Assessment of the perception of employees on the effective administration of performance management in the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) head office

Abstract

The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) has employeds about 18 000 officials in both the water and forestry domains. Employees in the same Forestry and Water sections perform differently. For example, some of these employees in the same sections complain that they have no work to do, while others in the same section complain that they have too much work. It is not clear how performance bonuses are allocated in the same Forestry and Water sections. The situation is affecting staff morale and eventually service delivery provided by DWAF. DWAF has a performance management system that is currently being implemented throughout the whole Department. As indicated, this system is not effective and it is not applied consistently with regard to all staff members in the same sections and also in different sections of the dDepartment. The study seeks to analyse the causes and circumstances why some that other employees have little work to do, while others have too much work to do. In short, it seeks to analyse as to why the current system is ineffective and inconsistently applied. The main methodology that informs this study is document and data analysis and thereafter, follow interviews with DWAF officials from different sections of DWAF. The recommendations based on conclusions and findings of this study are that it is important to align individual and organisational goals, that rewards and corrective measures should be part of the performance management system and that capacity building, training and support interventions are essential to ensure an effective and consistent performance management system.