QUESTION 1

Read the following dialogue between a manager and her employee and answer sub[1]question 1.1 and 2.4 that follows.

MANAGER: your work has been excellent all year

Im rating you poor so Ill have a paper trail in case I ever need to fire you

Youll probably feel a little surge of motivation because you got feedback

ASOK: Is confused..

1.1 Im rating you poor so Ill have a paper trail in case I ever need to fire you. Which purpose of performance management manifests in Asoks managers statement? Describe the purpose and substantiate with reference to the scenario.

1.2 Asoks manager is rating Asok poorly even if he acknowledges that Asoks performance was excellent throughout the year. What objective of a performance appraisal manifest in this scenario? Substantiate your answer.

Read the following scenario and answer sub-question that follows.

RESCUING A SINKING ORGANISATION THROUGH A PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Agang Construction is a small construction organisation formed after 1994 as a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) entity. This BEE initiative was introduced when the democratic government took over in South Africa. The management of this organisation is made up of four young men, who decided to register a business venture after being unemployed for many years. The organisation won a tender to renovate all the reconstruction and development programmes (RDP) houses that where built between 1994 and 2010 in Modimolle. The tender was advertised due to a rise in the complaints by house owners complaining about several structural problems ranging from leaking roofs to deep cracks on the walls of their houses. First priority was given houses located alongside Lepelle river, as they are at serious risk of collapsing. Just a few days before the construction work was about to start, Agang employees embarked on a strike.This frustrated management, as they never experience any industrial action prior to this. Unfortunately, they had to face the strikers to receive a memorandum of demands.

The following were issues that they were demanding their management to look into:

1 Daily targets are set extremely high,

2 Unfair compensation and promotions,

3 No distinction is made between good and poor performers,

4 Broad organisational structure,

5 Lack of corporate citizenship,

6 No clear performance goals and expectations for individual employees,

7 Unequal workloads,

8 Sexual harassment of female employees,

9 Leave days do not comply with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act,

10 No job security due to the 4th industrial revolution that the world is facing.

The management of Agang Construction regards you as an expert in human resource issues and came to see you for advice.

1.2 Six of the issues listed on the memorandum of demands handed over to the management of Agang Construction can be resolved by implementing different stages of the performance management process. Identify those issues and indicate how each stage you identify can help resolve each issue.

QUESTION 2

2.1 Find a relationship/link between the following stages of the performance management process and two of the theories that inform performance management:

3.2.1 Performance contract and goal-setting theory ,

3.2.2 Performance appraisal and expectancy theory ,

2.2 Briefly explain the activity constraint that managers may face in an attempt to observe an employees performance regarding the developmental plan. Provide your original suitable example of how it occurs. (The example copied from the study material, i.e., reading a book will not be marked correct).

2.3 Briefly explain why managers must first identify factors hampering employee performance before they embark on measures to be applied to help them improve their performance. Substantiate your answer by providing a suitable example in which you unpack each determinant of performance.

Read the following case study and answer questions 2.4 and 2.5.

MANAGING TEAM PERFORMANCE AT ISMS

Inter-System Maintenance Services (Pty) Ltd (abbreviated as ISMS) was registered on the 3 rd of July 2017 at the Registrar of Companies office in South Africa. ISMS offers the following types of maintenance and cleaning services to its clients:

cleaning and maintenance of offices and buildings,

cleaning and maintenance of office and building exteriors,

cleaning and maintenance of all types of floors and interiors,

cleaning of all type of carpeted floorings,

area maintenance, including landscape and gardens,

cleaning drains and grass cutting,

refuse/litter collections.

The company has three branches located in Mbombela, Polokwane and Mafikeng. The mission of the company is the following:

to provide quality, efficient and effective services to its clients,

to build an excellent and lasting business rapport with clients,

to be a successful and highly respected organisation.

To succeed in the competitive business market, the company strives to differentiate itself by providing superior quality services to its clients. The Polokwane branch of this company has about 300 employees working at various operational levels. Their work is closely monitored by a number of supervisors. The performance of the company depends heavily on the performance of these employees. It is widely speculated that the present performance management system adopted by the company lacks objectivity. Therefore, the company needs an objective measurement procedure, which is capable of incorporating objective and subjective factors into the evaluation process, in order to provide a measurement of the employees overall performance.

2.4 Differentiate amongst different teams found in organisations and identify the one found at ISMS. Substantiate your answer.

2.5 Suppose 360-degree feedback method is used at ISMS. Advise the management of ISMS about the suitable information source that can be used to measure its team.