The major concern of performance management is performance improvement inorder to achieve organizational, team & individual effectiveness. A good performance management system is also concerned with employee development as continuous development of competencies and capabilities leads to improvd performance. It also deals with satisfying the requirements and expectations of stakeholders at every level be it management, staff, customers, general public etc. A good performance management system recognises that the needs of employees & the organization will not always coincide & it is imperative to strike a balance wherein the employees feel listened to in matters that concern them. Hence, good communication and involvement is a concern of a performance management system to define expectations and share information on the organization’s mission, values and objectives. This helps to establish mutual understanding about what has to be achieved and a framework for employee development too.

A performance management system should work on principles of ethical considerations leading to transparency and respect for all. Employees affected by decisions made on their performance should have a right to know the ‘how’ & ‘why’ of the decision thereby leading to transparency. Procedures should be implemented fairly to avoid bias on any basis and there should be mutual respect for each others needs as well as for every individual of the staff and management side.

Performance is a multi-dimensional concept which encompasses both behaviour and results. Behaviour is also an outcome of the mental and physical effort applied and can be judged on its own.

Hence, I would consider Performance management as part of the ‘Mixed Model’ as defined by Hartle (1995) which involves managing performance of individuals & teams by considering both inputs (behaviour) and outputs (results) which have to be developed for sustained success to an organization.It embraces all formal & informal measures to increase corporate, team & individual effectiveness in an organization as well as continuously develop knowledge, skill and competence.

Performance Management is a strategic process & is integrated into an organization in 4 ways-

• Vertically- This form of integration is achieved with business strategy and goals as individual & team objectives that support corporate goals are agreed upon.This is usually a top-down process wherein at each level team/individual goals objectives are defined in lieu of higher level goals.But it could also be a bottom-up process wherein team/individuals formulate their own goals within the framework of the organization.
• Horizontally-This form of integration is achieved by linking functional strategies in different parts of the organization with the agreed upon performance management system
• Individually-This form of integration is achieved by keeping in mind the needs of individuals and agreeing upon objectives  through open dialogues between managers and employees rather than they being set so that responsibilities are shared and mutual expectations defined.
• Integration with HR-This form of integration involves linking performance management strategies with HR strategies that help in organizational development, Reward, employee development etc