Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management

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STAFF DEVELOPMENT POLICIES AND SERVICE DELIVERY IMPROVEMENT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS
(2014-01-20) Tsipane, Lawrence Tshwaro
Before 2008, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) received criticism for the poor level of services it provided and was accused of having high levels of corruption. In 2008, the DHA developed and implemented a turnaround strategy to, among others, improve its service delivery. This strategy appears to have been successful as citizens and critics moved from being highly critical of the department, to openly praising it for efficient service delivery. The implementation of skills development initiatives was a significant aspect of the strategy. The introduction of all new systems and technologies was supported by an elaborate and sustained process of building the capacity of the staff. This research project sought to determine the extent to which managers in the DHA believed that the implementation of staff development policies has contributed to service delivery improvements in the department and to establish what measures were put in place to sustain the implementation thereof. In-depth interviews were conducted with key informants within the department. This report therefore, present the perceptions or views of the respondents in relation to the role of skills development, wherein they reported that the strategic focus on skills development during the Turnaround Project was the main reason for the successful improvement in the quality of services rendered by the DHA. They further indicated how, through the turnaround process, an environment conducive to the implementation of skills development was created in the department. Some valuable advice on how the implementation of staff development policies can be improved throughout the Public Service was shared by respondents, including how other departments could learn from the DHA experience of having turned itself around from a department declared dysfunctional by the Cape High Court in 2005, to one receiving special mention as a model of good practice in the National Development Plan Vision -2030. The main lesson learnt from the DHA case study is that effective implementation of staff development policies in the public service can contribute significantly towards service delivery improvement.
Service Quality of Advertising and Promotions Agencies in South Africa
(2014-01-09) Quebra, Bruno
To build a sustainable business, it is vitally important for service providers to develop profitable, long-term relationships with their customers. In order to do so, service providers need to ensure their clients are continuously satisfied with their service encounters, and that they perceive the service to be of superior quality. This is especially true for advertising and promotions agencies. The purpose of this study is to assess perceptions of the service quality offered by agencies in South Africa, and to identify the most important service attributes of the agency offerings. The study considers the industry as a whole, and focuses on specific agency types – Above the Line services (referred to as ATL agencies), Below the Line services (BTL agencies), and Full Service (FS agencies). Data was gathered through an online questionnaire based survey of 105 individuals within clients’ buying centres. The study used INDSERV, a measurement instrument specifically designed for business-to-business services (Gounaris, 2005). INDSERV is a second-order model with four quality dimensions underpinned by twenty-two service attributes. Through quantitative analysis, the study identified the relative strengths and weaknesses of agencies’ services. It also identified the more important service attributes and dimensions. While all agency types display relative strength in Soft Process quality, clients assign little importance to this dimension and its constituent service attributes. Instead, clients assign greater importance to Hard Process quality and Output quality, dimensions agencies display relative weakness in. This is true regardless of the agency type. The study also included a qualitative component aimed at identifying service attributes specific to the agency offering (i.e. not included in the generic INDSERV instrument). Several attributes were identified, and it is recommended that further research be carried out to determine whether the INDSERV instrument can be customised to include industry-specific attributes, as has been proposed for the SERVQUAL instrument.
LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE EKURHULENI METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY
(2012-11-14) Masondo, Bheki Eric
Effective leadership competencies in major organizations are a growing concern when business and public enterprises are confronted with ever increasing pressures of economic, social and political transformation. In particular, local governments are faced with enormous challenges of fulfilling their constitutional mandates of improving the lives of the citizens in various community settings through quality social service delivery. Currently, the general concerns of service beneficiaries are expressed in many forms, some by the increasing public protests that local governments have experienced recently. The research investigated the state of leadership and management competencies (including requisite technical skills) within the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, the contributing factors to the current dearth of leadership skills and the relationship that exists between the lack of skills and the resultant poor service delivery. The research also confirmed that there are indeed serious skills gaps and also attempted to unearth underlying reasons for this situation. This investigation was conducted through questionnaires and structured interviews with political heads of departments, Customer Care managers and the Corporate Human Resources and Development department of the municipality. Finally, recommendations have been made to try and improve the situations in terms of appropriate organizational development interventions that are directed at building institutional capacity for better quality service delivery outcomes.
SERVICE DELIVERY IN GAUTENG PUBLIC ADULT LEARNING CENTRES
(2012-02-10) Thembekwayo, Rosemary Semaka Phindile
The South African education system is grounded in two essential political fundamentals, namely, that our people are our greatest assets and that they are their own liberators.This research report is a response to the failure to see an improved service delivery in the adult literacy sector in line with the demands of the “Batho Pele” principles. Enhancing service delivery in this sector poses a special challenge to the Gauteng Department of Education if the national goal of transforming the public sector is to be achieved. The ABET Act is viewed as probably the most valuable aspect of any attempt to eradicate poverty. Legislation in the form of the ABET was intended as a solution to human centred development as advocated by the Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning. The White Paper on Public Service Training and Education (1997) acknowledges that the national and provincial education departments have failed in general to provide adequate financial and human resources for training units within organizations, including the GDE. Thus, GDE is challenged to “think globally and act provincially” to begin to respond to local needs in education and give the PALCs their rightful place in its priorities. The study argues that while educators work towards achieving the GDE’s mission “to provide for the quality assurance and quality promotion in adult basic education and training”; the government has to play its part in fulfilling the ABET Act’s promise of “funding of public adult learning centers.” The methodology used in this research is of a normative and qualitative nature. That is, all the information gathered is based on the experiences and perceptions of participants and stakeholders in this sector. The researcher hopes that this research will help improve practice in enhancing service delivery in this sector. The GDE’s assertion that “education provides the tools for absolute emancipation, empowerment and freedom” must be brought to fruition by monitoring the executive of the adult education sector as well as providing resources in terms of equitable budget allocation, skilled human capital and the requisite infrastructure development.
ASSESMENT OF SERVICE DELIVERY IN STANZA DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
(2011-10-07) KWENDA, VIRGINIA MMADITABA
The Development Centres are perceived as tools to address social problems such as poverty and unemployment in the communities through the running of income-generating projects and skills training programmes. A case study method was employed to investigate the Stanza Development Centre that is situated in Mamelodi, North Rand Region, Gauteng Province. The aim was to explore challenges faced by the centre to understand and get lessons of obstacles hampering success of service delivery in the centre in terms of the actual running of the income-generating projects and the skills training programmes. The findings demonstrated that training was provided to management to ensure that it is able to manage the centre effectively. The relationship among senior management, middle management, and beneficiaries is not severe to affect negatively the running of income-generation projects and skills training programme in the centre. In addition, material resources are available to facilitate the activities in the centre to take place. However, there are challenges facing the centre. Those include limited presentation of skills training programmes in the centre due to criteria set by the Department of Labour as a prerequisite to provide training. There is lack of collaboration among various sectors which results in fragmented provision of services and the impact thereof is not much visible. In addition, there is lack of growth of projects due to lack of after care support in terms of finance, marketing, business management, accommodation, or land. Most importantly, the lack of local government in promoting and integrating the income generation projects in their local economic development programme is an oversight, which is costing to the development of these projects to grow beyond survivalist projects.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES IN
(2011-06-24) YENDE, FELLENG ANACLETA
South Africa can be said to be experiencing rapid changes in the new political dispensation. At the birth of non-racialised democracy in 1994, a number of laws aimed at transforming the government’s administrative structures were formulated. Local government was one such organ of government that was the focus of the new transformative laws. In an effort to implement these new laws and government’s development policies at community level, new structures such as ward councils were established. Ward councillors are the leading representatives of ward councils. Community members elect ward councillors. They represent their respective communities in policy- and decision-making bodies or forums, by articulating their communities’ development needs and policies in line with government’s overall community development mandate and strategies. With the view to addressing the socioeconomic inequalities from the apartheid regime, councillors are strategically positioned to operate as mediators between government and communities. They are mandated to ensure policy implementation so that the communities they lead and represent change for the better if not transform in line with the government’s transformation agenda. This research investigates the leadership development challenges with specific reference to the two wards, namely, Ward 33 and Ward 34 in Soweto. We explore and examine these challenges from the transformational leadership perspective of South Africa’s community development agenda. Our research methodology is qualitative research. We used semi-structured questionnaires were designed and in depth interviews undertaken. The guideline for conducting transformational leadership development challenges or gap analysis was guided by the qualities or competencies of leadership, which include good leadership qualities, function or role, ethics, development challenges. Our research shows that the councillors as leaders have development challenges. Community development needs to have a specific, relevant context. We recommend a leadership development model or a generic leadership development programme in order to enhance leadership qualities of ward councillors. Specifically, we recommend individual leadership development programmes for each councillor
Records Management Practices in Public Service and
(2011-06-02) Ngwendu, Pumla
Records management is an important component of information management. Records represent a major source of information that provides evidence of decisions, actions, and interactions between government and citizens. Records management practices underpin all aspects of public service administration, and are a critical activity for effective service delivery. Records are regarded as the “lifeblood of public administration” (Fletcher, 1990). To this end, record keeping is a fundamental and core activity of public sector management. Without reliable records, there can be no accountability and no rule of law. The failure to manage records leads to poor decisions and an inability to measure programmes and service effectiveness. The Directorate of Social Security within the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development is used as a case study to investigate records management practices and effects on service delivery. The key issues raised in the study were: records management processes and procedures, records management policy and the regulatory environment, influence of Information Technology on records management practices. The research findings were assessed against the International Standard for Records Management (ISO 15489) to identify gaps between best practices captured in the standard, and what is happening in reality in relation to records management policies, procedures and processes. The standard (ISO 15489) is endorsed by the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa. It provides guidelines on records management practices and a benchmark to measure the effectiveness of records management programmes and systems in organizations. The key findings include: · There is no records management policy statement, the social grant records are managed without recourse to legislative requirements · Training is not focused on records management principles. iii · The implementation of the Social Development Information Management System has brought improvements to service delivery, though there are still infrastructural and communication problems between social grant offices at local, district levels. · Respondents cited lack of human resources and functional capacity in some areas of social grant processing as an obstacle to service delivery.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION
(2011-05-19) Mngomezulu, Siceliwe D.
Despite numerous reforms in a bid to improve service delivery, and ensure transparency and greater accountability, African civil services are still not performing satisfactorily. This research study is aimed at interrogating whether the public service in Swaziland, and the Ministry of Finance in particular, is performing unsatisfactorily due to the procedures and systems that are used in the organisation. The main purpose of the research is to suggest change management alternatives that can be used by the Human Resources department to enhance performance. Participant observation and documentary analysis were the primary methods used to gather data for the research. The findings of the research indicate that the department is using outdated managerial systems and procedures which are not responding to the demands made by the current technological environment. The conclusion is that the Human Resources department in the Ministry of Finance needs to update its managerial systems to improve efficiency and maintain a competitive advantage in relation to human resource management issues. Change management alternatives to enhance the operational systems of the department in order to improve its efficiency were recommended. These include the instalment of an e-filing system, conducting training needs assessment exercises and the introduction of a performance management system.
IMPROVING SERVICE DELIVERY BY INSPECTORS OF THE DEPARTMENT
(2011-05-13) Madzivhe, Nnditsheni Thomas
With the advent of new democracy in South Africa during 1994, the Department of Labour was faced with challenges of ensuring compliance with labour laws aimed at improving working conditions, create health and safe working environment and to ensure worker access to both unemployment and compensation benefits. The purpose of the survey research was to understand the service delivery model of inspection and enforcement services, with key focus on inspectors, in order to facilitate service delivery improvements. One of the key findings of the research was thou the conception of the one stop service (integrated inspection) model was good, there are key implementation challenges that requires attention. Another finding was of those inspectors who had tertiary qualifications, the qualifications were mostly non-technical. Professionalisation of inspectors work is one way of improving service delivery’.(
THE ROLE OF THE INTELLIGENCE
(2011-05-12) MABANDLA, THEMBANI
This line of study was prompted by the intelligence services’ role in the aftermath of the wave of incidents of protest and rioting ostensibly over service delivery, which by this account, began in Diepsloot in the northwest of Johannesburg, on the 5th of July 2004. The study seeks to explore the extent to which the charged dissonant involvement of the intelligence services in the wake of the protests indicated an existing problem with the South African conception of national security. Underlying this notion is the idea that the theory on security as applied in the South African context does not do justice to the reality of the needs on the ground. This research contends that in retrospect the protests in Diepsloot and other areas did not pose a national security threat in the conventional sense of there being an existential threat posed to the state. It appears that at the very least, the potential threat of political instability that warranted the involvement of the intelligence services, required governance-based interventions. With this borne in mind, this study also seeks to investigate whether there exists a role for the intelligence services in facilitating governance and contributing to alleviating underdevelopment challenges in South Africa. This study is therefore about the institutional arrangements that inform how the intelligence services interact with governance in the service delivery process. Service delivery in this context is understood both minimally and more elaborately as both the provision of basic services as well as the larger goal of societal and human development. Using the case study of Diepsloot, this study will consider whether there is indeed a case to be made for service delivery failures as the source of these protests with a view to arguing that the establishment of such a causal link would warrant synonymous governance efficiency-enhancing interventions from all stakeholders, including the intelligence community. Such an approach would call for the reassessment of the philosophical tenets informing the South African understanding of national security, wherein, along with focusing on traditional threats, the intelligence services seek to be orientated towards facilitating and responding to human development challenges in the medium to long term.

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