The implementation of Development Appraisal System in Educational Institutions of North-West Province in the Mafikeng District. The main purpose of this study is to determine the implementation of Developmental Appraisal System in Educational Institutions of North-West Province in the Mafikeng District and the essential strategies needed for effective implementation. Furthermore the study carefully examines past and current guidelines for policy implementation. It also aims at facilitating improvement of school performance throughout approaches characterized by partnership, collaboration, mentoring and guidance. It enables a school and external supervisors to show to what extent it meets national goals and the needs of the public and communities. The subjects of this study are educators and school principals of the mentioned 30 schools in six(6) circuits. The study reveals that policy implementers in developing countries like South Africa are more concerned about lack of support and recognition to their position. Other concerns revealed are the inhibiting role of the educator unions in the policy implementation, policy implementers who need self confidence, flexible strategies, critical competencies and the necessary skills for effective policy implementation. On the basis of the challenges and skills identified from both the literature and empirical study, implementation guidelines consist of four phases as follows: pre-implementation, actualization, cascading and monitoring. Each and every phase has a set of objectives to be realized. Furthermore, the guidelines also take into account the role of the various key stakeholders teacher unions and parental bodies. These guidelines therefore carne about the implementation of Integrated Quality Management Systems (IQMS) and this new policy included new programs, resources, objectives and aims that were not there in the implementation of developmental institutions of North-West Province in the Mafikeng District. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Relations) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004

The Minister for Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, made a request to government departments to move towards improved productivity, an improved scale of service delivery and the kind of quality service where citizens can say that public servants across the board, are performing to the best of their ability. The Government has put in place policies such as Performance Management and Developmental System (PMDS) as a gesture of its commitment and seriousness about effecting a better life for all through a business like approach to public service, Unfortunately some governments departments fail to enforce the policy accordingly. This paper is intended to examine the implementation of PMDS within the Department of Education in the North West. A qualitative research was conducted in the Corporate Center (Head Office) of the department. The data was collected from three managers and four staff members, two of whom are union representatives. The correspondence on PMDS and the researcher's observations were also used in this study. The investigation conducted revealed that performance management is not a priority in the department as it is done on an ad ho basis. There are also no specific people appointed to enforce the policy and those supervisors who do not feel like implementing the tool do so. This has a negative impact on the service delivery. There is a need for the department to make performance management a priority so as to improve productivity and service delivery. / M.Admin. (Industrial Relations) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005

The objective of this study was to investigate what the critical elements were for an employee performance appraisal system (EPA) to be effective and successful and whether the latter would enhance employee engagement. The study hypothesised that three elements, namely the level of trust in the appraiser, communication by the appraiser and the level of training of the appraiser would be critical to achieve an effective EPA. Effective performance appraisal is known to benefit organisations by helping them measure performance, motivate employees and most commonly help to make HR related administrative decisions, such as promotions and rewards. The study was conducted in a national public entity, which is constituted and mandated in terms of the PPEC Act, No 9 of 1983, to perform cold chain services and also under the APS Act, No.119 of 1990. The organisation studied also delivers inspection and food safety services for perishable products as mandated by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The research adopts a survey approach where self-administered questionnaires were used to gather data from the employees to measure their opinions of the measured elements of the employee performance appraisal (EPA). The surveys were issued to a total of 150 employees within the organisation and a total of 82 usable surveys were returned. The findings of the study revealed that the employees were generally satisfied with the level of competency, training of, and trust in, the appraiser, but there was still work to be done in improving the system and making it more successful and rewarding. Communication by the appraiser was found to be not significantly related to the effectiveness of the current performance appraisal system.

M.Com. (Economics) / The training of adults within business organisations is frequently done according to principles and methods which could be described as outdated and even not applicable. This becomes more evident when these methods are tested against modern theories regarding adult learning behaviour. These theories indicate for example, that the traditional pedagogic techniques could not be applied to the training of adults as such. Wellknown authors on adult learning theory have postulated that the adult learner has certain unique characteristics which sets him apart from the typical child in a structured learning situation. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the application of some of the principles and methodologies of these theories will actually contribute to the personal development or growth of the managers within the organisation where the study was conducted. This organisation utilises assessment centres to determine the management potential of its managers. An important part of this process is the identification of the individual developmental needs of the participating manager. The process is structured in such a manner so as to provide for a learning experience which will result in helping the participant view himself objectively in terms of his managerial behaviour. The underlying assumption is that in order to get the manager involved in self-initiated learning activities, with self-development as the ultimate goal, self-awareness regarding weaknesses and strengths must first be developed. Effective mechanisms which provide feedback to the participant in the assessment centre is an important contributing factor in the development of this awareness...

M.Phil. / Orientation: This study explores shifts in the work identity of individual team members in a research team. Research Purpose: The aim of the study is to explore shifts in work identity experienced by individual research team members during the duration of a project wherein they studied work identity themselves. Motivation for the study: To reflect on shifts in work identity. Research strategy: The researcher presented data through confessional tales, autoethnography, fictional representation, realist tales and vignettes. Using thematic analysis methodology in the context of qualitative field research, ten semi -structured interviews were conducted with five participants who were themselves involved in conducting a research study on work identity.These participants were employed by various South African companies and academia.The researcher, who formed part of the research team presented data related to shifts in her own work identity by means of an autoethnographic account. Main findings: The four primary themes presented in the data are: Compass points guiding our journey; navigating personal circumstances; negotiating identity and identification in the workplace; perception of self. Managerial applications: This study has implications for organisations looking to improve productivity through an understanding of work identity. Theoretical Contribution: An application for shifts in work identity is done by positioning shifts in work identity in a framework proposed by Ibarra (2004).

The area of performance appraisal of the handicapped individual is a relatively uncharted domain. Previous studies have tended to either lump categories of handicaps together or to concentrate their performance appraisal on simplistic performance criteria. This dissertation focused upon the performance of a group of physically impaired workers and their non-impaired co-workers. Central to this research endeavor was a comparison of the aggregate performances of both groups of workers through the use of parametric factor and discriminant techniques as well as the non-parametric sign test.

The aim of this study was to assess the perceptions of employees towards performance appraisal (PA) with special reference to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) in the Eastern Cape Province. The research objectives included, inter alia; assessing employee perceptions towards effective administration of PAs, assessing perceptions of employees towards the fairness of the PA process, identifying the motivating factors for the improvement of employee performance and identifying the challenges facing the PA process. To achieve these objectives, a mixed methods research approach was used. The mixed methods approach utilised a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The sample was selected using a purposive sampling technique whereby employees with tenure of at least one year and above in the organisation were targeted. Employees who met this criterion were considered to have reasonable understanding of the PA process and practice of Stats SA. The literature review for this study revealed that employee perceptions towards the PA process are crucial in determining the long-term effectiveness of the PA system. It also emerged that the appraisal process can become a source of extreme dissatisfaction when employees believe the system is biased, political or irrelevant. The findings revealed that 65% of employees perceive the administration of PAs as ineffective whilst 35% of employees consider PA administration at Stats SA to be effective. Ineffective administration of PA was further confirmed by 81% of managers who stated that the evaluation process is not integrated effectively with other human resource (HR) processes at Stats SA. Furthermore, 58% of employees are not satisfied with the fairness of the appraisal process. These negative perceptions towards the PA process were reaffirmed by 88% of managers who also indicated that they are not satisfied with the fairness of the PA process. The research showed that the motivating factors for improving job performance include allocation of adequate resources, training, recognition and appreciation, improved communication along with a good working relationship as well as a performance bonus. According to the research findings, 45% of employees consider the current Performance Management System (PMS) at Stats SA as having a motivational effect on staff to improve their performance whilst 42% held a contrary view and 13% were unsure. The respondents identified the challenges facing the PA process at Stats SA, namely; favouritism and bias, dropping of scores by the provincial moderating committee without clarifying the criteria followed, supervisors scoring themselves high whilst scoring those who are doing the work on the ground low, failure by HR to provide guidance and training on performance management (PM), failure by supervisors to provide performance feedback after the appraisal process, failure to comply with PM policies and procedures, the ambiguous role of the provincial moderating committee, and a narrow focus on monetary reward. The findings suggest that the effectiveness of a Performance Management System (PMS) such as the Performance Appraisal System depends on the achievement of various purposes and objectives for which the PMS is designed and implemented in an organisation. This requires managers and supervisors to be fully involved and committed in the day to day management of employee performance in order to ensure that the strategic goals of the organisation are fully achieved.

The aim of this research study was to conduct an investigation to establish whether a performance management system would facilitate the achievement of the organisation’s strategic goals and objectives. The organisation used as a case study in this research uses a performance appraisal process which is not effective in facilitating the organisation’s strategic goals and objectives. Hence, this study has been undertaken against the above background. The researcher has utilised a positivist paradigm in this research. This means that the researcher has used a quantitative methodology in the process of data collection. A random sampling technique was used with an aim of including critical elements of the population of this study. More particularly, 50 employees of the organisation were electronically presented with a questionnaire based on important key elements of performance management. Moreover, the questionnaire included a Likert type scale consisting of closed and opened-end questions. Questionnaires were received from 35 employees, of which one was from senior management, 13 project managers, 12 from supervisory staff and 9 from support staff. Statistica was used in this research as a software program for the quantification of the data. This study revealed that the transition to a performance management will help the selected company achieve their strategic goals and objectives. Recommendations are made for the role of line management and the role of human resources in performance management.

Employee engagement is emerging as a critical organisational issue especially as organisations are recovering from the trauma of the global recession and constant change. Employee engagement has been an area of interest among many researchers and it has received even greater recognition among consulting firms. Therefore, there is a need for academic research on this theory to ascertain the claims of the human resource consulting firms as well as to add to the existing knowledge of employee engagement in the literature. The main aim of the research was to establish whether there is a relationship between employee engagement and performance. The methodology was based on secondary research by means of statistics for employee engagement and performance scores obtained of permanent employees from the organisation under study. A structured survey for employee engagement was used and compared over a two year period as well as performance scores over a two year period. The empirical findings of this study in terms of the relationship between employee engagement and job performance were evident in that a relationship between the variables was proved; however findings from the qualitative research suggest direct and strong relationship between employee engagement and job performance, whereas the current study has not highlighted a very strong relationship based on the empirical findings.

Research studies have reported that many organisations implement a performance management and development system. However, it is often not as effective as it is intended. Against this background, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the performance management and development in the Eastern Cape Liquor Board (ECLB). The study emphasised the importance of an organisational culture that supports management of performance in order for the system to be effective. The study further highlighted that alignment between the performance of individuals and the organisation is critical as all efforts have to focus on the achievement of the organisational vision. The study also emphasised the importance of a process of determining key performance areas that is transparent and involves participation by all employees. The study further argued that the development and rewarding of employees for performance is crucial in ensuring an effective performance management system. The target population for this study consisted of ECLB employees including the district offices. The findings suggested that when the performance management and development system is not implemented in its entirety it cannot be effective. Furthermore, the findings revealed that ECLB implements some of the elements of the system correctly whilst other areas still require more attention.