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<p>This paper aims to establish the pitfalls of performance management (PM) in a selected South African Higher Education Institution (HEI) during the Covid-19 pandemic and suggest a strategic way forward. It adopted a quick review of documents in the South African HEI to identify the pitfalls. Rigid performance planning and poor timing of feedback in uncertain times, weak performance feedback culture, the performance process of accountability with lip service to employee growth and development, misperceptions of HR as the center of PM in disruptive times and lack of compassionate leadership to drive performance are the five pitfalls of PM. The identified pitfalls expose the cardinal weaknesses and offer an opportunity to transform PM in the selected South African HEI by embedding agility, integrating coaching and building a performance feedback culture. It is recommended that the South African HEI adopt a non-linear and fluid PM process, centralizing ongoing conversations and coaching for performance, employee development and organizational success. A framework for agile, continuous PM, which provides the wayward in a South African HEI, is proposed.</p>
</abstract>

This paper aims to establish the pitfalls of performance management (PM) in a selected South African Higher Education Institution (HEI) during the Covid-19 pandemic and suggest a strategic way forward. It adopted a quick review of documents in the South African HEI to identify the pitfalls. Rigid performance planning and poor timing of feedback in uncertain times, weak performance feedback culture, the performance process of accountability with lip service to employee growth and development, misperceptions of HR as the center of PM in disruptive times and lack of compassionate leadership to drive performance are the five pitfalls of PM. The identified pitfalls expose the cardinal weaknesses and offer an opportunity to transform PM in the selected South African HEI by embedding agility, integrating coaching and building a performance feedback culture. It is recommended that the South African HEI adopt a non-linear and fluid PM process, centralizing ongoing conversations and coaching for performance, employee development and organizational success. A framework for agile, continuous PM, which provides the wayward in a South African HEI, is proposed.

Five Pitfalls and Solutions of Performance Management in a Selected South African University During Covid-19

Graduate School of Business and Leadership Studies

Foundations of Management

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This paper aims to establish the pitfalls of performance management (PM) in a selected South African Higher Education Institution (HEI) during the Covid-19...

Element of PM	From performance Appraisal in South African HEI	To performance feedback culture in South African HEI
Overarching orientation	Reactive, evaluation exercise of what has already happened	Proactive, continuous, driving current and future performance
Type of process	Linear	Fluid, non-linear
Temporal focus	Backwards-looking; top-down feedback provided as part of a PM process	Forward-looking, integrated and illuminating past, present and future; input from the team facilitated by the boss
Timing	Prescribed time in a year	Ongoing check-ins in between goals and final review, cycle linked to the rhythm of an individual's work
Leader of the performance process	Led by HR with some input from management	Led by supervisors and management
Level of focus	Operational	Strategic
Who triggers the feedback process	Year-end review, initiated by the organization	Stand-back review at the end of the work cycle, triggered by the individual

Five Pitfalls and Solutions of Performance Management in a Selected South African University During Covid-19

Publicado en línea: 30 oct 2022

Páginas: 111 - 126

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fman-2022-0007

Palabras clave
pitfalls of performance management, agile performance management, performance management, higher education, agile performance management cycle

© 2022 MacDonald Isaac Kanyangale et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

The shift from performance appraisal to a performance feedback culture (Source: own research)

Five Pitfalls and Solutions of Performance Management in a Selected South African University During Covid-19

Publicado en línea: 30 oct 2022

Páginas: 111 - 126

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fman-2022-0007

Palabras clavepitfalls of performance management, agile performance management, performance management, higher education, agile performance management cycle

© 2022 MacDonald Isaac Kanyangale et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

The shift from performance appraisal to a performance feedback culture (Source: own research)

Palabras clave
pitfalls of performance management, agile performance management, performance management, higher education, agile performance management cycle