Evaluation of dysfunctional management patterns in the the North-West Department of Education

Abstract

The workplace is where most people spend much of their daily lives. On the average working people spend at least 80% of their lifetime in the workplace, trying so hard to earn a living. It is right there, in the workplace, where most people are being confronted by challenges emanating from the workload or from people's attitudes, behaviours and personalities. These challenges often have a direct influence on people's attitude towards their work and job performance. This influence can either shape or break a worker's life and this may lead to organisational failure or success. When performance is affected, service delivery is compromised and the recipients of the services provided suffer the consequences. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Dysfunctional Management Patterns in the workplace. A case study was done in the North-West Department of Education. The aim was to find out whether dysfunctional management patterns are widespread in the workplace and what impact they have on an individual's performance and organisational performance and to what extent they affect service delivery especially within the public service or in government departments. The method of investigation used included both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Forms of questionnaires were distributed to the sample population. At the end of each section of the questionnaire respondents were asked to make comments and to state their cases freely and also give reasons for their statements if they so wished. The results of this study demonstrated that dysfunctional management patterns are present in the workplace and are affecting performance to a large extent. Interestingly, the study revealed that perpetrators are not only managers but employees/colleagues as well. The findings also suggest that Political Heads and Heads of departments (HOD' s) are the main perpetrators of dysfunctional management patterns. From the results it is

also evident that Senior Managers / Directors and Junior Managers are the worst managers as compared to Middle Managers (Deputy Directors) and Executive Managers (Chief Directors). In line with the findings, it is therefore recommended that organisations must acknowledge the presence of dysfunctional management patterns in the workplace and should find strategic ways or should put policies in place to deal with such unbecoming force. Personality tests should be given during interviews for employing new people and continuous introspection of the organisation and individuals should be done in an effort to eradicate dysfunctional management patterns in the workplace.