M. Tech. Business Administration / Over the past few years, there has been increasing evidence in the literature on performance management of the importance of performance management (PM) as a tool to increase desired employee outcomes. The South African public service is facing significant challenges on several fronts in sustaining its human resource management so that it will be instrumental in providing quality service delivery to all public stakeholders in the 21st century. The continued success of any public institution in the service industry depends on its employees' contribution and commitment. This means that human resources are a vital resource that contributes to a public institution's effectiveness. In order to improve service delivery in the public sector, performance management was introduced as a means of improving employee outcomes in the Water Trading Entity (WTE). The purpose of this study was to investigate how the current performance management practices within the WTE (e.g., providing employees with feedback on strengths and weaknesses; development needs; resources needed by employees; as well as opportunities for monitoring) are related to the achievement of specific desired performance outcomes. The research was undertaken in the WTE that operates within the Department of Water Affairs.

Leadership development has become a focal area for most organisations today in an attempt to ensure that leaders are able to take them into the future and achieve a competitive advantage. Literature reveals that, among others, one of the most popular initiatives in leadership development includes the use 360-degree feedback. Due to the sensitivity and challenge of giving and receiving 360 degree feedback, it is essential to understand the subjective experience of manager's who have recently undergone the process as well as the factors which influence and are influenced by the process. To achieve this, a grounded theory study was conducted in a large manufacturing organisation. The data was collected through focus group interviews with a voluntary sample of senior managers who had participated in a 360 degree feedback process. The outcomes of the study include a definition of "subjective experience" as well as a substantive theory on the subjective experience of 360-degree feedback as a tool in leadership development. Findings indicate that individual's reactions coupled with the perception of both the accuracy and utility of the process are key contributors which form the essence of "subjective experience". Past experience, present information and context were further identified to be key intervening variables of a manager's subjective experience of 360-degree feedback as a tool in leadership development. A number of limitations within this study are explained and recommendations for future research and organisations are provided. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm. (Industrial Psychology)

Multi-rater tools also referred to as 360-degree feedback tools, are frequently used in addition to traditional supervisory appraisals due to sources (i.e., supervisor, peer, direct report) unique perspectives and opportunities to view different aspects of job performance. Research has found that the differences among sources are most prevalent between self and other ratings, and the direction of agreement is related to overall job performance. Research has typically focused on one form of agreement, the direction of an individual's self-ratings compared to others' ratings. The current study expanded on past research on rater agreement using a data set (n = 215) consisting of multi-rater data for professionals participating in a leadership development process. The study examined the ability to predict job performance with three different measures of self-other agreement (i.e., difference between overall mean scores (difference), mean absolute difference across items (difference), and mean correlation across items (similarity)). The study also examined how the relationships may differ across performance dimensions. The final purpose was to explore how the importance of the performance dimensions, as rated by the participant, may moderate the relationship between self-other agreement and job performance. Partial support for study's hypotheses was found. The direction and difference measures of agreement on the overall multi-rater tool and performance dimensions accounted for a significant amount of the variance in job performance. The relationship between the similarity measure of agreement and job performance, and the moderating effect of importance were not supported in the current study.

M. Tech. Busness Administration / Existing research suggests that the Public Sector Performance Management Systems are used to some extent, in support of strategic planning and other governance and managerial functions. However, there is still a gap on the effectiveness of the performance management system. In recent years, organisations have implemented performance management because it leads to better organisational results as reported in many articles and case studies. However, there is little solid empirical evidence of the actual effects performance management has on the quantitative results of the public sector. This study aims to describe the results of a study that explores the quantitative research on the effectiveness of performance management and development in the Department of Cooperative Governance by examining the actual practices in performance management and discuss the rationale for performance management as well as the political and organisational factors influencing this process within this Department.

The general purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in self-perception between male and female leaders. The sample group included male and female leaders in a few companies (e.g Fluor, Human Dynamics, The Munt, Rand Merchant Private bank etc) companies. Each manager's self-perception was tested against the way in which others (managers, peers, subordinates) perceive him or her. The difference between the self-rating and that of the others was measured to establish the difference in perception between self and others. The results showed that men were slightly more self-aware than the females. It is recommended that it would be beneficial to find ways in which the environment can be prepared to limit the impact of gender differences on the implementation of the 360 feedback system (or any other performance management system) and to investigate variables such as cultural differences, age and the concept of self-perception. / Indust & Org Psychology / MA(IND AND ORG PSYCHOLOGY)

The general purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in self-perception between male and female leaders. The sample group included male and female leaders in a few companies (e.g Fluor, Human Dynamics, The Munt, Rand Merchant Private bank etc) companies. Each manager's self-perception was tested against the way in which others (managers, peers, subordinates) perceive him or her. The difference between the self-rating and that of the others was measured to establish the difference in perception between self and others. The results showed that men were slightly more self-aware than the females. It is recommended that it would be beneficial to find ways in which the environment can be prepared to limit the impact of gender differences on the implementation of the 360 feedback system (or any other performance management system) and to investigate variables such as cultural differences, age and the concept of self-perception. / Indust and Org Psychology / MA(IND AND ORG PSYCHOLOGY)

Benefits of this thesis are comprehensive mapping of the current situation in the selected family business and creation of consequent proposals for those human resources activities, where improvement, modification, specification or variation would be suitable. Especially after generational change in family business, proposals of this thesis can become a topic for further consideration and basis for the successor activity in the area of human resources management.

The factors that hinder or help the development of emotionally competent behaviour in leaders appear to be varied and complex. The role of personality variables such as personality preferences and self-esteem in influencing the development and demonstration of emotional competent behaviour has not yet been well researched. The general aim of this research was to investigate whether a relationship exists between personality preferences, self-esteem and emotional competence, and to determine whether the variables personality preferences and self-esteem can predict the demonstration of emotional competence. Personality preferences were studied from the Analytical Psychology paradigm. Jung's Psychological Types and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator theory of Personality Types provided a theoretical understanding of individual differences in emotional response behaviour. Based on the Humanistic and Social Psychology paradigms, the construct self-esteem was explored from a multi-dimensional perspective with particular emphasis on individuals' self-evaluative views and feelings of self-worth, self-acceptance, sense of belonging and sense of psychological well-being within the particular socio-cultural domain in which these aspects manifest themselves. Emotional competence was studied from the paradigmatic perspectives of the Cognitive Social Learning theories. Emotional competence was viewed as the workplace application of emotional intelligence abilities, which are developable and can be learned. In this regard, emotional competence was described as the demonstration of self-efficacious behaviour in emotion-eliciting social transactions. Emotional competence implies a sense of psychological well-being (a positive inner state of being) and an ability to skillfully, creatively and confidently adapt in an uncertain, unstructured and changing socio-cultural environment. An empirical investigation was conducted to analyse the responses of a randomly selected sample of 107 South African leaders in the manufacturing industry to measures of these three constructs. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Culture-free Self-esteem Inventories for Adults (CFSEI-AD), and the 360° Emotional Competency Profiler (ECP) were administered. The MBTI extraverted-thinking and extraverted-intuitive personality preferences were associated with the CFSEI-AD social, general and total self-esteem scales. In terms of the ECP emotional competence self-evaluations, self-motivation was associated with the MBTI extraverted-judging, extraverted-thinking and extraverted-intuitive preferences, while interpersonal relations was associated with the extraverted-intuitive and extraverted-feeling preferences. The MBTI introverted-sensing, introverted-judging and introverted-thinking preferences were associated with the ECP emotional literacy scale, and the introverted-judging, introverted-sensing and introverted-thinking preferences were associated with interpersonal relations in terms of the emotional competence other evaluations. The MBTI introverted-thinking preference was associated with the ECP self-esteem/self-regard other evaluations and the CFSEI-AD personal self-esteem scale. The ECP total emotional competence scale was associated with the MBTI extraverted-intuitive preference (in terms of the self-evaluations) and the introverted-judging and introverted-thinking preferences in terms of total emotional competence other evaluations. The CFSEI-AD general, personal and total self-esteem scales were associated with the ECP change resilience, self-motivation, self-esteem/self-regard, interpersonal relations and total emotional competence scales. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the ECP emotional competence construct is closely related to the affective component of the CFSEI-AD self-esteem construct, particularly one's sense of psychological well-being which is related to feelings of self-worth. The empirical results confirmed the effect of self-esteem on the self-evaluations of raters exposed to multi-rater assessments such as the 360° Emotional Competency Profiler, namely that self-raters with very high self-esteem may tend to over-inflate their self-evaluations. The CFSEI-AD total self-esteem scale also appears to be a more reliable predictor of emotional competence than the MBTI personality preferences. The results contributed new knowledge about the relationship between individuals' self-esteem, personality preferences and emotional competence and added perspective on the interpretation of individuals' self-ratings, particularly with regard to 360° emotional competence assessments. Recommendations for Industrial and Organisational Psychology practices regarding leader development are formulated, as well as recommendations for future research in the field. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The Performance Management System (PMS) has been introduced in the South African public service with the intentions of monitoring, reviewing, assessing performance, developing underperformers, and recognising and rewarding good performance. This study was undertaken as an attempt to investigate whether the PMS of the Department of Local Government and Housing (DLGH) in the Limpopo Province contributes to the improvement in departmental productivity. The literature review undertaken in this study shows that there is a general poor understanding of PMS in the public service and in the DLGH in particular. It (the literature review) further establishes that there are several challenges that hinder the effective implementation of a PMS in the public service. Other findings of the study include that there is a challenge of biased ratings (subjective assessment), and a setting of unrealistic performance targets which are unrealisable by employees. The foregoing justifies the reasons why productivity levels are not always realised and targets not achieved by the DLGH. The main finding of the study is that, although it plays a significant role in the improvement of productivity, the PMS has not contributed to the improvement of productivity of the DLGH in the Limpopo Province. The main recommendation on the basis of this finding is that there should be a regular and thorough training of officials within the DLGH about the PMS and how it influences productivity. Other additional recommendations include, inter alia, that the Departmental Moderating Committee should demand verifiable evidence to justify a higher rating during quarterly assessments, and that punitive/disciplinary measures be taken against those who do not comply with the provision of the PMS policy, particularly failure to submit performance instruments. / Public Administration / M Admin. (Public Administration)

The factors that hinder or help the development of emotionally competent behaviour in leaders appear to be varied and complex. The role of personality variables such as personality preferences and self-esteem in influencing the development and demonstration of emotional competent behaviour has not yet been well researched. The general aim of this research was to investigate whether a relationship exists between personality preferences, self-esteem and emotional competence, and to determine whether the variables personality preferences and self-esteem can predict the demonstration of emotional competence. Personality preferences were studied from the Analytical Psychology paradigm. Jung's Psychological Types and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator theory of Personality Types provided a theoretical understanding of individual differences in emotional response behaviour. Based on the Humanistic and Social Psychology paradigms, the construct self-esteem was explored from a multi-dimensional perspective with particular emphasis on individuals' self-evaluative views and feelings of self-worth, self-acceptance, sense of belonging and sense of psychological well-being within the particular socio-cultural domain in which these aspects manifest themselves. Emotional competence was studied from the paradigmatic perspectives of the Cognitive Social Learning theories. Emotional competence was viewed as the workplace application of emotional intelligence abilities, which are developable and can be learned. In this regard, emotional competence was described as the demonstration of self-efficacious behaviour in emotion-eliciting social transactions. Emotional competence implies a sense of psychological well-being (a positive inner state of being) and an ability to skillfully, creatively and confidently adapt in an uncertain, unstructured and changing socio-cultural environment. An empirical investigation was conducted to analyse the responses of a randomly selected sample of 107 South African leaders in the manufacturing industry to measures of these three constructs. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Culture-free Self-esteem Inventories for Adults (CFSEI-AD), and the 360° Emotional Competency Profiler (ECP) were administered. The MBTI extraverted-thinking and extraverted-intuitive personality preferences were associated with the CFSEI-AD social, general and total self-esteem scales. In terms of the ECP emotional competence self-evaluations, self-motivation was associated with the MBTI extraverted-judging, extraverted-thinking and extraverted-intuitive preferences, while interpersonal relations was associated with the extraverted-intuitive and extraverted-feeling preferences. The MBTI introverted-sensing, introverted-judging and introverted-thinking preferences were associated with the ECP emotional literacy scale, and the introverted-judging, introverted-sensing and introverted-thinking preferences were associated with interpersonal relations in terms of the emotional competence other evaluations. The MBTI introverted-thinking preference was associated with the ECP self-esteem/self-regard other evaluations and the CFSEI-AD personal self-esteem scale. The ECP total emotional competence scale was associated with the MBTI extraverted-intuitive preference (in terms of the self-evaluations) and the introverted-judging and introverted-thinking preferences in terms of total emotional competence other evaluations. The CFSEI-AD general, personal and total self-esteem scales were associated with the ECP change resilience, self-motivation, self-esteem/self-regard, interpersonal relations and total emotional competence scales. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the ECP emotional competence construct is closely related to the affective component of the CFSEI-AD self-esteem construct, particularly one's sense of psychological well-being which is related to feelings of self-worth. The empirical results confirmed the effect of self-esteem on the self-evaluations of raters exposed to multi-rater assessments such as the 360° Emotional Competency Profiler, namely that self-raters with very high self-esteem may tend to over-inflate their self-evaluations. The CFSEI-AD total self-esteem scale also appears to be a more reliable predictor of emotional competence than the MBTI personality preferences. The results contributed new knowledge about the relationship between individuals' self-esteem, personality preferences and emotional competence and added perspective on the interpretation of individuals' self-ratings, particularly with regard to 360° emotional competence assessments. Recommendations for Industrial and Organisational Psychology practices regarding leader development are formulated, as well as recommendations for future research in the field. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)