Perceptions of management and local labour forum on employee performance and service delivery at Zululand District Municipality.

Abstract

South African public sector organisations have been criticised for poor employee performance in the last few years, especially post-1994. Given this concern, it is worth investigating the current state of employee performance in the local government. Therefore, the primary aim of study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of local labour forum and management on the impact of employee performance on service delivery at local government in the Zululand District Municipality. A qualitative approach was utilised to offer an adequate explanation and description of the chosen phenomenon. Besides, an exploratory study was conducted to provide an in-depth understanding and interpretation of the research phenomenon and develop research questions for an extensive investigation. To achieve the aim of the study, Zululand District Municipality was used as the case study organisation. The target population of the study was 1,120, which comprised of permanent employees and contractual employees in the Zululand District Municipality. The purposive sampling techniques was used to select 14 participants. However, only 8 participants were interviewed. The data was analysed using the NVivo software (version 13). The thematic analysis was used to identify, classify and present themes (patterns) that relate to the dataset. The findings revealed various criteria for assessing employee performance in the municipality, including work quality, employee output, creativity and innovation, cost reduction, quarterly report, teamwork and problem-solving. In addition, the main findings showed a positive relationship between employee performance and service delivery. Furthermore, the overall findings suggested that service delivery could be improved through performance activities such as setting performance targets, providing performance feedback to employees, setting performance management objectives and monitoring. The perceived impact was that underperformance in the Zululand District Municipality affected service delivery, leading to service delivery protests. The study is essential because it expands existing knowledge on employee performance, performance management and service delivery. This study will be a viable tool for the government, municipalities and employees to improve performance and service delivery. The study recommended that employee performance could be improved through training and development, a conducive working environment, employee involvement and participation and job autonomy. The study recommends that the municipality take necessary measures to ensure that the employees work in a satisfactory and healthy work environment to enable them meet the performance targets.