Magister Commercii - MCom / Perceptions of performance management in the South African Public Sector was characterised by high levels of unfairness owing to a bias in favour of those individuals that can write essays well. The essays would provide the evaluation team with an indication of the achievement of the individual as its relates to job performance, knowledge, insight, interpersonal relations and leadership qualities. Although the Performance Management system has changed from what was called the Performance Appraisal System to the Personnel Performance Management System that involves both supervisor and employee inputs, fairness perceptions remain unchanged. This study aimed to ascertain perceptions of fairness toward performance appraisals amongst public service raters and ratees on Level 1 to 12 who are subject to use the Personnel Performance Management System in the office of a public service organisation: National Department of Land Affairs Chief Directorate : Surveys and Mapping. / South Africa

Transnet is facing challenging market realities and a competitive operating environment. Performance management has been emphasised as a critical tool to guide Transnet in maintaining a competitive advantage. Performance management cannot be viewed in isolation from the organisational context and is inextricably linked to the Human Resources strategy, which in turn is aligned with the overall business strategy. Performance management may be defined as a systematic process by which an organisation involves its employees, as individuals and members of groups, in improving organisational effectiveness in the accomplishment of organisational mission and goals. For the purposes of this study, performance management was explored in terms of purpose, key role players, processes, criteria and challenges. The main research problem of this study was to determine the perceptions of non-bargaining unit employees of the performance management system at Transnet Engineering. The main research problem had three sub-problems which were addressed through the following actions: A literature study was conducted highlighting the importance of an effective performance management system which establishes a foundation for rewarding excellence by aligning individual objectives with organisational mission and objectives. In this way, performance management establishes clear expectations in terms of results, actions and behaviours. Through regular feedback and coaching, performance management provides a mechanism for detecting problems at an early stage and identifies ways in which to take corrective action. Perceptions of performance management are largely centred around fairness, and dependent on a number of issues, including openness, transparency, communication, and equitability, and the establishment of clear parameters of measurement such as whether both skill and effort will be evaluated. This is why it is important to link performance appraisals to employee goals. If mutually negotiated goals, which involve the participation of all stakeholders, are established at the beginning of the performance period and there is on-going feedback to employees about their performance, then performance appraisals may be perceived as objective, fair and reliable. The insights gained from the literature survey were incorporated into a survey questionnaire which was used in the empirical study to investigate the perceptions of non-bargaining unit employees of the performance management system at Transnet Engineering. This study revealed that most of the respondents were not satisfied with the performance management system within Transnet Engineering, that performance management could be enhanced by using multiple measures more frequently and that greater involvement of subordinates at each step in the performance management process would lead to a greater level of acceptance thereof.

After a review of the literature relevant to performance management systems both over time and across different types of organizations, this thesis confines its research To a case study of the Role of Performance Management in The Motivation of Employees in an organization. Important insight was gained into the relative importance of the performance management practices to promote desired employee outcomes. In view thereof that a discussion of performance in organizations is incomplete without reference to the construct of organizational culture, this study also provided propositions to prompt further research on the role of performance management in reinforcing a high performance organizational culture. Insightful conclusions were drawn from the results obtained and recommendations are made for future research.

The South African national government has bestowed certain authority on local governments in order for community services to be delivered by officials who are closer to the community and who will consider community needs. Post-apartheid South Africa is confronted with a major challenge in ensuring that municipalities deliver optimal and professional services to ratepayers of all ethnic and diverse cultures. Municipalities have important objectives to implement, while service delivery is one of its major goals. The ratepayers in the NMBM have complained and protested against poor service delivery that resulted from poor job performance by NMBM employees. It is therefore necessary to investigate the obstacles that are hindering the NMBM employees in exhibiting effective and satisfactory job performance in order to deliver the required services to the customers. The primary objective of the study is improving employee job performance in the NMBM by investigating the factors that influence such performance. More specifically, the study investigates the influence of job involvement, team work, organisational communication, skills development and training, recognition and pay and rewards on the job performance of NMBM employees. Convenience sampling was used to select a sample of 250 respondents from the large population of about 2 000 NMBM employees. The sample was stratified to include all occupational levels including the executive mayor, portfolio councillors, executive directors, and financial officers, operating officers, chiefs of staff, directors, assistant directors, senior managers, professionals and blue collar staff. Two hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed, but only 200 usable questionnaires were returned, producing a response rate of 80 percent. The empirical results showed that recognition systems, job prestige, skills recognition, and skills development and training were significantly related to the job performance of the NMBM employees. Job involvement, fringe benefits, pay and rewards, teamwork and organisational communication were not significant related to the job performance of the NMBM employees. The study provides managerial and future research recommendations in this regard.

The study aims to identify which performance appraisal system is currently used in The Cold Chain, how this system compare with the fundamental requirements of a successful appraisal system and what requirements can be adopted to make the way in which Team Leaders are appraised more effective. An introduction into The Cold Chain, the identification of the problem and the relevance of the study is followed by a literature overview of performance management, the role of performance appraisals and the requirements for a successful performance appraisal system. Various appraisal systems, problems associated with performance appraisals and a framework for the development of an efficient system is discussed. Research conducted using a questionnaire sent to Team Leaders in The Cold Chain, delivered results which were analysed and discussed in Chapter four. In addition to biographical information, the function, effectiveness, evaluator involvement, objectives and criteria, requirements for performance appraisals, organisational alignment and evaluator faults were discussed. It was found that the current performance appraisal system in use at Mercor is a trait scale system. A trait scale method of performance appraisals does not reflect measurement against clearly defined job criteria and is difficult to legally defend. The essential elements for successful appraisal systems such as reliability, relevance, sensitivity, uncontaminated information, acceptability, practicality and legality will be present in a 360-degree approach and the implementation of such a system in Mecor was recommended.

Performance management systems help align individual goals and objectives with those of the organisation. The system engages employees and thereby directs them toward achieving the strategic goals of the organisation. The purpose of this research study was to conduct an investigation at a manufacturing jeweller in the Western Cape to establish whether a performance management system would facilitate the achievement of the organisation’s strategic goals and objectives. Preliminary investigations showed that the organisation was using a performance appraisal process which was not effective in facilitating the organisation’s strategic objectives. Based on the initial investigation, this study was undertaken. To achieve the goals of this study, 33 employees of the organisation were presented with a questionnaire based on important key elements of performance management. Responses were received from 31 employees, of which one was from senior management, two from management, three from supervisory staff, and 25 from general staff members. Their responses to the questionnaire were analysed and evaluated and, based on the findings, recommendations were made. The results of the study showed that problems exist in the organisation which impede achievement of its strategic goals. A performance management system would assist the organisation in many of these areas to overcome the identified problems. The results of the study will enable the management of the organisation to design and implement a performance management system to facilitate the achievement of the organisation’s strategic goals.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of an internally created performance appraisal system as well as the subjects' overall satisfaction with the implementation. The system was implemented at a major technology consulting firm in the US. The subjects of this study were three levels of employees of the firm. An employee survey conducted annually at the firm included questions relating to the implementation of the performance appraisal system. Eight years of employees' responses to three key questions were analyzed. Employees' perceptions of the appraisal feedback aiding increased performance, their belief about the implementation assisting with their career management, satisfaction with the initiative, and their understanding of the requirements for promotion were captured by this survey. Trend analysis indicates that employees at the firm perceived their career path knowledge unimproved, their understanding of promotion criteria unimproved as a result of the implementation. Employees did not indicate overall satisfaction with the implementation and the employee's belief about their skills and abilities utilization did not improve post implementation.

Magister Artium - MA / This research explored the experiences and perceptions of the performance appraisal systems in place and its value to social workers within the Department: Social Services and Poverty Alleviation: Provincial Government of the Western Cape. / South Africa

A social analog of a short-delay conditioning paradigm in Pavlovian learning was used to test the prediction that under certain conditions, human causal judgments would reflect acquired response properties that can be either increased (augmented) or decreased (discounted). The learning experiment was masked by describing it as a study testing a computerized employee evaluation system.

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