TABLE OF CONTENTS One of the key four pillars of a human capital strategic plan is knowledge management, as discussed in the last chapter. The second pillar of a human capital strategy is performance management. As expressed in GAO's reports, performance management systems help create a results-oriented culture. In the September 2002 GAO Report (GAO-02-966) entitled, "Results-Oriented Cultures: Using Balanced Expectations to Manage Senior Executive Performance," several key points were highlighted:
More progress is needed to link executive expectations for performance to organizational goals.
Greater emphasis should be placed in fostering the collaboration within and across organizational boundaries to achieve results.
Senior executive performance expectations to lead and facilitate change could be a critical element as agencies transform themselves.
Selected initial implementation approaches for balancing expectations include providing useful data, requiring follow-up action, and making meaningful distinctions in performance.
In order to gain insights for U.S. agencies from other countries' performance management initiatives, GAO's report (GAO-02-862) in August 2002 looked at performance management systems of governments in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. GAO found that these countries were creating a "line of sight" between individual and organizational goals; using competencies to provide a fuller assessment of individual performance; linking pay to individual and overall organizational performance; and fostering organizationwide commitment to results-oriented performance management.
From these studies and others, it is clear that performance management plays an important role in developing a human capital strategy. According to Hamilton Beazley, chairman of the Strategic Leadership Group and lead author of...
