LILONGWE, Malawi- Everybody undertaking a venture does so with hope that they will succeed. However, so many organizations than we dare to count have collapsed and their names are nowhere to be seen. Some organizations for some reasons have still hanged on to exist but are barely existing and performing under average. They neither grow nor die but only give headaches and unbearable stress to those in charge. Fr. David Niwagaba, smm, graduated at Mbarara University in Uganda in July this year. He was pursuing Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA). His research topic is: Performance Appraisal Process and teachers performance among Public secondary schools in Mbarara Municipality. He shares with us the necessity of performance appraisal for any institution.
What prompted you to pursue MBA?
I have always wondered about, “why some church institutions hardly grow”. People are appointed and disappointed in just a blink. What can be heard is, ‘it’s not me that is not performing but my predecessors, oh no, they were just craps.’ ‘I am trying to put things in order now, but it’s not easy I tell you. They continue to say.
Having heard this all the time in the church I wanted to venture into an administrative course and try to learn why it is so especially in the church. Thanks to my superiors who allowed me to undertake a managerial course. It has been very helpful in widening my knowledge and in unveiling the mystery of performance. It was in August 2016 when I undertook a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) thanks to Fr. Felix Mabvuto Phiri, smm and his council who accepted me to venture into this. It has been a worth venture. Many people wondered why a priest should do a managerial course. But I tell you this was one of the best decisions. For management and administration is part and parcel of a priest’s life. It is said, ‘Grace builds on nature’, managerial and administrative courses should be a necessity for a priest.
May you expound the background of your research topic?
Before completing my course in July 2018, I happily presented the findings of my research which I undertook not only because it was a requirement before I could be accepted to graduate but also because I wanted to unveil the mystery of performance especially in church institutions. The question had always lingered in my mind: Why is it that some organizations and institutions perform better while others struggle so much. And of course, being a Catholic priest, I had the Church and its institutions in mind. At first, I wanted to use one diocese as a unit of analysis and then use priests as my unit of inquiry, but I was warned about the possible dangers of carrying out a research within an institution one is directly engaged in and as such I used other institutions, yet I had the church with her Human Resource in mind.
My research was carried out under the topic “Performance Appraisal Process and teachers performance among Public secondary schools in Mbarara Municipality”. But remember that if it was not for the issue of self-reporting which is a serious issue in research, my unit of inquiry would have been priests not teachers.
What are some of the findings in your research about Performance Appraisal Process and teachers performance among Public secondary schools in Mbarara Municipality?
In the efforts to find out how performance appraisal process affects teacher’s performance I run a correlational and regressional analysis. Having run these there were amazing results of which only two I wish to share with you.
The results showed that Performance appraisal process (which includes; setting of performance targets/standards; assessment based on the set standards and; giving feedback to employees (teachers)), accounts for 53.1% of the institution’s performance.
What this means is that an organization which does not have an appraisal process forfeits 53.1% and this implies that such an organization will always underperform (perform out of the remaining 46.9%) which is below average. This means that no matter how much money and infrastructure an organization may have without a well streamlined performance appraisal process, such an organization cannot perform beyond 46.9%.
The second interesting finding is from one of the control variables, that is; how the level of education affects one’s performance. To my surprise the correlational and regressional analysis showed that there is a negative correlation between the level of education and employee performance. The results showed that a single unit increase in the level of education lead to 9.5% decrease in performance. That is, if a diploma holder advances to a degree, their performance reduces by 9.5% and if one goes on to getting a master’s degree their performance further reduces by another 9.5% and if one goes on to get a PhD their performance further reduces by another 9.5%.
What do you recommend to Church ministers in administration and managerial sectors?
These are recommendations for church leaders;
First, there should be a Human Resource office and if not, the Bishop or a superior should be able to have a strategic plan and each year set targets to achieve and these targets should be owned by the priests/religious.
Secondly, it should be noted that there should be provision for three kinds of appraisals; self-appraisal, peer-appraisal (this person should be anonymous yet knows the person’s work that year) and then the supervisor-assessment. And the feedback should be balanced. Credit should be given as this acts as a motivator and corrections made with gentleness. With such, the performance of the Church and church institutions will improve greatly. With the appraisal process the sense of direction will be clear to everyone and as such the organization will rest on the shoulders of everyone.
NB: Fr. Niwagaba shares more in his article “Wish to be a better performer? The Mystery of Performance Unveiled” submitted for publication in The Vagabond Magazine. Do not miss to read the article!
-AFA Communications
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