Performance management and developmental system within Department of Education in the North West Province

Abstract

The Minister for Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, made a request to government departments to move towards improved productivity, an improved scale of service delivery and the kind of quality service where citizens can say that public servants across the board, are performing to the best of their ability. The Government has put in place policies such as Performance Management and Developmental System (PMDS) as a gesture of its commitment and seriousness about effecting a better life for all through a business like approach to public service, Unfortunately some governments departments fail to enforce the policy accordingly. This paper is intended to examine the implementation of PMDS within the Department of Education in the North West. A qualitative research was conducted in the Corporate Center (Head Office) of the department. The data was collected from three managers and four staff members, two of whom are union representatives. The correspondence on PMDS and the researcher's observations were also used in this study. The investigation conducted revealed that performance management is not a priority in the department as it is done on an ad ho basis. There are also no specific people appointed to enforce the policy and those supervisors who do not feel like implementing the tool do so. This has a negative impact on the service delivery. There is a need for the department to make performance management a priority so as to improve productivity and service delivery.