Organisations are collections of people working together through divisions of labour to achieve a common purpose. They exist because individuals are limited in their physical and mental capabilities and through the vehicle of ‘organisation’ they can combine their efforts and work together to achieve more than they could alone. Organisational behaviour is the study of individuals and groups in organisations. Managers need to understand it since they must manage the people within their organisations. Managers know that success in a highly dynamic environment will be achieved by active opportunity seekers and problem solvers. OB helps managers to analyse workplace experiences, to know what to look for in situations, to understand what they find and to take (or help others to take) the required action.

Performance management is a process of managing and developing people through everyday activities, where there is a common understanding of what is to be achieved and how well it is to be achieved, based on firm agreements between managers and individuals which clearly contribute to organizational results (Tovey 2001,P.59)

Human Resource Development is a combination of structured and unstructured learning and performance based activities which develop individual and organizational competency, capability and capacity to cope with and successfully manage change (Simmonds & Pedersen 2006)

The common trait between Performance Management and Human Resource Development lies in the development of the human asset, people in organization. In performance management, the manager has to manage performance problems. Human resource development has to look into the training and development needs that are required to develop the necessary competency to enable the individual to perform to the required performance standards.

In any organization, you will encounter workers who do not meet the performance standards. There are two types of unsatisfactory performance. Workers who are not performing to their optimum levels are classifies as 'under performance' while those who have no intention of performing are classified as 'non performance'. There is still hope and opportunity for those who under perform but those who are non performance are usually considered 'dead wood'.
There are two contributing factors to under performance. First, fault of machine or the tools used by the worker which caused the worker to underperform. This factor is largely outside the control of the worker. Identification of this factor is important as the mere correction of this factor will result in improved performance immediately. The second factor is the behavior of the worker which is limiting his performance. Behavior can be influenced and corrected and is within the control of the worker. Right training and instructions will usually lead to change of behavior and result in improved performance.

The identifications of under performance can be done by analysing the actual performance of a worker under observation. Performance appraisal is carried out using the various performance appraisal methods such as objectives based methods and reviewed techniques (Rudman 1995).

The issue of non performance is a more serious problem. There are some workers who do not performance no matter what training, counselling and motivations have been given. There is not the slightest bit of improvement in performance for this group. Sometimes , a total review of the job skills possessed and the job descriptions are done to see if a job reassignment is possible. Maybe the person is wrongly assigned to the job by the previous person. Sometimes a transfer to another department and place may help. Come to the final stage, a termination procedure may have to take place.