An investigation into the effectiveness of the staff development policies and programmes of the Unisa library

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of staff training and development programmes and policies at the Unisa Library. The aim of the study was to establish how staff training and development needs were met and also how staff felt about the centralisation of the Human Resources Department. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among the Unisa Library staff including the Unisa Branch Libraries. Interviews with four divisional managers were also conducted.

Staff development is an ongoing process that, by means of a systematic approach, serves to orient, train, and develop each member of the library staff to work together and to serve their customers with the skills necessary to deliver a quality service. As a result, training can be viewed as an essential vehicle to efficient and effective performance by staff and also as a process that develops the skills, awareness or expertise of staff. This is important for both professional and non-professional employees.

Chapter one of this dissertation provided the orientation of this study. Chapter two looked at how the study was conducted, including the research design and methods. Chapter three provided information on the legal aspects of training and development in the workplace and what employees need to be aware of and to know. Chapter four dealt with staff training and development and a literature survey. Chapter five gave an analysis and interpretation of the research findings. Chapter six described the situation at Unisa with respect to staff training and development, while in chapter seven recommendations were made based on the findings of this study.

It was found that the personal development of staff was hindered as only job - related training is supported by the Library's STD workgroup. It is recommended that a training needs analysis be compiled in the Library based on the individual staff training requirements expressed during annual performance appraisals.

Fifty percent of the staff who were surveyed thought it was good to centralise the Human Resources Department.