Description
Performance Appraisal at Telespazio: Aligning Strategic Goals to People Development: Abstract
Since being incorporated into the Finmeccanica Group, Telespazio has been aligning its personnel policies and practices to those of the parent company. The challenge for the HR team is to foster a strategic and organizational change that will turn a domestic telecommunications firm into a leading global company in satellite solutions and services.
The case focuses on the design and implementation of a new performance appraisal system. It starts out with the establishment of a task force to create a new appraisal system from scratch. Next, the case provides a detailed description of the performance appraisal program (What is assessed? Who is in charge? What steps are involved?) and describes the main levers adopted to move from a simple appraisal perspective towards a more multifaceted approach. The case also explains how the system supports the company’s shift towards a project-based organization.
The first part of the case ends in 2011 when, after six years from the first implementation, the HR team meets to evaluate the results achieved. The strengths and weaknesses of the program are discussed. The second part of the case illustrates the major revisions introduced to the program and brings a new challenge for the HR team: extending the implementation to all of Telespazio’s foreign subsidiaries by the end of 2014.
Teaching objectives
Allow students to:
- Understand the role of HRM practices, and notably performance management, for supporting strategic and organizational change
appreciate the complexities involved in designing and implementing a performance management system - Understand how to design appraisal systems in project based and matrix organizations
- Understand the components of an effective performance management system and the differences related to performance appraisal
- Understand evaluator biases in performance appraisal
Main themes covered
The case focuses on the design of a performance management system in an international company. It underscores how critical these systems are for aligning corporate and employee values, and fostering cultural and organizational change. Further, it focuses on the assessment of employees operating within project-based and matrix organizations.
Additional information
Teaching notes are available for professors. Contact the HEC Montréal Case Centre.
