Exploring performance management systems in higher education institution : a case of selected universities in South Africa

Abstract

A drastic shift to managing employee performance through performance management systems cuts across sectors, and the Higher Education (HE) sector is no exception. The academic staff views close monitoring of the academic staff as the erosion of academic autonomy and weakening of the academic profession. The current university performance management system emphasises research over teaching and learning, even though the two carry more weight in the PM system. The academic staff views this as unfair, especially those who excel in teaching KPA, as they are not recognised for their excellence. This influences their motivation, organisational commitment, and turnover intentions. The study's purpose was to explore how the PM systems adopted in selected public universities in South Africa affect employees’ motivation, organisational commitment, and turnover intentions as perceived by the academic staff. This empirical study employed a collective case study as a methodological approach, conducted in seven public universities in South Africa. The study sampled 30 academic staff across all the academic positions selected using non-probability purposive sampling. A qualitative, interpretivist case study design was used. Data was gathered using in-depth interviews via MS Teams to gain insight and understanding of their experiences with the performance management system. Data was audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed following thematic analysis. Findings revealed themes such as transparency and clarity, recognition and rewards, the imbalance between research and teaching, inadequate recognition of full workload, and low motivation and organisational commitment. Verbal quotes and a literature review were used to support the study findings. The study proposes an integrated PM system to be used in a public university that will enhance motivation and organisational commitment while reducing turnover intentions. The study further recommends an increased subsidy to enable the public universities to employ more academics to relieve the current staff from the reported unbearable workloads. The study further recommends that the performance management system for the academic staff should strike a balance in the assessment of the teaching and research roles.