The word „performance” describes how well a person does a job or task.

Performance management is the technique of linking the business objectives of an organisation with departmental, team and individual objectives. It generally follows three stages:

•  setting objectives,

•  reviewing progress towards those objectives,

•  taking action if progress is not being made.

Performance management developed from the concept of management by objectives (MbO), which has become less popular in recent years.

Note that the words goal, objective, target, & aim are synonyms.

Goal-setting theory follows from the idea that employees’ behaviour can be influenced by the way they set goals. SMART is a common acronym to describe suitable goals, meaning: specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic & timed.

(note - some companies use „stretching” & „achievable”, „agreed” or „action-based” instead of „specific” & „ambitious”). These objectives help to create (KPI’s) - specific results that can be used to measure performance.