PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING IN

Abstract

South Africa has since the end of apartheid struggled with the issue of poor public sector performance. Performance contracting for public servants, introduced to improve the public sector’s performance, has not borne much fruit. In this study, performance contracting refers to a framework that uses a form of ‘relational’ contract referred to as a performance agreement for performance management. This study sought to establish challenges in the implementation of performance contracting in the public sector. In addition, it sought to recommend interventions to improve implementation of performance contracting in the public sector. A qualitative research approach was used with Gauteng department of housing as a case study. The study focused on performance contracting for senior managers who are members of the senior management service The study established that although performance contracting has an important role to play in performance management, its implementation is hindered by several challenges. The complexity of performance agreements format templates; inadequate resources and managerial authority; political interference; inadequate leadership; inadequate personal training and development; systems and processes challenges; organization culture and a weak implementation strategy were identified as the main challenges in the implementation of performance contracting. The study recommends interventions to improve the implementation of performance contracting. These include: the development of a comprehensive implementation strategy that takes cognizance of the identified challenges and provision of adequate political and administrative leadership.