality with what sorts of talents will respond most favorably to the demands of the job? They should craft a complete profile for the person they want to hire for the job. The second side deals with finding the best applicant for the job defined. In addition to measuring knowledge and skills, the selection process should make a careful assessment of the personality and talent of job applicants. The individual traits of acceptable applicants should match those required for the job as closely as possible. Managers can safely consider hiring the perfect person—with all the requisite talents, knowledge and skills—nearly impossible. Thus, they should err on the side of hiring the person with the best combination of personality and talent, even if his or her skills might be a little weak. The manager can help that person gain knowledge and skills, but he cannot help the skilled person acquire a new personality and a new set of talents. Managers should develop both of these facets of the selection process as well as they can. One should not underestimate the extreme care needed in selection because of the two-way (employer/employee) commitment mentioned above. But selection processes, no matter how carefully designed, cannot prevent poor performers from emerging in the organization. Some poor performers appear because the person has been hired into a job for which they have low capabilities. Others develop because of changes that have occurred in the person or the organization since the time of their hiring. In either case the manager must determine the cause of the performance problem. The causes of performance problems come in two general categories—_common causes_ and _special causes_. We refer to performance problems attributed to the system as resulting from _common causes_. Those performance problems attributed to something outside the system we refer to as resulting from _special causes_. Management bears the responsibility for correcting performance problems resulting from common causes—because they result from the system. Management should fix any conditions in the system that have an adverse effect on the performance of one or more individuals. The employee has no responsibility for common causes of poor performance and should not receive blame for them. If an employee lacks any one of talent, knowledge or skills, that would represent a special cause of poor performance. Dealing with special causes may or may not be the responsibility of management. If the manager hired the person without the requisite knowledge and skills, management has the responsibility to provide the employee with the appropriate education and training. On the other hand if the employee does not have the talent there is little that the manager can do. He needs to help the employee find another position. If, on the other hand, the employee does not perform the job within his or her capability, that represents a special cause which the employee should deal with. In this case the manager can only inform the employee of the poor performance. He can do nothing directly to improve it. Whatever the cause of poor performance the manager should deal with it swiftly. If the poor performance results from a common cause, management has the responsibility for that performance and should make immediate adjustment to the system. Not taking corrective action quickly may the impression of lack of caring and create the risk of losing good employees. If the problem results from a special cause, management needs to determine whether they can make the correction. If they can, again, they should correct it quickly. And, when the employee has responsibility for the special cause of the problem, management should inform him or her immediately. Occasionally, even with the best selection processes and the best training, an employee continues to have unsatisfactory performance. Management may have no choice but to end their relationship. In that case they should terminate the employee as soon as possible. A work relationship that does not function properly works to the detriment of both parties. Prolonging the problem will only further harm the individual and the organization. A quick termination allows the employee to find a job more suited to his talents. And it prevents the unhealthy situation from contaminating the other people in the organization. This article was published on Suite101.com August 21, 2001.  Copyright © James B. Berger