An evaluation of a performance management system within a division of a large organisation in the public sector

Abstract

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Today’s competitive and dynamic business world, solicits ever higher levels of performance and productivity. At the core of this drive to higher performance is the enhancement and managing of employees’ performance through a Performance Management system. Performance Management however, is a very complex, multi-dimensional and integrated system with a number of interacting critical prerequisites. Even in ideal circumstances, these fundamental elements would, in all likelihood, not all be satisfied during the initial phases of implementing a Performance Management system. The concern existed, on the basis of the abovementioned probabilities, that the Performance Management system of the Children and Families Division (CAF) of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) of Tasmania, Australia, was not enjoying optimal operational effectiveness. The aim of this study was to identify those factors in the system that are underdeveloped, possibly unsuccessfully implemented or in need of attention as they impact negatively on the effective running of the CAF’s Performance Management system. A suitable tool for this diagnostic purpose already exists in the form of the Performance Management Audit Questionnaire (PMAQ), developed by Spangenberg and Theron (1997). Through administering and analysing the PMAQ results, the CAF could obtain a clear indication of the system’s current effectiveness and would be able to identify where the problem areas are in order to refine the system for greater operational effectiveness. The results successfully identified the underdeveloped or absent areas of the organisation’s current Performance Management system. The results further found a clear difference between managerial and non-managerial perceptions of the effectiveness of the Performance Management system. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of proposed remedial actions that could be implemented to address the problem areas.

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