Editor's Note: Last summer we posted an announcement from Gerry Ledford (one of our profession's leading scholars) introducing a new academic study focused on leading edge performance management practices and an invitation for any qualified organizations to participate. For the past year, I have been leading research on cutting-edge performance management practices at the Center for Effective Organizations (CEO), University of Southern California. MORE

Manager or director? Manager versus director is a frequently encountered challenge. The category distinctions that permit differences to be clearly and consistently defined between manager and director as a title are many and varied. Industry : Specific industries treat General Manager and Project/Program Manager titles as exceptions, giving them unique ranks and meanings. The Accounting Manager, on the other hand, controls the whole thing. MORE

Gerry Crispin , co-creator of CareerXroads , and Steve Levy kicked off the day with a recruiting discussion around a comparison on every HR pro’s mind: the candidate as customer. Where does HR software fit in with performance management? MORE

Who among us said, “when I grow up I want to do something with borderline competency that I don’t really care about just to make enough money to survive”? An inspiring manager creates more team engagement. “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. A fireman! A rooster! (I MORE

Over time, ratings created across many performance reviews throughout the organization can provide real insight into a number of things. Having this capability allows organizations to zero in on performance issues and opportunities. MORE

HRIS, ATS, LMS, surveys, 360 assessments, performance management ratings, compensation data) but we don’t always harvest the insights and intelligence from the data. HR Application: HR has become much more sophisticated regarding metrics and data collection. MORE

Employee development is at the heart of successful talent management. But it’s the ongoing training that’s at the core of talent management —and of retention. To get the most out your strongest workers, organizations need to expand training activities that increase supervisory, managerial, and executive competencies. Institutional knowledge/Knowledge management. You can find unbiased reviews and comparisons of many of these tools at Better Buys. MORE

Not to mention, the potential of a system to include Artificial Intelligence and predictive analytics in sourcing , recruiting and managing people more efficiently. HR departments, for instance, use applicant tracking systems to manage job ads, sort resumes, shortlist applicants, coordinate with their team/candidates and so on. HR teams are accomplishing this by integrating their performance management data back into the hiring process in order to hire more great employees. MORE