PART 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
4.7 LINKING HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT TO EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY IN SOUTH AFRICAN PUBLIC SECTOR HOSPITALS
4.7.1 INTRODUCTION
The public sector is the largest employer in South Africa, with more than a million employees.
The government has to carry out its roles and responsibilities in the most efficient and effective manner possible. This requires investment in the skills and capabilities of public servants and the smooth and effective running of the public sector. This is a priority for the government, not only to ensure its own success but also to ensure that the general wellbeing of communities is promoted. The government has thus introduced policies to ensure that its employees are developed, for example, the White Paper on Human Resources Management in the Public Service (DPSA, 1997), the Human Resources Development Strategy(DPSA, 2002), and theSkills Development Act, 97 of 1998, to name but a few.
4.7.2 DEVELOPING HUMAN RESOURCES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
Public sector employees are part of an ever-changing environment. The environment in which they function has become increasingly complex, making the execution of their functions and the rendering of services to the public complicated and challenging. It is thus crucial that there is a motivated, loyal, committed, dedicated, knowledgeable, skilled and trained workforce that will be able to adapt positively to the ever-changing environment. The United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (2002:3) stated that building public sector human capacity in terms of knowledge, skills, motivation and commitment, networks and mastery of information technology is fundamental and crucial to the effective and efficient translation of the values, objectives and goals of government. The SA government has reaffirmed its commitment to help its employees develop effectively, adapt to the ever-changing environment and execute their functions efficiently. The four principles on which these efforts rest are commitment, planning, action and evaluation.
According to Rapea (2002), commitment is about the government‟s resolve to develop its people and practical evidence that this is actually taking place in a planned and systematic manner. It is also about people being encouraged to improve their own and others‟ performance. Within departments, day-to-day responsibility for developing and managing human resources has primarily become the responsibility of individual line managers. They now have the freedom,
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within the limits of their budget, to determine the necessary number of officials and levels of skills needed to deliver the required results. They also have greater responsibility for performance management, as well as the conduct and career development of their staff (DPSA, 1997:24). Du Preez (2002) indicates that roles and responsibilities are integral in achieving optimum service delivery. Line managers, for example, should see to it that all relevant activities are well managed within reasonable time periods. In order to do this, a clear demarcation of tasks and responsibilities is necessary so that line managers remain in control and can ensure that objectives are achieved.
4.7.3 HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
The Human Resources Development Strategy (HRDS)was adopted to support an holistic approach to training and development in the public sector. To enable it to actualize its constitutional mandate of creating a better life for all, the government envisages a public sector that is guided by the ethos of service and committed to the provision of high quality services (DPSA, 2002:5). The HRDS ensures that the different components of the state work together to deliver opportunities for human development. Its key mission is “to maximize the potential of the people of South Africa through the acquisition of knowledge and skills to work productively and competitively in order to achieve a rising qualityof life for all and to set in place an operational plan together with the necessary institutional arrangements to achieve this” (HRDS, 2002:9).
The Strategy briefly deals with the development of human resources, the implementation framework for the strategy, finance and budgeting, as well as monitoring, reporting and evaluation. It sets out:
The strategies put in place to deal with the development of human resources and their results;
The challenges facing human resource development and the problems to be addressed;
The supporting interventions with specific reference to the role of the South African Management Development Institute; and
The integrated Human Resources Management System.
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4.7.4 THE GOVERNMENT AS A VEHICLE FOR REFORM AND ENHANCING HUMAN RESOURCES
Contributing to the popular perception that governments are less effective than they have been in the past, the challenges governments face today are greater than those confronting them in past centuries. Today‟s governments are faced with recession, wars, terrorism, global poverty and climate change (Binza and Seemela, 2010). Peter and Savoie write that
government must now attempt to manage economic development guided by the theory of Non-Performing Assets, which is based on the conventional public administration nexus rather than NPM, which is founded onbusiness propositions. Economic and governance planning requires government to use experts with skills and expertise to reform organizations to become effective and efficient(Sweezy, 1993).
According to the World Bank, public sector institutional reform and enhancing human resources in times of economic downturn are necessary steps in organizational re-engineering of “dysfunctional public institutions that would not be effective in shaping the way public functions are supposed to be carried out”. The new organizational structure and culture must assure people that government achieves the highest attainable quality of planning and recovery results. Government must be cautious of misguided resource allocation, excessive government intervention in development even beyond recession, and corruption among the personnel entrusted with managing public resources (Binza and Seemela, 2010).
According to Berman (2010), changes have also occurred in the way government does business and the way the publicsector institutions are managed in order to respond to citizens‟
needs and to global challenges. Reforms at all levels of government must be implemented at a faster pace, and goals or policy development targets that are set should be achieved timeously. The HRDS (DPSA, 2002) indicates growing impatience among the general public with poor service delivery. In most rural and township areas services are not accessible, there is a lack of information on government services and employees in government institutions are unfriendly. Furthermore, it has been identified that there is a lack of transparency and accountability and that quality services are not being delivered. Constantino-David (2004:10) notes that certain factors hamper effective service delivery, including the fact that human resources tend to be the largest cost factor within government; public employees are
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sometimes not viewed as assets in the public sector, which leads to demoralization, ineffectiveness, lack of commitment and apathy; the public themselves view government as incompetent and highly corrupt.
A study conducted by Gaffoor and Cloete (2010) titled: Knowledge Management in Local Government: a Case of Stellenbosch Municipality, revealed that public sector service delivery needs a serious shake up in order to achieve what voters were promised,i.e faster and more efficient service delivery from the government through its public sector organizations.
According to the HRDS study conducted in 2002 (DPSA, 2002: 15), the public sector is facing the following challenges:
Ensuring effective service delivery;
Shortage of skilled labour and limited resources;
Complex organizational structures;
Lack of information systems;
Poor performance in the public service;
Poor financial practices;
Confronting the poor interface between systems; and
Impact of HIV/AIDS.
4.7.5 EFFECTIVENESS OF THE HUMAN RESOURCES TRAINING PROGRAMME IN PUBLIC HOSPITALS
Peter Senge is considered one of the first researchers to study learning organizations, and is thus referred to as „Mr Learning Organization‟ (Marquardt, 1999:79). Senge in Boyette and Boyette (1998:82) writes that “as the world becomes more interconnected and business becomes more complex and dynamic, work must become more learningful (sic.)”.
Developing a learning organization implies switching from traditional training to organizational learning. It is important to start with a definition of learning. Learning means acquiring knowledge and skills (Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary 1995:671).
Knowledge means to knowwhy something happens or works. Skill is the application of
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knowledge i.e., the know-how part of learning or the ability to use the knowwhy to make something happen (Boyett and Boyett, 1998; 85). To provide services to all people successfully, organizations must enable their human resources to learn so as to acquire knowledge and skills. Performance and productivity can be improved when organizations become learning organizations.Boonstra (2004:104) outlines the characteristics of a learning and training organization in the form of Ten Commandments, and emphasizes that managers and leaders should consider these commandments prerequisites for developing effective learning organizations. The commandments are:
Welcome new ideas-especially from below.
Insist that people need approval from only one level.
Praise when praise is due and only criticize constructively.
Encourage open debate, ending in consensus on suggestions.
Treat problems as opportunities.
Use trust, not supervision as the main form of control.
Operate a freedom of information policy.
Institute change after consultation with those affected.
Take, announce and implement unpleasant decisions in person.
Share knowledge with others and share theirs.
The Ten Commandments show that brainpower has taken over from fixed assets and mobile muscle as the prime means of production. Meyer (1999:91) notes the importance of examining the concept of a learning organization at top management level and recommends that managers undergo training to understand the concept, its impact and how to make the environment friendly for on-going learning. West (1994:15) writes that members of an organization must be equipped with skills and expertise to create and sustain organizational values and implement policies, programmes and projects effectively and efficiently. Skills development is considered the key factor in meeting an employer‟s strategic, business and operational goals, as both public and private organizations operate in a global competitive environment.
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4.8 DEVELOPING HUMAN RESOURCES TRAINING NEEDS