An Investigation into the Impact of Performance Appraisal on the Performance of Employees in the North West Provincial Department of Finance

Abstract

Performance management and development system encompasses a number of aspects, that relate to employee performance. Performance appraisal is a fundamental tool utilised by an organisation to ensure that employees are effective in their work. A clear valuation of effective work by employees can reveal that subordinates may be in need of motivation, rewards, development, training and good working relationships with their supervisor in an organisation. There are a number of legislations such as the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (108 of 1996), Public Service Regulations (2016), Public Finance Management Act (1 of 1999) and White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service, put in place in the Public Sector to provide public servants with guidance regarding the implementation of performance appraisal techniques. A coherent performance appraisal technique requires development of a standard that calls for a successful performance by employees, gives positive performance feedback and enables a fair and unbiased rewards system. Performance appraisal is mostly linked with incentives within an organisation to motivate employees to perform beyond what is expected of them. While it may be a requirement in the South African government, not all employees receive their incentives when they deserve them. The main area that has been investigated in this study is the lack of proper implementation of the performance appraisal technique employed in the North West Department of Finance in Mahikeng. For the sample in this study, 53% of the employees were identified to part take in the study. The research results discovered that employees require their supervisors to motivate and communicate with them, distribute performance bonuses fairly and encourage them to attend training relating to the performance appraisal technique employed in the Department. The researcher of this study identified a number of challenges relating to performance appraisal in the Department and made relevant recommendations on how the Department can succeed in dealing with such challenges.