Performance planning is primarily an executive process that aims at ensuring which performance of the employees is maintained over the year as required by the organization.
It is essentially a communication process between the manager and the employee that contributes to a mutual understanding of the work that the employee will be doing in the coming period.
It generally relates to the establishment of objectives, goals, targets, and performance standards. These objectives, goals, and standards spin around four factors – cost, quantity, quality, and timeliness.
According to Armstrong, “Performance planning defines expectations of the results to be achieved and the skills, knowledge, expertise, and capabilities required to attain these results.”
According to Bacal, “Performance planning is a process in which employee and manager work together to determine what the employee should be doing in the next year and what successful performance means.”
According to Rao, “Performance planning may be defined as a systematic outlining of the activities that the manager is expected to undertake during a specified period so that the manager is able to make his best contribution to developmental and organizational outcomes.”