Many organisations have a negative perception of the real value of an active performance management system within their business.
This is the view of Dr Madelise Grobler, MD of Bytes People Solutions, commenting on the results of the ITWeb-Bytes People Solutions Training and e-Learning survey.
Attracting a total of 134 respondents, the study discovered that a high of 75.85% of the respondents do not have a performance management system containing data about their staff in place.
“I think this is a true reflection of what is on the ground within many organisations. People often see performance management as an HR-intensive process, which is difficult to implement. They often view it as a time-wasting activity which demands a lot of effort,” she says.
Grobler also believes that the reason for such a high percentage is because many organisations do not understand the benefits of performance management.
She explains that performance management entails activities that ensure that business objectives are met in an effective and efficient manner.
“By having a performance management system, an organisation would have, amongst others, a structured talent management process in place, a succession planning tool as well as a retention plan. Basically, if you do not have a performance management system in place, managing your employees can be a lot more difficult,” she says.
Vehicle for culture change
According to Grobler, performance management can also be a vehicle for culture change within the organisation.
However, the survey determined that for those who have performance management systems in place, 46.15% are using SAP; followed by Oracle with30.77%. This represents 76.92% of systems in place.
On skills measurement, the survey found that 60.34% of respondents do not have accurate measurement data that enables their organisation to measure its overall skill and talent.
Nonetheless, when determining what skills most need development, there seems to be a fairly even spread between the methods used.
Asked how they determine the skills that are most in need of development, a workplace skills plan was the most popular option with 52% of respondents selecting it.
When addressing talent deficiencies, training and development of existing talent is the most popular approach with 71% of respondents choosing this option.
The next most popular approach (56%) is to do ad hoc training, as and when needed.
On the job training is by far the most preferred method of executing training and development with77% of companies using this method.
Social media snub
Social media proved to be the least popular method with only 8% using blogs and 11% using social networks.
Grobler says social media attracted few respondents because people often only use it in their own time. However, she notes that social media has to be blended into training and e-learning for it “offers a fantastic opportunity to learn”.
In the same vein, 61% of respondents envision that they will be in need of management and leadership skills within the next 18 to 24 months.
Commenting on this, Grobler says companies are in need of such skills as most of them are realising that they do not equip their staff with the requisite skills after promoting them. “Often the need is more when moving from a technical specialist, to being a manager within the organisation.
“Often, we move people into management roles but we don't equip them with the necessary skills for the new roles. So I believe organisations are becoming conscious of this, as the survey results show.”
While 68.11% of companies compile workplace skills plans, only 28.45% of companies implement them on a continuous basis with 31.90% having no workplace skills plan in place.
The survey also discovered that only 28.57% of companies have a learner management system in place that provides them with accurate training data.
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