port International Ltd. The government owns 49% while Swiss port owns 51% of the
shares. The company provides passenger ramps, cargo handling, clearing and forward-
ing services. The intention of this partnership is to make the company a world class
ground handling company that commands high quality services and profitability. The
mission is to provide reliable, high quality and cost effective airport ground handling
and related services in order to increase shareholders’ wealth through a highly moti-
vated workforce.
A study by Winsara (2008) shows that although the company has clear vision, a mis-
sion and strategic objectives, there were limited use of the strategic approach to human
resource management functions and the use of support instruments. For example, the
language used in performance appraisal was difficult for an ordinary employee to grasp.
The appraisal form, which is an essential instrument in appraisal, was complicated as it
was seemingly designed to meet western standards. The mainstream literature on strate-
gic human resource management emphasises the need to ensure that all employees share
and own the organisation vision, mission, and objectives in order to secure employees’
commitment. At the Swiss Port, ordinary employees expressed dissatisfaction, as they
believed that the strategy of the organisation had nothing to do with what the staff ex-
pected. When one employee was asked how satisfied he was with the job, his answer
was: ‘How can we be satisfied while all the objectives, missions and vision of the or-
ganisation are for the benefit of the organisation? No simple objective touches an indi-
vidual.’
Therefore, having a strategic plan, which does not address its implications in terms of
human resource management, is likely to fail because it will fail to secure staff com-
mitment needed to accomplish the intended objectives.
The experience from public service in Botswana suggests that it has a fairly well
planned system of linking the strategic plan with performance management. Nyamunga
(2006) observes that the introduction of the strategic plan brought some clarity in the
planning and service delivery at the ministerial level. However, the following chal-
lenges were noted:
- Inadequately defined objectives in some ministries created difficulties in generating
appropriate measures because the objectives were interpreted in different ways. - Unclear links between the strategic objectives and the annual performance plans
created a situation where there was more focus on the operational perspectives than
the strategic ones and even general staff performance at lower levels. - In some cases, there were no link between the ministerial strategic plans and
departmental strategic plans because the departments developed plans without
reference to ministerial plans, and this led to operational conflicts and misplacement
of resources.
However, by using the balanced score card, the public service links individual objec-
tives, targets, and performance indicators with ministerial and departmental objectives,
targets and outcomes. Although the experience has been more about linking strategic
plans with individual plans rather than with human resource management as such, none-
theless it is good development towards better human resource management. Its effec-
tiveness will be evaluated when we look at performance management later. The Bot-
swana experience may be attributed to a long relationship of learning with South Africa
where the level of education may be higher and practice more Eurocentric management
principles than is common in sub Saharan Africa. Also, Botswana is one of the fastest