Employees’ perceived effectiveness of the performance management system at a North-West provincial government department

Abstract

Orientation: The implementation of the performance management system (PMS) within a specific North-West provincial government department appears to be ineffective.Research purpose: To measure employees’ perceived effectiveness of the PMS.Motivation for the study: Employees’ experiences of employee PMSs may be different from that which it intends. The motivation for this study was to quantify employees’ perceptions of PMS effectiveness.Research approach/design and method: The researchers used a quantitative research approach and collected data using self-administered e-mail questionnaires on a total population of 247 employees at a North-West provincial government department.Main findings: Utilising two measurement constructs, namely, performance management accuracy and fairness, the study revealed that employees perceived the PMS as effective. However, some deficiencies were identified. The major shortcomings related to the lack of coaching provided and manager’s non-compliance with procedural, distributive and procedural justice principles. The overall mean score of the perceived accuracy was slightly above the midpoint of the range, indicating that employees perceived PMS as accurate, and were generally satisfied with the implementation of the system. However, employees perceived the PMS as unfair.Practical/managerial implications: A perception of effective and accurate PMS does not translate into perceptions of fairness. When employees feel unfairly treated during the appraisal system, morale and performance are likely to be adversely affected. Coaching and/or training related to PMS remains imperative.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the body of knowledge by quantifying the perceptions of employees regarding the factors that determine the effectiveness of PMS, namely, accuracy and fairness. It contributes towards the theory and practice regarding employees’ perceived effectiveness of the PMS.

Employee’s psychological experiences with bank’s pay for performance system in South Africa

“…Pay for performance systems are always marred with controversies (Modipane et al, 2019;Mulvaney, 2017) because of poor system design and line managers undermining employee's motivation (Kim & Holzer 2016;Mulvaney, 2017). Employees are mostly frustrated with regard to the design of the performance-based appraisal systems: (1) the system is not job related;…”

“…Moreover, the performance management system includes contracting at the beginning of the year or financial year, clearly stipulating the targets that employees have to meet to qualify for rewards and bonuses; as a result, Vroom's (1964) Expectancy theory becomes applicable in this study. If bank employees perform according to their contracts or reach their targets they should be rewarded accordingly and if that does not happen, there is bound to be animosity and disengagement on the employee's part (Luthra & Jain, 2012;Modipane et al, 2019). Moreover, when employees receive or do not receive their due rewards (extrinsic rewards), they are affected psychologically or intrinsically leading to demotivation among other negative consequences and that is best explained by the cognitive evaluation theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985).…”

Employees’ experiences of change management in the implementation of a performance management system

“…Madlabana and Petersen (2020) argue that the most critical task, when managing people, is to make sure that employees perform optimally in executing tasks in their respective job roles. Hence, organisations that align and measure performance, across all organisational levels, often achieve tangible results in terms of their strategic imperatives (Modipane, Botha, & Blom, 2019). When these strategic imperatives are met, performance management has direct benefits for employees and organisations, which include the improvement of strategic two-way communication, the strengthening of relationships, and the enhancement of employees' personal and career development (Maleka, Paul-Dachapalli, Ragadu, Schultz, & Van Hoek, 2020).…”

“…In addition, Modipane et al (2019) argue that an effective performance management system should also be able to compare individual and team results against predetermined targets, with the goal of guiding, encouraging and enhancing decision making. Thus, an appropriately configured performance management system plays a pivotal role in maintaining and enhancing quality on the set performance standards (Karim, 2015).…”

“…Nothing should be left to chance. Performance management systems have been shrouded in controversy, ranging from it being seen as a punitive measure to it being condemned as a western management philosophy that could result in organisational injustice (Caza, Caza, & Lind, 2011;Coovadia, Jewkes, Barron, Sanders, & McIntyre, 2009;Modipane et al, 2019). A lot is therefore at stake because, it allows managers to 'identify those who qualify for a salary increment and promotion, identify training and development needs, place employees according to their ability and formally document reasons for any punitive measures' (Nxumalo et al, 2018, p. 2).…”