Key Success Factors for a Workplace Skills Plan: A Case of a Developing Country

Questions have been raised by organisations such as the South African Department of Education regarding the value of the investment made towards employees in respect of the implementation of a workplace skills plan in their organisations. A further question pertains to the levels of competencies of human resource officials, who are often saddled with the responsibility of implementing a workplace skills plan in their organisation. In this article, we focus on the role of strategic human resource management across the implementation of a workplace skills plan throughout the twenty-first century to improve the performance of organisations in developing countries. The recent advances in the structure of organisations demand robust employee development, especially regarding role players who are involved in the implementation of a workplace skills plan for the improved performance of their organisations. We conducted and investigated a quantitative analysis of an existing structure for development and implementation of a workplace skills plan in the Limpopo Department of Education with regard to its adoption and performance. A total of 75 managers were sampled through probability sampling based on data gathered from the Limpopo Department of Education which indicated a population size of 1 019 managers. In the study, we provide insights for organisations into implementing a workplace skills plan in public sectors, identifies bottlenecks encountered in the process of implementation, and propose strategies that can be employed to overcome relevant challenges.