South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI): briefing

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Meeting report

PUBLIC SERVICE & ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

PUBLIC SERVICE & ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
22 February 2000
SOUTH AFRICAN MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (SAMDI)

Documents handed out
SAMDI Turnaround Strategy
Copy of SAMDI Presentation Overheads
Annexure A - Cost Estimates
Annexure B - WP Activity Sheet
[Note: Email [email protected] if you require these documents]

SUMMARY
Mr Mokgoro, the Director General of the South African Management Institute (SAMDI) delivered a presentation on the newly-developed turn-around strategy of the institute. He was assisted by Ms Dlamini and Mr Siebert, also from SAMDI. The approach of the institute, its current activities and the envisaged improvements were discussed. The members were invited to ask questions after the presentation and Mr Mokgoro responded.

MINUTES
The Chair, Mr N Nhleko (ANC), welcomed the members. He noted that there were changes to the Committee's program. The Committee had been meeting on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It would now be meeting on Wednesdays and Fridays. 24 March is the target date for a visit to the SITA office in Pretoria. Provincial visits are scheduled for 27 & 28 March. Six provinces would be visited by three delegations - each delegation would visit two provinces. The details of the provincial visits remained to be worked out.

The Chair welcomed the representatives from SAMDI; the Director General, Mr T Mokgoro, Ms S Dlamini and Mr Siebert. He noted that SAMDI had been invited to brief the Committee on its priorities and approach. He remarked that one of the defects in the public service is in the area of management, the development of which has been fragmented. He remarked further that accelerated service delivery could always be hindered by bad management and he hoped that the briefing would address this.

SAMDI Presentation
Mr Mokgoro thanked the members for the opportunity to brief the Committee.

In October 1999, SAMDI became a fully-fledged department and a Director General was appointed. SAMDI had been given a mandate to implement a turn-around strategy which would transform it into an effective institution that would play a critical role in management and organisational development in order to accelerate service delivery. Furthermore, it was required that the strategy introduce measures to make SAMDI self-sustaining.

There had been shortcomings with an approach focused exclusively on training. Much of the skills learned in training were not fully applied on the job, training solutions had been used to address performance needs, and training programmes had focused on what people should learn rather than what needed to be done on a particular job. Mr Mokgoro emphasised that it is performance, rather than training, that is ultimately important.

In past years, training programmes had been designed and sent to departments, but employees of the departments did not show up. This was partly because training programmes had been developed in the absence of a partnership and consultation with the departments. There needed to be a relationship with the departments in the drawing up of programmes.

Traditional training methods had not succeeded because they were not systems-orientated in their approach to resolving performance problems. The programmes were oblivious to the environment in which the skills are to be applied - training interventions had not been contextualised. Mr Mokgoro used the analogy of a person who is not able to ride a bicycle. This is not necessarily because the person does not posses the skills required to ride a bicycle. Rather, it may be because of the persons attitude towards riding. It is therefore necessary to examine the attitudes, cultural context and environment of the departments for which programmes are designed.

In November 1999 a desk-top study had been undertaken and a strategic-planning workshop had been held. A report of the core business and strategic direction of SAMDI had been published. There would need to be a competency profile for all SAMDI employees - they would need to be tested to determine whether they were competent to deliver on the new mandate. If they were not competent, it would need to be established what training was required.

It had been recognised that SAMDI had been working in pockets and therefore a new interactional model had been worked on. A new organisational development model for service delivery needed to be developed.

SAMDIS's new vision involves training interventions that involve working with departments so that there is sustainability. SAMDI's new Mission Statement has delivery as its bottom line.

The core business and functions of SAMDI
Training and Organisation Development Interventions: This will happen on an on-going basis, using the new organisational development model for service delivery and responding to departmental requests to provide training.
Research, Diagnostics and Reporting: Researching the latest public sector development programmes, conducting audits in departments and publishing regular reports.
Consultation, Policy Formulation, Interpretation and Co-ordination for Public Sector Management Development: Public sector management development has been fragmented in the past. The government must be sure of where human resource development is going and there needs to be an understanding of the environment where intervention takes place.
Co-ordination of Institutions providing Management Development and Leadership: There are certain functions which SAMDI cannot perform and therefore SAMDI must be able to broker with other private sector providers for the provision of these services.

Mr Mokgoro noted that it was important to ensure that SAMDI's activities were aligned and integrated and that the present fragmented approach to training and development, where there is duplication, could not be afforded.

He remarked that SAMDI could not work with a hierarchical structure and that an interactive structural model had been developed. Most activities would take place in the areas of organisation development and training which would be supported by research and development. This in turn would be supported by policies for leadership and management development, institutes of management development and the business unit.

Regarding the core function of organisation development, the model must evolve to be truly South African. IIP is the starting point to which two key components are added: The first is diagnostic processes and the second is policy. The policy must be understood and there must be certainty that there is the capacity to implement policy.

Mr Mokgoro emphasised that Business Process Improvement (BPI) underlies the whole model.

Current Progammes and Activities
Mr Mokgoro noted that SAMDI is required to deliver at the same time as developing its turn-around strategy. He observed that there was a temptation to become too involved in the turn-around strategy at the expense of delivery. He noted that SAMDI must examine its capacity if it is to succeed in its new strategy.

Mr Mokgoro drew the members' attention to Annexure A which lists SAMDI's current and forthcoming activities including capacity building, training for public managers, training for managers in personnel, training and labour relations and training for new managers. All the activities in Annexure A will be carried out in terms of the programme and process set out in the annexure B example. He stated that it was important to note that the activities will not be carried out as if it is business as usual but that they will be carried out in terms of the new organisational development model.

Regarding policy, policy seminars would be held and there would be compulsory training in provisioning administration.

Regarding SAMDI's strategy, the training Director Generals and future Director Generals of departments needed to be developed. He noted that a key development of IIP is structure and emphasised that is was important that policy, strategy, structure and work-force needed to be aligned.

Regarding SAMDI's human resources plan, Mr Mokgoro noted that every senior manager had to be equipped in human resource planning. As part of human resource planning, the implementation of the Employment Equity Act is important.

Mr Mokgoro noted that there was a danger that, with the new public service regulations, there may be more devolution which may lead to fragmentation.

He noted that there will be a comprehensive mentoring programme which will involve training managers as mentors.

He emphasised that training should come first and this would be provided to departments and provincial government first, and later to local government. He concluded by saying that he had attempted to inform the Committee on how far SAMDI had progressed with its turn-around strategy. He noted that SAMDI has been working on ways to become self-financing and that a report in this regard had been placed before the Minister. Mr Mokgoro stated that he believed that SAMDI could become self-financing.

Discussion
Mr G Grobler (DP) commented that the Director General had done well in identifying the shortcomings of SAMDI and remarked that a huge task lay ahead. He agreed that performance was ultimately of primary importance. He expressed concerns regarding the time-frame for seeing results and asked when the Director General expected to see results in terms of performance.

Mr B Mkize (ANC) asked what self-financing would mean in practice.

Mr Scott (ANC) asked what incentives were offered for people who received training in the way of certificates and the like. He noted that, in the past, the incentive for personel to take training courses was to get away from work. He asked what the mechanisms were for determining whether people were implementing what they had learnt in training.

Mr M Sikakane (ANC) suggested that it was possibly the arrogance of departments which impeded the success of SAMDI's training programmes. He repeated the question regarding the mechanisms for ensuring that what was learnt in training was being implemented.

Prof L Ndabandaba (IFP) asked what is being done to identify training needs so that training is relevant.

Mr Mokoro responded to the question regarding the time frame for seeing results. He noted that in certain instances it is easier to give a time frame than in others. In terms of the training programmes, the deadline is 13 April. Therefore by April SAMDI will be the organisation envisaged in the presentation in this regard.

He stated that the outcome of the competency profiling was expected next week and that a development programme for SAMDI staff could then be put together in March. He noted that the business plan was being put together and that the question could be answered more clearly the following week.

Regarding self-financing, Mr Mokgoro stated that SAMDI would need to compete with private sector providers of training. Departments could elect to go either to SAMDI or the private sector. He stated that SAMDI would need a marketing strategy to survive. He stated, however, that government would compel departments to undergo training in the basics, for example induction programmes, and this would be provided by SAMDI which has the capacity to do so.

He noted that the President had expressed himself passionately in his State of the Nation address regarding human resource development. He stated that the public services that have succeeded have done so because of the privatisation of their training. He stated that the idea of training before promotions needed to be revisited.

Regarding monitoring the implementation of what has been learnt, Mr Mokgoro noted that SAMDI has used systems of evaluation after training programmes. He said that there was a need for tracing mechanisms to evaluate whether the training has worked. Furthermore, there needs to be diagnosis of departments.

Regarding the comment that departments have been arrogant rather than SAMDI, Mr Mokgoro stated that this was correct in some instances but that SAMDI had also been arrogant in having designed courses without consulting departments.

Mr Mokgoro responded to the question regarding the identification of training needs by stating that partnerships with departments were important. He used the example of the Presidency where both SAMDI and the Presidency had worked together to identify problems. He stated that needs identification is important and that training must be linked to performance needs.

Adv Z Madasa (ACDP), regarding the process of competency testing, used the metaphor of a doctor who declines to treat a patient because he or she is not competent. The patient would only be able to be treated later by such a doctor once the doctor had undergone training or conducted research. He stated that there are doctors who could treat such patients and asked what was being done to link up with these other bodies who could provide solutions.

Adv Madasa asked about the expected life-span of SAMDI. Would it exist indefinitely or would there be a time when it could be said that the public service is fine and SAMDI would be able to "remove itself"?

Mr Scott (ANC) repeated Adv Madasa's question and asked whether SAMDI could not link up with the private sector where SAMDI does not have the necessary capacity.

Mr Mokgoro responded to the doctor analogy by saying that doctors do attend conferences, subscribe to journals and attend refresher courses. If this were not so, people would not submit themselves as patients. He stated that the same was true of teachers and politicians. He stated that SAMDI was similarly a learning organisation and that any organisation is a living organism which needs fresh oxygen and must learn.

Regarding the life-expectancy of SAMDI, Mr Mokgoro stated that the vision was that it should exist indefinitely. He continued, saying the notion of staff development will exist as long as humanity exists - there will always be organisations with staff who require training and there will always be bodies to train them.

Regarding partnerships with the private sector, Mr Mokgoro noted that this had been emphasised. SAMDI needs to have skills on how to manage outsourcing and must be able to identify the best providers of service delivery. Outsourcing and partnerships are important.

Mr M Sikakane (ANC) asked how SAMDI would select the departments where training is required.

Mr M Baloyi (ANC) commented that the Director General had stated that one of the shortcomings of SAMDI had been that training solutions were being used to address performance needs. He asked why this was viewed as a shortcoming.

Mr L Kwele (ANC) asked what the capacity of SAMDI was.

Regarding the selection of departments, Mr Mokgoro stated that SAMDI should ideally be customer-driven; departments should come to SAMDI with a need. This requires that SAMDI sell itself.

Mr Mogkoro responded to the question regarding the shortcoming of using training solutions to address performance needs by saying that the leadership of an organisation needed to be addressed to improve the performance of the organisation. While a department may approach SAMDI requesting training to improve morale, SAMDI needed to make a proper diagnosis of the department to determine whether training is the appropriate solution.

Mr Mokgoro addressed the question of capacity by stating that the capacity of SAMDI must be established after a proper evaluation of SAMDI's structure.

The Chair thanked the Committee and the representatives from SAMDI for coming to brief the Committee and adjourned the meeting.

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