ASSIGNMENT 1

Course code (IOP4863)

 Assignment number : 1
 Student number : 4382-704-7
 Student postal address : P.O Box 1250 Scottburgh
 Assignment unique number : 836319

Word count:

Mark: 45 %
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Body
 1.2.1 Compensation
 1.2.2 South African national HR standard for Rewards
 1.2.3 IOP Technologies
 1.2.3.1 Central Human resource challenge
 1.2.3.2 Systematic approach for IOP Technologies
 1.2.3.3 South African national HR standards for strategic HRM, talent
management & workforce planning
1.3 Conclusion
1.4 Self-Evaluation Questions
1.5 References
1.6 Rubric
1.1 Introduction

Organizations implement systematic strategies for their organizations in order to gain

competitive advantage , operate effectively and improve organizational excellence by
aligning their technologies , capabilities , functional strategies and environmental
factors appropriately .By doing this it is expected to defeat its rivals by developing
and maintaining its competitive advantage by offering value and uniqueness.
According to the thirteen South African national human resource standards (SABPP,
2013), Strategic human resource management “is a systematic approach to
developing and implementing long-term HRM strategies, policies and plans that
enable the organisation to achieve its objectives.” Its main objectives are to:
o Ensure the HR strategy is derived from and aligned to the organisations
objectives in consultation with key organisational stakeholders
o Analyse the internal and external socio-economic, political and technological
environment and provide proactive people-related business solutions
o Provide strategic direction and measurements for strategic innovation and
sustainable people practice
o A foundation for employment and value proposition of the organisation
o Establish a framework for the HR element of the organisations governance ,
risk and compliance policies ,practices and procedures which balance the
needs of all stakeholders
According to Chen, H.M., & Fu, H.M. (2008), “performance appraisal and
compensation are two important strategies essential for organizational competitive
advantage and they directly connect to the organization with its employees “they
further on state that it does not only focus on the inner organizational status but also
on the outer environmental changes, thus find it necessary for an organization to
design a systematic strategy for performance appraisal and compensation strategy.
1.2 Body

 1.2.1 Compensation
According to Bergmann & Scarpello, (2002) employee compensation is one of the
largest expenses of doing business, especially in the important knowledge,
professional and service sectors of our economy. Hen, H.M., & Fu, H.M. (2008),
state that a compensation strategy is a mechanism to integrate the efforts of
employees and managers and to achieve organizational objectives, and it is critical
for an organization to have an applicable and well-designed compensation system of
strategic contingencies.

 1.2.2 South African national HR standard for Rewards

The South African national HR standards refer to the term reward as the total
rewards system which is defined as the combination of all types of rewards including
direct financial payments or compensation (in the form of wages ,salaries ,incentives,
commission and bonuses) , indirect payments or compensation ( in the form of
financial benefits like employer-paid medical aid and pension benefits) and non –
financial rewards ( in the form of intrinsic and motivation incentives such as
challenging and interesting tasks, opportunities for learning and growth , praise,
quality of work life, supervisor support , fair treatment , being kept informed and
social recognition .

 1.2.3 IOP Technologies

o 1.2.3.1 Central Human resource challenge
The perceptual problem in society is the judicious use of human resources, and the
central human resource management problem at IOP Technologies is developing a
competent, equitable HR management practices that will ensure compliance with
EEO requirements and thus potentially avoid the large settlement cost of
discrimination .The recently formulated organisations mission, objectives and
strategy have yielded results from the investigation which showed that the
organisation employed mainly white males of whom 30% retire in the next 24 months
, workers frustrated by limited opportunities for promotions , previously
disadvantaged groups are the most despondent and external people appointed with
no internal promotions taking place. The importance of the linkage between a
strategic business plans will assist IOP Information technologies to face the HR
challenges that they encounter and confront them to be able to realise the success in
through the chosen systematic approach by being able to answer the questions by
Cappelli (2008) Hirschman (2007):
1 What are the talents, abilities and skills are available within the organization?
3 Who are the people we can dependably build on for tomorrow?
3 How are we blending the talent available with the organization’s needs?
4 What are the qualitative as well as quantitative HR demands of our growth plan?

o 1.2.3.2 Systematic approach for IOP Technologies

Dess, Lumpkin , & Eisner (200) state that “ strategies are the means that
organizations use to compete, for example through innovation, quality, speed or cost
leadership and how they compete with each other and manner in which they attain
and sustain competitive advantage is the essence of strategic management .”
Strategic and tactical business plans serve as the basis for HR strategies and how
the strategy interacts with the talent inventory and forecasts of workforce supply and
demand to produce net workforce requirements. Everything that happened within the
business happened despite the fact that the organisation did not make use of
systematic procedures that would help in anticipating and responding to its human
resource needs.
A strategic workforce planning strategy is what is needed within IOP Information
Technologies, as it will anticipate and respond to the needs emerging within the
company which are the frustrated employees and outside the organisation, to
determine its priorities which is to build its employees to be eligible and qualified for
the internal positions within the company and allocate resources where they can do
the most good. Thus, this will be an effort to anticipate the future business and
environmental demands within IOP Information Technologies and to meet its HR
requirements dictated by these conditions:
Interrelated activities that compromise a WP system:
Talent inventory - assess the current resources and analyse current use of
employees - workers from all races were generally frustrated by the extremely limited
opportunities for promotions
Workforce forecast – to predict future HR requirements – company employed mainly
white males of whom 30% would retire in the next 24 months, workers from
previously disadvantaged groups were despondent
Action Plans – to enlarge the pool of qualified individuals by recruitment, selection,
training, placement, transfer, promotion, development and compensation -outside
people were appointed and no internal promotions workers told they were not good
enough for promotion
Control and evaluation – to provide closed-loop feedback to the rest of the system
and to monitor the degree of attainment of HR goals and objectives – people
management (HR) policies , procedures and practices employed were inconsistent
with the strategic principle reflected in the official documents of the organisation “ our
people are our key priority “

o 1.2.3.3 South African national HR standards for strategic HRM, talent

management & workforce planning
It was clear that at IOP Information technologies that the people management (HR)
policies , procedures and practices employed were inconsistent with the strategic
principle reflected in the official documents of the organisation, namely “ our people
are our key “.
It is important to note that the South African national HR standards refer to talent
management as the proactive design and implementation of an intergraded talent-
driven organisational strategy directed to attracting, deploying, and developing,
retaining and optimising appropriate talent requirements as identified in the
workforce plan to ensure a sustainable organisation .This is to build a talent culture
which defines the organisations philosophy , principles and integrated approach to
talent , which leverages diversity and is communicated in a clear employment value
proposition , as IOP Information technologies has shown that workers form
previously disadvantaged groups were most despondent. To identify strategically
critical positions and leadership roles and capabilities in the organisation into the
future from workforce plan that will determine the sustainability of the organisation.
To set up processes and systems which will , attract a sustainable pool of talent for
current objectives and future organisation needs, achieve employment equity
progress in the spirit of the legislation to achieve transformation , develop the
required leadership skills , plan for succession to key roles ,identify high potential
employees and link them with key future roles in the organisation through monitored
development plans , identify through assessment the optimal development and
management of talent , to agree on appropriate roles for relevant stakeholders in the
development and management of talent management and lastly to monitor and
report on talent management areas and indicators .
Also to note the term workforce planning is defined as the systematic identification
and analysis of organisational workforce needs culminating in a workforce plan to
ensure sustainable organisational capability in pursuit of the achievement of its
strategic and operational objectives. The implementation of this standard also entails
the development and implementation of career planning processes and programmes
and other enabling interventions such as recruitment, assessment, selection and
succession planning.
1.3 Conclusion

The alignment of an organizational strategy to the organization’s mission is of

importance in order to enhance profitability and competitive advantage. We all may
work for a need to be able to provide for our families but the need for a more
appropriate and to meet the three dimensions of compensation satisfaction, which
are pay structure, variable pay procedures and benefit determination satisfaction,
Miceli and Muvelvey (2002) state that satisfaction with the compensation system is
more important input into employees judgements of the quality of their exchange
relationship with their organizations than its satisfaction with compensation. Planning
should be the heart of any organization to help the, reduce the uncertainty of the
future hence allowing them to cope with the future.
1.4 Self-Evaluation Questions

(1) Give yourself a mark for your assignment. Why did you give yourself this mark in
your self-evaluation? 45% where in your assignment (sections, headings) did you
perform at your best? Or at your worst? Worst is question 1 as I did not give myself
enough time to read through the given course material to be able to critically show
my understanding of the topic

(2) Which of the prescribed and/or recommended sources did you find most useful?
Tutorial letter

(3) Did you use additional sources? If your answer is ’yes’, describe or name these
sources. No

(4) How much time did you spend on the assignment? 1 week

(5) How relevant are the sources provided for this assignment to the realities of, for
example, personnel and career psychology in the South African work context?
IOP4863/101/0/2017 – The were especially with regards to how workers respond to
compensation and reward

(6) Which competencies, areas of knowledge, skills and attributes did you need to
complete this assignment? (Refer also to the graduateness skills and attributes you
developed by completing this assignment. Use the CEMS graduateness skills and
attributes framework – see point 2.3 in this tutorial letter). Ability to read ,
comprehend and understand the given literature , critically analyse and provide
logical reasons using given literature

(7) Did completing this assignment and consulting the relevant sources improve your
competence as a human resources practitioner and aspiring industrial psychologist?
Name a few competencies that you think should be developed further to improve
your graduateness and employability.

The use and change of different forms of Performance appraisals systems used
within companies or industries within the South African context
(8) Did the assignment tasks add value to the application of your knowledge and
skills in the workplace? Yes it did

(9) Do the assessment criteria and assessment rubrics for the assignment provide
you with an adequate framework in which to evaluate your performance in your
assignment? If not, what other criteria and guidance should be added? Yes it did as
it allowed my planning for the assignment to have some form of direction and flow
through the thought process

(10) What aspects of the course, study material and you’re learning experience
would you like to be improved? How? The text book to be updated or a more revised
version that will accommodate the module

(11) How would you describe the quality of the learning material (tutorial letters,
prescribed books and recommended resources)? Please elaborate. Printing may be
a disadvantage to other students as the use of printing and internet usage is not
easily accessible to all students and they always come at a cost

(12) Was the administrative support of an expected standard? Please elaborate. It

was ok , as I use it just to check any new updates or announcements

13) Do you feel you have personally developed as a result of this reflection
(completing these self-evaluation questions)? Yes I have as I have noted my weak
points and where I have to focus on in order to do better for assignment 2
 1
1.6 References

Cascio, W.F. & Aguinis, H. (2014). Applied psychology in human resource

management. (Pearson New International Edition, 7th ed.).Harlow, UK: Pearson.
ISBN-13: 9781292023472/ ISBN-10: 1292023473.
Chen, H.M., & Fu, H.M. (2008). A systematic framework for performance appraisal
and compensation strategy. Human Systems Management, 27(2), pp.161-175. (DOI
10.3233/HSM-2008-0674).

Den Hartog, D.N., Boselie, P., & Paauwe, J. (2004). Performance management: A
model and research agenda. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 53(4),
pp. 556-569.

De Waal, A.A. (2004). Stimulating performance-driven behaviour to obtain better

results. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 53(4),
pp. 301-316.

Foba, T.W.L., & De Villiers, D. (2007). The integration of entrepreneurship into a

performance management model. SA Journal of Human Resource Management,
5(2), pp. 1-8.

Gratton, L., Hope-Hailey, V., Stiles, P., & Truss, C. (1999). Linking individual
performance to business strategy: The people process model. Human Resources
Management, 38(1), pp. 17-31.

Hiltrop, J. (1996). The impact of human resource management on organisational

performance: Theory and research. European Management Journal, 14(6), pp. 628-
637

Kehoe, R., & Wright, P. (2010). The impact of high performance human resource
practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Management, (1), pp. 1-
26. SAGE Publications. Retrieved from http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/
0149206310365901

Kirkpatrick, J., & Kayser Kirkpatrick, W. (2009). The Kirkpatrick four levels: A fresh
look after 50 years 1959 – 2009. Retrieved 5 April, 2011 from
http://www.managesmarter.com/ managesmarter/ images/pdfs/ trg_20090417_
kirkpatrickwhitepaper.pdf

Kock, R., Roodt, G., & Veldsman, T. H. (2002). The alignment between effective
people management, business strategy and organisational performance in the
banking and insurance sector. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 28(3), pp. 83-91.
Magada, T., & Govender, K. (2016). The relationship among leadership, organisation
culture, and performance: A South African Public Service Organization Perspective.
In ICMLG 2016-4th International Conference on Management, Leadership and
Governance: ICMLG 2016 (p. 210). Academic Conferences and Publishing Limited.

Martin, D.C., & Bartol, K. M. (1998). Performance appraisal: Maintaining system

effectiveness. Public Personnel Management, 27(2), pp. 223-230

Ohemeng, F.L.K. (2009). Constraints in the implementation of performance

management systems in developing countries: the Ghanaian case. International
Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 9(1), pp. 109-132. (DOI:
10.1177/1470595808101158).

Pongatichat, P., & Johnston, R. (2008). Exploring strategy-misaligned performance

measurement. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management,
57(3), pp. 207-222.

Sun, L., Aryee, S., & Law, K. (2010). High-performance human resource practices,
citizenship behaviour and organizational performance: A relational perspective.
Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), pp. 558-577. Retrieved from
http://eprints.aston.ac.uk/2043/

Chen, H.M., & Fu, H.M. (2008). A systematic framework for performance appraisal
and compensation strategy. Human Systems Management, 27(2), pp.161-175. (DOI
10.3233/HSM-2008-0674).

Fong, S.C.L., & Shaffer, M.A. (2003). The dimensionality and determinants of pay
satisfaction: a cross-cultural investigation of a group incentive plan. International
Journal of Human Resource Management, 14, pp. 559-580.

Grigoriadis, C., & Bussin, M. (2007). Current practice with regard to short-term
incentive schemes for middle managers. SA Journal of Human Resource
Management, 5(1), pp. 45-53.
Criteria Yes No
Literature (10%)
Did you consult Cascio and Aguinis (2014) for Assignment 01? Did you use at least
five to eight additional, appropriate and relevant sources? 

Did you consult the recommended articles? 

Did you use at least five to eight additional, appropriate and relevant sources? 

Contents and insight (40%)

Did you identify and define the core concepts? 
Did you provide a solid theoretical foundation for each question? 
Did you use more than one resource to define, discuss or substantiate a specific
idea? 
Did you complete all the self-evaluation questions? 
Integration/logic (20%)

Did you integrate the theory you studied into a comprehensive and integrative
answer? 
Did you study the practical scenario/case study/question carefully? 
Did you integrate the theory with the case studies? 

Structure (10%)

Did you include a comprehensive table of contents? 

Did you number headings and subheadings clearly and appropriately? 
Are your headings and subheadings descriptive yet concise? 
Did you break down your answer into clear and manageable sections/paragraphs? 
Did you provide a suitable introduction and conclusion for each question (and/or
for the whole assignment)? 
Did you stick to the 5 000 word limit for the assignment? 
At the beginning of the assignment, did you indicate the number of words you
used ? 
Editing (10%)

Did you do a spell check?


Have you checked your syntax /grammar/style? 
Have you included a reference list? 
Have you checked your referencing style (in your reference list as well as in text
references) against the prescribed format (Tutorial Letter 301)? 
If your essay is not typed, is your handwriting clear and readable? 

Self-evaluation (10%)

Have you included a self-evaluation?

Have you allocated a percentage (%) mark? 

Have you completed all the self-evaluation questions? 
 RESULTS
Total = 27 / 50 (54%)
 COMMENTS
1 the reference list must be in alphabetical order, Revisit the prescribed referencing style