Assessing the organizational support systems for human resources development in the chief directorate : strategic health progammes (North West Province)

["Civil service -- South Africa -- North-West -- Personnel management", "Public administration -- South Africa -- North-West", "Dissertations -- Public management and planning", "Theses -- Public management and planning", "School of Public Leadership"]

Setlhare, Itumeleng E. ; Lange, Junay

Stellenbosch University

Others  :  https://scholar.sun.ac.za:443/bitstream/10019.1/20245/2/setlhare_assessing_2012.pdf

瑞士|英语

来源: Stellenbosch University

【 摘 要 】

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In order to enhance human resource development in the public service, the South African Government launched its first human resource development strategy in 2002. This strategy was implemented over a period of four years. It was subsequently followed by another strategy, called the Human Resources Development (HRD) Strategic Framework Vision 2015, which was published by the Department of Public Service and Administration (the DPSA) in 2008. One of the pillars of the latter strategy, which is also the focus of this study, is organizational support systems.The aim of this study was to determine whether the Chief Directorate: Strategic Health Programmes (CD:SHP) successfully implements, as designed in the departmental HRD plan, the three strategic interventions related to organizational support systems. The objectives were to – assess the alignment of the organizational support systems in the Chief Directorate with the overall departmental organizational support systems (as stated in the HRD plan);- identify factors that hamper proper implementation of the departmental organizational support systems in the Chief Directorate; and- propose key strategic interventions to ensure successful implementation of the departmental organizational support systems.The organizational support system pillar has eleven strategic interventions, but, due to resources constraints, only three were investigated. These are:- to promote effective human resource planning in terms of demand for skills and training in public sector organizations;- to strengthen structures, systems and processes for the performance management and development in the public service; and- to groom and foster in-house capacity through effective career planning and talent management in departments of government.The process/implementation evaluation approach, with semi-structured interviews and questionnaire, was employed for this study. A mixed methodology, which covered the breadth of the quantitative method and the depth of the qualitative method, was used in this study.The findings indicated that the CD: SHP is not successfully implementing the pillar as designed by the departmental HRD plan. Among others, the following were identified as responsible for poor implementation:- lack of policy, strategy or guideline on HRD;- understaffed HRD units;- lack of coordination and cooperation between and among the stakeholders responsible for HRD (e.g. Human Resource Management( HRM), Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) and line managers); and- abdication of the performance management responsibility vested in managers.Key strategic interventions proposed to remedy the situation, among others, include:- reviewing the structure of the HRD directorate and filling, as a matter of urgency, all vacant posts;- reviving the committee responsible for coordinating HRD activities;- implementing and coordinating all HRD activities, from the HRD directorate, aimed at developing workplace skills plans and the effective utilization of personal development plans;- developing the blueprint for succession-planning and staff-retention strategies; and- assuring that PMDS becomes one of the key performance areas of all supervisors and managers in the Chief Directorate and that, regarding non-compliance, consistent sanctions be applied across all levels.