Abstract

This paper focus on performance management system in practice based on survey and questionnaires and supported by literature work. Ever since the establishments of these higher education institutions, little has been done regarding administrative rules and policies on the use of performance management system and practices. Thus, it became compulsory to assess the current system and consider performance management system as one of the important parts. This entails enhancement of the existing performance management system in the above-mentioned selected higher education institutions. The performance management system is expected to standardize the correct method in the system of promotion, and give incentives and rewards to administrative officers and employees in the higher education institutions on a yearly basis. Thus, this research study was conducted to determine the level of adequacy of the present performance management system as a basis of promotion and rewards in the five selected higher education institutions in Bahrain.

This study aims to conduct a performance management system audit of selected higher education institutions in Bahrain towards a strategic performance management system.

Specifically, the study addresses the following: What is the profile of these selected five higher education institutions operating in Bahrain’s performance management system in the areas of: Demographic profile; Vision, mission, value and strategy; Organization and structure; Employees, talent management, leadership development; Employee relations; Staffing; Continues education program; and Performance management? To what extent do respondents correlate significantly in their perceptions? What are the strengths and weaknesses resulting from the respondents perceptions on the PMS profiles? Based on the findings, what strategic PMS is applicable to the selected higher education institutions? The study aimed to audit the Performance Management System of Higher Education Institutions in the Kingdom of Bahrain towards a strategic performance management system. The descriptive method of research was used in this study with prepared structured questionnaires as basis for the data needed in auditing the present appraisal tool used by higher education institutions. Two groups of respondents namely the administrative managers and administrative employees with the corresponding numbers of 150 each or a total of 300 were the respondents in this study. The study was conducted in the selected five public and private higher education institutions in the Kingdom of Bahrain. These selected higher education institutions are established, one of them a government and a prime institution of higher learning. This primer university was established in the late sixties during the integration of the Higher Education Institutes for male and female teachers into the system. These institutes later integrated with other colleges and formed into the primer government university. The other four higher education institutions were established in the late 1990s and 2000s and maintain their higher learning standards within the requirements of the Ministry of Education in Bahrain. This research environment was based on the current locations of these selected five higher education institutions within Manama and the neighboring towns in the state nation of Bahrain where most of the employees are diversified from the academic staff to administrative employees like Bahrainis, Indians, Pakistanis, Egyptians, western people, other Asian and Arab nationalities among others. Such diversities of people working in these selected higher education institutions made it unique to this study since all of these people are affected for whatever result the performance management system will provide to them. The demographic profile comprised age groups between 31 to 35; the respondents’ educational attainments; work experiences from 6 to 10 years, and number of years in their present jobs. The major areas studied were: Vision, Mission, Value and Strategy; Organization and structure; Employees’ talent management, and leadership development; Employee relations; Staffing, Continuous education program; and Performance management. The respondents received copies of the survey questionnaire through e-mail, postal system, or personal approach. The output of the research work served as a basis to derive a strategic performance management system model for higher education institutions in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Responses to the questions were tested at α = .05 or α = .01 where appropriate. Correlation analysis was used to test significance of associations of respondents’ responses. The weighted means were tested for significance using a t-test. To conform with international standards, only means that were at least 3.5 were accepted as strengths and means below 3.5 were considered weaknesses. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software is used throughout the study to process the data.

 

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