An Investigation into the Impact of Performance Management Systems on Employee Productivity: The Case Study of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Companies in Harare, Zimbabwe

The study investigated the impact of performance management systems on employee productivity using a case study of information and communication technologies (ICT) companies in Harare. The major motivation to conduct the study was because of low employee productivity. The ICT sector, like many other sectors, is faced with a myriad of challenges including a high degree of competition in the market due to the entrance of new players in a dynamic business environment.  The objectives of the study were to determine various impacts on productivity and make recommendations for appropriate performance management systems for the organisations.  The study adopted a descriptive research design for the collection of primary data. Stratified sampling was adopted to ten organisations for the study. A sample of 312 respondents was selected from 1428 employees. The study concluded that performance appraisal did have an impact on employee productivity. Based on the conclusions, there is a need for the management and the governing committees to explain the value and importance of performance appraisal as well as management expectations from employees. This helps employees to have a buy-in from conception to completion; hence it would be natural for employees to adopt the system, as they will be part and parcel to the system. It is suggested that the Human Resources departments foster better working relationships with employees in order to educate and update them on requirements; hence general employee productivity will be improved. Keywords: employee productivity; employee relationships; ICT sector. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-3-04

Strategies and tools for speed management on European roads.

The aim of the European project MASTER (MAnaging Speeds of Traffic on European Roads) is to produce information that can be cited in the preparation of national and EU decisions concerning speed management and standards for speed control equipment. For this purpose, the project seeks answers to three key questions:1) What are acceptable ranges of speeds?2) What are the key factors influencing drivers’ choice of speed?3) What are the best speed management tools and strategies?Each of three research areas addresses one of these questions. Area 1 is concerned with developing a basis for appraisal of effects of different levels of speed upon accident occurrence, emissions, noise, vehicle operating costs and travel time. Area 2 provides information on factors that influence drivers speed behaviour with respect to present speed levels and speed management methods in Europe, enforcement levels, motivation and acceptability of driving speeds, and road design and subjective road categorisation. Area 3 reviews various tools for speed management, tests the most promising ones and gives recommendations for implementation of Advanced Transport Telematics (ATT) systems. The summary reports from these three work areas provide the main inputs to this paper, which is concerned with making recommendations for speed management strategies and policies. The full results of the project are documented in 26 reports which are listed in the reference section of this paper

High performance work practices and organizational performance in Pakistan

Purpose – Research on the relationship between high-performance workplace practices (HPWPs) and organizational performance has largely focussed on western settings, limiting the knowledge of how these systems influence performance in other countries, including Pakistan. Universalistic assumptions underpin the HPWP paradigm; to examine the validity of these assumptions, the purpose of this paper is to study the links between HPWP and performance in Pakistan, a country with different cultural norms and institutional settings to those in which most research has been conducted. Design/methodology/approach – The authors draw on a unique survey of 392 establishment managers in the banking, pharmaceutical and information technology sectors. The authors include managers of foreign-owned multinational subsidiaries and domestic firms to ensure the sample represents firms in Pakistan. Findings – The authors find that some individual HPWPs (recruitment and training) are associated in a statistically significant way with lower labour turnover, higher productivity and higher financial performance. Employee involvement is associated with lower labour turnover and higher labour productivity. Compensation is associated with higher financial performance. None is linked to higher labour turnover, lower productivity or lower financial performance in a statistically significant way. Performance appraisal was not statistically significantly associated with any of the three outcome variables. Originality/value – The results provide some relatively strong support for universalistic assumptions, but also highlight the need for future research to examine the variable links of some HPWPs and the lack of any association for the performance appraisal measure. Keywords Employee productivity, Employee involvement, Human resource management, Employee turnover Paper type Research pape

Research and Applications of the Processes of Performance Appraisal: A Bibliography of Recent Literature, 1981-1989

[Excerpt] There have been several recent reviews of different subtopics within the general performance appraisal literature. The reader of these reviews will find, however, that the accompanying citations may be of limited utility for one or more reasons. For example, the reference sections of these reviews are usually composed of citations which support a specific theory or practical approach to the evaluation of human performance. Consequently, the citation lists for these reviews are, as they must be, highly selective and do not include works that may have only a peripheral relationship to a given reviewer\u27s target concerns. Another problem is that the citations are out of date. That is, review articles frequently contain many citations that are fifteen or more years old. The generation of new studies and knowledge in this field occurs very rapidly. This creates a need for additional reference information solely devoted to identifying the wealth of new research, ideas, and writing that is changing the field

A project management quality cost information system for the construction industry

A prototype Project Management Quality Cost System (PROMQACS) was developed to determine quality costs in construction projects. The structure and information requirements that are needed to provide a classification system of quality costs were identified and discussed. The developed system was tested and implemented in two case study construction projects to determine the information and management issues needed to develop PROMQACS into a software program. In addition, the system was used to determine the cost and causes of rework that occurred in the projects. It is suggested that project participants can use the information in PROMQACS to identify shortcomings in their project-related activities and therefore take the appropriate action to improve their management practices in future projects. The benefits and limitations of PROMQACS are identified

The Current State of Performance Appraisal Research and Practice: Concerns, Directions, and Implications

On the surface, it is not readily apparent how some performance appraisal research issues inform performance appraisal practice. Because performance appraisal is an applied topic, it is useful to periodically consider the current state of performance research and its relation to performance appraisal practice. This review examines the performance appraisal literature published in both academic and practitioner outlets between 1985 and 1990, briefly discusses the current state of performance appraisal practice, highlights the juxtaposition of research and practice, and suggests directions for further research

Information systems evaluation: Navigating through the problem domain

Information systems (IS) make it possible to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness, which can provide competitive advantage. There is, however, a great deal of difficulty reported in the normative literature when it comes to the evaluation of investments in IS, with companies often finding themselves unable to assess the full implications of their IS infrastructure. Although many of the savings resulting from IS are considered suitable for inclusion within traditional accountancy frameworks, it is the intangible and non-financial benefits, together with indirect project costs that complicate the justification process. In exploring this phenomenon, the paper reviews the normative literature in the area of IS evaluation, and then proposes a set of conjectures. These were tested within a case study to analyze the investment justification process of a manufacturing IS investment. The idiosyncrasies of the case study and problems experienced during its attempts to evaluate, implement, and realize the holistic implications of the IS investment are presented and critically analyzed. The paper concludes by identifying lessons learnt and thus, proposes a number of empirical findings for consideration by decisionmakers during the investment evaluation process

Performance appraisal systems in private Universities in Nigeria: A Study of Crawford University, Igbesa- Nigeria

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of performance appraisal system at private universities in Nigeria. The focus of the study was on the administrative staff of Crawford University. The study evaluated the purpose of performance appraisal in private universities and identifies relevant factors for achieving an effective performance appraisal. A cross- sectional survey was selected for this study because it was easy to undertake compared to longitudinal survey and the results from the same can be inferred to the larger population. The study population was for all the administrative staff of Crawford University. The whole populations of staff were selected as respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data for analysis. The analysis of collected data was done by the help of SPSS and presented using descriptive statistics, frequency tables and percentages. The findings from the study have established that performance appraisal system is the only tangible metric way by which an organization can know the level of performance of its diverse members of staff. The effectiveness of performance appraisal systems in private universities are only based on training the members of staff involved in the rating/ appraising process and are multi- rating systems. Conclusively because the performance appraisal systems used in private universities are not effective and that they exist just as a matter of formalities, the private universities cannot measure members of staff performance, hence making it difficult to achieve the intended human resource management objective

Evaluating cost taxonomies for information systems management

The consideration of costs, benefits and risks underpin many Information System (IS) evaluation decisions. Yet, vendors and project-champions alike tend to identify and focus much of their effort on the benefits achievable from the adoption of new technology, as it is often not in the interest of key stakeholders to spend too much time considering the wider cost and risk implications of enterprise-wide technology adoptions. In identifying a void in the literature, the authors of the paper present a critical analysis of IS-cost taxonomies. In doing so, the authors establish that such cost taxonomies tend to be esoteric and difficult to operationalize, as they lack specifics in detail. Therefore, in developing a deeper understanding of IS-related costs, the authors position the need to identify, control and reduce IS-related costs within the information systems evaluation domain, through culminating and then synthesizing the literature into a frame of reference that supports the evaluation of information systems through a deeper understanding of IS-cost taxonomies. The paper then concludes by emphasizing that the total costs associated with IS-adoption can only be determined after having considered the multi-faceted dimensions of information system investments