Implementation of the performance management policy for the Malawi has been held back by a number of factors. There have been indications that suggest that there were some problems resulting in differential implementation of the policy by government’s ministries and departments. In this study the purpose was to find out the factors contributing to this non-implementation of the policy. The research question was; what factors are contributing to the implementation or non-implementation of the performance management policy for the Malawi Civil Service? The study used a qualitative research methodology and questionnaire administered interviews to collect data. The main findings from the study was that implementation of the policy was being hampered because of the complex nature of the public service, absence of follow ups and management support, lack of consultations and motivation factors. The conclusion drawn from the study is that the factors identified are manageable. Therefore, the Department of Public Service and Management and other concerned stakeholders can reflect on the issues revealed by this study, consult widely and put in place necessary mechanism that could ensure successful implementation not only of the performance management but other future polices as well.

ABSTRACT Institute of Human Resource Management National Sun Yat-Sen University Title of the thesis: The Research on Implementing Performance Management System Based on Balanced Scorecard ¡V Using the Taiwanese Branch of a Multinational Foods Company as an Example Name: Yuh-Chin Lee Advisor: Chin-Kang Jen, Ph.D. Graduate date: July, 2002 Degree conferred: Master Considering there is only few company implementing Balanced Scorecard in Taiwan, or even if there are some companies already implementing it, they are seldom effectively linked with performance management or other systems. This research is using the Taiwanese Branch of a multinational foods company as an example, and is based on the principle of the single case study method. The topics of this thesis are as follows: 1. To study the individual company¡¦s performance management system to understand the actual operation of Balanced Scorecard in the enterprise, thereafter provides the company¡¦s experience to those who will use Balanced Scorecard in the future by introducing step by step of the individual company¡¦s implementing process. 2. To point out, through the analyzes of an individual company¡¦s system and the studies of related documents, problems that individual company might encounter during the implementation of the system, and find out improving methods. 3. To provide suggestions for improvements to the individual company. Based on the findings of this research, the following conclusions are reached: 1. Because the individual company follows Balanced Scorecard¡¦s concept to implement its performance management system, thus the system can runs smoothly and gets good results. The process starts with the confirmation and integration of the company vision, mission, and core values, which will help the company to build up its conscientious. The second step is to set up company strategy align with company vision, mission and core values, and use Balanced Scorecard to convert this strategy into the company goal, then develop its action plans. The third step consists in monitoring performance results and doing necessary revisions to ensure the achievement of the goal. In the end it is necessary to link the performance results with the reward, employee development and promotion plan. 2. The problems that individual company encountered during the system implementation are as follows: 1) In the area of system design Because the individual company directly adopted its mother company¡¦s strategy, and did not draw out its own strategy map, it is highly possible that in the future, if the environment dramatically changes, the company will need to revise its strategy to adapt to the changes and might fail to link the performance management system with the strategy properly. 2) In the area of processing a. Lack of complete information supporting system. b. Employees¡¦ expectation of a gap between performance results and performance bonus payments. c. Increasing imbalance between employee¡¦s work and family life. 3. Suggestions to the individual company are as follows: 1) Build up an individual company's strategy map, and link the performance management system tightly with the strategy. 2) Set up an information supporting system based on Balanced Scorecard. 3) Disclose the linkage between performance results and performance bonus payments at the beginning of the performance cycle. 4) Simplify the work process, and create a balanced working environment.

As interest in and concerns about performance management systems continue to grow, scholars have increasingly suggested methods to better design and implement these systems in the public sector organizations, with the underlying assumption that they will help public organizations perform better. These suggestions include approaches to design and implement performance management activities, including target selection, indicator adoption, data collection and analysis, and reporting of results. These recommendations are available in the form of books and research articles that cover a wide variety of performance management systems and their respective usage settings. Scholars argue that by using their recommendations (termed as “recommended practices” from here onwards) in designing and implementing performance management systems, system designers and managers can improve organizational performance; a claim I intend to examine in this paper. There are scores of recommended practices spread out in the literature, which not only lack theoretical foundations, but also might be contradictory to each other. The results from this study suggest do not suggest a link between the recommended practices and police performance, as only the practices of using performance information and providing discretion to officers were found to be supporting the hypotheses for only one out of the eight crime categories. These two significant results might be attributed to chance alone. The results, hence, raise questions about the effectiveness of the recommended practices in improving organizational performance. Justification of the use of recommended practices, however, can still be traced to goal-setting theory.

This thesis deepens our understanding of the institutional and organisational changes, which are taking place in the scientific and cultural public sector organisations, regarding their efforts to adopt performance management practices in the broader climate of increasing external demands of accountability and transparency. Using institutional theory as the main theoretical lens and an inductive approach, data is collected and analysed from an in-depth case study spanning four years in one scientific and cultural organisation and from a survey of the field such organisations are embedded in. At the field level, scientific and cultural organisations are embedded in multiple institutional logics (e.g. professional, governance/performance, managerial). Findings reveal the micro processes and dynamics of management accounting and institutional changes and how the power shift both results from and propel such changes. Apart from the emphasis on institutional multiplicity as key to understanding the change process, attention is paid to how institutional entrepreneurs use visual framing with accounting inscriptions to promote changes, how emotional factors and the role of specialist work groups contribute to institutional change. Thus, the thesis, as a whole, provides practical insights into this special type of organisations and their performance management practices. Theoretical contributions are made towards the micro foundations of institutional theory and interpretive accounting research with visual and emotional elements. Implications for practitioner and policy making are also explored.

This research sought to establish whether skills training in employee voice encourages employee voice utilisation in a one-on-one performance discussion and whether such utilisation has an effect on the employee‘s relationship with their line-manager. Organisations need to understand how to encourage the utilisation of employee voice, to ensure their employees remain engaged in the organisation and as such, the organisation remains competitive. Ninety seven participants were divided into control and experimental groups, with the experimental group receiving skills training in employee voice. A pre-test and post-test experiment research design was used and the results were statistically analysed. Qualitative analysis supported these quantitative results. Qualitative analysis entailed collating comments received by the employees from their completed pre-test and post-test questionnaires as well as feedback from semi-structured, line-manager interviews. Skills training was found not to be significantly related to employee voice utilisation, the line- manager relationship or satisfaction with the performance discussion, but as one composite measure were significant. A model was developed to accommodate the business environment and employees‘ personal attributes in addition to skills training to explain employee voice utilisation. The forum for which employee voice would be most effective may not be the one-on-one performance discussion. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

D.Comm. / The objective of this study was to explore a group of key employees‟ experiences and perceptions at the Metropolitan Municipality of Tshwane of the service performance of the municipality they work for, as well as to develop a social science tool – a model – that could be used to help this institution play its role of delivering effective services to its residents in the country‟s democratic dispensation. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods in the form of a mixed method approach was used in this study. The existing quantitative instrument was buttressed by the empirically derived qualitative insights to form an instrument that was later distributed among employees of the Metro with a view to developing a “mixed model” of a high performance organisational culture for the institution involved. During the qualitative phase of this study interviews were conducted using a grounded theory approach. Two stakeholders and six members of staff were interviewed. The result of the interviews was a qualitatively derived pattern of interrelated concepts in the form of a “shared vision” model, consisting of rich descriptive data which were carefully analysed using a grounded theory methodology,i that is, the development of theory that is derived from an analysis of qualitative data. The computer-assisted data analysis tool, Atlas.ti, was also used to support the qualitative data analysis process. The qualitatively derived model displayed overall groundedness of between 1 and 4 and a density of between 1 and 13. To confirm the trustworthiness of the findings, member checking was done with the research participants. The second phase of the study was effected by distributing a questionnaire to 800 randomly selected Metro employees. Of the 800 questionnaires sent out, 474 were completed and returned, thus constituting a response rate of 59.25%. The returned questionnaires were deemed adequate for conducting a factor analysis. A first-level factor analysis was consequently conducted on intercorrelation matrices of the 14 theoretical dimensions. A second-level factor analysis on a sub-score intercorrelation i Glaser and Stauss (1967). iv matrix followed and resulted in three factors being extracted. Iterative item analyses then yielded acceptable metric properties for each dimension and a Cronbach alpha coefficient ranging between 0.703 and 0.964, which was deemed acceptable scale reliability for the model. To arrive at the desired model, the findings of the two phases of the “mixed method” approach were connected and interrelated such that data from the quantitative phase played a supportive role to data from the qualitative phase. The derived model consists of the inner core and the outer core. The elements of the outer core which were qualitatively derived by means of grounded theory provided a “thick description” of the discourse and gave the research participants a “voice” in the inquiry. The elements of the outer core were identified as good governance, clean and efficient administration, and community involvement. The elements of the inner core, on the other hand, were elicited through deductive reasoning and gave the model a quantitative grounding through the use of factor analysis. These elements included leadership, delivery processes and stakeholder satisfaction. The results of the two methods were thus integrated into a model called the New Empirical High Performance Organisational Culture Model (NEHPOM). To test Metro senior management‟s views of the model, a nominal group session was conducted. This session granted acceptance of the model, indicating, among other things, that the model would help to create synergy between governance, residents and leadership of the Metro.

It is suggested that there is a world of research on the design and implementation of performance management and the effect it has on overall organisational results, but there appears to be a gap in knowledge on the enablers and inhibitors of performance management, or causes of its positive and negative effects. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions relating to performance management of chosen respondents at Multichoice (Pty) Ltd. A literature review was performed to identify research that was previously conducted pertaining to performance management. The literature review analysed the factors perceived to enable and inhibit performance management with the question remaining as to whether the perceptions of the sample population differ or are congruent with the literature summary. The research involved using a formal quantitative causal and explanatory design with a questionnaire being used to gather information from a sample of employees. The sample comprised of 60 employees, 20 from each category of performers, namely A players, B players and C players. Statistical techniques, namely descriptive and inferential statistics were used to extract key constructs from the raw data obtained from the questionnaires. The outcome of the research resulted in the enablers and the inhibitors of performance management at Multichoice (Pty) Ltd. These findings have been used to develop a framework which should be considered by organisations to achieve high performance. Further to this, the analysis revealed the strength of the different forces which were ranked in an attempt to determine whether the enabling forces outweigh the inhibiting forces or vice versa. The reason for this was to strengthen the enabling forces supporting the performance management systems at Multichoice (Pty) Ltd and reduce the impact of opposition to it. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / Thank you to the Most High God for giving me strength, courage, wisdom and understanding to pursue my dream. Compiling this mini-dissertation would not have become a success if it was not for the support I received from my family and close friends. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the following persons who contributed immensely to the undertaking of this study from its beginning to its completion:  My Supervisor, Dr. K.S. Milondzo and my Co-Supervisor, Professor. M.X Lethoko for their constructive criticism, patience, expert advice and motivation and for being the sound board of my ideas throughout the process. For the professionalism that they portrayed throughout our interaction.  To Professor C.S. Mkhabela for his academic advice, moral support and fruitful discussions we had in our engagement.  My parents Pauline and Ben Nyoni, for their undivided support, patience, and acceptance.  My son, Tshepo Litswele for his unwavering love and support  My brothers and sisters, for their support, tolerance and acceptance at times I may have inconvenienced them.  To the participants for willingness to participate in the study.  To my employer Department of Education for allowing me to pursue my studies.  To the Department of Public works, Roads and Transport for granting me permission to conduct my research within their department.  To Ms MM Ngobeni for her professional editing. iv ABSTRACT Recent changes in the public sector which also included the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport have placed new pressure on managers to change their ways of managing Performance Management and Development Systems in its implementation. The above challenge necessitated the researcher to investigate the effective implementation of Performance Management System in the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport in Ehlanzeni District Municipality. The study is concerned with the development of effective implementation of Performance Management System on employees and production in the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport. This study used the context of the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport as its spring board in engaging the subject of performance management system. With all changes that are involved towards the implementation of performance management system, there is a need to review the way performance management system should be implemented, hence this study. In this study, a mixed research design approach was used in the investigation of the effective implementation of performance management system in the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from the target population. The main findings of the study, confirmed that there are challenges associated with the implementation of performance management system in the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport. Apart from these challenges, the study also revealed the factors that contribute towards the implementation of performance management system in the area of the study. Furthermore, the study also led to the suggestions and recommendations that may assist Ehlanzeni District Municipality to accelerate effective implementation of performance management system in the department.

The purpose of this study was to determine which specific resources contribute to the strategy-to-performance gap of small businesses trading in the Pietermaritzburg metropolitan area, from a resource-based perspective of strategic management. The research was prompted by a study conducted by Marakon Associates, the purpose of which was to investigate how successfully companies translate their strategies into performance and what steps they take to close the resulting strategy-to-performance gaps. The main reasons advanced for poor strategy-to-performance results are inadequate or unavailable resources. The research design in the study is quantitative and descriptive in nature. The data was collected from a structured questionnaire comprising of 18 questions emailed to the owners using LimeSurvey. The findings of the survey show that the businesses surveyed lack resources, which leads directly to strategy-to-performance gaps. The most important resources they lack are financial and human resources. / Business Management / M. Tech. (Business Administration)

Bakgrund: Rottne industri är ett företag som tillverkar skogsmaskiner, närmare bestämt skördare och skotare. En viktig del av företagets strategi i dagsläget grundar på att bedriva en generös reservdelsverksamhet ut mot kunder. Reservdelsverksamheten har vuxit och blivit en konkurrensfördel för Rottne industri. För att behålla sin plats på marknaden är det viktigt att konkurrensfördelen behålls och reservdelsverksamheten effektiviseras. Vi har i samråd med lagerchefen på Rottne industri valt att utveckla ett performance management-system. Studien har tagit sin utgångspunkt i performance management-processen som består av fem steg som kopplats till separata problemfrågor. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att utveckla ett performance management-system åt Rottne industris reservdelslager i avsikt att ge företaget en utgångspunkt för kontroll och styrning av deras prestationer. Metod: Uppsatsen är uppbyggd på en kvalitativ metod. Uppsatsens synsätt är positivism och ett abduktivt angreppssätt tillämpas. Insamling av empirisk data sker främst genom intervjuer. Slutsats: För att Rottne industri ska behålla sin konkurrensfördel bör de främst fokusera på fyra måttgrupper; leveranstid, leveransprecision, orderkvalitet och servicegrad. Prioriteringen för dessa måttgrupper skiljer sig något beroende på vilken kundgrupp som avser att betjänas. För brådskande orders, som kopplas till slutkunder är leveranstid, orderkvalitet och servicegrad viktigaste, och för påfyllningsorders, som rör återförsäljare är leveransprecision, orderkvalitet och servicegrad viktigast. Höga mål bör sättas upp för viktiga måttgrupper och bör revideras när omvärlden förändras. Sökord: Performance management, performance management process, performance management system, performance measurement, spare part logistics, aftermarket logistics, target setting. / Title: Performance management - A case study on spare part logistics at Rottne industri Authors: Max Lidby, Philip Ringström Tutor: Peter Berling Background: Rottne industri is a company that manufactures forestry equipment. An important part of the company’s strategy is based on conducting a generous spare parts business to customers. The spare part business has grown and become a competitive advantage for Rottne industri. To keep its position in the market it is important that the competitive advantage is retained. In agreement with the warehouse management we have chosen to develop a performance management system. The study has been based on the performance management process that consists of five steps which has been linked with separate research questions. Purpose: The aim of this study is to develop a performance management system for Rottne industri’s warehouse in order to give the company a starting point for monitoring and control of performance. Method: The paper is based on a qualitative approach. Thesis approach is positivism and an abductive approach is applied. Collection of empirical data is mainly done through interviews. Conclusion: In order to maintain its competitive advantage Rottne industry should primarily focus on four groups of metrics; delivery time, delivery reliability, order quality and service level. The priority for these groups of metrics are slightly different depending on which group of customers Rottne industri intend to serve. For urgent orders the delivery time, order quality and level of service most important, and for replenishing orders delivery reliability, order quality and level of service is the most important. High targets should be set for important groups of metrics, and should be under continuous review when circumstances change. Keywords: Performance management, performance management process, performance management systems, performance measurement, spare part logistics, aftermarket logistics, target setting.