In South Africa, it has become essential to have better access to high-quality and relevant skills development to achieve the goal of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030. Therefore, employee capacity building has become a strategic priority for the national growth and development of all emerging countries.
This article seeks to investigate a nexus between employee skills development and competence.
The study was carried out in the Eastern Cape Department of Education.
The article employed an inductive research approach and an explanatory research design to achieve its desired objectives. Moreover, structured questionnaires were used as the data collection tool, and thematic analysis was used to analyse the findings.
The results of the article confirmed that skills training and development ensure that staff is empowered, informed and trained, which results in improved efficiency in the workplace. In this situation, spin-offs will benefit public organisations, since employees’ increased abilities open new opportunities for long-term employment growth and organisational effectiveness. Furthermore, the knowledgeable and well-trained individual would make sound organisational decisions while competently providing a public service.
The article revealed that the Department of Education has a wider skill learning system that is informed by the
This article contributed to the broader knowledge as a tool for obtaining valuable knowledge on the issues and on the effect of training and development on employee performance which has emerged.
One of the hallmarks of South Africa’s new democratic regime was the development of public servants’ skills (Mavunga & Cross
According to Freeman (
Nkosi (
One of the most serious threats to the public sector is its employees’ complete formal education without the necessary skills required by the labour market. The implication here is that those who are absorbed into the labour market are perceived by employers as lacking in necessary skills and training (HRDC
Considering this, the present article investigates the relationship between employee skills development and employee competence. Furthermore, using the ECDoE as a case study, the article discusses perceptions about the extent to which employee skills development programmes and initiatives have contributed to employee competence and performance in the public sector.
The article did not consider every departmental employee, instead relying on a representative sample using the snowball sampling technique. It is imperative to take into consideration that the research only focused on one departmental office (the ECDoE). This may be insufficient to present a clear picture of how employee skills development influences employee performance in the province. Middle and senior managers were frequently unavailable for data collection purposes. Furthermore, because of limited finances, time and mobility, the study was limited and did not manage to collect data from every available source.
Employee skills development is an old concept that has piqued the interest of many academics around the world (Fletcher, Alfes & Robinson
Employee development, according to Hemeed and Waheed (
These indicators play an essential role in determining the extent to which public servants are equipped with the necessary skills to meet the demands of their jobs. As a result, these indicators for skills development will be considered in the creation of the conceptual model that will guide this study.
Employee competence is the next critical component that forms the foundation of this study. It is noteworthy that the concept of employee performance has been around since the dawn of time. Because of the varying degrees of work, employee competence has been conceptualised differently in the literature. Puteh, Kaliannan and Alam (
Yang, Lee and Cheng (
Furthermore, the concept is viewed as denoting an employee’s ability to perform specific knowledge and skill to perform the task that has been assigned to him or her in an expected and professional manner (Alsabbah & Ibrahim
Based on the conceptualisation of the two main building blocks guiding this study, it is critical to investigate the type of relationship that exists between the identified indicators.
A proposed framework for skills development and employee competence for public sector institutions.
The notion presented in the framework above is that employee skills development indicators play an influential role (positive or negative) in the elements of employee competence. A correlation among these indicators will be tested using quantitative methods.
Even though most developing countries have made progress in matching skills and required day-to-day tasks, most South African public sector departments continue to face challenges related to mismatches between employee skills and skills required to perform. According to Du Plessis (
Following the first democratic elections and the country’s independence in 1994, South Africa’s new administration was determined to face a slew of challenges in public administration and management (Tembe & Sehume
[
This is a clear indication of the countrywide skills gap.
Based on Chelechele (
Marock (
One of the hallmarks of South Africa’s new democratic regime was the development of public servants’ skills. This was based on the perception that most black people lacked the competencies required in many public institutions. According to Tshilongamulenzhe and Coetzee (eds.
South Africa currently has a transforming employee skills development management framework (Reddy et al.
Skills implementation agencies and their functions.
Agency | Functions and authority |
---|---|
Department of Labour and Department of Education | These are the key departments that oversee and drive skills development, education and employee training in South Africa. The responsibility of the DoL is training and implementing all the initiatives for the labour market. Conversely, formal education lies within the jurisdiction of the DoE. |
South African Qualifications Authority | This is South Africa’s main ‘standard authority’ for both education and training. The South African Qualifications Authority’s primary mission is to provide high standards for training and education by ensuring that the National Qualification Framework is developed and implemented successfully. |
Education and Training Quality Assurance | The responsibility for ensuring important reforms has been assigned to ETQA entities that have been authorised and certified by the SAQA for a specific field (i.e. economic sector, educational institutions and bodies, social sector). Sector Education and Training Authorities have also been given the status of an ETQA for all sectors of the economy and thus for quality control in skills development. |
Sector Education and Training Authorities | Sector Education and Training Authorities are the major planning bodies for developing and maintaining quality workplace education and development and are regulated by the regulations of the |
National Skills Authority | The NSA is a primary stakeholder that informs the DoL on nationwide capacity-building policy and strategy execution, NSF allocations and SETA Sector Skills Plans approval. |
National Skills Fund | All training is funded by a levy-based system governed by the |
DoE, Department of Education; SAQA, South African Qualifications Authority; ETQA, Education and Training Quality Assurance; SETA, Sector Education and Training Authority; NSF, National Skills Fund; NSA, National Skills Authority; DoL, Department of Labour.
The establishment of skills development agencies in the country has aided in the formulation and implementation of several initiatives and programmes aimed at improving employee skills in both the public and private sectors. Several initiatives, including the NSDS II (for the period 2005 to 2010) and the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition Elliot (
The two commonly used paradigms are positivism and interpretivism. The study adopted an interpretivist paradigm. Saunders and Bezzina (
The research is focused on an inductive approach consistent with the interpretivist paradigm. The inductive approach, according to Bryman and Bell (
In this article, a phenomenological qualitative research method was used to get an in-depth understanding of the factors that hinder employee skills development in the Eastern Cape region and strategies that could be put in place to align skills development and employee competence.
The selection of a research strategy is usually driven by study objectives and goals, the degree of established expertise, the length of time and other resources available and the theoretical frameworks, according to Saunders et al. (
The findings of the article were derived from a mixed population of 90 respondents involving people of all races, age groups and educational statuses in the ECDoE. In this regard, the study target population was represented as follows: departmental line managers (2) and general departmental employees (10). It is imperative to note that the selection of these units of analysis was because they have experienced the processes that are involved in employee skills development and their contribution to employee competence. It is noteworthy that this study did not consider every employee of the ECDoE, and therefore a representative sample was used to generalise the findings to the entire department.
This research used purposive and random sampling techniques to ensure that the sample was representative of the study population. These are briefly explained below.
At the core of the research onion presented by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (
Face-to-face interviews were done with the selected employees, and the study utilised open-ended questions to solicit a wide range of responses. This allowed the respondents to share their views, attitudes, beliefs, experiences and perceptions on employee skills development and its contribution to employee performance.
The research used secondary or precollected data to gather information to cross-check the validity and reliability of primary sources. Information from Internet sources (which mostly constituted electronic material) was carefully selected according to its relevance in the study. Archival data played a cardinal role in providing a review of previously researched data on employee skills development in South Africa. This information provided the baseline for literature review and offered an opportunity of learning from others.
Firstly, the data were carefully scrutinised for reliability and accuracy, since enumerators were used for data collection. Secondly, the study selected sources relevant to and considerate of the period (timeline) of the undertaking of the research to avoid obsolete, old and irrelevant data. Finally, the study had to reduce bias by employing special care in amending and modifying the collected secondary data (Johnston
Summary of population, sample size and data collection methods.
Population | Sample size | Data collection method |
---|---|---|
Department line managers (ASD, DD, D) | 2 | In-depth interviews |
Department employees | 10 | In-depth interviews |
ASD, assistant directors; DD, deputy directors; D, directors.
The research used thematic analysis to analyse the qualitative data. Based on Clarke and Braun (
Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the University of Fort Hare Research Ethics Committee (UREC) (reference number: REC-270710-028-RA Level 01).
The researcher initially targeted 15 participants to participate in the study. Because of challenges posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions, only 12 participants were available for face-to-face in-depth interviews. However, the data gathered from respondents are verifiable and trustworthy because of their experience in the education sector and the qualifications they hold. The respondents had institutional memory because they were permanently employed, as opposed to many employees who worked in contracts for 3–5 years with the Department of Education.
Age is a very prudent aspect of research because different age groups represent different views and opinions about employee skills development in the local government sector. Age could come in as a factor in understanding the dynamics related to HRD and how this impacts employee competence in the ECDoE.
Age distribution of participants.
Age distribution | Number of participants |
---|---|
25–35 | 04 |
35–45 | 06 |
54–55 | 02 |
Work experience is also important because respondents share their experiences and opinions based on the experience they have. In assessing the nexus between skills development and employee competence in the department of education, respondents provided their work experiences, which are shown in
Work experience of study participants in years.
Experience of participants (years) | Number of participants |
---|---|
5–10 | 04 |
10–20 | 08 |
20–25 | 00 |
As shown in
Education is broadly used as an instrument for organisational change because it increases the stock of human resources, which in turn increases organisational or institutional performance (Hickey
Classification of respondents according to educational qualifications.
Qualifications | Number of participants |
---|---|
Diploma in Education | 02 |
BA degree in Education | 06 |
Honours or master’s degree | 04 |
BA, bachelor of arts.
As shown in
Employee skills development, or HRD, is critical in addressing the skills gaps that exist in the public sector. This is largely because of several studies indicating that South African public institutions are plagued by skills shortages. As a result, in this section, participants’ understanding of employee skills development in relation to employee competence was questioned. The opinions expressed on this subject were diverse. This is reflected in the following excerpt, in which one respondent during an interview expressed the following sentiments:
‘[…
In addition, one other key informant pointed out that:
‘To improve the efficiency of employees and their impact on the job, training on that particular job is very important, as many of the employees have been found wanting in terms of the relevant skills.’ (Respondent 7)
What can be deduced from the above remarks is that HRD or employee skills development is perceived to be a precondition for the efficiency of tasks that are usually assigned to employees by their superiors. This is in line with Hickey’s (
‘Unlike a number of public institutions in the country, the education department is known for recruiting qualified staff … the majority of the employees we have hold degrees, and this is a sign that the skills gap has not been an issue in our department.’ (Respondent 1)
Despite the fact that the department boasts about having qualified staff, the above assertion was criticised by one respondent, who argued that the possession of qualifications by staff has not yet translated to an efficient performance by the employees. The respondent argued that:
‘[…
In line with the assertion above, Fazekas and Burns (
The conceptualisation of employee skills revealed that in-service training and mentorship are the key components that can be used to test the impact of employee skills development on the competence of staff. In a number of settings, many strategies to enhance employee competence have been attempted. A number of initiatives and programmes have centred on financial rewards such as outcome-based support or pay-for-performance but have seen little success in improving the competence of staff in the public sector domain. Hoover et al. (
‘Although a number of our employees are qualified for the job, we have noted some gaps between the qualifications and the requirement for the job; as such, we have had a number of interventions to bridge that gap.’ (Respondent 8)
What can be deduced from the above remarks is the realisation that qualifications have not automatically translated to job competence, and in-service training and employee mentoring have been used to ensure that the skills possessed by the employees are in tandem with what they actually need to do. An employee in the department reiterated that:
‘[…
Evidence from texts reveals that in-service employee training and mentoring in the Department of Education has been provided in two types: that is, face-to-face and online. Face-to-face schooling is the most popular mode. Respondents revealed that the face-to-face mode refers to a scenario in which department and resource people sit and talk with each other on selected job problems or issues. These have included the face-to-face mode such as lectures, workshops, conferences and short-term training. These have been lauded as key in transforming employee competence. This is justified by one respondent, who pointed out that:
‘[…
Based on the above views, it can be confirmed that there is a positive correlation between in-service training or employee mentoring and employee competence.
The goal of this research was to investigate and analyse the role employee skills development plays towards employee competence within the ECDoE. An analysis of the role skills development plays in the Department of Education context has been carried out in this study. A critical feature of such an analysis was the understanding that all levels of expertise, particularly ‘high skills’, intermediate skills and ‘low skills’, are essential. In essence, the article concentrated on the role of skills development in the competency levels of the employees, based on the findings from the ECDoE.
The article revealed that institutions such as the Department of Labour (DoL), Department of Education (DoE), Department of Science and Innovation (DST) and Department of Home Affairs (DHA) are joined by the wider skills learning system. At this point, the lack of communication between the DoL and the DoE is perhaps the most critical problem that has hindered the development of employee skills in the public sector. The insinuation presented here is that different state organs do not do enough to incorporate the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) learning relationships, and the system becomes highly suboptimal without doing this. Such problems have cascaded down to affect the competence of many public employees.
This article on the effect of training and development on employee performance has emerged as a tool for obtaining valuable knowledge on the issue while understanding the challenges faced by the ECDoE. In this case, public institutions will be motivated by the research results to make employee skills development a vital and strategic necessity to preserve the productive efficiency and organisational growth of such institutions. In praise of Mansour (
Findings also revealed that when implemented by institutions such as the SETA, higher education institutions and other private players, the skills training and development approach would ensure that employees are empowered, informed and trained, which translates into greater efficiency and effectiveness. In this case, public entities will benefit from spin-offs, as employees’ elevated skills open up possibilities for job development and organisational performance in the long run. More so, the competent and trained employee would take decisive organisational decisions, successfully listening to the concerns of the clients. The advantages will trickle down to the communities where these organisations are based, and the greater image is the development that will be the ultimate for the government.
Elnaga and Imran (
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
G.G. is the main author, and this manuscript is part of her original research for her master’s degree. She was mainly responsible for writing the literature and data analysis. B.P. was mainly responsible for data mining, analysis and drafting the article. T.R. provided guidance, wrote the discussion and edited the manuscript. Z.C. is the corresponding author; she contributed towards editing the contents of the manuscript and was mainly responsible for identifying and submitting the work to the journal of choice.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Where applicable, a list of figures that have associated raw data is made available.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.