Presidential Strategic Leadership Development Programme; Human Resource Management Training: briefing by SAMDI

Meeting report

PUBLIC SERVICE & ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
16 October 2002
PRESIDENTIAL STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME; HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TRAINING: BRIEFING BY SAMDI

Chairperson: Mr L Kgwele (ANC)

Documents handed out:
SAMDI presentation
Report of the Auditor-General on the appointment of consultants at certain national departments and provincial administrations (link to Auditor General website)

SUMMARY
The South African Management Development Institute gave an overview of its interventions concerning the Presidential Strategic Leadership Development Programme and the Human Resource Management Training.

Issues covered on the PSLD programme were where the interventions had taken place, the objectives of each initiative, the modules created by the Programme and the progress and highlights of the Programme to date as well as the clients involved in the process. Also reviewed was the impact assessment of the Programme and the challenges that lie ahead.

Issues covered on the Human Resource Management Training (HRMT) was a summary of the training, its progress and highlights and the challenges ahead as well as matters that had been raised in the last briefing of SAMDI initiatives and the way forward.

MINUTES
Mr M.D. Malekele, Chief Executive Manager: Business Unit (SAMDI), noted that the PSLDP has intervened on a senior managerial level, and on a middle managerial level, and that the HRMT has intervened on all four levels - senior management, middle management, emerging management and frontline staff. He went on to say that these are the areas in which service delivery is put forward.

Presidential Strategic Leadership Development Programme
Mr Malekele stated the objectives of the programme:
- recognising and relating macro issues to the Public Service;
- taking account of local and global trends and integrating these into strategic plans.
- translating strategy into action;
- embodying and upholding public service values and ethics;
- providing skills to manage resources effectively to achieve the priorities of government, and - to provide a platform to create a shared vision amongst all employees of a learning organisation.

The modules which SAMDI - within the PSLDP - has created include: the strategy into action module; the service delivery module, the finance management module, the policy and knowledge management module.

Mr Malekele then went on to report on the issues that had been brought up in the previous meeting with the portfolio committee, which had been researched by SAMDI and brought back to the present meeting:
51 PSLDP programs had been booked between January to March 2002. Only 47 programs were presented, and the other 4 were postponed, due to department schedules. He projected that in 42 of the programmes, the funding was not sufficient, and that the focus should have rather been on quality than quantity. He stated that SAMDI had had an increase in internal capacity, as the unit had increased from 3 to 5 staff members in May 2002. He added that this number was still too little considering how the programme has expanded.

Mr Malekele referred to a graph on the power point presentation, which showed the progress of this initiative within SAMDI to date. He interpreted the graph by saying that in 2001, 210 people were trained, and 6306 persons training days were organised. From January 2002 to September 2002, 382 people were trained and 11478 persons training days were organised. SAMDI had proposed for October 2002 - December 2002 that 131 people should be trained and that 3942 persons training days be organised.

Mr Malekele went on to name the clients of PSLDP. He said that within the national departments, SAMDI had 18 out of 37 clients, and from January 2002 to September 2002, 685 persons were trained, 2455 persons training days were organised and that persons were trained in eight modules. Within the provincial departments, 9 out of 9 clients were acquired, and from January 2002 to September 2002, 393 person had been trained, and 1371 person training days had been organised.

Mr Malekele stated the highlights of the PSLDP, the first being that a PSLDP course module had been accredited by the University of the North West and Potchefstroom. This module counts 128 credits, which is equivalent to an Honours degree. A stand-alone module had been created which linked all other modules. He projected that there would be more than 100% growth in PSLDP presented modules by the end of 2002. An impact assessment had been completed which was conducted between January 2001 to May 2001. Of the 151 delegates assessed - 97% of delegates could implement new skills in the workplace, and 88% of the delegates will enrol for another SAMDI programme.

Mr Malekele discussed the challenges with regards to the PSLDP. The rate of the growth of the programme meant that SAMDI was in need of more staff. Secondly, the departments' willingness to pay so that the costs of the programs would be recovered. A challenge was to bring together and work in partnership with external competitors, for example, tertiary institutions offering the same type of module as PSDLP. Another challenge was the continuous integration of local and global trends in leadership development. The final challenge mentioned was the distribution of gender in training.

The key focus areas named by Mr Malekele were the marketing of PSLDP, the continual integration of local and global trends in leadership development, cost recovery and the projects secured for 2003, worth 2,2 million.

In an overview of the way forward, it was noted that SAMDI plans to continually market the programme locally and continentally. It would also do continual research in terms of leadership development and best practices. The modules would be adapted to keep abreast with changes, legislation and global trends.

Human Resource Management Training (HRMT)
Mr Malekele stated that the objective of the HRMT was to ensure the delivery of customised, competency based Human Resource Management training programs for Labour relations Practitioners, HR Practitioners, Line and Senior Managers.

SAMDI was involved in the following training interventions:
- HRM training, which consists of HR planning, Staffing practices, and Performance Management.
- The HRM certificate programme, which consists of an introduction to HRM, management principles, and strategic HRD.
- Labour relations, which consists of Industrial Relations development, hearing procedures, grievance procedures, promotion of the administration of Justice Act, Domestic Violence and Labour Relations.
- Transformational issues, which consist of diversity management, disability management, membership and gender equity and equality.
- Job evaluation, which consists of initial analyst and follow up training, panel member training, and compensation training.

Mr Malekele reported back on the issues raised in past portfolio committee presentations. He stated that SAMDI has taken over high profile disciplinary and job evaluation from the DPSA. The development and registration of the Human Resources Certificate for Public Service was launched and accredited by the University of Pretoria and each module was equivalent to 20 credits. Their target was HR Practitioners and Managers. He also raised the issue of training on equity issues.

The highlights of the HRMT were that the following programs were successfully launched in 2002 - mentorship; HR planning, Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, HRM Certified Programme, domestic violence, and compensation management. He said that one assessor had been declared competent, the other two were still the in the process.

The challenges which lie ahead of SAMDI concerning HRMT were noted:
- the procurement of service providers concerning tendering by departments had been a challenge
- increasing the capacity of SAMDI in the HRMT to full time trainers - in areas of job evaluation, labour relations and transformational issues.

Mr Athmoran from the SAMDI delegation pointed out that the HRMT programme would be focused more in the provinces of the Northern Cape, Mpumulanga and Kwazulu-Natal. The idea was to empower presiding officers in the management of high profile disciplinary cases during 2003. SAMDI has also enhanced the strategic partnership with the South African Police Services (SAPS) by offering domestic violence training, mentorship, arbitration skills, and gender and equity provision.

Mr Malekele said that SAMDI had taken in 23 interns who had been distributed to various areas within SAMDI and are now being trained in SAMDI's programs too.

Discussion
Mr Abrahams (UDM) thanked the SAMDI delegation for the report. He stated that he was concerned about the money issue, and funding of the programs. He asked about the stockage of the EC funding, and if there were any new developments along that front. He also asked why SAMDI is struggling with gender equity within departments. Thirdly, he asked if there had been an improvement on the cost recovery of these programs.

Mr Walters (DP) stated that he had noticed the low level of females equipped with training on the graphs that SAMDI had provided. He asked what level of training is going out to these delegates, and if there was any way in which to find a greater female trained percentage output.

Ms Maloney (ANC) asked SAMDI what it would do if the EU funding dries up. Were any other channels of funding?

Ms M Mbulawa-Hans asked how SAMDI would be able to assess the impact of these programs and the training on individuals in different departments.

Mr Malekele, in reply to these questions, stated that a large sum of money had already been received to implement these programs. R2,8 million had been made available immediately for the staff. The staff are ecstatic about this sum of money. In terms of the programs that are negotiated by the client departments, SAMDI is trying to reduce the need for funding of programs by negotiating costs with the departments. It would be possible to get assistance in funding from donor agencies, but more importantly get departments involved. Once the departments see the quality of services rendered, these departments will not hesitate to fund the program.

On the gender equity question, SAMDI has recommended that energy be put into this initiative, but it was very difficult to implement, as they are not fully in control of the process. Mr Malekele stated that SAMDI has placed a large priority on this very issue.

Mr Malekele also said that since the budget vote, fewer departments are refusing to pay. He said that this really improves cost recovery.

Concerning impact assessment, Ms de Wet of the SAMDI delegation stated that SAMDI is busy with the Department of Agriculture concerning the PSDLP program, and they have had tremendous response concerning the program. The province of Mpumalanga has asked SAMDI to review the PSLDP so it could be taken up into government clusters. She stated that once the program has been implemented, SAMDI would allow time from the beginning of implementation to six months afterwards for impact assessment.

Mr Modisenyane (ANC) stated that within project management, there was a critical shortage of skills. He asked the SAMDI delegation what they could do about this. Secondly, he asked about the management of HIV/AIDS in the workplace, and where the PSDLP training addresses this issue.

Ms Mbulawa-Hans referred to the involvement of SAMDI with SAPS. Concerning rape and other crisis situations, she stated that SAPS's suicide ratings have increased due to not being able to handle these situations. She asked what SAMDI are doing concerning this issue.

Mrs Mavloney then asked about the relationship between SAMDI and its competitors. She asked if they've met, or if there are common goals and initiatives being put forward.

Mr Malekele stated that project management falls under institutional development and not human resources development. Mrs de Wet also stated that this is a high priority of SAMDI, where SAMDI is involved in the Northwest, Statistics SA and the National Intelligence Agency all included in involvement of project management interventions.

Concerning HIV/AIDS, Mr Malekele stated that training development resources are offered in many of the programs. He stated, though, that they would further research the matter for further presentation.

Mr Malekele said that SAPS and SAMDI have joined hands because of domestic violence training, specifically the issue that was referred to by Ms Hans. He stated that the domestic violence module included the crisis issues that were referred to, and that it has been launched successfully. He further stated that SAMDI has a strong relationship with SAPS.

Mr Malekele stated that SAMDI and its competitors have looked at 'best practice' i.e. who can do the job better, and this organisation then completes the job. He stated that SAMDI's competitors have become partners in the sense that there is continuous interaction between the groups. He said that SAMDI is also looking for other potential partnerships.

Mr Modisenyane then asked the SAMDI delegation to please unpack the stand-alone module.

Mrs de Wet of the SAMDI delegation stated that all the modules were allocated a time period of 4 days within in which to be completed. The stand-alone module was allocated 2 hours. She stated that the reason for this was the questions of delegates who wanted to know how all the modules fitted together. The stand-alone module, stated Mrs de Wet, is merely the golden thread that connects all the other modules.

Meeting adjourned.