An Assessment of Teachers' Performance Management System: The Case of Saudi Ministry of Education

Performance management system (PMS) is now seen as a strategic initiative to enhance individuals’ performance and consequently that of the organisation. The aims of performance management (PM) are to create a shared vision of the goals and objectives of an organisation and to help individuals to understand and recognise their duties and responsibilities as contributing to managing and improving both themselves and their organisation. The main aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of PMS of teachers in the Saudi Ministry of Education. In addition, the study analyses the ability of management departments within the Saudi Ministry of Education to make administrative decisions based on PM outcomes that may affect teachers’ careers. The current research aims to identify the shortcomings of the PMS for teachers in order to determine how teaching quality may be developed and improved. The study also aims to examine teachers’ perspectives of the determinants of teachers’ PM satisfaction in the Saudi Ministry of Education. This is accomplished through a self-administered questionnaire survey of teachers, designed to measure teachers’ opinions of the PMS. A total of 502 teachers completed the survey. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) were used to analysis the data. The findings of the study demonstrate that teachers’ perceptions regarding their PMS are generally oriented towards dissatisfaction. The results show that this dissatisfaction arises from the problems relating to the PM process itself. Additionally, the PMS for Saudi teachers does not capture the necessary information for managers to make informed decisions and policies in relation to the teachers. Moreover, many PMS-related problems such lack of training of head teachers for conducting PMS along with teachers’ beliefs about bias errors existing in PMS caused teachers’ dissatisfaction. The findings revealed ineffectiveness in PMS and suggested that moving towards effectiveness requires setting goals and objectives, providing ongoing feedback, conducting accurate performance appraisal, fairness of performance appraisal, pay for performance, meeting training and development needs, promotion decisions, management commitment to the PM process, the involvement of teachers in developing the PMS and their understanding of the purpose of the PMS. Therefore, this study has proposed recommendations to overcome the shortcomings of the existing system and to enhance teachers’ satisfaction with their PM.