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The Target Setting System
Achievement of the company target brought by each and every employee, departments and divisions. When the company performs better, it can increase profit, which could be distributed to employees fairly for their salaries and bonuses according to their level of contribution.
To reinforce this universal practice, Bayer introduced a job grade system and performance management system based on accountability *1 in 1990; the first company to do so in Japan and also first in the Japanese pharmaceutical industry.
The pharmaceutical industry at that time started for a new business process. Every company tried to change their old commercial practices.
For example, MR(Medical Representative) so-called Sales person had tendency to make money by distributing gifts to doctors and pursuing entertainment offensives. However, the industry pushed towards reform by replacing their former practices with a focus on their genuine activities: how to communicate product information to doctors quickly and appropriately. This was surely the age when people converted from simple company workers into MRs.
Meanwhile, office workers might have thought, “I know what I should do each day, but I do not know what meaning those activities have for the division or company or how they relate to the results and development of the company” and this did not necessarily motivate employees.
It is necessary to clarify each year what an employee is expected to achieve based on the policies of the company and division and the instructions of the supervisor. These are known as “targets.” Starting with employees thinking about targets on their own, the setting of targets is then completed in arbitration with the supervisor. Above all else, the special characteristic of Bayer performance management is that targets are set on the basis of the accountability described in the job description.
For example, “improvement of sales in the area supervised” could be raised as one of the main expectations held towards an MR, but is that really all? “Maintaining and strengthening relationships of trust with doctors” and “Maintaining and strengthening support systems with distributors” are also expected, and as a result, they are also included in the job description.
For an MR, achieving sales targets each year is important, but in order to succeed in business in the medium and long term, maintaining and improving relationships of trust with the doctors and healthcare professionals who are the company’s customers are also very important issues. Also required is strengthening relationships of trust by communicating appropriate product information to the doctors as well as communicating product information sufficiently to distributors and visiting medical facilities with distributors’ employees.
Furthermore, it is also expected that the company will receive information back from doctors in regard to the company’s products.
※1 Accountability:
This term is defined as “responsibility for the results of work assigned to individual jobs.”
In other words, it means “responsibility for the results” that the company and supervisor expect from the job to which an employee is assigned currently.
Achievement of the company target brought by each and every employee, departments and divisions. When the company performs better, it can increase profit, which could be distributed to employees fairly for their salaries and bonuses according to their level of contribution.
To reinforce this universal practice, Bayer introduced a job grade system and performance management system based on accountability *1 in 1990; the first company to do so in Japan and also first in the Japanese pharmaceutical industry.
The pharmaceutical industry at that time started for a new business process. Every company tried to change their old commercial practices.
For example, MR(Medical Representative) so-called Sales person had tendency to make money by distributing gifts to doctors and pursuing entertainment offensives. However, the industry pushed towards reform by replacing their former practices with a focus on their genuine activities: how to communicate product information to doctors quickly and appropriately. This was surely the age when people converted from simple company workers into MRs.
Meanwhile, office workers might have thought, “I know what I should do each day, but I do not know what meaning those activities have for the division or company or how they relate to the results and development of the company” and this did not necessarily motivate employees.
It is necessary to clarify each year what an employee is expected to achieve based on the policies of the company and division and the instructions of the supervisor. These are known as “targets.” Starting with employees thinking about targets on their own, the setting of targets is then completed in arbitration with the supervisor. Above all else, the special characteristic of Bayer performance management is that targets are set on the basis of the accountability described in the job description.
For example, “improvement of sales in the area supervised” could be raised as one of the main expectations held towards an MR, but is that really all? “Maintaining and strengthening relationships of trust with doctors” and “Maintaining and strengthening support systems with distributors” are also expected, and as a result, they are also included in the job description.
For an MR, achieving sales targets each year is important, but in order to succeed in business in the medium and long term, maintaining and improving relationships of trust with the doctors and healthcare professionals who are the company’s customers are also very important issues. Also required is strengthening relationships of trust by communicating appropriate product information to the doctors as well as communicating product information sufficiently to distributors and visiting medical facilities with distributors’ employees.
Furthermore, it is also expected that the company will receive information back from doctors in regard to the company’s products.
※1 Accountability:
This term is defined as “responsibility for the results of work assigned to individual jobs.”
In other words, it means “responsibility for the results” that the company and supervisor expect from the job to which an employee is assigned currently.
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