The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 108 of 1996 (SA, 1996) makes provision for all citizens to receive quality health care. Legislation such as the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service of 1995, (SA, 1995a), the White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery (Batho Pele) (SA, 1997b), the Public Service Act 103 of 1994, as amended (SA, 1994), the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (SA, 1995b) and the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (SA, 1998) enshrines this right for all citizens by ensuring that health authorities put measures in place to improve the performance of nurse employee (NE), and thus ensuring quality health care. NE are only able to improve the quality of their performance, if their performance is systematically appraised and their potential for development is identified. However, researchers, for instance Du Plessis (2002:116), Nkosi (2002:37–44), Narcisse and Harcourt (2008:1154), Thompson et al. (1999:139), Fletcher (2001:473) studied the perceptions and experiences of employees and managers of performance appraisal (PA) and these studies indicated that there is a gap in the implementation of PA. The Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) policy (Policy no. NWPG 13) was implemented in the North West public health sector in clinics and hospitals in 2004 to provide guidelines for the implementation of PA. This policy is reviewed annually since it was first drafted. However the researcher’s personal experience with PA in practice was that there is a gap between the process provided by the PMDS policy (Policy no. NWPG 13) and the implementation thereof in the North West public health sector. This led to the following research questions: how is PA implemented from the perspectives of nurse line managers (NLM) and NE in clinics in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District (KKD) and what guidelines can be developed to improve the implementation of PA in clinics in the KKD? The study aimed to develop guidelines to improve the implementation of PA in clinics in the KKD. The study had a cross–sectional quantitative design with exploratory, descriptive and contextual research strategies. Two questionnaires: one for NLM and the other for NE were developed from section 13.4.4 and 13.4.5 of the PMDS policy (Policy no. NWPG 13 amendment approved for 2008–2009 performance cycle) (SA, 2007), to explore and describe the perceptions of NLM and NE on the implementation of PA in clinics in the KKD. Twenty–three problems were identified from the empirical research with regard to communication, feedback and participation in PA, which served as the evidence base towards developing guidelines to improve the implementation of PA in clinics in the KKD. The guidelines were developed using inductive and deductive reasoning and were based on the ten–point plan of Juran. Finally the research was evaluated, limitations were identified and recommendations were formulated for practice, education, management, research and policy. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Citizens of South Africa expect that the policy and regulatory changes introduced by government will be translated into tangible service delivery. Elected representatives, in particular, must demonstrate that national, provincial and local government are capable of managing public resources in a way that deliver benefits to its citizens. The ex- President Thabo Mbeki often used to speak about performance-driven public sector and has referred to the critical role that local government will play in this process. Municipalities which are at the coal-face of service delivery are being challenged to demonstrate their ability to execute both basic as well as enabling services crucial for social and economic growth and development. This challenge finds expression in the requirement that municipalities are expected to report on their performance, from both a civic and policy perspective. The present government is taking performance of government officials and politicians seriously. The Government has created a new ministry in the Presidency called Performance Mortitoring and Evaluation that will assist in ensuring that government performs better. The President of South Africa Mr. Jacob Zuma said that performance management works only if there is a mechartism to hold the people responsible and accountable City of Johannesburg (COJ) therefore looks at the effectiveness of City Scorecard (CS) in terms of performance management at the City of Johannesburg for enhanced performance of employees. The improved performance of employees is imperative for effective service delivery to communities. There were numerous protests all over the country between January and August 2009 including COJ against poor service delivery by different municipalities. It is therefore essential to identify the impact of City Scorecard on performance management of municipal employees. There is a close relationship between performance management and service delivery. The needs and expectations of the community are considered in Integrated Development Plan that assists the top Management of COJ to develop strategic objectives for the City. The priorities are established by the Mayor, commonly known as Mayoral priorities. The needs, priorities and strategies are combined, monitored and measured through City Scorecard (CS). The community is a yard stick of City Scorecard. The satisfaction of the community is a means to ensure that municipal officials are performing and rendering effective and efficient services to communities. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The primary aim of a Performance Management System is the development of a process where goals are set based on the needs of the organisation, while taking the development needs of the individual into account. These goals are negotiated and finalised through a continuous process of communication between all interested parties. In Higher Education, students, other internal clients, managers/supervisors and functional experts evaluate performances against these set goals. A well-designed system, if applied correctly, will benefit employees at various levels. Individuals become involved in setting goals or objectives; this in turn becomes the basis of a performance agreement. Performance feedback is regularly given and in terms of specific scoreboards, these scoreboards, in turn, indicated to which extent the performance goals were met or not. Over-achievers are rewarded accordingly while individuals, who do not meet their performance goals, are assisted and development programmes are suggested to improve relevant performance. Higher Education Institutions, particularly in South Africa, have been very unenthusiastic in adopting and implementing Performance Management Systems, especially when it involves management and appraisal of academic staff at institutions of higher learning. A possible reason for this reluctance may be found with the high opinion placed on the concept of 'academic freedom', and specifically, the difficulties associated with 'measuring' excellence in academic outputs and pursuits, and 'measuring intellectual property'. The goal of this study is to address and solve the stated problem and to evaluate Performance Management Systems currently used in Higher Education, in an attempt to measure their contribution to the Human Resource Management process. This research study was undertaken with the aim of investigating current levels of satisfaction with Performance Management as applied to Higher Education Institutions. The Balanced Scorecard, a Management Accounting tool, was also examined with the idea of serving as a tool to measure the viability of Performance Management of academia in Higher Education Institutions. This research study formulated one main objective, and four secondary objectives. The main objective of this study was to determine, with Management Accounting as a tool, the viability of Performance Management for the academia in Higher Education in South Africa. The secondary objectives were summarised as follows: • A review of Performance Management Systems, • A comprehensive study of Performance Management Systems for academia in South Africa, • The impact of Performance Management on academic staff performance, and staff development, • An investigation into the Balanced Scorecard as a Management Accounting tool. A comprehensive literature review was conducted, and from the literature it became evident that Performance Management of academia in Higher Education Institutions is problematic. A questionnaire circulated to the academia of four Higher Education Institutions served as basis for the empirical section of this study. The empirical evidence gathered through the responses captured from the questionnaires suggested first hand that there is great dissatisfaction amongst academia regarding the Performance Management as applied to them. In this case the findings gathered from the empirical study corresponded with the findings from the literature review conducted for this study. Evidence gathered through the responses from the questionnaires suggested great dissatisfaction with the current Performance Management System and that academia is eager to investigate alternative methods of implementing Performance Management . The findings also suggested that the Balanced Scorecard, a Management Accounting tool, should be investigated further in an attempt to find an alternative method of Performance Management The findings of this study also identified areas for future possible research; there is a need for more extensive research studies to validate the use of the Balanced Scoreboard, a Management Accounting tool, as an alternative to the Performance Management Systems currently applied. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Management Accounting))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

Citizens of South Africa expect that the policy and regulatory changes introduced by government will be translated into tangible service delivery. Elected representatives, in particular, must demonstrate that national, provincial and local government are capable of managing public resources in a way that deliver benefits to its citizens. The ex- President Thabo Mbeki often used to speak about performance-driven public sector and has referred to the critical role that local government will play in this process. Municipalities which are at the coal-face of service delivery are being challenged to demonstrate their ability to execute both basic as well as enabling services crucial for social and economic growth and development. This challenge finds expression in the requirement that municipalities are expected to report on their performance, from both a civic and policy perspective. The present government is taking performance of government officials and politicians seriously. The Government has created a new ministry in the Presidency called Performance Mortitoring and Evaluation that will assist in ensuring that government performs better. The President of South Africa Mr. Jacob Zuma said that performance management works only if there is a mechartism to hold the people responsible and accountable City of Johannesburg (COJ) therefore looks at the effectiveness of City Scorecard (CS) in terms of performance management at the City of Johannesburg for enhanced performance of employees. The improved performance of employees is imperative for effective service delivery to communities. There were numerous protests all over the country between January and August 2009 including COJ against poor service delivery by different municipalities. It is therefore essential to identify the impact of City Scorecard on performance management of municipal employees. There is a close relationship between performance management and service delivery. The needs and expectations of the community are considered in Integrated Development Plan that assists the top Management of COJ to develop strategic objectives for the City. The priorities are established by the Mayor, commonly known as Mayoral priorities. The needs, priorities and strategies are combined, monitored and measured through City Scorecard (CS). The community is a yard stick of City Scorecard. The satisfaction of the community is a means to ensure that municipal officials are performing and rendering effective and efficient services to communities. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The primary aim of a Performance Management System is the development of a process where goals are set based on the needs of the organisation, while taking the development needs of the individual into account. These goals are negotiated and finalised through a continuous process of communication between all interested parties. In Higher Education, students, other internal clients, managers/supervisors and functional experts evaluate performances against these set goals. A well-designed system, if applied correctly, will benefit employees at various levels. Individuals become involved in setting goals or objectives; this in turn becomes the basis of a performance agreement. Performance feedback is regularly given and in terms of specific scoreboards, these scoreboards, in turn, indicated to which extent the performance goals were met or not. Over-achievers are rewarded accordingly while individuals, who do not meet their performance goals, are assisted and development programmes are suggested to improve relevant performance. Higher Education Institutions, particularly in South Africa, have been very unenthusiastic in adopting and implementing Performance Management Systems, especially when it involves management and appraisal of academic staff at institutions of higher learning. A possible reason for this reluctance may be found with the high opinion placed on the concept of 'academic freedom', and specifically, the difficulties associated with 'measuring' excellence in academic outputs and pursuits, and 'measuring intellectual property'. The goal of this study is to address and solve the stated problem and to evaluate Performance Management Systems currently used in Higher Education, in an attempt to measure their contribution to the Human Resource Management process. This research study was undertaken with the aim of investigating current levels of satisfaction with Performance Management as applied to Higher Education Institutions. The Balanced Scorecard, a Management Accounting tool, was also examined with the idea of serving as a tool to measure the viability of Performance Management of academia in Higher Education Institutions. This research study formulated one main objective, and four secondary objectives. The main objective of this study was to determine, with Management Accounting as a tool, the viability of Performance Management for the academia in Higher Education in South Africa. The secondary objectives were summarised as follows: • A review of Performance Management Systems, • A comprehensive study of Performance Management Systems for academia in South Africa, • The impact of Performance Management on academic staff performance, and staff development, • An investigation into the Balanced Scorecard as a Management Accounting tool. A comprehensive literature review was conducted, and from the literature it became evident that Performance Management of academia in Higher Education Institutions is problematic. A questionnaire circulated to the academia of four Higher Education Institutions served as basis for the empirical section of this study. The empirical evidence gathered through the responses captured from the questionnaires suggested first hand that there is great dissatisfaction amongst academia regarding the Performance Management as applied to them. In this case the findings gathered from the empirical study corresponded with the findings from the literature review conducted for this study. Evidence gathered through the responses from the questionnaires suggested great dissatisfaction with the current Performance Management System and that academia is eager to investigate alternative methods of implementing Performance Management . The findings also suggested that the Balanced Scorecard, a Management Accounting tool, should be investigated further in an attempt to find an alternative method of Performance Management The findings of this study also identified areas for future possible research; there is a need for more extensive research studies to validate the use of the Balanced Scoreboard, a Management Accounting tool, as an alternative to the Performance Management Systems currently applied. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Management Accounting))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 108 of 1996 (SA, 1996) makes provision for all citizens to receive quality health care. Legislation such as the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service of 1995, (SA, 1995a), the White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery (Batho Pele) (SA, 1997b), the Public Service Act 103 of 1994, as amended (SA, 1994), the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (SA, 1995b) and the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (SA, 1998) enshrines this right for all citizens by ensuring that health authorities put measures in place to improve the performance of nurse employee (NE), and thus ensuring quality health care. NE are only able to improve the quality of their performance, if their performance is systematically appraised and their potential for development is identified. However, researchers, for instance Du Plessis (2002:116), Nkosi (2002:37–44), Narcisse and Harcourt (2008:1154), Thompson et al. (1999:139), Fletcher (2001:473) studied the perceptions and experiences of employees and managers of performance appraisal (PA) and these studies indicated that there is a gap in the implementation of PA. The Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) policy (Policy no. NWPG 13) was implemented in the North West public health sector in clinics and hospitals in 2004 to provide guidelines for the implementation of PA. This policy is reviewed annually since it was first drafted. However the researcher’s personal experience with PA in practice was that there is a gap between the process provided by the PMDS policy (Policy no. NWPG 13) and the implementation thereof in the North West public health sector. This led to the following research questions: how is PA implemented from the perspectives of nurse line managers (NLM) and NE in clinics in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District (KKD) and what guidelines can be developed to improve the implementation of PA in clinics in the KKD? The study aimed to develop guidelines to improve the implementation of PA in clinics in the KKD. The study had a cross–sectional quantitative design with exploratory, descriptive and contextual research strategies. Two questionnaires: one for NLM and the other for NE were developed from section 13.4.4 and 13.4.5 of the PMDS policy (Policy no. NWPG 13 amendment approved for 2008–2009 performance cycle) (SA, 2007), to explore and describe the perceptions of NLM and NE on the implementation of PA in clinics in the KKD. Twenty–three problems were identified from the empirical research with regard to communication, feedback and participation in PA, which served as the evidence base towards developing guidelines to improve the implementation of PA in clinics in the KKD. The guidelines were developed using inductive and deductive reasoning and were based on the ten–point plan of Juran. Finally the research was evaluated, limitations were identified and recommendations were formulated for practice, education, management, research and policy. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

INTRODUCTION The intention of this study was to formulate guidelines for the implementation of Performance Management System (PMS) regarding line managers (LM) and employees (E) in a level 2 public hospital in the North–West Province. From a preliminary evaluation it was evident that the implementation of performance management as outlined in the NWPG policy No. 13, was not effective. The results of the research was to provide baseline data of the current policy implementation by the line managers and employees; an indication of the ability of the PMS to reach its goal of improved performance between line managers and employees in the long term; and the barriers to the policy implementation discovered over the course of the study. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Based on the statement of the problem, the following research questions were asked: * How is PMS implemented from the perspective of line managers in a level 2 public hospital? * How is PMS implemented from the perspective of employees in a level 2 public hospital? * What guidelines can be formulated for line managers and employees regarding PMS? AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The principal aim of this study was to formulate guidelines for implementation of PMS by line managers and employees. The objectives below of the research which are derived from the principal aim were: * To describe the implementation of the PMS from the perspective of line managers in a level 2 public hospital. * To describe the implementation of the PMS from the perspective of employees in a level 2 public hospital. * To formulate guidelines for line managers and employees regarding PMS? RESEARCH DESIGN A quantitative, explorative, descriptive, and contextual design was used in this study to reach the overarching aim and respective objectives. RESEARCH METHOD The researcher firstly conducted a literature review to understand implementation of PMS and related constructs. Thereafter the researcher used two similar structured questionnaires for both LM and E to collect data. The questionnaires were developed to measure the perceptions of both LM and E in the implementation of PMS in a level 2 public hospital. The questionnaires were based on the six steps (performance planning, developing performance criteria, performance monitoring, performance review and assessment, annual performance assessment and performance assessment outcomes) of the current PMS policy used in a level 2 public hospital. The study is based on transformational leadership whereby the line managers (LM) as nurse leaders with transformational characteristics are assumed to be empowering the employees (E) and creating enthusiasm for nursing practice. Minor adaptations were made to the questionnaires prior to administration to the nursing personnel in a level 2 public hospital in North West Province. An all inclusive sample was taken, representative of a larger population and this amounted to twenty four line managers (n=24) and fifty five employees (n=55) that participated in the study. RESULTS There were problems identified from both the line managers (LM) and employees (E) in performance planning, developing performance criteria, and monitoring performance, organizing and the process of performance review and assessment and lastly the annual performance assessment. The main two main findings are: * The effect size of all the questions indicates a practically visible and thus significant difference with regard to LM and E perceptions of the implementation of PMS. * There is statistical evidence of improper implementation of PMS from both groups regarding some of the performance implementation items. Based on the empirical evidence and the problems identified from the results, guidelines for the implementation of PMS were formulated. It is suggested that these be used and implemented to streamline the PMS in level 2 public hospitals. Keywords: Key result areas (KRAs), Generic assessment factors (GAFs), reward, work plan, Performance Agreement (PA), Performance Management System (PMS). / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The purpose of this research is to help increase the capacity of public-sector transportation agencies (such as state Departments of Transportation, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and transit providers) to preserve and enhance transportation-related quality of life (QOL) outcomes in their jurisdictions. QOL is a multi-dimensional concept that is closely related to the concepts of livability and social sustainability. Public-sector agencies are charged with promoting the well-being (i.e. QOL) of the public, and they often must work within a complex inter-organizational context, with overlapping and intersecting jurisdictions and responsibilities, in order to influence QOL. Because of their responsibility to promote QOL, many public-sector transportation agencies mention QOL, livability, and/or sustainability in their vision statements, mission statements, and strategic planning documents. Furthermore, U.S. Federal guidance and regulations that govern the practice of transportation planning, engineering, and performance management have begun to refer to issues related to livability and sustainability. However, these complex concepts are still ambiguous in meaning and application for many transportation practitioners. In order to effectively preserve and enhance transportation-related QOL outcomes, practitioners need a clear conceptual framework that links concepts of livability and sustainability to practical performance management tools for an inter-jurisdictional context. The primary objective and contributions of this research are the development of such a conceptual framework - the stacked systems framework (SSF) - and a methodology for applying it to enhance transportation performance management in an inter-jurisdictional context. In order to develop the SSF, this research begins with an extensive literature review that clarifies the relationships among sustainability, livability, and transportation-related QOL outcomes; and integrates the concepts of social sustainability, soft systems methodologies, and the field of transportation performance management. To apply the SSF, this research includes a case study of public-sector transportation performance management processes in metropolitan Atlanta. The case study analyzes the influence of the regional inter-organizational system of public-sector transportation agencies on transportation-related QOL outcomes; identifies gaps in the current set of transportation performance measures used for decision making at the regional scale; and demonstrates the value to decision making of incorporating recommended performance measures that can more appropriately link organizational actions to broader QOL and livability outcomes via changes in transportation service quality. The case study methodology can be extended for future development of transportation performance management practices in metro Atlanta, and reproduced for other regions and geographic scales.

We developed a diffusive load balancing scheme that equalizes the available capacities of nodes in a peer-to-peer (P2P) system. These nodes may have different resource capacities, geographic locations, or availabilities (i.e., length of time being part of the peer-to-peer system). The services on these nodes may have different service times and arrival rates of requests. Using the diffusive scheme, the system is able to maintain similar response times for its services. Our scheme is a modification of the diffusive load balancing algorithms proposed for parallel computing systems. This scheme is able to handle services with heterogeneous resource requirements and P2P nodes with heterogeneous capacities. We also adapted the diffusive scheme to clustered peer-to-peer system, where a load balancing operation may move services or nodes between clusters. After a literature survey of this field, this thesis investigates the following issues using analytical reasoning and extensive simulation studies. The load balancing operations equalize the available capacities of the nodes in a neighborhood to their averages. As a result, the available capacities of all nodes in the P2P system converge to a global average. We found that this convergence is faster when the scheme uses neighborhoods defined by the structure of the structured P2P overlay network rather than using randomly selected neighbors. For a system with churn (i.e. nodes joining and leaving), the load balancing operations maintain the standard deviation of the available capacities of nodes within a bound. This bound depends on the amount of churn and the frequency of load balancing operations, as well as on the capacities of the nodes. However, the sizes of the services have little impact on this bound. In a clustered peer-to-peer system, the size of the bound largely depends on the average cluster size. When nodes are moved among clusters for load balancing, the numbers of cluster splits and merges are reduced. This may reduce the maintenance cost of the overlay network.

This study used a quantitative approach to evaluate the application of the performance management and development system in the Eastern Cape Department of Health, from the perspective of employees. The evaluation report has three sections that are designed as interrelated but stand-alone documents. Section One is written as a report directed to the Eastern Cape Department of Health. Section Two is a review of the relevant literature that was conducted to review the existing literature related to the application of performance management and development systems, and underpinned the construction of the questionnaire. Section Three provides a description and justification of the design of the research, as well as describing the research procedure followed. Pertinent components of Sections Two and Three are extracted from these sections and included in the report in Section One. The literature review focused on the following areas: the purpose of performance management, components of the performance management process, challenges/ criticism of performance management systems, integration of performance management with other systems and the effectiveness of performance management system. The results revealed that about 74% of employees disagree that management is committed towards the successful application of the performance management system. This finding concurs with the literature. For example, De Waal and Counet (2009:367) argue that one of the problems in the application of performance management system is that the management lacks commitment to the implementation of a performance management system. Systematic sampling (Leedy and Ormrod, 2010) was used to select 120 participants in three Departmental programmes or clusters from grade levels six to 15. The researcher distributed the questionnaires to every fifth person of the population electronically using SurveyBob, which is an on line survey tool. The collected data was then analyzed using Excel software. The findings indicated that although overall employees are not satisfied with the application of the PMDS system in the Eastern Cape Department of Health, there were some successes. Nevertheless, the challenges outweighed successes of the system. The challenges that resulted in the failure of the system include poor communication, a lack of understanding of the system by the employees and a lack of knowledge with regards to the integration of PMDS with other initiatives and plans already in place. Page 4 There were positive views with enabling factors and these were work plans that are mutually agreed upon between the employee and their supervisors and are aligned to departmental strategic priorities. Constraining factors included the low levels of commitment of the management to the application of the PMDS processes, review meetings not being undertaken on a quarterly basis, and a lack of written outcome reviews. The majority of the study participants believe that the PMDS lacks fairness in its implementation. Recommendations were made on the basis of the gaps that were identified so as to improve the application of the performance management system in the Eastern Cape Department of Health. It is therefore recommended that the Department should ensure that training and development of employees on the PMDS takes place to enhance manager’s understanding of the policy. This will enable managers to understand the important role played by performance management in their day to day activities. A performance management and development system needs to be integrated with all other processes to be effective. On-going communication of the PMDS policy should be considered. Accountability of managers to the Accounting Officer and submission of quarterly reports are imperative to ensure their compliance. In conclusion, dissatisfaction outweighs satisfaction of the employees with regards to the implementation of the PMDS system.