ANNEXURE D - Learnership Agreement ANNEXURE E - Learnership Project Plan
4.6 MANAGERS
4.6.2 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0
Percent Is there a Performance Management policy in place?
Does your department utilize Performance Management Data to identify training gaps?
Is the Learnership used as a tool to measure performance?
Has senior management seen the Learnership as a driver for change & performance?
Is the training intervention aligned with the overall business strategy?
Does the learner require less supervision due to an increase in skills acquisition?
Performance Management
Figure 4.22: Performance management
In Figure 4.22, the scores indicate an overall positive view by managers that the learnership is seen as a tool that informs and enhances performance management, by impacting areas such as supervision, change management and the overall business strategy. Of note, is that 86% of managers believe that there has been an improvement in the learners’ performance. This is a significant finding and together with the overall average, justifies the use of the learnership in public sector organisations. The necessity for a learnership in internal auditing is given increased impetus through this finding.
Furthermore, the finding also corroborates the results of question 4.4 of the learners’
questionnaire regarding performance management.
With regard to the low score for the learnership being used as a tool to measure performance, it must be noted that the learnership is a work readiness programme with structured measureable competencies, and the reason for it not being viewed as a tool to measure performance is due to a lack of awareness, an overarching strategy and the alignment of policies and systems in respect of skills development (Babb & Meyer, 2005: 6).
Experienced benefits from the learners
.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00
Productivity Attitude towards work
Proactiveness in completion
of tasks
Mean Productivity
Attitude towards work Proactiveness in completion of tasks
Figure 4.23: Experienced benefits from the learners
There is complete agreement amongst the managers that they did derive benefits from the learners in the three categories in Figure 4.23. Once more, this is a significant finding and indicates that the learnership is beneficial, adds value to, and is an important skills development intervention in the organisation.
The following three tables are responses by managers who were asked about the kind of problems they experienced in terms of the learner, the learnership programme and the Institute. Table 4.15 concerns the learners and most of the percentages are low.
The researcher has noted this for the implementation phase of the learnership;
however, the fairly high score on the lack of commitment is a cause for concern. It must
be noted that unlike the private sector, where the individual in most cases is given the
option of joining the programme, in the public sector learners are forced to join as part
of the skills development initiative. This could be part of the reason. Another is that there appears to be a direct correlation between this finding and the lack of supervisor interest as seen in Figure 4.17. It further reinforces the belief that managers are not aware of this correlation. The researcher has subsequently noted this finding for future communication and research if necessary.
Learners
Problems managers experienced with the learners Percent
Communication 4.5
Lack of commitment from the learners 36.4
Signing of learnership contracts by learners 4.5
Alignment of the theoretical training and the current work environment 4.5
Afraid to implement new skills acquired during learnership 9.1
Assignments not being handed in timeously 4.5
Not attending lectures due to illness 4.5
They do not continue the programmed when changing departments 4.5
Get comfortable when doing their work and acquire the tools to perform their work 4.5 Learners displayed lack of knowledge on accounting and budgetary processes 4.5
Some resigned before the learnership 4.5
Table 4.15: Problems managers experienced with the learners
Learnership
Problems managers experienced with the learnership programme Percent
None 9.1
Alignment of what the learners are being taught in their day to day experience 13.6
New programme - unsure what is expected 9.1
Assignment submitted timeously but not received timeously from institution 4.5 Minimum interaction between supervisor and manager of candidates and programmes 4.5
Time-frame for marking assignment 4.5
Unsuitable venue 4.5
Table 4.16: Problems managers experienced with the learnership programme
Table 4.16 reflects problems experienced by managers in relation to the learnership
programme. The highest score of over 13% relates to the alignment of what the learners
are being taught pertaining to their day-to-day experience. The higher score here for the
same issue compared to the former table suggests that the deficiency lies with the
development of the programme material, poor planning in terms of enhancing
awareness prior to programme commencement, implementation and evaluation. This
also suggests the lack of a mechanism to evaluate whether the learner is able to
effectively convert learned theory into practice, and will also be noted for correction and
future research.
Institute
Problems managers experienced with the Institute Percent
None 9.1
Lack of support to the supervisors and assessment 13.6
Does not provide the learners with well-experienced presenters 9.1
Lack of funds 4.5
Lack of skills retention 4.5
Lack of rotation from the unit 4.5
Gap between the final assessment and the learner receiving the certificate 4.5